Workstation Laptop

Hi
I am helping my wife's friend to find most suitable workstation laptop - there could be some delays related to information travel back and forth. This person knows nothing about hardware, hence my involvement.

Here are the basic specs, it is in Tomshardware format, since I already asked the same question there, but no one could suggest anything applicable for me.

1. What is your budget?

around $4.000 USD

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

A 17-19 inch screen would be great to see all the details on the programs I’ll be running.

3. What screen resolution do you want?

4k. Touch screen is not necessary, but it is a plus.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

I need a portable laptop. Hopefully not too heavy if possible.

5. How much battery life do you need?

I would be fine with 5 hours of battery life since I am often around outlets. I would not carry an extra battery.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?

No gaming.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

CAD, SolidWorks, Matlab, Mathematica, Simulink, and Photo/Video editing software (not sure which yet).

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

1TB or above.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

Doesn't know

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

At least five years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

Bluray ROM/Writer, external USB is OK.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

I have only owned a Toshiba, EEE Pc, HP, and Dell laptops. Mainly used them to watch movies, use social media and for Office (P.P., Word, Excel, etc.), nothing too demanding. I would like to purchase a reliable and portable laptop that I can use for many years to come.

I already tried configurator, but not sure about best CPU/GPU combo.

I see that DS is offering for harker workstation laptop Haswell only due to the use of K3100M GPU, but latest gaming Harker comes with Skylake, which is paired with GTX 980M (professional end will require Quaddro M GPU chip, which DS is not offering yet, wonder when).

The nature of that laptop is to have strongest CPU possible, since main programs will need to use CPU for heavy mathematical calculations.

So, one of the questions - do I really need Quaddro GPU or GTX will be fine for above mentioned programs to run perfect?

Another question is battery life. I do understand that mobile desktop will suck power like no tomorrow, so using Skylake will extend battery life compare to Haswell, or not at all, or insignificant to think about?

Any other suggestions appreciated.

Thanks in advance.



Edited by kisianik - 03 Nov 2015 at 4:40pm

Originally posted by db188 i'm pretty sure DS laptop chassis don't utilize 4k screens.  you should look at a Dell M3800 if that is a non-starter.

Thanks for quick reply, however I am Ok with 1920 x 1080, which is exactly what is offered, my main questions are around CPU/GPU combo.

I understand that SolidWorks require Quaddro chips, which are offered only for Haswell CPU, but I might scale down my requirements for the matter of longer battery life, if it is an option - I need at least a 2 hour battery life.

Is it even possible with DS laptops, since I don't see mobile CPU/GPU offering.