I would appreciate some suggestions regarding selection of Mobile Workstation for use with fairly heavy AutoCAD models. We are using a plugin to generate industry site layouts, at a fairly large scale (hundreds of Hectares), involving 3D terrain point clouds and the likes.

Looking for:

• AutoCAD certified Graphics hardware i.e. NVIDIA RTX A2000 Laptop GPU. https://www.autodesk.co.nz/support/system-requirements/certified-graphics-hardware/autocad
• Lots of ram (64GB+)
• Fairly quick modern processer (something with good single thread performance, as some of the stuff I used is single threaded.
• Available fairly quickly

Nice to have's:

• 15-16" screen size
• Not to massively heavy
• Compatibility with a dock that is also compatible with regular laptops
• 1920x1200 screen resolution

Not fussed about:

• Battery life
• Touch screen
• Cost (just needs to be reasonable - hardware is relatively cheaper compared to the annual software cost for the licenses i have been provided)
• Brand

Current front runners

https://www.justlaptops.co.nz/lenovo-thinkpad-p16v-isv-certified-workstation-16-wquxga-i9-vpro-13900h-64gb-5600-1tb-g4-rtx2000-ada-8g-5mp-ir-cam-winpro-backlit-90wh-3yronsite-2-2kg-19338?search=P16v+64gb&description=true

Positives:

• Powerful
• Fairly cheap for spec level

Negatives

• Bulky
• Power & dock ports on the rear, not side
• Review say the fans are loud
• 3840 x 2400 seems excessive on a 16" screen
• Hard drive is 2x 512gb not a single 1TB

https://www.dell.com/en-nz/shop/laptop-notebook-computers/precision-3581-workstation/spd/precision-15-3581-laptop/on3581wm08nz_vp

+ a ram upgrade to 64GB (around $550)

Positives:

• Powerful
• Smaller & Lighter than Lenovo
• Only needs 130W power adaptor, so able to run on a dell usb C docking station, with a single USB-C port which would also be companiable with my co-workers laptops (and I already have such a dell dock at home)
• FHD screen will have a similar pixel density to my external monitor.

Negatives:

• Need to upgrade ram
• Relatively more expensive

For background:

• Currently am issued a ASUS Zenbook 14 with 16GB ram (soldered), i7-1260P, integrated graphics & a glorious 2880x1800 touch screen. Sadly it is not cutting it under 1 FPS when Tilting larger models, frequent AutoCAD crashes, which I think are linked to RAM I think as I can get some stable running if I close everything else (of course not ideal as I like to have outlook, teams, a few internet tabs and a document open at the same time). Screen is stunning to look at, but it is not so good for sharing on teams, and dragging windows between screen is less fluid than my other setups.
• My prior employer issued me a dell precision 5560, which is a ultraslim 15" mobile workstation. It has 64GB ram, a 12th gen i9 processor, dedicated graphics & a 1920x1200 screen. Was really fond of it, but it is discontinued, and given I have gone from biking to work everyday, to driving twice a week, size / weight is less of an issue now.
• My personal laptop is a 2012 era Dell M4700, which with some extensive maintenance is still going strong. I brought it used in 2013 with 40GB or ram installed.

General comments:

• What is with mobile workstation vendors offering their retail laptops with such small amounts of RAM (especially when it is soldered?) - Dell only offers a single ($7600) model with 64gb of ram in their entire retail workstation lineup...
• I really don't want to undershoot on capability here. Kind of only get once chance to go to your employer and say hey, I need a much more powerful computer... On the other hand I am kinda managing now (just) with a consumer laptop.