laptop for art and gaming?
I was looking to get some feedback on this laptop if I could use it for gaming and my 3d/2d arts. Hopefully b-day present, mine comes up this month.
Gfx, cpu and memory look plenty good for gaming but no maxed settings, just want to run some games like COD Black ops, a few old school RTS games, etc.
And I'll probably reformat to xp since I don't like the newer OSes. What do you think about that too, is that a bad idea or doesn't it matter?
What do you think?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115864
Gfx, cpu and memory look plenty good for gaming but no maxed settings, just want to run some games like COD Black ops, a few old school RTS games, etc.
And I'll probably reformat to xp since I don't like the newer OSes. What do you think about that too, is that a bad idea or doesn't it matter?
What do you think?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115864
Replies
I'm not sure an AMD/ATI setup is ideal for 3D Work. While I know the ATI cards get some hot reviews for gaming, there's a few users on here that have had problems with ATI cards in some 3D apps.
Also, do you really want a 17"? They're pretty damn huge and not really all that portable. A 15 might be a better choice, more portability yet still a decent sized screen. You'll pay a premium for the display size too which would be better spent on more power. If you want a bigger screen when you're using it at home/work, plug it into an external monitor.
I'm way outta touch with laptops but I'd suggest going for an i5 CPU and an NVidia mobile chip.
Something like this might be better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115860
Bought the nVidia one from NewEgg on Black Friday when it was $600. It works pretty well, handles most games and apps gracefully, and the graphics card switching is nice. All my previous systems have been ATI but I'm really impressed with the GeForce here.
Not much bloatware and stuff either. Speakers kinda suck though.
and I would suggest something that doesn't cool through the bottom. overheating is a major bummer when it comes to laptops
4GB is still perfectly adequate for most people, especially in a laptop. I only run 6 in my desktop which is an eight-core beast and I've never had a single moment where I thought 'hmmm could really do with another 6gb'.
Besides, laptop RAM is still pretty pricey, and laptops usually only have 2 slots, 2x4GB sticks of laptop RAM would hit the wallet pretty hard I'd have thought.
Also getting a decent mobile GPU is becoming increasingly difficult at this end of the market, as the integrated GPU is becoming more common. If you want to do any gaming at all though you'll want a dedicated card. I've got a 320M integrated chip in my laptop and I can barely run WoW at medium settings, and SC2 struggles with anything above low settings. I would imagine Black Ops would be more like a slideshow than a game on an integrated chip.
Having said that, it's been fine for everything work related. ZBrush is smooth as silk, and Viewport performance in Max is great, UDK runs just fine too.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5650.23697.0.html
I don't see a huge difference between mine and the link that guy gave me, a few bucks more for mine. Some reviews of the laptop say theres a ton of bloatware. So what do I do there, uninstall the OS and reinstall it?
So since you disregarded most of my other comments, what is it you really want? A massive heavy laptop that plays games well but has questionable compatibility with your 3D app viewport display, or one that won't have issues with your 3D apps and can be lifted by those who didn't qualify for this years Worlds Strongest Man, but will still run your games adequately?
Sounds to me like you just want a gaming desktop.
I'd do some research on ATI gaming chips and 3D apps. I've heard alot of bad things about them. I've had a very good history with nvidia chipsets though.
Also 17" laptops are massive and very heavy they also suck alot of power lighting the screen. for a portable system i like 15 inch laptops.
Got to agree about 4GB being enough for general gaming and most apps. unless you are sculpting alot id say it's fine.
Indeed the Xps lines' prices might be a bit on the expensive side, they're not as expensive as alienware, of whom I believe to be not that great for how much THEY charge!
Yeah the i7/330 combo seems to be pretty incredible, I was going to recommend a MBP as I've had two over the last 4 years or so and they're by far the best laptops I've ever owned, gotta love that build quality not that price though! Isn't that spec you described like £1800?
http://www.computerland.nl/ProductDetails.aspx?en=80000731
I checked the ati raedon goes with max, and a 17inch screen.
Yeah, thats the downside. i bought apple care as well so it was more again. got to say tho the only complaint i can think of is its not a true quad core.
I KNOW!!!! If you read both my posts again, you'll see I was talking about the INTEGRATED graphics chip in a lot of current laptops. For example, the NVidia 320M, it's not actually a graphics card, it's a chip on the motherboard that handles the graphics. IIRC some of the new Intel mobile architectures are designed to work with integrated graphics, so they're becoming increasingly common. The SEPARATE GPU's, like the ATI one you posted, or the one in the laptop I linked, are GOOD.
And again, in relation to your question, the laptop you posted uses ATI / AMD... which is fine for gaming, but has known issues with some 3D Apps.
