Laptops for Modeling

RabidRabit

Hey guys!

To the point: I'm not much of a hardware wiz and need some recommendations on what to look for in a laptop that I will probably end up using as my main workhorse. I do a lot of Max/Zbrush type work.

The reason I am looking for a laptop over a PC is because I do a lot of commuting. I spend most weekends away from home and I have a massive commute to work. With Christmas crunch coming there seems to be less and less time during the week to get any 3D work done (I work in mobile games as a QA dude at the moment).

Hoping that with a laptop i'll be able to flip it open and get right back to modeling whenever I run into downtime!

I'll put a base price point at about 1000 bucks, but I can be flexible with that.

Thanks in advance for any advice/recommendations!

roo86

I work in Maya/Photoshop/zbrush on a daily basis too, with a laptop.
My zbrush models average around 3million-24million scuplts, I do AO/normal bakes on this laptop too. I don't tend to work into crazy dense models/sets, my style works fine with just this average number of polys, and my Macbook Air 2013 holds up absolutely perfectly fine. (ok, maybe only baking I'd wish to be a tad faster hehe)
I paint at 4k-8k resolutions just fine too and work inside of Unity every day too.
That's a starting "hardware spec" you could reference from I guess.

Jeff Parrott

The weird thing with Macbooks is the trackpad is decent for modeling. Granted you wouldn't want to use it full time. But on a train or whatever it has worked for me in a pinch. Better than taking a mouse, etc. Also the batt life and displays on the Macbooks are great. Check ebay and you might be able to find one at that price point. They are super $$$ otherwise.

RabidRabit

Interesting! I have an old 2008 pro which I had done a lot of photoshop/video work with in the past, so old it wont even run marmoset 2 now sadly haha. Had no complaints otherwise, maybe its worth looking into again!

Only lame thing would be learning a new sub-d package, though I don't doubt Maya's abilities and it would be another thing I could tag onto my resume :P

RabidRabit

This MSi looks pretty decent for the price: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8959563&CatId=3998

skankerzero

I use one of these

http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_ROG_G750JM/

works like a charm.

Gmanx

Have to concur with SkankerZero. I have the G73 and it's bloody quick. Battery life is poor though.

A mate of mine has the Microsoft Surface 3 pro (Core i7). If you can afford it, it's like having a super-quick notebook and a wacom cintiq in one package. Double win.

Add3r

I have been using the y500 since early 2012 and can say it has been BY FAR the best laptop I have ever owned, or even used. The build quality is about a 9/10 (this is due me getting a laptop from the first batch, which used a now replaced a sometimes faulty touchpad) but the reliability, power, and price point put it at a 11/10 for me. I cant praise the y series enough, and it sounds like in last year's y510 and this year's y40/50 which just came out the build quality has only gotten better. The laptop has a metal chasis, illuminated keyboard, and a pretty solid monitor. The HD editions come with 2156 res panels as well.

I have friends with G37's and IMO comes in at a very close second with the Lenovo Y series. This, however, is all just in my personal experience and preference.

Dataday

I have been using a Lenovo y510p (2xGeforce in SLI) for about a year (cutting down on electricity cost) and its been a great workstation. Its small enough where its not in the way, light enough where its not too heavy, quiet enough to the point I dont even know its running...and It was cheap, around $950 when I got it.

They probably have some upgraded versions by now. Its worth consideration:
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/

Additionally, I have found a surface pro to be quite convenient to use for certain CG related work. Feels a lot closer to using a cintiq companion without actually getting one. The older models still use wacom digitizers and can be found for fairly cheap these days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DufCfxMKeg

Also Wacom is currently having a sale on their website, I think the Cintiq Companion is about $400 off at the moment. Not a bad sale.

Eric Chadwick

Also got a Lenovo Y500 a couple years ago, been real happy with them. Great laptop for the price. Upgraded to a SSD and 16GB RAM, still works great.

Eric Chadwick

Oh also, you should check out this thread:
Beefcake laptop?

RabidRabit

Haha great name for a thread. I'll go through it for sure!

Alphavader

What about the Surface 3 Pro ? (8GB) ?

RabidRabit

Yah Tablets had been suggested. I can't really picture hard surface sub-d modeling on it though, but that could simply be because I've never seen it done haha.