Dell XPS 15 9550 v. Dell Precision 15 5510

I do not know what SketchUp 2016 will hold, but my suggestion would be higher resolution. - Yes.

I can hardly see anyone using their laptop JUST for SketchUp.
Plus, photoshop and other applications have been implementing higher resolution well nowadays.

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I’m also considering new Precision 5510. It’s benefit is that it is more configurable. And you can get it with new Xeon.

would check HP’s brand-new lineup of mobile ZBook workstations too, especially the ZBook Studio looks pretty nifty.

I have an XPS 15, maxed out on memory and 500GB solid state drive with 3840 x 2160 display. the SSD is not big enough so I almost always have an external USB drive attached (they are small and cheap for 1.5 TB)
I found the 4K display useless because text is too small to read. I have it permanently set to run at 1920x1080 (what a waste). Someday maybe software will accommodate this so you can have big enough text with 4K graphics.
However, I love a 4K display. I have an external monitor attached (38") which is great. If I had it to do over I’d by the laptop with the 1920x1080 and when I’m home use the external display with 4K.
The shiny screen is a pain but I get along with it OK.
I don’t find the touch screen terribly useful because it is always upright in front of me (not flat like paper on a table) and it’s just as easy to use the mouse pad.

Very sound solution.

Thanks!
Any comments on performance with big models? I was thinking about Precision mainly because of Quadro M1000M - it’s drivers might have been tuned for much better OpenGL performance.

Cinebench R15 - OpenGL 64Bit

  • XPS - 46.3
  • Precision - 98.09
    Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
  • XPS - 25.66
  • Precision - 85.95

I understand that these are just tests (and not SketchUp performance). But this made me think that M1000M will be much better in OpenGL that SketchUp is using (despite it’s being much slower in DirectX, which is not important for me).

I can offer this tidbit. I’ve been using a Precision 6800 for a while now and so far had no success persuading Sketchup to utilize the Quadro® K2200M card. I don’t know if the problem is with Windows 8, Sketchup or Dell.

Shep

What do you mean by “utilize”? Do you know any “standard” test which will report SketchUp’s performance on certain hardware?

As I can see from Graphics card monitor - it uses it. And SketchUp works much better on my machine with K2000M compared to colleagues with K1000M. (but I’ve never used it on GeForce and have no experience with new Maxwell cards)

I’m using Precision 4700 for last 3 years. Good and reliable fast machine, but big and heavy.

In Sketchup Preferences>OpenGL, Details. I only see Intel Graphics.

No, I’m afraid not.

I like the PC however and yes this one is a bit heavy.

S

Do you have external monitor connected and proper drivers installed?
My machine is older than yours. And I don’t have such problem.

I just bought an HP Pavilion (refurbished) 17". The start button stopped working completely after six weeks of fiddling with sleep/hibernate/shutdown issues. Pretty good support, they sent a prepaid box, fixed it and sent it back. But it still doesn’t work. The button works again, as does the same software configuration problem. How could they ‘fix’ a computer and not test it to see if you can turn it off and on? In the process, they back up my files and reload the OS (clean again) which is always good.
It’s going back, I’m pretty sure it’s a bios upgrade required, that’s why the new OS install didn’t change anything. But I’m not going to attempt that. Not a lot of work being done on that machine. So I’d summarize by saying the computer shipped with an old BIOS, (not Win10 ready) and a 19 cent on/off switch. What an incredible waste of everyone’s time.

I use a EXTERNAL USB hard drive to drag and drop ALL THE FILES to … Then I can do a total ERASE, FORMAT, and re install . . Usually fixes 99 % of problems . . JUST AN IDEAL TO TOSS YOUR WAY . . Time Consuming but works
OH YEAH And have all the drivers handy to re install so all of the things work . .
Question there have you totally Max’d out the on board RAM ? . . Makes big difference in what the computer will do and how fast it does it . . Like a GIANT CHALK BOARD for the computer to write on . .

My first computer had RAM problems too. Timex/Sinclair Personal Computer 16k. It was sold as “the first” personal computer for $175 (I think I paid), from an advert in PC Magazine in 1981, or so. The drive was a cassette deck, the monitor a 14" B&W TV. Forget programs. There was a booklet on DOS.

After one of driver updates (or something else) got the same problem as you. Will use only Intel GMA if docked and using laptop display and external ones. If only externals - SketchUp will use nVidia Quadro with no problems. Even if I force to use Quadro in driver. No chance. So have to go “external monitors only” for big models. Strange bug. Possibly, Nvidia/Optimus/Intel are to blame. Or how SketchUp selects what graphics to use. :frowning:

Take a look at my post 7 or 8 in this thread. http://forums.sketchup.com/t/jagged-lines-on-brand-new-computer/19162/5

There’s a bit more info there by others too, hope it helps.

Shep

Agree, I have a gigabyte p34w v3 with GTX970, 14" screen 1920 x 1080 … light and powerful as I travel a lot, but at my office I have bought everyone Samsung 4k 42" TV’s and although we only have HDMI1.2 they seem to connect fine.

THe displays are brilliant as they equal an A1 drawing at 1:1

Sorry for “necroposting” - decided to write a small update in case if thill helps someone else.
Got mine Dell Precision m5510 (i7-6820HQ, 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe, Quadro m1000m) and very happy with it, significantly faster compared to my previous m4700. And is almost twice as light.

Did you test big skp models with a lot of polygons with your Dell Precision m5510? Are you using AutoCad also in this machine?

The biggest model I worked on it was approx. 245MB. Worked OK.

Plus machine is driving HTC Vive with models up to 100MB, approximately. (40MB is more comfortable, but was surprised it was able to do it at all)

No, I don’t use AutoCAD. (only DWG True View)

I’m looking now for a new laptop, now I have an old MacBook Pro 2013, and if I need to explode big model from imported CAD model, it can take me 1 night to do it. I’m thinking now to buy Dell Precision 5520 or 7720 but I don’t know if it help me to solve my problem. By the way, can you check this model in your laptop?