The best laptop for SolidWorks should ensure stable, lag-free performance as you navigate the viewport, simulate, and model parts.

The hardware requirements depend on the size of your projects.

A small project (under 100 parts) is less likely to crash on most laptops with a 2GB VRAM GPU.

However, a large assembly (500+ parts) is very prone to crashing during viewport navigation unless you have a laptop with 6GB of VRAM.

These are typical projects for a SolidWorks student:

A consumer (gaming) laptop with a 2-4GB VRAM GPU can handle this pretty easily.

But…

Once you’re dealing with part counts in the thousands—like a project from an automobile company—you’ll want to look at laptops with 6-8GB of VRAM.

Basically, the bigger the assembly, the more VRAM you’ll need

Now…

How do you get reliable info on the GPU you need for SolidWorks?

1. The official site recommends certified workstation laptops. They definitely perform better than any ‘gaming GPU,’ but they’re overkill and way too expensive for most people reading this.

      2. You could ask for advice on the SolidWorks subreddit—just be specific about what you’re doing in SolidWorks. The only downside is, a lot of people there will  still recommend workstation GPUs no matter what you say.”

Now..

I have used Solidworks since my 3rd year in college and have used the software thereafter on different rigs with increasingly higher assmbly sizes (50-1000 parts). 

Recommended Laptop Specs For Solidworks

In my company we have a lab and a personal laptop in the office, the lab gives me access to different rigs with different hardware and since my assemblies usually range from 100 to 1000 parts, this has naturally forced me to benchmark the software under different hardware configurations.

The following table is based on my experience benchmarking Solidworks under several different hardware configurations during my lab years:

	Small 100-300		Large 500-1000+
	Modeling & Drawing	Simulation & Rendering	Modeling & Drawing	Simulation & Rendering
GPU	2GB vRAM GPU	4GB vRAM GPU	6-16GB vRAM NVIDIA RTX GPU 6-16GB vRAM RTX  workstation GPU: Ex. RTX Ada 3000, 5000
CPU	10th, 11th, 12th, 13th gen Core i5 5th, 6th, 7th Ryzen 5	10th, 11th, 12th, 13th gen Core i5 5th, 6th, 7th Ryzen 5	Intel Core i7 H 11th 12th gen 13th gen Ryzen 7 H 5th 6th 7th gen 5th 6th gen	Latest Core i7 or Core i9 Ryzen i7 or Ryzen 9
RAM	8GB	16GB	16GB	32-64GB

[1] More specifically 100 parts = 4GB vRAM.  500-1000=6GB vRAM +1000-5000=8GB-16GB vRAM

This table is not very hardware specific but as long as you hover around the requirements for your project sizes, you will be alright . Remember to be strict about the vRAM size according to your assembly size and the rest of the hardware will take care of itself automatically (these GPUs are automatically paired with required remaining hardware most of the time).

Q: Why do you separate Modeling and Rendering? 

Modeling is much less hardware demanding. One can model, draw , design on a less powerful machine (a laptop), then use a desktop to render or even a cloud service. 

Don’t worry, the following laptops can do both on the same machine.

Top 6 Best Laptops for SolidWorks

Before you buy a laptop please keep in mind that the requirements for a student are v different from a professional. 

Student: Only needs a 4GB vRAM GPU (100-300 parts projects) at the most. If you’re in college taking a solidworks class as an elective you may only need a 2GB vRAM GPU.

Professional: Bare bone minimum is 6GB vRAM GPU on a laptop with a very recent Ryzen 7/Core i7 CPU.

What about workstation laptops and GPUs? 

Stability is needed when you work on very very large assemblies because the software becomes more and more unstable the more complexity there is in the mechanics. I go into detail in the last section, give it a quick read if you’re interested. 

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1. Acer Nitro 17

The Best Laptop For SolidWorks – 8GB vRAM GPU

  Intel Core i7-14650HX

  16GB RAM DDR5

  NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU

  1TB GB PCIe NVMe SSD (Free Slot for upgrade)

  17.3″ QHD 165Hz IPS

  6.8 lbs

  2  hours

  GPU: 4060RTX (8GB vRAM) vs 3060RTX (6GB vRAM)

For both students and professionals, a laptop with a mid-tier GPU—like the RTX 3060 or RTX 4060—offers a balanced performance. This year’s mid-tier RTX GPUs come with 8GB of VRAM, which might be more than students need, but the price difference compared to laptops with 6GB VRAM GPUs and the latest Core i7 CPUs is minimal.

