Thinkpads Forum

Greg Gebhardt wrote:I have loaded much of my software including CS2 and AutoCAD with no problems. I must say that CS2 runs better than on my T43p.

Greg, if you get a chance to share some of your thoughts on AutoCAD on the T60p I'd be very interested in reading them.

The thought of how AutoCAD would run on the dual core T60p is luring me to retire my well worn T41p machines and take the plunge.

Regards,

James

James,

I am running ProENGINEER, Unigraphics, CadFIX, Moldflow and some AutoCAD on this new T60p (2623DDU) and am happy with the performance improvements over my T43p. The graphics subsystem is likely the biggest improvement and the FireGL on the T43p was no slouch. Rendering times are faster, motion/model manipulation with my 3DConnexion controller is smoother and the handling of multiple concurrent OpenGL CAD apps seems more robust and snappier.

The Dual core seems to yield benefits when working on concurrent apps as well. The impact of a flow, assembly regen/rebuild, or PDM operation in the background has less impact on the foreground modeling application or even Outlook than I saw on my T43p.

This is not my primary workstation in the office, but it serves as one when I am working from home or on the road.

So far I am favorably impressed.

JHEM wrote:

Greg Gebhardt wrote:I have loaded much of my software including CS2 and AutoCAD with no problems. I must say that CS2 runs better than on my T43p.

Greg, if you get a chance to share some of your thoughts on AutoCAD on the T60p I'd be very interested in reading them.

The thought of how AutoCAD would run on the dual core T60p is luring me to retire my well worn T41p machines and take the plunge.

Regards,

James

I have to agree with scratch, I am running AutoCAD 2007 and it "smoother" on 3D models. I am sure it is a combination of the graphics system and DualCore. It is not equal to my desktop but my customers will be quite impressed in the field. There is little doubt about the T60p being more "snappy". The Kurta digitizer tablet worked perfectly and is my favorite for light field use.

I am really going to like the performance gain on both CS2 and ACAD.

I've been on the Verizon EVDO service for almost a month now and it's been just fine. Both Verizon and Sprint (PC Card) services are nice in this area but the external card does win out on burst and even signal strength.

Now, not to hijack the thread, but I'm running Acad '04 on my T60p and man it's niiiice. I was running with the same large lab drawing files on my Dell M70 last year and that was nice but the T60p beats it all to pieces. File open times rock and I can't even make the second cpu max out...just the first. The most complicated lab drawing I have is about 120MB and covers and entire 35,000 sq ft. level of major NEM lab space. Roatations and zooms are instantaneous and crisp. It's absolutely incredible.

I wish I had a multithreaded version of Acad...though I don't see how it could be any better.

Thanks for the replies my friends, looks like it's time to check the contents of the piggy bank. I antiipate a sale in the near future of many of my hangar queens!

Wasn't that long ago that I was running AutoCAD Release 13 on my venerable PIII 850MHz 600X and was astonished and delighted at the performance increase when I upgraded to the Hitachi 7K60.

Now I find my beloved "duelling" T41p's coming up short when rendering some of my 3D AutoSHIP files under 2004, especially when running Autostructure. And that's with 2GB RAM and 7K100 HDs!

It's a sign of my newly developed desire for instant gratification, which I first experienced with the T41p, that I now find them wanting. I used to be glad to let my 600X crunch away at something until the result was presented, something that would often take an hour or more on occasion.

This has been reduced to mere minutes now on the T41p, but that's no longer good enough.

Sad really, but the "bang for the buck" ROI for me makes it a no brainer to upgrade to a T60p.

Guess I'll have to set aside a "few" dollars to upgrade my copy of 2004 to 2007 as well! Autodesk has always been kind and thoughtful enough to ensure I always have a "trial" copy of the latest release shipped to me so I can experience first hand all of the improvements vs. my "old" release.

Regards,

James

James,

It has never ceased to amaze me either. The boundless generosity that these CAD/CAE software vendors show us by always making sure that we have those latest version software disks calling our names saying "Go on...you know you want me...all you have to do is pay the maintenance and I can be your's forever".

A couple of centuries back those same voices used to run ships aground on the rocks. Now they drive us to test our credit limits instead....Just different rocks I guess.

I upgraded from 2005 to 2007. I think the upgrade price from 2004 to 2007 is a heathly $1800! AutoDesk is quite proud of their software yet I could not operate without it.

The T60p love it so far