April Reviews

• HP Compaq 8710w (First Look Review) - mobile workstation with Intel Core 2 microprocessor, connectivity options, good battery life, gives good performance, highly praised by Ron LaFon, Cadalyst

• Dell Precision M4300 - Weighing just 6.3 lbs, this mobile workstation is fully certified for those who use design software on the road or in the field. by Ron LaFon, Cadalyst

• Workstation reviews - Written by Greg Corke

• Thin Is In - flat-panel LCD monitors reviews: ThinkVision L220x, NEC MultiSync LCD2690WUXi, ViewSonic VP2250wb plus DisplayMate Multimedia Edition on USB drive, Ron LaFon, Cadalyst,

Computers & Video Cards

Sometime back we started building computers using the BAREBONES Shuttle. Below you can find all the components to put together a GREAT computer. We buy our components from NEWEGG.COM. and have found that they give good service and provide products and components as stated.

Design & Drafting makes no guarantees but we have had huge success with NEWEGG.COM and Shuttle computers.

Video Cards

Understand video cards and how they can make you experince with LD Assistant or AutoCAD© better.
With LD Assistant or AutoCAD© you can leverage the capabilities of NVIDIA® Quadro® professional-class GPUs to incorporate high-quality 3D models into your work flow. Easily boost your performance with Quadro professional graphics solutions and create and interact with more accurate product designs without sacrificing visual quality.

NVIDIA is taking aim at 3-D CAD users looking for a performance boost.
The Quadro FX 3700 comes stocked with 112 parallel processors, 512 Mbyte of onboard graphics memory and a 256-bit memory interface. The benefits of this high-tech hardware mix are higher throughput for interactive visualization while also boosting the graphics board’s ability to handle the large-size models and complex shaders that are so closely associated with today’s CAD.

ATI and Nvidia are back with brand new families of professional graphics cards.
Back in April Nvidia introduced its eighth generation (G80) graphics architecture with the unveiling of the Quadro FX 4600 and FX 5600. These ultra-high end cards heralded the arrival of the industry’s first unified graphics architecture, which uses general purpose processing units which are dynamically allocated to geometry or shader tasks as required.

If you can put the components together you will save a lot of money.
Be sure to read the product reviews by people who have purchased before making a decision.

Desktop

Great Computer for $1,621.00 Click here to view Shuttle models at newegg.com

COMPUTER: Shuttle SX38P2-Pro Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel X38 4 x 240Pin $429.00
VIDEO CARD: PNY VCQFX1500-PCIE-PB-V Quadro FX1500 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 $489.00
RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $144.00
HARD DRIVE: EXCELSTOR Jupiter Series ESJ8160 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB $44.00
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache $349.99
DVD: PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL $25.99
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2C $140.00
Click here to view the

KILLER Computer for fast rendering $2,257.00
COMPUTER: Shuttle SX38P2-Pro Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel X38 4 x 240Pin $429.00
VIDEO CARD: PNY VCQFX1500-PCIE-PB-V Quadro FX1500 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 $489.00
RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $144.00
HARD DRIVE: EXCELSTOR Jupiter Series ESJ8160 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB $44.00
CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 $985.00
DVD: PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL $25.99
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2C $140.0

Note: The SX38P2-Pro model fan is a bit LOUD so you may wnat to look at the SP35P2
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Laptops

Great Laptop

Dell Precision M90: Starting price $2,137.00
Dell Precision M90: Fully loaded around $3,300.00
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Killer Laptop

Dell Precision M6300: Starting price $2,200
Dell Precision M6300: Fully loaded depending on the options between $3,800.00 and $5,000.00

April Articles

• Benchmarking CAD skills for recruitment - A more targeted approach to benchmarking CAD skills for recruitment can give HR managers support in assessing the technical competence of candidates at interview stage, says Rory Vance, Managing Director, CADsmart.

• Autodesk stands behind education, offering a variety of programs and products for future engineers.

• Apple is buying Autodesk©. Yeah right!

• Weekend CAD Warrior - using AutoCAD© to update looks of old outdoor chair, Kevin McWhirter.

• Quick Tip - Start up - Any user can customize the software to work almost however the want it to.

• Complex Linetypes - Fun with Complex Linetypes was the working title for this lesson by Jim Rogers.

• The Oops command - Where Oops has the advantage is that it can unerase something that you erased 100 commands ago, without undoing the intervening 99 commands.

• Quick Xref Tip - Here is a quick tip to use when working with xref's.

• Autodesk Design Review 2009 - new features - Do you use DWF files? I love them. I feel they are far better to use than PDF files for many reasons. CAD-a-Blog

• IDEAL Introduces Contex HD Scanners - With the introduction of Contex's new HD line of scanners, IDEAL's scan-to-print and scan-to-file solutions take a step forward in performance

Recently returned from the USITT convention in Houston, Texas

We hope that you are enjoying Springtime. We have been very busy with the new release of LD Assistant 08, and recently returned from the USITT convention in Houston, Texas. It was good seeing our many friends and thanks for taking the time to stop by our booth.

Design & Drafting News

• New LIVE over the internet tech support for LD Assistant 08 users - Click here to sign up for a live demo. Design and Drafting goes beyond telephone support for your CAD questions. Via the Internet, our specialists log-in to your PC and demonstrate the answers to your questions. You see what we see. We demo what we know, so that you get answers to your questions fast and accurately! We use special Internet software and speak with you via phone so that you have solutions and can get back to your project.

• Design & Drafting add Xref to LD Assistant 08 - With xref you can perform several operations on referenced drawing (xref) files. When you attach a drawing as anxref, you link that referenced drawing to the current drawing; any changes to the referenced drawing are displayed in the current drawing when it is opened or reloaded. Click here to read more about xref

• More Amazing Renderings - Send YOUR spectacular rendering to sales at design-drafting dot com and we will feature it in an upcoming issue of our newsletter or on our website. Check out the new renderings by GB Stephens Associate Professor of Design and Manager of the School of Theatre and Dance CADArts Center University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. I think you will be impressed by the quality of these renderings. Click here to view new renderings

• Stock20.com - Earn Free Music Just For Bragging Have you used Stock20 music for any high profile clients, or exciting projects? If so, tell us about them. If we use the information for promotional purposes we'll give you a free song credit, and (maybe) cast a life-size bronze statue of you in our studio. Send Tara an e-mail with the juicy details. Click here to visit Stock20.com

• Please note that Design & Drafting office will be closed from June 1 to June 9th