[chessnut2]

I've found what I think is a good deal on a new laptop to replace my 12 year old one. The one I'm looking at has an AMD Radeon R7 graphics card. I looked in some Sketchup forums, and found that some people have had probems with that card displaying properly for Sketchup 2017. Those posts were from the first part of last year, but I haven't seen anything recent about if Sketchup has made any display changes. Does anyone here use Sketchup 2017 on a computer that has that AMD Radeon R7 graphics card? If so, have you had good or bad experience with it? All help appreciated. thanks.

 

[roxanne562001]

I am running a AMD processor with Radeon R7 graphics adaptor in one of my laptops. I have had no problems using sketchup make 2017 on this machine so far. If you get it make sure you go to the AMD site and download the latest drivers and updates for your mother board and graphics. I had a few problems with that laptop early on when I installed an SSD for some reason the early AMD drivers didn't want to play nice with the SSD but since I updated the BIO's everything has been fine. Laptops are getting so low priced now it is amazing. You can find some pretty hot laptops in the $300 to $500. range either AMD or Intel

 

[gmercer_48083]

Jim, I tried to install sketchup2017 when it was first offered, and it wouldn't install because my computer didn't support some display thingy. I may try again. I also would like to know the answer to your question.

 

[chessnut2]

I am running a AMD processor with Radeon R7 graphics adaptor in one of my laptops. I have had no problems using sketchup make 2017 on this machine so far. If you get it make sure you go to the AMD site and download the latest drivers and updates for your mother board and graphics. I had a few problems with that laptop early on when I installed an SSD for some reason the early AMD drivers didn't want to play nice with the SSD but since I updated the BIO's everything has been fine. Laptops are getting so low priced now it is amazing. You can find some pretty hot laptops in the $300 to $500. range either AMD or Intel

Thanks, Roxanne. That goes a long way toward my decision. Yes, computers and especially laptop prices for good ones has gone down drastically. My first windows computer back in 1994 or so was the first Pentium, a Pentium 60. That's 60MB processor! The computer (with CD-ROM only), with 8 megs of ram, a 14 inch monitor, keyboard, and mouse was $2000. If you wanted to increase memory, it cost $40 per megabyte. My first hard drive upgrade was a 250 MB one for $175. Those people are probably still taking Caribbean vacations with what we paid them.

 

[chessnut2]

Jim, I tried to install sketchup2017 when it was first offered, and it wouldn't install because my computer didn't support some display thingy. I may try again. I also would like to know the answer to your question.

Actually, I installed mine when it first came out, too. The display was so pixelated that it was impossible to see. It just occurred to me that maybe I should uninstall and reinstall to see if they made any improvements in it before I buy a new computer. Thanks for mentioning that.

 

[MT Stringer]

Not to hi-jack, but I have a Toshiba Satellite C55 or something like that. I5 Intel CPU. It had 8GB ram, but recently I have upgraded to 16GB, and upgraded the SSD from 256GB to 1TB. The SSD really makes a performance improvement.

I also wish the graphics were better. I have it connected to a 22 inch monitor and the lid stays closed all the time (I use a Microsoft wireless keyboard/mouse). There have been times when I zoom in all the way to view details, Sketchup 2017 will hang and I can't zoom out. I have to click the extents button to get out of the close-up view. Not sure if that is a program bug or my computer set up.

 

[chessnut2]

Not to hi-jack, but I have a Toshiba Satellite C55 or something like that. I5 Intel CPU. It had 8GB ram, but recently I have upgraded to 16GB, and upgraded the SSD from 256GB to 1TB. The SSD really makes a performance improvement.

I also wish the graphics were better. I have it connected to a 22 inch monitor and the lid stays closed all the time (I use a Microsoft wireless keyboard/mouse). There have been times when I zoom in all the way to view details, Sketchup 2017 will hang and I can't zoom out. I have to click the extents button to get out of the close-up view. Not sure if that is a program bug or my computer set up.

Yeah, even my old computer does just fine with Sketchup 2016. It has the capability to turn off hardware acceleration, and that clears it up. But 2017 doesn't have that capability, and if you turn hardware acceleration off in Windows, it messes everything else up.

When someone sends me a file in 2017 format, I open it and then save it in 2016 format. Then I can open in just fine in my 2016 that's still on the computer. It's not much trouble, but I figure the old computer's going to be having other problems, so I might as well buy a new one before I get into a have-to crisis. But I'll be mad if I still have problems with 2017 on it.

 

[MT Stringer]

@chessnut2 - I went in to one of my files last night and browsed around in it zooming in and out. It was the kitchen design for Archie's rent house. I didn't have any problems with it hanging up.

Hmmm...I don't know if it is the result of the new 1TB SSD or the extra 8 GB ram (16 total), but I didn't have any problems. I guess time will tell. I do know from experience a SSD will make a dramatic performance improvement over a regular hard drive. It is obvious with this laptop. Zoom-Zoom!

Windows 10 64bit OS so it can use all of the memory needed. Sketchup and most of my other programs are also 64 bit versions.

 

[chessnut2]

@chessnut2 - I went in to one of my files last night and browsed around in it zooming in and out. It was the kitchen design for Archie's rent house. I didn't have any problems with it hanging up.

Hmmm...I don't know if it is the result of the new 1TB SSD or the extra 8 GB ram (16 total), but I didn't have any problems. I guess time will tell. I do know from experience a SSD will make a dramatic performance improvement over a regular hard drive. It is obvious with this laptop. Zoom-Zoom!

Windows 10 64bit OS so it can use all of the memory needed. Sketchup and most of my other programs are also 64 bit versions.

Yeah, this new one will be 3.2 Ghz processor and 12 Gigs of memory. I should probably look at how much more the SSD would add. They're usually smaller capacity, but I don't store too much anyway. As old as my computer is, I still only have about half of a 500 gigabyte hard drive full, and a lot of that is obsolete junk.

 

[MT Stringer]

Yeah, this new one will be 3.2 Ghz processor and 12 Gigs of memory. I should probably look at how much more the SSD would add. They're usually smaller capacity, but I don't store too much anyway. As old as my computer is, I still only have about half of a 500 gigabyte hard drive full, and a lot of that is obsolete junk.

I split the 1TB in to two drives. The OS and all programs are on the C:\Drive. The E:\ drive has all data - DIY projects, pictures, music, etc. I make a backup of the E Drive nightly using SyncToy. And every Saturday night, Acronis True Image makes a backup of the C:\Drive. All backups go to an external hdd.

 

[CAD-Man]

My stipulation on a laptops are as follows. If you have $500 to spend on a computer and you think I can save $200 by buying a $300 computer, don't do it buy, the $500 laptop. Laptops are a funny commodity, the old saying you get what you pay for plays very heavy in the laptop market. You always buy the most laptop you can afford, not oh boy I can save money if I do this.

Most newre laptop have no upgrade path, the newer models do not allow user memory or drive upgrades. To save space and design thinner and lighter laptops there are soldering the solid state drives and memory straight to the motherboard. Anymore I will not buy a laptop unless it has an Intel i7 (or AMD equivalent) Processor with 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD. I have one laptop that has both a 512 GB SSD and a 1TB hard Drive. An yes these laptops are expensive but they also last me several years. I also don't ask a laptop to do a job that a Desktop is really designed to do.

Like I have mentioned before I have a small computer repair hobby, nothing is worse then going to a small business and try to speed up an i3 processor, 4GB 256GB hard drive Windows 10 laptop used to run business software. And of course I hear "I wanted to save some money so I bought this cheaper computer".

CAD-Man