Topic Title

Looking into buying a new desktop (which can be easily upgraded over time). What is the best desktop out there that could run Datacad? I was looking into the Dell Precision series. Any feedback would be very helpful.

Thanks very much.

I'm very happy with my Dell XPS 8300. It was pretty well loaded, an i7 with 16gb of RAM, and should do me well for at least a year or two.

I think that the XPS series is the one to get, like Alan says. It is the only series (I think) that you can get dual DVI outputs on a video card with 1GB (or more!) RAM on the video card. Many of the "business" Dell models have only the onboard Intel video, which will cdrtainly work, but you have a hard(er) time hooking up 2 monitors.

I'd get an i5 quad core or an i7, with 8 or 16GB of system RAM.

Also, look at a picture of the *back* of the unit, and look at the power supply -- if you see the little red voltage toggle switch, don't buy that unit. The red switch switches the power supply between 120v and 240v -- they only use these power supplies because they are inexpensive. Better power supplies have an automatic voltage switch, and they have an additional circuit that actively lowers the power factor (which is the electrical "noise" that the power supply causes) from getting back into the power mains. The APFC (active power factor control) circuit is much more efficient, and it is required in many parts of the world, and the better computers tend to use these power supplies.

A computer with a APFC power supply will use 20-40% less power from the wall, saving you money over time; and they are typically longer lasting as sell.

I didn't know that about the power supply, Neil - I'll have to see what my XPS has and report back.

I have a Dell XPS Studio 9100 and it does not have the red voltage switch.
I have had a number of Dell desktops and notebooks over the years and highly recommend them. I concur with Neil's suggested specifications.

Here's a link to Costco.com for an XPS 8500 very similar to my box (but newer) : . It's $999.99 (+$29.95 for shipping) today through Sunday (11/25/12) and includes a 23" monitor and Kaspersky Internet Security 2013. You also get charged sales tax (8% for me, plus we Cali residents pay another $8 Electronic Waste fee) the total out-the-door would be $1,117.76.

It says "while supplies last", but have a feeling Dell will take any and all orders! The only downside is that it comes with Windows 8 and not Win7.

Win8 is quite possibly okay, but it is a "new approach" what with the need for a touch screen for some things.

I recently upgraded my Samsung Slate Tablet to Windows 8 Professional and I have to say that I really like it so far. I use a mouse and keyboard with the Slate, and don't find it to be limiting, at least not yet.

The biggest difference is that the start menu is now a full screen set of tiles. My Windows 7 desktop is still there however and everything else seems to work the same as it did before. The speed seems to be the same and the upgrade was totally painless and quick.

I just bought a new Win8 laptop and so far so good. For the most part I agree with Jim about Win8, although there are a few little quriks so far that I am not crazy about. Or at least they are going to take some getting used to. Like the pull in side bars which I keep accidentally activating. The laptop does not have a touch screen but I haven't seen any problems with the mouse and keyboard input so far. Although I must say I have had very limited experience with it so far. I had no problems installing DCAD 15 but I haven't had very much time to test it out yet, and I haven't activated it yet just using the demo. I will try to activate it later today. The biggest thing I miss so far with Win8 is the start button and program listing.

Fortunately, the start screen can be customized.

I wound up adding and moving all the applications to the main part of the window, especially the link to the "desktop". The Windows Key comes in very handy for getting back to the start screen.