I am considering at a Dell laptop Inspiron 8500 for Solidworks,
will the NVIdia GeForce4 Go 4200 give me problems with multiple windows
and should I consider the 1680 x 1050 screen.
TIA
-- 
Andy Rodgers
Lintech Services (01242 232048)
                (Fax 0870 0524698)
Mechanical Design & Consultancy

I hear the M50 and M60 are good machines and as a perk they use the quadro4
cards that will use the realview stuff that might be in the next release


"Andrew Rodgers" <andy@lintech.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:4pSL8vBwhM++EwVJ@lintech.demon.co.uk...
> I am considering at a Dell laptop Inspiron 8500 for Solidworks,
> will the NVIdia GeForce4 Go 4200 give me problems with multiple windows
> and should I consider the 1680 x 1050 screen.
> TIA
> -- 
> Andy Rodgers
> Lintech Services (01242 232048)
>                 (Fax 0870 0524698)
> Mechanical Design & Consultancy

If I had a choice, $$$ not an issue, I REALLY like Alienware. When,
rather than if, they get the 3.06 8000mhz FSB on the mobile
workstations....OMG it is over. Though weight and battery life IMO are
the only drawbacks. And maybe screen size, but hell MAC is the only on
with 17".

Hi Andrew...

I have been using Dell laptops for the last 3-4 years for SolidWorks and 
they have performed brilliantly..... I first started on an Inspiron 7500 
and now running an Inspiron 8200 at 1600x1400 on a UXGA screen. The 
machine has 512mb ram and a 40gb hard drive. The image quality is 
superb.  You would most likely need to run with large fonts, as normal 
fonts will most probably be quite a strain on your eyes.

I have 'hacked' the nvidia drivers with either Rivatuner or SoftQuadro 
on all the laptops I have used because of the crappy performance with 
multiple openGL windows in SolidWorks. I am not sure if it causes 
long-term problems with the video card, but it surely removes that 
limitation and the performance is very good. Our assemblies run anywhere 
between 75-400 parts, so they aren't very large. At any given time, I 
may have between 2 and 15 models/drawings open  and working quite 
productively on them.

Hope this helps....

D. Short

Andrew Rodgers wrote:

>I am considering at a Dell laptop Inspiron 8500 for Solidworks,
>will the NVIdia GeForce4 Go 4200 give me problems with multiple windows
>and should I consider the 1680 x 1050 screen.
>TIA
>  
>

If $$$ were not a big issue, the Alienware laptops kick ALOt of butt.
Though a little heavy, and short on battery life, there is quite a bit
of horsepower under that pupppy

Matt

Are you able to run Dual-view (on the M50) successfully with SolidWorks
2003?
I find I have to choose between them, hence cannot connect my big monitor
(other than as a mirror), unless I want to crash repeatedly with an nVidia
error, or run software OpenGL

regards

Andrew Troup


"matt" <m_lombard@frontier_net.net> wrote in message
news:Xns93A4F24742619mnet@66.133.130.30...
> Andrew Rodgers <andy@lintech.demon.co.uk> wrote in
> news:4pSL8vBwhM++EwVJ@lintech.demon.co.uk:
>
> > I am considering at a Dell laptop Inspiron 8500 for Solidworks,
> > will the NVIdia GeForce4 Go 4200 give me problems with multiple windows
> > and should I consider the 1680 x 1050 screen.
> > TIA
>
> Andrew:
>
> I've been using the M50 for a few months, and I really like it.  I have
> never been a fan of laptops, I always wanted more machine for the money,
> but I just came to the point where portability became a real issue.  The
> screen is almost as big as a 17" crt and twice as clear, plus the
> resolution goes to 1600x1200 with the Quadro 4 500 GoGL.  This card won't
> do the realview, you need I think a 700 or better for that, but the
machine
> works great for SolidWorks, even large assemblies.  Mine has 2.2 GHz with
1
> GB RAM and a 60 GB hard drive with a DVD/CDRW (I can use it to watch DVD
> movies on the plane!!)
>
> If you can go the extra bux, it's a great tool.  You might try the refurbs
> if you're trying to save some $.
>
> matt.