The release of the 4th generation RTX GPUs has also made the 3rd generation RTX GPUs more affordable. So, if you’re a student and find a laptop with an RTX 3060 at a lower price, it’s a solid choice. You might not fully utilize 8GB of VRAM during your courses. However, if you plan to work on company projects soon, investing in a higher VRAM GPU could be beneficial. If you don’t see yourself working with SolidWorks professionally in the near future, consider other options.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS

The cool thing about this laptop is that it has the latest-gen Core i7 CPU. As far as laptops go, this is the newest Core i7 available. You could also consider the 8th-gen Ryzen model, but it’s not currently available on the Acer Nitro 17 (which is one of the most affordable laptops with this level of performance).

So far, the 14th-gen Core i7 seems to have better single-thread and multi-thread performance than the 7th and 8th-gen Ryzen 7 CPUs. But we’ll need more data to be completely sure about its edge in multi-threaded apps over the 8th-gen Ryzen 7, since that one just launched on laptops a few months ago. Check out my post here for benchmarks comparing Core i7 vs. Ryzen 7 performance across several generations.

RAM: 16GB vs 32GB

This laptop comes with 16GB of RAM, which should be plenty for most professionals. However, it’s not uncommon to need 32GB in some cases. If you work with:

• Models with over 1,000 parts
• Or need to render frequently

Then you might want to upgrade the RAM to 32GB after purchase. You’ll see the biggest performance boost in rendering, where those extra minutes saved can really add up.

Going beyond 64GB RAM can be helpful too, but it’s rare to need that much. If you do, you’d probably also need more CPU and GPU power, and a desktop might be a better choice

QHD + 17”

Another standout feature of this laptop is the display. It’s one thing to have a 17″ screen, but having it in QHD makes a huge difference in workspace. This gives you a bigger view of your 3D model while part modeling, plus enough room to keep more toolbars—whether from the software or plugins—right next to your canvas. You could do this on smaller displays too, of course, but the more interface/toolbars you add, the smaller your view of the model will be

  Performance

This isn’t a laptop I’d recommend for an engineering student or someone just starting out in SolidWorks. This is a workhorse for someone already in the field or about to enter it—and even then, it might be more than you need.

As for how much this laptop can handle before lagging, I’d say you’ll get smooth performance with up to 1,000 parts on a 6GB VRAM GPU, and up to 1,500 parts with this GPU, with no lag. By ‘no lag,’ I mean a very smooth viewport as you add or edit parts.

Check out the example in the video below—it’s a bit old, but it’s still great for showing what a large project looks like.

Notice how the user can easily navigate the viewport and part model through the large assembly. Rendering a project of this size might take around 5-10 minutes if you max out the RAM to 32GB, but it would take longer with Core i5/Ryzen 5 CPUs that only have 4-6GB of VRAM

Acer Nitro 17
PROS	CONS
Latest Core i7 8GB vRAM dGPU Large resolution + Large display   Good for both students & Pros 16GB RAM DDR5 out of the box	Very Heavy Over 1000 dollars Overkill for students

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2. HP Victus Gaming 3

Budget Laptop for Solidworks

  Intel Core i5-13420H

  16GB RAM DDR4

  3050  RTX (6GB vRAM)

  1TB PCIe NVMe SSD

  15.6″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS display

  5.06 lbs

  3 hours

This laptop is a better fit for those in engineering school or learning SolidWorks at an institute.

For engineering students, it might feel a bit overkill since most SolidWorks courses in school don’t go beyond 50-100 parts. However, it could be really useful during the first year after graduation—especially if you land a job in a 3D modeling role.

  Hardware: 3050RTX

  Performance

Performance should be very smooth when working on projects with 50-100 parts, with some lag starting to show up around 200-300 parts. For rendering, if you’re keeping parts under 100, it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.

Now…

This might feel like overkill if you’re staying below 100 parts—you might think that a laptop with 2GB VRAM would work just as well, and you’re not wrong. They’d perform similarly for smaller projects.

But if you check the prices, laptops with an MX450 or GTX 1050 aren’t that much cheaper than this 3050 RTX model. It’s only about $100 more.

So, if you’re using this laptop strictly for school, the extra $100 might not be worth it. But if you know you’ll be using SolidWorks professionally after school, that extra investment could be a good move.

