Jason Lund

Hardware with CET Designer

Atmosphere Commercial InteriorsNick KuzminConfigura

IT’s Role – does the tail wag the dog?

• “It’s against our policies, sorry”• “That’s not our standard, sorry”• “We can’t afford that.”• “We have other priorities right now.”• “It’s too hard to make that work in our environment.”

IT’s Role – Pie in the Sky ?

• Empower• Protect• Maximize• Advocate

“Just tell me what to buy!”

• Configura wants their software runs well so you don’t need to call for support, they will suggest the best possible hardware to avoid problems.

• Configura support is there to help you make the CET Designer software run right, not to provide general IT consulting for dealerships (though they often do go above and beyond).

• Dealership principals and design leads need to be accountable for understanding their own technology needs so they deploy the right tools with the appropriate levels of performance and support.

Selecting hardware – define your requirements

• Budget• Software defined needs (CET Designer, AutoCAD/Revit,

etc..)• Lifecycle management (how long do they need to last?)• Physical requirements/desires (size/weight)• Support costs (accessories, warranty, software licenses)

Budget - The true cost of design hardwareCost per month beyond a “standard” user laptop:

• Design laptop cost – standard laptop cost (for us, $1800-$800 = $1000)• “Cost of capital” (interest / cost of cash) - call it 10%, $1100• Lifecycle/depreciation schedule (3 years typical)• $1100 / 3 = $367 per year• Over 3 years, a good design laptop costs $30 per month more than

equipment for a non-design user.

Based on our design billing rate, spending $30 a month for fast/portable hardware was a NO BRAINER.

Lifecycle Management

• 3 years is the longest I leave a laptop in a user’s hands under normal circumstances

• Reliability drops with age, at 3 years wearable components failure rate increases exponentially

• Designers are billable, if they run faster than their equipment (or it fails) we are wasting money

• Moore’s law – computer speeds double every 18 months• I’ve never seen a software company decrease their

hardware requirements over time.

Physical requirements - Laptops vs Desktops

• Portability is the key requirement here – if you need it, a desktop can’t do it.

• Desktop PC’s are less expensive and provide a higher level of performance for the money.

• “Gaming Ultrabooks” are changing the portability-performance paradigm

• Check-out” laptops are an option, but don’t forget the added license + management costs.

• Not all laptops are equal, anything over 6 pounds becomes cumbersome to carry regularly

MSI “Ghost” GS60 Gaming Laptop

• Intel i7-6700hq Processor• 16 gigs RAM• 500 gig Samsung 840 EVO SSD hard drive• Geforce GTX 970m graphics card (3 gig)• Intel Pro Dual-band wireless adapter• 15”, 1920x1080 matte display• 4.3 pounds, .78” thick• Price as configured $1,800

MSI “Dominator” GT72 Gaming Laptop

• Intel i7-6700hq Processor• 24 gigs RAM• 256 gig M.2 SATA SSD hard drive• 500 gig Samsung 850 EVO SSD hard drive• Geforce GTX 980m graphics card (4 gig)• Gigabit wireless & dual band AC wireless• 17”, 1920x1080 matte display• 8.4 pounds, 1.9” thick• Price as configured $2,200

Nvidia Graphics Card Model NumberingModel number translation: Geforce 970m GTX

Geforce vs Quadro: Geforce is a gaming/consumer product, Quadro is a more expensive “pro” card9xx = first digit is the generation or series of the card, higher = newerx7x = second digit is the performance level of the card, higher = fasterxx0 = third digit indicates revisions within a model, higher is newerGTX = Another performance indication, GTX > GTS > GT > GSm = mobile, indicating a laptop adapter – mobile parts trade performance for low power vs. desktop parts The Geforce 970m GTX card is roughly equal to a Geforce 760 GTX desktop card in performance.

Three ways to guarantee calls to Configura Support• Purchase a laptop with Intel graphics only (no Geforce card).

• Fail to follow the Geforce graphics card optimization guide from the CET Designer hardware recommendation / support page.

• Use an HDMI to VGA adapter or USB 3.0 docking station.

Geforce Graphics Card

Optimization Guide Review

Other Factors

• Network speed – where are designer files stored (local vs. network)?

• VR hardware requirements• Nvidia “Optimus” graphics & other applications

Questions?