# 3D Printing > General 3D Printing Discussion >  Laptop requirements?

## Shieldse

Hello,

I am new to this site and new to 3D printing.  I currently have a macbook pro but I noticed that some of the 3D software does not support mac.  If I was to go and buy a new laptop in order to run the software and use the laptop for the 3D printer only, what specs do I need to look for?  Will an i5 processor work or would I need an i7?  What are the basic requirements to run the software and the printer?

Thanks

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## old man emu

Be careful using a laptop to run a 3D printer. Without going into the nuts and bolts of it, laptops often send information to your printer in fits and starts, which means that your printer will stop and start.

If you have the money to go out and purchase another laptop, I'd suggest that you buy yourself a 2nd hand desktop with a small monitor. Programs which run the printer, such as Pronterface, don't need very much computing poer at all. The only real need you have for computing power is to operate your slicing software.  You can do your slicing on your good laptop then carry the file over to your printer desktop using an SD card or USB stick. Doing it this way does not take up much room, and you won't have the hassle of having to unplug you laptop everytime you want to use it for other things. 

Here's what my workplace looks like:

My workspace.jpg

You can see an old tower in the corner. I can't remember its specs, but I've had it for years and years. It will run Rhino 4 (CAD) including RhinoCam, and Mach3 (a CNC operating software). The only reason I have the smaller desktop operating my printer is that my son (an IT guru) decided that it did not suit the corporate image he want to portray, so he built me a new desktop for the office.

I don't know what all the fuss is about. An XT format computer works faster than I can type.

Old Man Emu

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## -willy-

Thankyou for the heads up on the notebook.  I recently recieved two computers from the wifes father.  One a notebook the other a very dusty dell xps desktop.  The order from the wife is I amy keep one but not both and I was thinking (until I read your post) of using the laptop and rebuild/resell the tower.  So instead I will unload the notebook and keep the tower.  Granted this means a bit more money.  As all I got of the tower was the case and its guts.

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## Shieldse

> Be careful using a laptop to run a 3D printer. Without going into the nuts and bolts of it, laptops often send information to your printer in fits and starts, which means that your printer will stop and start.
> 
> If you have the money to go out and purchase another laptop, I'd suggest that you buy yourself a 2nd hand desktop with a small monitor. Programs which run the printer, such as Pronterface, don't need very much computing poer at all. The only real need you have for computing power is to operate your slicing software.  You can do your slicing on your good laptop then carry the file over to your printer desktop using an SD card or USB stick. Doing it this way does not take up much room, and you won't have the hassle of having to unplug you laptop everytime you want to use it for other things. 
> 
> Here's what my workplace looks like:
> 
> My workspace.jpg
> 
> You can see an old tower in the corner. I can't remember its specs, but I've had it for years and years. It will run Rhino 4 (CAD) including RhinoCam, and Mach3 (a CNC operating software). The only reason I have the smaller desktop operating my printer is that my son (an IT guru) decided that it did not suit the corporate image he want to portray, so he built me a new desktop for the office.
> ...



Thank you!  So I have the LulzBot Taz 4 which lets me print from an SD card.  Would probably be ok with what I have.  If I was to get a desk top instead of that laptop, is there anything that I would need to look deeply into for the tower?  I just want to make sure that I have the minimum that I will need to run the software.  And if I can print from an SD card, do I really need to spend the money on a computer if the printer is not running off the computer?  Thank you for your response

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## old man emu

It's OK to print from your SD card _provided that_: 
1. Your printer is working perfectly
2. You don't want to do anything like pre-heating your extruder, or extruding a few mm of filament to make sure everything is OK.
3. You don't want to preview a print, ot follow what is happening as it is printing.

That's why people load a program like Pronterface to make monitoring your printer easier. Read this: http://www.plasticscribbler.com/tuto...e#.VKUUXSuUdyU

 You don't need high processor speed, or tonnes of RAM. You should be able to pick up a suitable 2nd hand computer from a Charity shop. 

Old Man Emu

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## -willy-

Another source of cheap machines in Walmart.com, yes I said walmart.  You want to look at the refurbed machines.  Wife needed a replacement and we got one there for $150 with win7 installed.  Granted it will be what ever is the current flavor of windows (8.1?).  Think about it.  Win 7 at the time was retailing at $99, so they made about $51 on the parts.  Dam cheap in my book.

