Best current laptop for 3D work?
I'm planning on buying a new laptop to replace the current Macbook pro 17 inch as just can't handle newer engines such as Unreal 4.
What's currently the best laptop to have for 3d work and working with engines such as Unreal 4 or Cryengine plus other 3d packages, such as 3ds max?
Thanks a lot!
What's currently the best laptop to have for 3d work and working with engines such as Unreal 4 or Cryengine plus other 3d packages, such as 3ds max?
Thanks a lot!
Replies
2.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313740
is the 2nd one better then Gigabyte P34G V2?
Im looking into a new laptop myself... but not so good at figuring this hardware stuff out... i mean what is this SLI graphics card business?
Cheers
2nd is better laptop. SSHD is basically normal hdd which has huge cache memory so it can read faster. SLI is basically 2 GPUs connected by a single connector which goes trough 2 cards,crossfire is better since it uses PCI slots to connect 2 GPUs but only available to AMD.
Thanks a lot for all replies!
I don't have any specific place I want to order the laptop from.
Tit for tat, dollar for dollar, it out performed most (if not all) other models/makes I compared it against. In addition it had a more professional and less flashy appearance that so many gaming machines boast.
They are very easy to work on and take apart. I've had the syncs off several times to repaste the chips and it's a breeze to do. It lends itself very well to upgrades. I'm running a single 680M ATM, but the computer is SLI ready. You could go out right now and drop two 8XXM cards into it with no problems. Same with the CPU and other components.
The only debatable point in my mind would be the build quality. It isn't bad. But it isn't great. However, I think its very utilitarian. It's "enough". I've toted this thing around for years from place to place, often on a daily basis, and it's always done me right. Nothing has ever went out/broke aside from lighting smoking my power supply, which I should add: Got replaced withing 2 DAYS of Christmas by Larry and the awesome guys at LPC digital. If you choose to go with a Sager build, go LPC digital. Best price I've seen, and incredible costumer service.
.02
Good luck on your choice man
Edit: Forgot to mention I'm on a sager NP9370.
1. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8991768&CatId=3985
2. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8992869&CatId=3998
1st one is the best when it comes to value and perfomance/$.Get an SSD later and you will be a happy camper.
In 8 months I had multiple problems with my Sager NP7330. The screen started going bad (blotchy artifacts all over) from shortly after I purchased it, a few months later a small crack showed up next to the keyboard, and the hinge broke after about 5 months.
The cooling is also the worst I've seen on any laptop, probably because its an I7 and dedicated GPU in a 13 inch form factor, but even then, the fan profile and fan noise is absolutely terrible. The fan would kick on full blast for seemingly no reason, and the bios is really basic so there is no fan control options. The battery life is also awful at about 2 hours.
All that said, Sager's support is really good, and they fixed the screen and hinge in about two weeks with no issues under warranty. But after paying $1500 for a very powerful, but extremely flawed laptop which had the worst build quality of any computer I've ever owned, I wouldn't recommend them.
To the OP: I started a similar thread recently, and though my needs are a bit different (don't need a beefcake gpu) there may be some good info there for you: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135427
I went with the MBP 13, very happy so far. If you were happy with your 17, I would go with the MBP 15, its going to have similar specs to the best PC laptops out there, but better build and screen than most, though I'm not sure if you can run UE4 etc without dual booting.
I recall reading how your experience with sager wasn't pleasant. Which sucks to hear. Perhaps I've just gotten lucky with mine. I carried it to and from work/onsite for well over a year, it has even taken a tumble or two in the bag. Still runs like a champ. Perhaps its the difference of a larger chassis.
Out of curiosity who did you buy it through?
I'd give a +1 to the G series from Asus as well. I used to have a G73, I've worked on a G74, and have a G75 for work. All great computers. Very sturdy, very stable.
Lenovo has really made themselves a big hitter for their price range in the world of laptops.
As I've gotten to a stage where i need to be able to be able to work from a variety of locations, as i wont also be able to work from my main pc.
