New Laptop
mod
Oh hai babes,
I was thinking of getting a new laptop since mine is old as a motherfucker.
But there are so many brands and shit.. I just want a cool one for 3d, with a cool screen.
I only find laptops with weird resolutions like, 1360*768.. i mean, what a weird resolution.
You know what.. im gonna say it.. i would love to get me a macbook pro. But i mean, fuck that shit. It's expensive as hell. (but pretty
tear lol)
Oh well, any cool recomendations?
I was thking of some HP one, or a Vaio. What you think?
I was thinking of getting a new laptop since mine is old as a motherfucker.
But there are so many brands and shit.. I just want a cool one for 3d, with a cool screen.
I only find laptops with weird resolutions like, 1360*768.. i mean, what a weird resolution.
You know what.. im gonna say it.. i would love to get me a macbook pro. But i mean, fuck that shit. It's expensive as hell. (but pretty
tear lol)Oh well, any cool recomendations?
I was thking of some HP one, or a Vaio. What you think?
Replies
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73775&page=3
I really liked my previous HP. It lasted me about 5 or so years, and it's still a good PC, but it's now getting too dated. But I can say, the customer service is worthless.
I've read many times, that Toshiba is junk. Many people complain about them breaking, so I never even considered one.
The Sony's were really nice, but I found them to be more expensive than I wanted to pay, for the features.
I don't do 3D design on my laptop, just code. So, I was focused on getting an i3 processor and a blu-ray drive (so I could rip them for my iPod). The Sony's offered that, but at my price range, I could only get a 14", with a short keyboard. I ended up with exactly the same thing, on the gateway, but I have a full keyboard (w/numpad) and only paid $500.
Oh, Dell's a very durable computers. I'm a fan of Dell's, but they didn't offer blu-ray drives on their 15" laptops.
What are your thoughts on shipping?
Here's a cool Laptop, just for you.
I bought a MacBook Pro 15" about 10 days ago. Intel i5, 4GB RAM, NVidia GT330. And,
It sucks for 3D. Hard. 3DS Max in Windows stutters like hell with any mildly complex scene, and Maya under OS X suffers in the same way.
So, 6 days later, I bought parts to build a desktop PC with a new Sandy Bridge i7, and the whole build cost me just over half of what the MacBook cost.
Needless to say it wipes the floor with the laptop in performance terms.
Moral of the story? Don't buy an expensive laptop for 3D.
That said, the MacBook Pro is definitely a decent machine. People say they are expensive, and pure spec wise they are, but when you look at build quality, and the stability of the OS if you're using OS X then it actually isn't much difference to other similar laptops. For example, the MacBook is made from solid aluminium, with a glass screen and trackpad. It 'feels' well built and not cheap and flimsy plastic like a Dell. The only two other laptops I know that are made of metal are the Vaio and the Dell Adamo, and you'll pay the same, if not more for those in a similar spec. If you can afford it, go for it. I mean, it's a luxury item, and sure you could get cheaper, but why do people drive Mercedes when a Fiesta still has 4 wheels and an engine?
I did have a MacBook Pro 13 which was great, not fantastic performance in 3D but nice for basic sculpting, painting and of course browsing/video/email etc.
I'd strongly advise not getting a high spec laptop with the intention of working in 3D on it, it's an expensive mistake that my bank account is now all too familiar with.
Laptops were designed for a purpose: portability. The hardware is really designed more for working in short bursts while you are away from your desktop. That being said, there are some really beefy laptops out there, however, the price you pay (and not talking money) for those beefy laptops is a short life span, taking the portability away (in my opinion) and various odd issues.
All that said, how much you are willing to spend is a very large factor. If you are willing to fork over some cash, which I assume from your hesitance to buy a MBP you may not, Falcon Northwest makes some really nice rigs. I have never owned one, but they got really good reviews and they are very customizable with good parts.
Dell laptops, as long as you stick to the upper range, are very nice and long lasting. Their support leaves a bit to be desired.
I have always been a huge fan of Asus hardware and have heard nothing but positive reviews of their laptops. Nice clean designs, as well.
Based only on personal experience with them, I would avoid an HP. They always seem to have heat issues or battery issues or both. They normally last about 12-16 months before they start taking the downward plunge. Other people have had really good luck with them, so, your mileage may vary.
The last one I would give mention to is Toshiba. They make a very durable, long-lasting, reliable machine.
Links:
http://www.falcon-nw.com/laptops - Falcon Northwest.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/BrandSubCategory.aspx?Brand=1315&SubCategory=32&name=Laptops-Notebooks Asus Laptops on NewEgg
http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops Toshiba
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/xps-laptops?c=us&cs=19&l=en&~ck=anav Dell XPS series laptops.
I didn't have any problems with their support tho, even though they gave me the wrong monitor and I had to wait an extra week for them to fix their mistake. (Computer was already sent out).
Dual booting is easy, design is nice, and power consumption is way better than the HP, Dell and Alienware laptops I've had in the past. I haven't had any of the slowdown in Max/Maya that creationtwentytwo had but I don't work with 8 million poly environments that often. UDK runs great on it too.
Yeah good call, I should've clarified really that Max only struggles with really complex scenes. I work in Arch-Viz and handling huge CAD files along with badly optimized meshes is usually where the main issues occur.
I'll second the battery life for sure though, I can see a good 6 or 7 hours on a single charge if I'm browsing the web / email etc. My previous 13" was also a similar performer in that regard.
At least with desktops you can replace components
There are three considerations when using high-end 3d apps on a laptop - cooling, cooling and cooling. Seriously, your graphics card WILL fry - it's just a question of when.
As has been said, unless you absolutely need portability - go for a desktop. If you have to have a laptop, get THE longest most comprehensive extended warranty they offer.
I also got a Macbook Air 11" recently, mostly for coding (MEL, Maxscript, HLSL, etc). I absolutely love that machine (the big powerbook is getting a bit jealous
It's not like you would work on a bus stop while you wait impatiently for that bus, right?
Nothing like a decent work corner in your place, with a nice desk, decent mouse and keyboard, double monitor and a nice wacom.
- many 3D artists are highly mobile - when you move you often don't a PC (or it arrives weeks late), you have at least a laptop for your own work (and gaming too!)
- travel. My company sent me for 6 months to their Beijing studio. Was nice to have my own machine with me and not just the office PC only (especially on the rainy/smoggy weekends)
- our office machines are quite locked down. However when I tinker at home I can bring it to work on my laptop.
- short term gigs - when I was in London the crappy small apartment was much too small for a desk with proper PC. Also I only took whatever I could fit in my suitcase. Good to have a laptop!
- train travel! many trains (at least in austria) are quite comfty and offer electric outlets. Maybe not good enough for serious 3D work, but you can get some stuff done, no problem.
- and then there's actually a few crazy fellows who really work on the plane...urgh
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%204021&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20