Yeah both my MBP's have been incredible. Ok they're expensive but the only thing that even comes remotely close in terms of build quality is the VAIO, and that's not exactly a budget laptop. If the cash is available, I always recommend a MacBook Pro hands down.
+1, I mean how much work/gaming are you actually gonna do on the move.
I did exactly that. Used to have a 'high spec' laptop which I told myself would be great for both art and gaming. In reality it was average at both. Sold it, built a kickass PC and bought an 'ok' laptop which I just use for web/email and a bit of WoW.
That said, 17" isn't really a pain to lug around, I've been doing it for close to 2 years every day. Carrying it for like 3 hours can get old, but if its just general porting around, meh. Besides working on a much smaller screen at all...no thanks, bigger yes, smaller no.
Also, don't have any delusions and think you'll be doing much content creation on battery power. Once you start crunching polys battery = poo. So you'll pretty much be always plugged in from that standpoint.
I have xp 64 (I got it for pretty much the same reason your considering it) and I really want to upgrade.
Xp64 has compatibility issues with some games, and software (quick time specifically) not to mention the random monthly bsods, and a handful of updates that won't install because of registry problems. (I've clean installed twice, and done 5 repair installs.....) Save your self the headache!
Ive have a gaming laptop (Asus g50). Seriously the thing is a flamethrower. I have Max, Zbrush, Photoshop installed on it and still default to my desktop. My initial thought was "hey I can go to Starbucks and model all day with a steady stream of caffine"..... Nope, not only is Starbucks expensive the laptop is a pain to pack and unpack because you have to have the battery close by if your gonna do anything demanding.
A couple bullet points:
-Very little upgrade-ability
-Frustrating screen rez (im used to 2+ screens)
-Battery life less than 2hrs
-If its built to game its probably heavy
-The video card (9800) in mine will heat up and start skipping
The take away, laptop for gaming and digital arts = FAIL
..........I digress
wat.
A few years ago I bought a desktop and laptop at about the same time with basically Identical parts (at least in name) across the board. The desktop cost me $800, that's with everything including speakers and 21' lcd monitor, all pre-built too so more then if I built it myself. The laptop? $1800. And despite being the same gpu in name the laptop one was actually somewhat slower.
Their has never been a time when the prices of laptops and desktops for similar performance were comparable.
I have one of these
It's not the world's nicest laptop but it runs 3D apps pretty well. It's not noisy but can be hot to touch. I don't have a dedicated office space so a desktop wouldn't work out. I have also taken my laptop on trips for business and I couldn't imagine using something I can't model on.
i7 840 QM 1.83Ghz, 8GB RAM (will take up to 32GB{when available}) 500GB HDD - two hard drive slots plus another slot for a SSD. 1920 x 1200 resolution. I have the ATi Firepro M7820, however you can get the NVidia Quadro 2800 or 3800...
Right, I've got my beefcake dev machine, quad core, 24" + 20" lcds, I would get very angry if I tried to do art work on a laptop after using this machine. I have a netbook that I paid $256 for, I can use the web, email, do whatever you'de actually want to use a laptop for and take it anywhere without having to worry about it being too heavy, too uncomfortably cause its huge, or running out of battery life. Honestly $256, thats less than some people spend on *cell phones*.
Unless you live in a studio apartment with 3 other people or... Japan, there really just isnt a need for a "workstation" laptop, its an oxymoron, a waste of money you will simply not use for its intended purpose, better to get a cheap netbook that will actually be useful and save the rest of the money for hookers and blow.
This isnt even mentioning the severe posture problems you would develop using a laptop as a real computer regularly, again unless you've got it set up at a desk with a proper mouse and keyboard or something.
I visited two different parts of the family over Christmas and still managed to get quite a bit of my 3ds Max project done... and I wouldn't have been able to get it done on a netbook
He wasn't saying the ATI chip was bad, which is a dedicated graphics chip, he was saying INTEGRATED chips, ie chips integrated on the motherboard which share the buses and ram are crap, which is true. Two very different things.
Intel GMA etc is an integrated chip. GeForce M etc are dedicated chips.
By the way, what do you need 8 gigs of RAM for exactly? High poly modelling?
I see I misunderstood you buddy and I'm sorry. I wasn't reading close enough there. I know independant gfx is the way to go for most anything beyond web browsing and 2d arts. I am hoping my ATI-gfx laptop can play some games on low-med settings and still be good for 3d art.
People have said ATI cards have problems in 3d. What exactly do you all mean, artifact creation or crashes or what?
Also it seems I have another big reason to upgrade,
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1265140#post1265140
Which sucks because I have a few clients waiting for their models to be baked.
the gaming performance is -20% but it's leaps and bounds better than my laptop here that struggles with starcraft 1