surely not… for roughly half the price of a decent iMac you’ll get a system w/ pretty high(er) specs.
You should think about graphics cards at least initally buying an iMac, versions w/ an integrated intel HD only are not preferrable.
Excuse us, but the initial release of MS Windows was November 20, 1985.
The initial release of Linux was September 17, 1991. Your statement does not match reality.
This is a personal opinion and not an actual proven truth. You have been asked several times in the past (by Admins) to stop this promotion of Linux, as Trimble does not support running SketchUp under Linux. It is not necessary and we are quite weary of hearing it.
Linux discussion is off-topic. This topic is about hardware choice for the MS Windows edition of SketchUp and you’ve managed once again to highjack a topic into a Linux promotion.
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Surely. 1/2 the price of a decent iMac is about $800, and that doesn’t get much of a PC that can compare. Additionally, there’s only one iMac that doesn’t have a dedicated GPU even available, and the rest would run circles around the computer in discussion here, even going back 3-5 years.
the entry level 27" iMac with an 8. gen i5 @ 3.0 GHz, 16 GB RAM and a Radeon Pro 570 with a list price of U$ 2,000.- cannot compete in any area with the performance of e.g. a nearly half-priced HP Omen 880-178ng with a i7-8700K and a GTX 1060… at least according hardware benchmarks.
@dpc was referencing “any moderately-priced Windows machine.” and not the budget system discussed here.
It’s only half priced if you don’t include a 5k 27” display that retails for almost $1500 by itself. And yes even that Radeon would compete easily with a 1060, according to every public benchmark out there.
Definitely CANNOT use Intel HD graphics. I had to buy a whole new computer after Win 10 updates caused problems after a certain point last year.
Spend for an engineering graphics card if possible, not a gamer’s card. NVIDIA Quardro series for example. I’m running a Quadro K3000M.
In fact, the machine I’m running is an absolute tank. See if your boss will pop $500 or so on Ebay…
HP Elitebook 8770W
17.3" screen
i7
16 GB RAM
2TB SSD hard drive
nVidia Quadro K3000M
Totally loaded and upgraded (2TB SSD!) for $687.
The 8770w is built like a tank, and runs REALLY cool.
if you want one that is loaded, right now, its on eBay:
“HP ELITEBOOK 8770W QUAD CORE I7-3820QM 16GB 512GB K5000M 1080P BACKLIT WIN 10” $695 SSD storage.
The Quadro K5000 is a hefty engineering video card and should stand you in good stead for a long time…4GB dedicated graphics!
OK ithe laptop is on eBay and is used…but as I understand it, these are VERY expensive laptops, brand new. They are designed to be a desktop in a laptop shape. Good business deal–give your employee a top-of-the-line engineering computer that will last a long time, for a price that you can’t touch even for a low-end computer that is engineering-ready!
Tom Huntford
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Have you considered a used computer?
a Radeon RX 570 delivers a G3D Mark of 6,896 points, the GTX 1060 of 9,095 points ~ 32% faster.
but yes, a common 27" 4K display would add approx. 300 bucks… whereas a glued all-in-one doesn’t allow the choice of the display (size, resolution, matte/glare, panel type) as well as limiting the possibilities of upgrades as well as maintenance.
in short, CPU sub-par, GPU sub-par, no circles anywhere.
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integrated intel HD series is problematic under Windows only, macOS uses own drivers and is not affected.
SU in general does not profit from expensive Quadro/FirePro GPUs, a GeForce GTX delivers the best bang for the buck (= performance & mature OpenGL support).
5k. Not common either. Adds easily $1000.
near to no benefit if not even worse because mediocre high-dpi scaling of SU for ~700 bucks more compared with a 4K monitor… that’s burning money in pure culture.