"Andrew Troup" <atroup@email.com> wrote in
news:RjnKa.50380$JA5.891294@news.xtra.co.nz: 

> Are you able to run Dual-view (on the M50) successfully with
> SolidWorks 2003?
> I find I have to choose between them, hence cannot connect my big
> monitor (other than as a mirror), unless I want to crash repeatedly
> with an nVidia error, or run software OpenGL
> 
> regards
> 
> Andrew Troup

I can run dual monitors using nView.  Sometimes it's a trick to run a 
projector as the main display instead of using it as a second monitor.  
Mine doesn't crash when doing this.  You may want to get with Dell support, 
they have come out with new bios, video driver, and video bios to fix some 
earlier problems.  

The newer M50 and M60 have the 700Go that supports the RealView in 2004.


"matt" <m_lombard@frontier_net.net> wrote in message
news:Xns93A4F24742619mnet@66.133.130.30...
> Andrew Rodgers <andy@lintech.demon.co.uk> wrote in
> news:4pSL8vBwhM++EwVJ@lintech.demon.co.uk:
>
> > I am considering at a Dell laptop Inspiron 8500 for Solidworks,
> > will the NVIdia GeForce4 Go 4200 give me problems with multiple windows
> > and should I consider the 1680 x 1050 screen.
> > TIA
>
> Andrew:
>
> I've been using the M50 for a few months, and I really like it.  I have
> never been a fan of laptops, I always wanted more machine for the money,
> but I just came to the point where portability became a real issue.  The
> screen is almost as big as a 17" crt and twice as clear, plus the
> resolution goes to 1600x1200 with the Quadro 4 500 GoGL.  This card won't
> do the realview, you need I think a 700 or better for that, but the
machine
> works great for SolidWorks, even large assemblies.  Mine has 2.2 GHz with
1
> GB RAM and a 60 GB hard drive with a DVD/CDRW (I can use it to watch DVD
> movies on the plane!!)
>
> If you can go the extra bux, it's a great tool.  You might try the refurbs
> if you're trying to save some $.
>
> matt.

Thanks Matt

I had been checking the Dell website for months, the only M50 video drivers
were ANCIENT, and had finally got sick of it and given up, but as you say,
they've recently posted a MUCH newer nVidia driver, together with a video
bios updater to match.
So far it seems to be working well- only one crash in an evening of work.

Kind regards

Andrew Troup

I very much appreciate your response
"matt" <m_lombard@frontier_net.net> wrote in message
news:Xns93A5A96977100mnet@66.133.130.30...
> "Andrew Troup" <atroup@email.com> wrote in
> news:RjnKa.50380$JA5.891294@news.xtra.co.nz:
>
> > Are you able to run Dual-view (on the M50) successfully with
> > SolidWorks 2003?
> > I find I have to choose between them, hence cannot connect my big
> > monitor (other than as a mirror), unless I want to crash repeatedly
> > with an nVidia error, or run software OpenGL
> >
> > regards
> >
> > Andrew Troup
>
> I can run dual monitors using nView.  Sometimes it's a trick to run a
> projector as the main display instead of using it as a second monitor.
> Mine doesn't crash when doing this.  You may want to get with Dell
support,
> they have come out with new bios, video driver, and video bios to fix some
> earlier problems.

On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 21:23:42 +1200, "Andrew Troup" <atroup@email.com>
wrote:

>I had been checking the Dell website for months, the only M50 video drivers
>were ANCIENT, and had finally got sick of it and given up, but as you say,
>they've recently posted a MUCH newer nVidia driver, together with a video
>bios updater to match.
>So far it seems to be working well- only one crash in an evening of work.

Try www.geocities.com/madtoast

They have modified INF files for use with the newer nvidia drivers.  I
have 44.10 running on my M50 and it's a major improvement.

Cheers

Jim Elias
Munich, Germany

I have used the Dell Inspiron 8000 with 512 megs Ram & Win2000 for
just over 2 years and am now on SWks 2003 with the old original nVidia
GeForce2Go 32 megs, no video hacking.

Never understood much about Wintel optimization and BIOS and hacking
video software so I left it alone.  Swks 2003 did slow the Dell down,
though the SP3 release is better.  I tend to have major slowdowns with
4 dozen parts in assemblies with lots of curved parts.  I do NOT have
a problem with 20+ files open while working on an injection mold.