HP Victus Gaming 3
PROS	CONS
16GB RAM out of the box Relatively Cheap Perfect for solidwork students Latest Core i5 Decent battery for a gaming laptop 6GB vRAM GPUs	Heavy Low battery Not for large part models

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3. MSI Raider GE78 500 SE

Best Laptop For Solidworks – 4090RTX

  Intel Core i9-14900HX

  64GB DDR5

  NVIDIA RTX 4090 16GB vRAM

  2TB NVMe SSD

  18” 120Hz UHD+

  7.9 lbs

  1 hour

The latest MSI Raider comes with the new 14th-gen Core i9. As of early 2025, this CPU and GPU combo is the most powerful setup you’ll find on a gaming laptop.

  Hardware

As of early 2024, the RTX 4090 is still the top dog—there’s nothing more powerful out yet. The RTX 50 series is expected around mid-2025.

But the 4090 has a massive 16GB of VRAM, which is crazy for a laptop—these are desktop-level specs! This kind of power is solid for handling huge SolidWorks projects, even with assemblies in the 5,000 to 10,000-part range

  Performance

I haven’t had a chance to work with projects with thousands of parts, but based on my tests, an 8GB VRAM GPU handled a 2,000-part model at 60fps, and about 3,000 parts at half that framerate. So, my guess is that the RTX 4090 (with double the VRAM) could handle 5,000 parts smoothly at 60fps, with the framerate dropping gradually as you hit 6,000, 7,000, or even 10,000 parts. All estimates, of course—hopefully, you won’t ever need to tackle a project that size!

Photorealistic renderers like PhotoView360 should get a nice boost too, though the VRAM advantage won’t be as massive as it is for viewporting, since the 4th-gen RTX 4090 only adds around 2,000 more CUDA cores over the previous gen.

And don’t forget, this laptop has a recent Core i9 (though not the very latest), which should help speed up all stages of 3D modeling, especially rendering.

Because this is still a non-workstation GPU, some features will be limited, though RealView is still supported. Mostly, it’s some plugins that won’t be available (check the last section for details).

MSI Raider GE78 500 SE
PROS	CONS
Second Most powerful CPU as of early 2025 16GB vRAM (GPU memory) Can handle models up to 5000 parts with no lag Largest display on laptops with the highest resolution	Very Expensive May be overkill even for Pros Very Heavy Very low Battery

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Quick Workstation GPU Lesson !

The next section will cover three workstation GPUs. Keep the following table in mind when shopping for workstation laptops—it gives you the relative performance of each workstation GPU available in 2024 compared to the more common and affordable ‘consumer’ or ‘gaming’ GPUs. This comparison can help you gauge their actual value and performance.

The takeaway is that unless you’re using special plugins or features that only workstation GPUs can unlock in SolidWorks…

Workstation GPU	Consumer Equivalent	Cores/Shaders	Clock Speed	vRAM
P500	MX150-	256	1519	2GB
P520	MX150	384	1493	2GB
K2100M	GT 750M	576	667	2GB
K3100	765M-	768	706	4GB
P620	MX250/1050	512	1442	4GB
M620M	950M-	512	1018	4GB
M1000M	950M	512	1072	4GB
Pro WX 3200	RX 550	1082	640	4GB
M2000M	950M/960M	640	1197	4GB
M1200	960GTX	640	1150	4GB
P1000	1050GTX	512	1519	4GB
P2000	1050Ti	768	1468	4GB
T2000	1650/1660Ti	1024	1785	4GB
T1000	1650-	768	1455	4GB
RTX 3000	2070RTX+	1280	1380	6GB
RTX 4000	2070/2080	2560	1560	8GB
RTX 5000	2080RTX+++	3072	1350	16GB
RTX A2000	~3050Ti	2560	1200	4GB
RTX A3000	~3060RTX	4096	1560	6GB
RTX A4000	~3070RTX	5120	1560	8GB
RTX A5000	~3080RTX	6144	1695	16GB
RTX A5500	~380Ti RTX	7424	—	16GB
RTX Ada 3000	–4070RTX	4608		8GB
RTX Ada 4000	==4080RTX	5120		12GB
RTX Ada 5000	4090 RTX –	7424	1680	16GB

We’ll only go over some of the most recent and powerful workstation GPUs—the purple ones in the table. The rest are too weak and aren’t worth the extra features when you have large assemblies that will lag due to limited VRAM

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4. Dell Precision 7000 7680 

Certified Workstation Laptop For SolidWorks – Ada 3500

  Intel Core i7-13800H

  32GB DDR5 RAM

  NVIDIA RTX 3500 Ada 

  1TB NVMe SSD

  16” FHD+ IPS Anti-Glare

  4.46 lbs

  2 hours

  Hardware

RTX 3500 Ada 12GB vRAM

Not every workstation GPU is recent. Most of the ones you find online are pretty old. Once you step outside the purple ones in the table or away from the ‘RTX’ labels, they become too weak—often even weaker than a typical gaming 4GB VRAM GPU (see those labeled in blue).

