Do I need a better laptop than the Acer Aspire E15 (E5-575G-5271)

[jmorgan-3]

I bought a new laptop this year and told the guy at Microcenter that I specifically wanted a laptop for my engineering class. I specifically said Matlab and Cad, on the go. He seemed to know what I was talking about, but he said he focused more on graphic design. He directed me to the Acer Aspire E15.

The specs are:

Windows 10

256gb SDD

I5 - 7200U 2.5Ghz with turbo boost up to 3.1Ghz

NVIDIA GeForce GTXM with 2GB Dedicated VRAM

8GB DDR4 memory

I read the CREO 3.0 specs, and I seemed to at least hit he minimum requirements for the 64bit software. I'm on a free student license as it stands, but when I installed it the program LAGS. I mean, terrible lag. I don't see my CPU going to 100% efficiency, but it sometimes spikes to 80% when I issue a command. So far, I haven't been able to even use the program. I sketched a rectangle and had to wait almost 20seconds for it to register, and then the rectangle started changing sizes frequently as if it was trying to track my mouse movements prior to clicking. When I got it to stabilize, I couldn't adjust dimensions either without having to wait out the same process. Obviously this isn't acceptable, but I'm confused as to why it's taking so long.

I installed CREO 2.0 parametric to see if it was just the edition, but the same thing happens. I barely sketched a rectangle and had to wait many seconds to go through the selection of a datum plane and orienting into sketch-view. My processor didn't seem to be going much higher than 80%, but it just went really...slowly...

I didnt get a warranty on the laptop, and I doubt they'll accept this as a reason but it was 600 dollars and I really figured that'd be enough for basic CADing.

I have a PC at home:

Windows 10

i7 4790k processor

GTX 760 with 2gb VRAM

8GB DDR memory

And I can run CREO2.0 with zero lag, and multiple parts. I'm not doing anything crazy, i just started learning it, but is the i5 processor really setting me back that much? If so I'll sell this one and try to split the difference on another laptop that had i7 but mechanical hard drive for the same price.

[AmitDeshpande]

Hi Jeremy,

Please take a look at the Platform Support page and check the specifications for the minimum requirements.

In the By Product drop down select the release you are using, e.g. PTC Creo 3.0.

Thanks,

Amit

[jmorgan-3]

That's the problem. I looked at the specs and I should be past the minimum (assuming your minimum requirements imply useable function speed).

The memory requirements for CREO2.0 are:

4gb ram with Windows 10 64 bit (I have 8gb ram)

1280x1024 resolution (I have 1920x1080)

a graphics card that supports at least OpenGL3.1 (Mine supports OpenGL4.0)

So I should be able to run the program but I can't even sketch a rectangle serious wait times. I've restarted my laptop and the program and neither have worked for me.

[MartinHanak]

Hi,

frequently the problem is related to graphics card drivers. Try to add following option to config.pro file for testing purposes.

graphics  win32_gdi

MH

[jmorgan-3]

Okay, I did it. Can you tell me what I should have been looking for? I had 4 config.pro files, all made within a minute of each other. I chose the one at the top of the list, which should have been the most recent. It didn't change much, but I think it went a little bit smoother. My CPU clocked around 30% for 60sec of use but sketching a rectangle still took a patient 60seconds. I had to use the normal tool to change the dimensions because clicking on them directly seemed to not work.

[StephenW]

In creo, go to file, options, configuration editor. The loaded config.pro will show. Add the line that config.pro and restart creo.

[dschenken]

To supplement what Steve Williams showed, that 'Show:" block is also a pull down which will give a list of the series of config.pro files that have been loaded in your session.It will also have one named 'current' which is the acting combination of files that is currently loaded that, I believe, can be saved but will -not- be automatically reloaded the next time Creo is started.

Creo configs are loaded in order; ones loaded later can override ones loaded earlier and it isn't based on when they were edited or how old they are but on where they are loaded from.

[jmorgan-3]

Hey all, it works much much better now. It runs as I'd expect it from a laptop anyway. I was able to sketch, dimension, extrude and rotate the image around rapidly without issue.The software works like I remember it working on my desktop. I've liked your posts as they were quite helpful. Thank you for your solutions. What did this particular solution actually change to make it run so smoothly? Lock it in win32 mode even though i have win64?

[StephenW]

It means your issue is a video card issue. You may want to try updating your video card driver (or possibly down-dating it if you are already at the latest). You could try several releases to see if anything helps. You'll need to remove the graphic line (or comment it out) for testing.

[MartinHanak]

Note:

I case of laptop, graphic card driver is provided by laptop producer, i.e. Acer. It is not possible to download driver from NVIDIA web and install it. Sometimes laptop producer provides only one version of drivers.

MH

[Inoram]

Nvidia has drivers for M

[dschenken]

win32_gdi is a reference to the Windows Graphics Display Interface that is intended for use in cases where there is no graphics accelerator card. Instead the pixel color are generated by the CPU. Any GPU is ignored by Creo, so any problems with drivers are bypassed. It typically means lower performance, but it can be better than terrible performance.

I think Creo supports DirectX, so you might also try that instead of OpenGL or win32_gdi for the "graphics" config option.

It would be nice if PTC would generate a diagnostic program that tests the graphics subsystem against what Creo is expecting to fend off problems like this. I'm sure Acer would like to sell computers that meet customer's needs, but aren't willing to license Creo just to do that.