I have a really powerful desktop already, so my criteria are more for photo editing, photoshop and indesign with a bit of 3d (general design work), but that could be hooked up to my main pc to assist in rendering video.
So i found this :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231684&cm_re=n550jk-_-34-231-684-_-Product
Specs at a glance, i7 4700hq, 8gb ram, gtx 850m, and most important, 15.6" 1080p IPS screen, i wont be doing much gaming, but the specs are perfect for design work.
A bit pricier, but you're paying for that screen, i wouldn't go sli if it's a work orientated machine, you can upgrade the ram,4700hq is a soldered in cpu, so that can't be upgraded, and you can swap the drive out for an ssd, not sure if it has a space for a 2nd drive like some high end laptops do (i was looking at a gigabyte q2556n before, but the screen was terrible, it did allow you to have up to 3 drives in it).
I'll hopefully be picking up the n550jk in the week, so i can tell you what the build quality is like, it's supposed to be an aluminum case .
My MBP 13 only has an I5-4288U and that works very well for high end photo editing, using lightroom, photoshop, merging hdrs and stitching hdr panoramas in ptgui. When working with final stitched hdr panos at 12x6k in 32bit, it gets a little slow, but thats pretty extreme. I got the 512GB SSD option, which is super fast and probably equally as important as the CPU for the sort of work I do. So the 4700HQ should have absolutely no problem doing everything you want, even high end offline rendering.
16gb of ram is definitely an upgrade I'll be doing, and i'll likely be doing an SSD a bit down the the line, the asus is at the upper limit of the current budget, but it's also the only laptop in that price range, that is 15.6" an i7 4700, and an IPS screen, surprising few laptops come with IPS's, unless you go with a Macbook Pro, but then you're going to pay through the nose to get one with similar hardware specs.
So in a few months, i'll likely replace the dvd drive with an hdd caddy, move the current 1tb into that, and put an SSD into the primary slot, and re-install my OS and apps onto the SSD, and use the 1tb as storage.
IPS screens are thankfully becoming much more common on laptops though. A few years ago it was almost impossible to find them.
Update on this. The LCD panel that Sager replaced has is starting to show the same defect as before (blotchy red groups of pixels visible when viewing dark images). Looks like it may be a systematic problem with the panel in the NP7330, which I assume is the same one in the NP7338. Very frustrating and disappointing.
Yeah I have the 13 Retina. It really depends what you want to do. If you mean running Unreal 4/Toolbag 2, no, not really. Or well, only for very basic stuff. The Iris GPU is good for a intel laptop GPU, but quite bad for a workstation GPU. Good for light to moderate 3d, great for 2d, but not sure how much you can push it for high end 3d.
Even the 750M in the 15 isn't particularly good when compared to a desktop workstation card, but probably more suitable for gamedev work.
What specifically would you be doing on the laptop? I can give you a better answer if you tell me how you plan to use it.
You're probably going to need to look at 15-17 or bigger huge beefcake laptops, at which point I seriously question the point of going with a laptop over a desktop workstation.
Personally, I would recommend getting a laptop that is capable of doing light-moderate 3d work on the go, and stick with a desktop, that will be much cheaper and more powerful for working at a desk hooked up to monitors.
I guess, really ask yourself whether you're going to be doing real high end 3d stuff while you're out at starbucks or wherever you're taking the laptop, or if you can get by with a more moderate system, and then switch over to the workstation when you get home. If you need to get a 10 pound highend laptop with SLI video cards and terrible battery life, is it really portable at that point?
Edit: To be a little more helpful: Laptops tend to have mobile GPUs with "M" in the model name, like 750M in the 15 retina, these are significantly underpowered compared to their standard desktop models that share the same number.
M versions of GPUS that don't suck:
880M
780M
775M
I wouldn't go with anything short of one of those for a workstation laptop for high end 3d. A 775M is a little faster than a 560TI for reference, and a 750M is about as good as a 450 GTS.
I ordered from Powernotebook. They have excellent customer service and I would heartily recommend buying from them, for any notebook you decide on. Mac is going to have the best build quality, but you definitely pay for the brand name.