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## curious aardvark

it's actually cheaper to build a new base unit. Plus that way you get much faster processor - and don't believe emu. If you use openscad - you want a decent processor. 
Also some of the slicing engines benefit from a decent processor as well. 
On top of that some of the cad packages need a decent graphics chipset.
And if you're got an sd slot on your 3d printer, then you've probably also got a control panel. So preheating can be done without an attached computer. 
As can most maintenance tasks. 

My advice for a cheap unit for 3d printing. 

processor:AMD APU Athlon 5350 Quad Core Processor (Socket AM1, 2.05GHz, 2MB, 25W, AMD Radeon 3
motherboard:MSI AM1I AMD Mini ITX Motherboard
Ram: any 2gb 1600 ddr3 dimm
hardrive: cheapest 64gb ssd (solid state drive) you can find. 
At the very least get a hybrid drive. That way the 8gb used most runs from a ssd anyway. 
You don't need a dvd drive, if you do buy an external usb powered one. Same price as internal and much more useful.

I've built a few of these in the last month. For general desktop use and with larger ssds in. 
I'm also using one myself, but with the cheaper 1ghz quad core in. That also does a decent job. At some point I'll drop a 5350 cpu in, as openscad would definitely benefit from the extra oomph. 

And that's it. 
Either drop it into an old case, or make or buy a mini itx case. I built a 17x20 cm 3 sided, wooden box, drilled 4 holes for screw lugs and took an on off switch from an old base unit. 
add an old monitor, mouse and keyboard and you're good to go for less than a reasonable second hand base unit

Small fast solid state drives are much better than huge traditional mechanical drives. You won't be storing huge amounts of data and the ssd makes windows run 10x faster than standard drives. Supposed to be more reliable as well. But given the manufacturers claim 2-300 years mean time before failure, nobody actually know yet whether they last longer than mechanical drives or not :-) 

Laptops are prone to overheating and cutting out. Second hand laptops doubly so. Having been in the industry for 20 odd years, I can confidently state that nobody ever sells or passes on a fully working laptop. Even if it just needs a new battery - there will be something wrong with it.  

My opinion on dell equipment is usually unprintable - throw it away and make your own :-)

Laptop wise - go for one with amd a-series Apu - the a8's are faster than i7's - and yes I've benchmarked both. 
Amd chips are faster and cheaper than intel chips and the onboard graphics is much better than the intel hd chipset. 
I haven't used intel processors since amd first released it's 486 chips, going back nearly 20 years I reckon. 
Amd chips are just better - and cheaper :-) And yes i do  a lot of benchmarking. 
We're talking thousands of machines. Built and fixed over 20 years as a professional.

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## old man emu

I agree with Curious Aardvark that a built up computer is always going to be cheaper than a new store bought one, *but* what if you are not skilled enough to do it? That's the flaw in the otherwise flawless plan.

Besides, Shieldse was only looking for a computer to run his printer. A computer for that purpose *alone* does not need to be on the leading edge of technology. That old  cream coloured tower you see in the corner of my workspace is running XP and has a 3Gb HDD, yet it quite happily runs Mach3, which is a similar type of program to Pronterface.

I agree that for doing design work and slicing, you need plenty of computing power, but Shieldse has a laptop for that. *If* he was to make an investment in computing power, he should upgrade the laptop because a laptop has a wider range of uses.

Old Man Emu

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## -willy-

Sorry I dont have the money to build new.  I am a Intel fan for one reason only.  All the AMD's I have ever had always crashed (frequently) when the room got hotter than 80 degrees F.  If you like an AMD that is nice, but please dont try to cram it down our throats.  I respect anyone for having the right to chose their prefference, yet remember it is YOUR preffeerence.  If Dad's tower has a AMD I will stick with it, yet I think he is a intel man as well.  I will however have to update the operating system as he only had XP.  I will probably get 8.1 that is supposed to have printer support.  This tower will probably be down in the basement.  I plan to get a PrintRbot Metal Plus from Amazon.  The only other item will be that the printer will sit in a open faced box with a fusible link for the lid.  That link will fail if there is any fire and seal the box containing any fire.  I pray it never comes to that and feel that the user whom had a fire had done so because he let the chamber get too warm with out proper ventination.  No I wont try to see what it takes to make a printer catch fire.  I welcome all the advice here as it is very useful.