Even among RTX workstation GPUs, you need to be cautious since the labels and numbers can be confusing. Right now, the Ada RTX GPUs are the fastest and the only ones that can compete with 4th-gen RTX gaming GPUs.

For the best bang for your buck, the more expensive RTX Ada 5000 is a top choice, but the 3500RTX also is super useful for SolidWorks.

  Performance

Assuming you’re working with models in the 1,000-part range (anything higher will start to lag, though less than on gaming GPUs), it’s a good investment if you’re using plugins or special functions on 1,000-2,000 part models. However, outside of those instances, you’ll likely get better performance from a gaming laptop with a similar GPU (see the table), especially if it has a stronger CPU, as this model here only has a Core i7

Dell Precision 7000 7680
PROS	CONS
Fast Core i7 “H” CPU 16GB RAM out of the box Workstation GPU for 1000-2000 models	Very Expensive Not best bang/buck compared to gaming rigs Only useful for special functions and plugins in Solidworks

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5. Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 – RTX 4000 Ada

Certified Laptop For Solidworks

  Intel Core i9-13980HX

  64GB RAM DDR5 (Up to 64GB)

  NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada 12GB vRAM

   1TB SSD PCIe NVMe SSD

  16″ WQUXGA (3840 x 2400) IPS

  6.5 lbs

  2 hours

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6. Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 – RTX 5000 Ada

Most Powerful Certified Workstation For Solidworks

  Core i9-13950HX

  128GB RAM

  NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada 16GB vRAM

  4TB SSD NVMe

  16″  UHD (3840 x 2400) TouchScreen  

  8 lbs

  1 hours

  Performance

This is the most powerful workstation laptop for SolidWorks as of Q1 2024, and it’s likely to stay that way until at least early 2025, since the RTX Ada Architecture for workstation GPUs was only recently released.

This setup will handle much larger models than even the most powerful gaming GPU (the 4090RTX). I’d estimate it can manage models in the 5k-10k part range, though the viewport may start lagging as you approach 10,000 parts.

One thing to keep in mind if you’re new to computers: when you get to models in the 5k-10k range, you may want to consider a desktop. Even though they use the same architecture, desktop GPUs can deliver much higher performance.

CPU, RAM, and SSD:

The CPU in this model isn’t the absolute top-performing laptop CPU as of 2024, but it’s still among the top three. The price is around $5,000, mainly because the RAM and storage are maxed out. If you can find the same RTX Ada 5000 with less RAM and storage, it’ll probably cost a lot less—and as you know by now, you can upgrade those yourself and save a lot.

128GB of RAM might seem excessive, but it becomes useful when you’re rendering models in the 5k-10k range if you want faster rendering times. The 4TB storage is also a bit much; 1TB is often enough for most projects.

Warning: Xeon CPUs

Before we wrap up, let’s talk about models with Xeon CPUs instead of the Core i9 shown here.

You may see these laptops priced higher than those with the Core i9. Be cautious with these, as they aren’t necessarily better than Core i9 or Ryzen 9 CPUs for tasks like part modeling or viewport work.

While Xeon CPUs can be useful for faster rendering due to their extra cores with higher speeds, most of your time in SolidWorks will be spent part modeling or designing—not rendering—so the Core i9 will usually be the better choice.

Lenovo Think P16 Gen 2 Ada 5000
PROS	CONS
Most powerful dedicated GPU for solidworks Beats all previous workstation GPUs & gaming GPUs Second most powerful CPU Doesn’t lag significantly until 10 000 parts Superb high resolution & large display Maxed out storage & RAM	Extremely Heavy Extremely Expensive

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Solidworks Laptop Hardware Guide

This section is all about SolidWorks’ hardware utilization. We’ll go over the four major computer components (CPU, GPU, RAM, and SSD) and how SolidWorks uses each one for different functions like rendering, drawing, modeling, and viewport performance.

