hi guys,      i remember you experienced CAD gurus said "NOT" to use
one of
the graphics cards. the problem is i can't remember which one! Is nVidia
or ATI compatable with CAD? Is an 80 g SSD big enough to use as my
sole hard
drive for Rhino and/or Alibre CAD. if so is it worth the extra money to
keep a laptop cooler and save battery?  The renderings with rhino and
solid
works looked good.would alibre be a suitable sub for sw? I  can't
afford sw!
James Whitehurst


Allibre maps graphics to the screen using the Windows Direct-X
facility.  This makes rendering instantaneous.  I've run Alibre on
several 5 year old Pentium 4 class computers (including laptops) with no
video problems whatsoever.  You can use the mouse to grab a rendering by
a handle and flip it around the screen with no perceptible re-draw time.

As for the SSD, I would investigate the possibility of getting a larger
battery for the laptop.  I recently bought an HP laptop on a clearance
sale that has a 9-cell battery that will run for at least 8 hours.  The
battery extends under the laptop case which tilts the unit to the
perfect angle for typing.

Aubrey Thompson

The same thing applies to Rhino but that does not do color.
If you want color you need to use one of several other rendering
options included with the Rhino package.  I upload, on here, the
simplest of those options with out the many lighting configurations
available and possible in some of the other renderers.

Paul Lamar