All in all the Dell has been nearly bulletproof, but I don't abuse it.
 I wouldn't count on battery time being good, nor the life of the
battery unless they've made major improvements in the last 2 years
that I haven't heard about.

I'm guessing Swks 2004 is going to mean I have to upgrade to a new
Dell.

"D. Short" <d_short@igreen.net> wrote in message news:<bdbql1$864$1@au-nws-0001.flow.com.au>...
> Hi Andrew...
> 
> I have been using Dell laptops for the last 3-4 years for SolidWorks and 
> they have performed brilliantly..... I first started on an Inspiron 7500 
> and now running an Inspiron 8200 at 1600x1400 on a UXGA screen. The 
> machine has 512mb ram and a 40gb hard drive. The image quality is 
> superb.  You would most likely need to run with large fonts, as normal 
> fonts will most probably be quite a strain on your eyes.
> 
> I have 'hacked' the nvidia drivers with either Rivatuner or SoftQuadro 
> on all the laptops I have used because of the crappy performance with 
> multiple openGL windows in SolidWorks. 
> 
> Hope this helps....
> 
> D. Short

On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 16:58:36 +1200, "Andrew Troup" <atroup@email.com>
wrote:

>When you talk of modified .inf files, are you mixing and matching bits
>from different drivers? Could you please amplify?

I'm not a video driver authority, so here goes about as far as I can
understand it:

The standard INF files supplied with the drivers block installation on
mobile cards.  Nvidia claims this is because the laptop manufacturers
want to make sure and test the drivers very thoroughly before
approving them ... who knows.  If you read the driver release info
from nvidia, it quite specifically states what families of units the
Quadro mobile cards belong to and explicitly states that the 44.xx
drivers are compatible with them, as they are supposed to be (part of
nvidia's famous "always-compatible" driver system.)   So the folks at
the website I mentioned earlier have modified the INF files (removed
the blocks) so that the "desktop" drivers can be installed on the
mobile cards. 

44.10 is a Dell release driver that I assume is from the same family
as 44.03, which claims 30% better performance compared to pre-44.xx
drivers.  I have never tested 42.58 or 44.03, but I tested 44.10
against 43.51 (the last SW-certified release) and 44.10 is definitely
faster.  I don't think 42.58 was ever certified by SW, so you should
probably go to at least 43.51 if you want to use nothing but a
SW-certified driver.

Cheers

Jim Elias
Munich, Germany

Jim

Thanks for clarifying that. I knew the drivers wouldn't load on a mobile
installation, but I didn't know exactly who was blocking it.

I'll give 4410 a try

Thanks once more for your help


"JE" <cinecad@NOSPAMaol.com> wrote in message
news:u6cufv4bh3c5p4il5q0vs3llhcb0etn1gc@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 16:58:36 +1200, "Andrew Troup" <atroup@email.com>
> wrote:
>
> >When you talk of modified .inf files, are you mixing and matching bits
> >from different drivers? Could you please amplify?
>
> I'm not a video driver authority, so here goes about as far as I can
> understand it:
>
> The standard INF files supplied with the drivers block installation on
> mobile cards.  Nvidia claims this is because the laptop manufacturers
> want to make sure and test the drivers very thoroughly before
> approving them ... who knows.  If you read the driver release info
> from nvidia, it quite specifically states what families of units the
> Quadro mobile cards belong to and explicitly states that the 44.xx
> drivers are compatible with them, as they are supposed to be (part of
> nvidia's famous "always-compatible" driver system.)   So the folks at
> the website I mentioned earlier have modified the INF files (removed
> the blocks) so that the "desktop" drivers can be installed on the
> mobile cards.
>
> 44.10 is a Dell release driver that I assume is from the same family
> as 44.03, which claims 30% better performance compared to pre-44.xx
> drivers.  I have never tested 42.58 or 44.03, but I tested 44.10
> against 43.51 (the last SW-certified release) and 44.10 is definitely
> faster.  I don't think 42.58 was ever certified by SW, so you should
> probably go to at least 43.51 if you want to use nothing but a
> SW-certified driver.
>
> Cheers
>
> Jim Elias
> Munich, Germany