This info can come in handy if you’re looking to maximize performance for tasks like viewport with a large model, or if you just want to get the best bang for your buck when shopping for a SolidWorks-compatible laptop or computer.

A few questions you must ask yourself before you read any computer guide on solidworks are:

• How much CAE software and how many will I be using?
• How large are the typical assemblies in my school or company?
• Will I use thirdparty renders like  keyshot?
• What do my typical renderings look like? 

The following is based on this solidwork performance guide here.

1. CPU

As you can see in the picture below, CPUs come with lots of features & charateristics.

Most specs aren’t too important for our purposes, except for max clock speed and core count (highlighted in red).

Cores: These are like the ‘processing entities’ in a CPU—basically, each core acts like an individual worker. The more cores, the faster calculations can be done, especially for tasks that can be broken into parts. But some calculations have to be done step-by-step, so they won’t benefit as much from more cores.

Frequency: This shows how fast a processor can handle calculations, measured in GHz. The higher the clock speed, the faster the calculations.

Clock Frequency vs Cores: Which one to focus on?

When shopping for a CPU, it’s tempting to go for the one with more cores.

In an ideal world, more cores would speed up every aspect of the software—rendering, viewport, drawing, and all those loading bars. But, unfortunately, that’s not how it works. More cores only help in certain situations.

However, clock speed (or clock frequency) is always useful in every instance of SolidWorks.

The reason? Like other 3D modeling applications, SolidWorks uses parametric modeling, which means calculations have to be done step-by-step in certain areas: part modeling, opening and saving assemblies, most toolbar actions, and the viewport.

Step-by-step processing means you have to finish one step before moving on to the next, so having more cores won’t speed things up in these areas since you still have to wait for each calculation to complete sequentially.

When are the #cores useful then?

The two most important tasks where cores matter are rendering and simulation. You’ll also see a bit of a performance boost when working with multi-sheet drawings.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation: The mechanics and physics calculations behind moving parts in a simulation are multi-threaded, meaning they can use multiple cores effectively.

Rendering: No matter the plug-in, software, or rendering method you use (e.g., PhotoView360), rendering is always a multi-threaded process. The more cores you have, the faster it’ll render. In fact, performance for rendering tends to scale with each added core—if it takes 10 minutes on 2 cores, it should take about 5 minutes on 4 cores.

While it’s often said there’s no limit to rendering performance with more cores, benchmarks by Puget Systems show otherwise. They found that 10 cores (20 threads) is generally the sweet spot for performance gains.

Most laptops come with 4-6 cores, while the latest Ryzen 9 and Core i9 models offer up to 8 cores.

Recommended CPUs (Laptop) For Solidworks

Intel CPUs

CPU	Base	Turbo	Cores
i3-1115G4	3	4.1	2
i3-1215U	3.3	4.4	2/4
i3 1305U	3.3	4.5	1 / 4
i5 1115G4	2.4	4.2	4
i5 1235U	3.3	4.4	10
i7 1165G7	2.8	4.7	4
i5 1235U	3.3	4.4	2/8
i5 1240P	3.3	4.4	12
i5 1345U	3.5	4.7	2/8
i5-11300H	2.6	4.4	4
i5 11260H	2.6	4.4	6
i5 12450H	3.3	4.4	8
i5 12500H	3.3	4.5	8
i5 13420H	1.5	4.6	8
i5 13500H	1.5	4.9	8
i5 14450HX	2.0	4.8	10
i7-11375H	3.3	5	4
i7 1260P	3.4	4.7	12
i7-11370H	3.3	4.8	4
i7-11800H	3.3	5.0	6
i9-11900H	2.5	4.9	8
i9-11980HK	3.3	5	8
i7-12800H	3.7	4.8	6/8
i7-12700H	3.5	4.7	6/8
i7 13650HX	3.6	4.9	6+8
i7 14700HX	1.9	5.4	8+12
i9 12900HK*	3.8	5	6/8
i9 12900H	1.8	5.0	6/8
i9 13900H	4.1	5.4	6/8
i9 14900HX	2.2	5.8	8+16

 