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## Shieldse

> I agree with Curious Aardvark that a built up computer is always going to be cheaper than a new store bought one, *but* what if you are not skilled enough to do it? That's the flaw in the otherwise flawless plan.
> 
> Besides, Shieldse was only looking for a computer to run his printer. A computer for that purpose *alone* does not need to be on the leading edge of technology. That old  cream coloured tower you see in the corner of my workspace is running XP and has a 3Gb HDD, yet it quite happily runs Mach3, which is a similar type of program to Pronterface.
> 
> I agree that for doing design work and slicing, you need plenty of computing power, but Shieldse has a laptop for that. *If* he was to make an investment in computing power, he should upgrade the laptop because a laptop has a wider range of uses.
> 
> Old Man Emu



So right now I am using a 2012 macbook pro with a 2.5ghz processor and 16gigs of ram.  What else do I need to look into to "upgrade" the laptop?  My brother in law will build me a desktop or a laptop if I need him to.  He does it all the time.  And he is working with me to get me the right computer and also in building my website.  I just need to know what to tell him I need as far as the conputer specs as he has never worked with 3D software or 3D printing.  What specs would I need for a desktop vs a laptop?  I can also have him build me a PC laptop if you are not familiar with macs.  I have read all the threads here and I really appreciate all your input and help!  All of you!

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## Shieldse

So right now I am using a 2012 macbook pro with a 2.5ghz processor and 16gigs of ram.  What else do I need to look into to "upgrade" the laptop?  My brother in law will build me a desktop or a laptop if I need him to.  He does it all the time.  And he is working with me to get me the right computer and also in building my website.  I just need to know what to tell him I need as far as the conputer specs as he has never worked with 3D software or 3D printing.  What specs would I need for a desktop vs a laptop?  I can also have him build me a PC laptop if you are not familiar with macs.  I have read all the threads here and I really appreciate all your input and help!  All of you!

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## curious aardvark

> Sorry I dont have the money to build new.  I am a Intel fan for one reason only.  All the AMD's I have ever had always crashed (frequently) when the room got hotter than 80 degrees F.  If you like an AMD that is nice, but please dont try to cram it down our throats.  I respect anyone for having the right to chose their prefference, yet remember it is YOUR preffeerence.  If Dad's tower has a AMD I will stick with it, yet I think he is a intel man as well.  I will however have to update the operating system as he only had XP.  I will probably get 8.1 that is supposed to have printer support.  This tower will probably be down in the basement.  I plan to get a PrintRbot Metal Plus from Amazon.  The only other item will be that the printer will sit in a open faced box with a fusible link for the lid.  That link will fail if there is any fire and seal the box containing any fire.  I pray it never comes to that and feel that the user whom had a fire had done so because he let the chamber get too warm with out proper ventination.  No I wont try to see what it takes to make a printer catch fire.  I welcome all the advice here as it is very useful.


2 things. 20 years of professional experience is not 'cramming things down your throat'. Take it or leave it - it's your loss :-) 

secondly - windows xp is better at running most of the 3d printer software out there than windows 8.1. 
Which isn't much good at running anything that wasn't written specifically for it. 

Your os of choice should be either xp or - if you fancy something more recent - windows 7, 32 bit. But hey, you seem to know better, so carry on :-)

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## Shieldse

Ok, so everyone says to stay away from a Mac.  So I have decided to go with the desktop.  Thank OME and aardvark for your help.  So i have the motherboard taken care of.  I like the way OME has his set up in his corner.  I went with the AMD A series chipset.  I will keep my mac to print the invoices and scheck emails and search the web.  What else besides the chipset would I need.  What are good graphics cards?  And is a 2 gig card good enough or should I go to the 3 gig?  Like OME i will most likely be running Mach3 or Pronerface.  Should I continue to slice form my laptop or get the desktop set up to do so?  Do you do it all from your desk top OME?

