New Laptop

[Joe Carrick]

I got my Asus G74SX i7 2630QM @ 2.8 GHz Turbo-boost , 12GB, GeoForce GTX560M 3GB, Windows 7 at Fryes for $1300.

It's super quiet and runs quite cool. Naturally it's a bit heavy, but it still fits in my case that I used with my 17" HP Laptop.

[Barton Brown]

Thank you for the observations on the G74SX!

[curbappeal]

I paid $1199.00

[Donald Freix]

Mine still works faster than I can.

[marty]

I was having trouble with my Asus K52J which is an i5 2.4G processor and 4GB ram. It turned out that the problem was the Optimus graphics system which controlled wether the 1gb Nvidia card was controlling the graphics or the integrated Intel chip. I found out that you had to tell the Optimus system that Chief needed the Nvidia graphics. Without that setting running on the integrated Intel chip which we all know is a peice of **** when it comes to Chief.

Although the Optimus system is fine in theory - only use the high power graphics when necessary to extend battery life - I suspect the associated proceesing required slows down the system. I am considering looking at completely disabling the inegrated graphics to see it if gives further improvement. For me running on battery is a convinience rather than a necessity.

[ECSURFER84]

Going to plug Puget Systems here, i built my powerhouse computer there. A+ customer service rating through the BBB. www.pugetsystems.com

i will never use a "branded" company again. these guys are amazing. Leading computer building company in the US!

[dr0591]

Ric, that computer is a thing of beauty.

I just ordered the same laptop as a lot of you are talking about: Asus G74Sx XR1 i7 2630QM 2 GHz, 12 GB RAM, GeForce GTX560M 3GB. Mine cost $1399 at Microworx, our local geek computer build store. I'm thinking about adding an SSD once the prices on them come down a bit.

It will arrive mid-week -- I'm so excited! I've never owned a laptop before so this will be a whole new adventure. I'm happy to hear you all saying good things about this rig. Let me know if you have any suggestions about setup, performance enhancement, etc.

[Tommy Blair]

I was having trouble with my Asus K52J which is an i5 2.4G processor and 4GB ram. It turned out that the problem was the Optimus graphics system which controlled wether the 1gb Nvidia card was controlling the graphics or the integrated Intel chip. I found out that you had to tell the Optimus system that Chief needed the Nvidia graphics. Without that setting running on the integrated Intel chip which we all know is a peice of **** when it comes to Chief.

Although the Optimus system is fine in theory - only use the high power graphics when necessary to extend battery life - I suspect the associated proceesing required slows down the system. I am considering looking at completely disabling the inegrated graphics to see it if gives further improvement. For me running on battery is a convinience rather than a necessity.

Marty, Mine is the same way with the graphics for the same reasons. Mine is set for high power so the graphic chipset doesn't come into play, only the graphics card. I couldn't give a flip about saving power.

[dr0591]

I'm getting my new Asus G74S laptop set up. And I just loaded Chief on it. But it says I need some special get-out-of-jail-free card to open Chief on the laptop because the license exists on my desktop computer.

I've never tried to use Chief on two computers before -- is that possible without buying 2 licenses? I would never be using both versions at the same time, so it's not like I'm trying to double-dip. Any advice for how to do this -- or whether it's possible?

Also, my desktop is 32-bit but the laptop is 64-bit. Will that difference cause any problems with plans passed between the two versions?

[marty]

With Chief running on your original machine you need to select help/deactivate license. That will allow it to run on the laptop. When you want to go back to the other machine you must repeat the process.

32/64 bit has no effect on the readibility of Chief files.

[Philco]

I have a Lenovo W520 with the NVIDIA Quadro graphics card. It's rubbish for CA, but great for AutoCAD. It's a high quality machine with only 5weeks of the three year warranty used. I want to swap it for a CA tuned laptop. If anyone knows an ACAD user, please direct them to me. Many thanks,

Phil (phil.cabinetworks@gmail.com)

p.s. I'm in Victoria, BC

Lenovo W520, i7, Win 7 Pro, 8Gig RAM, 500 Gig ROM,

[dr0591]

With Chief running on your original machine you need to select help/deactivate license. That will allow it to run on the laptop. When you want to go back to the other machine you must repeat the process.

32/64 bit has no effect on the readibility of Chief files.

Thanks, Marty -- worked perfectly. One more question -- do you know whether can I put my Chief User Library in the cloud (someplace like Dropbox) so that I can access all my goodies from either computer?

[lbuttery]

Kathleen:

its possible to relocate the library but CA discourages it

and you would lose the ability to keep it updated

just make a copy of the entire DATA folder and replace the DATA folder on the laptop and you will be in sync

repeat every so often to stay in sync

Lew

[dr0591]

So Lew, are you saying there's no way to set up Chief to save to C:\Documents and Settings\Kathleen\My Documents\Dropbox\Chief Architect Premier X4 Data, or do they just DISCOURAGE people from doing this?

By saving to Dropbox, I wouldn't have to worry about keeping my files updated -- everything would always be in sync because Chief would be using the same exact files in either location. Why is this discouraged?

I guess I could see where this might be a problem if your internet connection went down, then Chief wouldn't have its resources available. And if you had a slow internet connection maybe it could really bog things down.

[louis]

Kathleen,

Remember Lew does not make Chief policy. He just spouts it all the time!

Check with them.