AMD CPUs

CPU	Max Speed	Cores(Threads)
Ryzen 9 8945HS	5.3	8 – 16
Ryzen 9 7940HS	5.2	8-16
Ryzen 9 6980HX	5	8 – 16
Ryzen 9 6900HS	4.9	8 – 16
Ryzen 7 8845HS	5.1	8 – 16
Ryzen 7 7745HX	5.1	8 – 16
Ryzen 7 7840HS	5.1	8 – 16
Ryzen 7 6800HS	4.7	8 – 16
Ryzen 7 6800H	4.7	8 – 16
Ryzen 9 5900HX	4.6	8 – 16
Ryzen 7 5800H	4.4	8.- 16
Ryzen 5 7535HS	4.5	6 – 12
Ryzen 5 5600H	4.2	6 – 12
Ryzen 5 4600H	4.0	6 – 12
Ryzen 3 7320U	3.7	4 – 8
Ryzen 3 5300U	3.8	4 – 8
Ryzen 3 4300U	3.7	4 – 8

**Note the colors on the table don’t mean anything. For performance comparison check out my post “Intel vs Ryzen CPUs performance comparison“. Also you can ignore the column with #cores or #core/threads if you want to estimate the multi-thread performance. You should check my post above and go to the multi-thread benchmark sections to see more accurate estimates of multithread performance. 

If most of your work in SolidWorks involves designing, drafting, drawing, or modeling, go for the CPU with the highest clock speed.

Students

Since you’ll still be experimenting and learning the software before diving into heavy-duty work, you’re likely to spend most of your time designing and part modeling rather than rendering. So, if you’re on a budget, go for higher clock speeds over more cores.

Professionals

Rendering & simulations of mechanical parts can get quite complex and some may even get up to 1000 parts. Thus…

As for rendering you don’t have to worry because the above laptops are limited to 6-8 cores for which after rendering starts to show diminishing returns and almost no returns beyond 10 cores (thats a number relevant for desktops).

2. RAM

Laptops generally come with 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and sometimes even 64GB of RAM.

But RAM isn’t usually a big concern since it’s almost always upgradeable—unless you go for a super-thin ultrabook, which can be tricky to upgrade. So, if you start with 8GB and find you need 16GB later on, you can just grab an extra RAM stick and either upgrade it yourself or have someone else do it for you.

How much RAM do you need?

It depends on:

• Size of the assembly
• Whether you’re using multi-sheet drawings
• How many windows you have open
• What other software is running in the background
• Whether you’re rendering

The two biggest factors here are the size of the assembly and rendering.

Size of assembly

RAM is basically another word for memory, and your computer uses it to temporarily store your simulation. The larger your simulation or model, the more RAM you’ll need for smooth performance—like when rotating, zooming, or adding parts

RAM vs Size of Models

8GB	Entry Level	Simple parts, small assemblies, single page drawings
16GB	Midrange	Complex parts, larger assemblies, multi-sheet drawings
24-32GB	High End	Very complex parts, very large assemblies,
64GB	Extreme	All of the above with the addition of very complex simulations

RAM vs File Size

Another way to look at it is by file size. Larger data files usually mean more complex simulations, which require more resources to handle smoothly

Assembly size	<500MB	500MB-1.25GB	1.25GB-3GB
Minimum RAM capacity	8-16GB	32GB*	64GB*

You can still work with large file sizes even if you have less RAM—it’s really a case-by-case situation. So don’t worry too much if you think skipping 64GB RAM means you’ve wasted money. There are ways to mitigate the effects of lower RAM, like eliminating errors, using SpeedPak, and activating Large Assembly Mode.

3. GPU (Graphics Card)

You might have heard something like this:

Only the last part is accurate—you can’t remove or replace the graphics component in most laptops. But the first part is a myth! SolidWorks actually supports all video cards, including consumer gaming cards, not just workstation GPUs.

.Certified vs Non-Certified GPUs

Name	Cores	vRAM	Speed
MX150	384	2GB-4GB	1532
MX250	384	2GB-4GB	1582
1050	640	2GB-4GB	1493
1050Ti	768	4GB	1620
1650	1024	4GB	1560
2050	2048	4GB	1477
1060	1280	6GB	1670
1660 Ti	1536	6GB	1590
1070	2048	8GB	1645
1080	2560	8GB	1733
2060	1,920	6GB	1680MHz
2070	2304	8GB	1620 MHz
2080	2944	8GB	1710
2080 Ti	4352	11GB	1650
3060	3840	6GB	1702
4050 RTX	2560	6GB	237
3070	5120	8GB	1620
4060RTX	3072	8GB	2370
3080	6144	8GB	1710
4070 RTX	4608	8GB	2175
3080Ti	7424	16GB	1590
4080 RTX	7424	12GB	2280
4090 RTX	9728	16GB	2040

