Good Afternooon

I am a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and am putting together a training plan for a guy that is interested in computer-aided drafting and specifically interested in learning about Revit. I’m researching computers and monitors for his retraining plan and I looked on Revit’s webpage and they have lists of minimum: entry-level configuration, value; balanced price and performance and performance: large, complex models and the computer specifications differ greatly. I want to make sure I set them up for success, but money is a limiting factor. I deftly do not want to get him the entry-level configuration for looking somewhere between the value and the performance recommendations. I should also add he would like a 17-inch laptop to use on the job to show his drawing but if price savings with 15.6 can be had it may have to be a 15.6

So on to my questions.

1. How important is the processor in single versus multicore processing? Specifically, in Intel I5 versus an Intel I7?

2. Is Revit a RAM hog? On the balance recommendation it indicates 16 GB of RAM but on the performance of recommends 32 GB of RAM and prices can go up dramatically with 32 GB of RAM, so one consideration is getting the computer with a lower amount of RAM and upgrading it after the fact. So is highly recommended that 32 GB of RAM be provided or will he be proficient in a school setting with 16 GB of Ram.

3. On the monitors, will be purchasing an external monitor, I see that recommendation is 19 20 x 1200 with true color and maximum of ultrahigh (4K) to fee definition monitor. I have always been a fan of the ultra-wide 3260 x 1400 monitors. Any recommendations on the resolution of monitoring size would be appreciated. Does Revit play well with two monitors or is one larger monitor preferred. If so what size of a monitor? I was thinking about the 32 to 35 ultra-wide.

4. As far as the hard drive goes, I was looking at an SSD hard drive for the operating software and CAD drafting software, and then a standard HHD hard drive for data storage.

5. GPU-I see for both the balanced and the performance they recommend a direct X11 capable graphics card with shader model five and a minimum of 4 GB video memory. I am not so familiar with what shader model five means but is it safe to say any Nvidia dedicated GPU with at least 4GB of ram will work or is something higher recommended. I would imagine that any dedicated GPU would support direct X11, but I could use some education on shader model five, and is that a feature that only certain GPU’s have?

Below is a computer of computers I am considering……

MSI GL75 Leopard Gaming Laptop - 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H - GeForce GTX 1660Ti - 144Hz 1080p Display (costco.com)— good video card…. 8GB of GDDR6, base close is 1500 and memory speed is 12 GBPS… max digital resolution is 7680X4320 so will for sure support ultrawide… $999.00

Dell Inspiron 17 Laptop - 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7 - GeForce MX230 - 1080p (costco.com) (I do not think is a good choice as the video card is 2GB

HP OMEN 17.3" Laptop - 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H - GeForce RTX 2070 - 1080p (costco.com) Real good video card…. NO doubt this is a smoking video card. I run a 1060 and tis is way beyond and good choice for 1140 as well…. 8GB of Ram clock speed is 1700 $1399.00

I would imagine the MSI and HP Omen will support Direct xx11 and Shader Model 5. Looks like this would be supported on all the mid to top-level Nvidia cards with 4GB of memory or more.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I have found there is a big difference between what software manufacturers recommended and what is needed in the real world. Thanks in advance