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## -willy-

> 2 things. 20 years of professional experience is not 'cramming things down your throat'. Take it or leave it - it's your loss :-) 
> 
> secondly - windows xp is better at running most of the 3d printer software out there than windows 8.1. 
> Which isn't much good at running anything that wasn't written specifically for it. 
> 
> Your os of choice should be either xp or - if you fancy something more recent - windows 7, 32 bit. But hey, you seem to know better, so carry on :-)


Ah but I dont know better which is why I am here to learn.  Just that all my AMD's as well as a few friends that game have had catastrophic issues when it got warm, never had that problem with an Intel.  Its great that you have knowledge.  I thankyou on the heads up on XP and may install it on the tower, as this would save money I dont have to spend.  I just thought that there were no updates for xp anymore and Windows had released some modeling software that only worked on the 8.1?  I was told I could not use it on win 7.  So your help is appreciated even tho some of us prefer (in your eyes) inferior products that work flawlessly in the heat.

The laptop I inherited from the Father came with XP and I thought if I were to use it on the net should get 8.1, hearing your views I will give it 7.  I had hopes of using the laptop for the mobility yet that is fine if I must sell it instead.

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## Roxy

I have an ancient dinosaur laptop running my printer.   I use PronterFace to talk to my RepRap printer over a USB cable.   That computer is very low on memory and not very fast.   But it works fine to run the printer.   The whole reason I have it is with a long print, I don't want anything goofy happening like my main computer going to sleep or maybe crashing.    It helps keep the printer isolated from what ever else I'm doing on my real machine.  The only thing that laptop does is run the 3D Printer, and it does that just fine.    

For slicing...  A fast machine is very helpful.  But my dinosaur 3D Printer laptop doesn't do that.  It just pulls the GCode file from my real machine.   Also...  opinions are going to vary, but I don't see any benefit to a LCD Panel on the printer when I have a dedicated laptop display displaying things on my printer.   I'm all for fast machines, but the truth is the printer doesn't need much to control it.   (But as soon as you start doing design work, and even some bigger slicing operations...  You won't want to have a slow machine in the picture.)

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## Shieldse

So would you recommend a desktop dedicated to the printer and a laptop for the design and slicing?

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## Roxy

> So would you recommend a desktop dedicated to the printer and a laptop for the design and slicing?


Who?  Me?   For me, I want a laptop that can sit close to the printer and not take up much space but still provide a nice display to see what is going on.  And to run the user interface to get GCode files to my printer.   

For the design and slicing I want a very fast machine with a very large and high resolution display.  Probably it should be a laptop because I move around a lot during the day.  But if I did all my work at one location a desktop would be fine.   Unless you are doing a lot of design work and/or constantly slicing large objects, it might not make sense to go over board.   If it is just an occasional thing to do the computationally expensive stuff, it might be best to wait until you start getting annoyed at how long the process takes.

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## AClark1983

I print with a laptop on both my Taz4 and Solidoodle 4.  They range from a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and HP Envy.  I just set them all up to never go to power save / sleep and they run all the time without issues.  Not sure about the i5 as all three of the computers are i7s.  The HP is the weakest out of all three laptops and it has zero problems.

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## old man emu

> Do you do it all from your desk top OME?


Like Roxy, I have a steam-driven computer running my printer. It has a 1300MHz Intel Celeron chip and 448Mb RAM at 1.29GHz. Its operating system is XP Professional SP3. You have to remember that CNC/3D Printers are pretty dumb machines, so it doesn't take a lot of memory or computing power to have them do their job. That's why you can get away with buying an old computer from a Charity shop. If I remember correctly, there was a flurry of problems running some programs when the later versions of Windows arrived. I know theat XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, but by the time they stopped supporting it, it was a pretty stable O/S if you had installed the service packs.

Beware of IT wizards who tell you that they will build you a computer. They sometimes engage in overkill. My office computer was built by my son. It's running an AMD FX 8120 Eight Core processor, has 8 Gb RAM and is running Win 8.1 in 64 bit format. All I know is that it runs Rhino 5 OK and slicing with Slic3r is sufficiently quickly. It doesn't lag when I am working with OpenScad. It's also my Internet connection because the printer computer is not connected to our LAN, and I don't see the need to go on the Net while printing, I'm Facebook-less.

Old Man Emu

 My office computer is a desktop. I've never been keen on laptops. I suppose it's because I don't like their in-built mice. I'd rather use a wireless mouse. I have more control over it.

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