AMD

Name	Shaders	vRAM	Speed	NVIDIA Equivalent
Radeon 610	320	2GB	1030	Intel UHD 620
Pro RX 555X	768	2GB	855	MX150/MX250
RadeonRX 540	512	4GB	1219	~950M
Radeon RX 550	640	4GB	1287 – 1476	+950M
Radeon RX 560X	1024	4GB	1172 – 1275	1050GTX
RX 580	1536	6GB	1077	~1060GTX
RX 5500M	1408	8GB	1327 – 1645	~1660Ti
RX 6700M	2304	10GB	1792	~3060RTX
RX 6800M	2560	12GB	2116 – 2300	~3070RTX++

a) University Student: A 2GB VRAM GPU should be enough for typical student projects, which are usually around 100 parts or less. Even if projects occasionally exceed that, a 2GB GPU will still work. Since 2GB GPUs are often priced similarly to 4GB options, aim for the latter if possible.

Examples: MX450 (min), RTX 2050 (max).

b) Engineer: You’ll want at least a 4GB VRAM GPU, though a 6GB VRAM GPU is ideal. If budget is tight, consider older generation GPUs with the same VRAM capacity.

Examples: RTX 3060 vs. RTX 4050 (both have 6GB VRAM), RTX 4060 vs. RTX 3070 (both have 8GB VRAM).

c) Pro Company Engineer: Go for GPUs labeled “purple,” ideally with 8GB-16GB VRAM. This will ensure smooth viewport navigation and part modeling for models with thousands of parts.

Workstation GPUs: Warning!

NVIDIA Quadro	Cores	Clock Speed(Hz)	vRAM(GB)	Equivalent
P500	256	1500	2	MX150
P600	384	1620	4	MX150
p520	384	1493	2	MX150
P620	512	1442	4	MX150/1050
P1000	512	1519	4	1050
T1000	768	1495	4	1650-
P2000	768	1468	4	1050ti
T2000	1024	1785	4	1650/1660
RTX 3000	1920	1380	6	2070-
RTX 4000	2560	1650	8	2070/2080
RTX 5000	3072	1770	16	2080RTX
TX A2000	2560	1200	4	~3050Ti
RTX A3000	4096	1560	6	~3060RTX
RTX A4000	5120	1560	8	~3070RTX
RTX A5000	6144	1695	16	~3080RTX
RTX A5500	7424	1695	16	~3080Ti RTX
RTX Ada 3000	4608		8 GB	4070RTX–
RTX Ada 3500	5120		12GB	4070RTX-
RTX Ada 4000	7424		12GB	==4080RTX
RTX Ada 5000	9728	1680	16GB	4090 RTX –

– slower, + faster, ++much faster, –much slower, = almost the same, ~approximately

When to buy a workstation GPU?

NVIDIA vs AMD?

Last tips:

4. Storage

Solid state drives are universal on laptops these days so we’ll mostly focus on that. HDDs are almost non-existent on laptops unless you buy much much older rigs due to budget constraints.

 

Storage Speed: SSD is fastest

Faster SSDs for Solidworks

Most laptops now come with a PCIe NVMe SSD as the main drive, and often a secondary M.2 SSD, so you don’t need to worry about an HDD slowing down your laptop’s performance.

PCIe NVMe SSDs come in different generations: 3.0, 4.0, and the latest 5.0, each offering double the transfer speeds of the previous one. As of late 2024, PCIe 5.0 is available.

 

The benefits of faster storage drives are most noticeable when working with very large assemblies (over 1,000 parts). For medium or small assemblies (fewer than 1,000 parts), there’s no significant difference between the types of SSDs.

Comments?

If you have any questions, suggestions, or if something isn’t clear, please leave a comment below—I’ll make sure to get back to you and update the post as needed

 

 

Author Profile

Miguel Salas

I am physicist and electrical engineer. My knowledge in computer software and hardware stems for my years spent doing research in optics and photonics devices and running simulations through various programming languages. My goal was to work for the quantum computing research team at IBM but Im now working with Astrophysical Simulations through Python. Most of the science related posts are written by me, the rest have different authors but I edited the final versions to fit the site's format.

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