Sub 15" Laptop Super Duper non Pooper
polycounter lvl 18
My turn to start such a thread. I cant wait any longer for Bulldozer. Need something for meantime and portability after I get a new desktop eventually. So since just had bday, treating self.
Want:
Minimums
CPU Min: I5
Graphics Card: DX 11 with 1 gig
BELOW 90th mark on Benchmarks
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
4 Gigs ram: 1333 better if possible.
I don't need a big hardrive. Wanted to replace right away with SSD. For that matter, don't need an optical.
Finds:
::::::::::::::::
$1000
Alienware M11x
Intel® Core i7 640UM (4M Cache, 1.2 GHZ with 2.266 GHz Max Turbo Frequency)
500GB SATAII 7,200RPM
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz
11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
Fwiw: Not a quad core i7
Pro: Super Small
Con: Overpriced. Its a Dell :P
:::::::::::::::
$800
ASUS N82 Series N82JQ-XV1 NoteBook Intel Core i7 740QM(1.73GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230024
Pro: Good Balance
Con: Battery time mentioned in review. Still a bit large
::::::::::::::
Best Deal: Unfortunately a 15.6 incher.
$935
Sager NP5160 / Clevo W150HN
- 15.6 FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- - 2nd Generation Intel® Core i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
- Stock Thermal Compound-
- nVidia GT 540M 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR3 DX11 with Optimus Technology
- No Video Adapter
- ~ 8,192MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS)- Special
- Standard Finish
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Software
- ~ 320GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) - Default
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5160-custom-laptop-built-the-clevo-w150hn-p-2999.html?wconfigure=yes
CON: Bigger than I want to cart.
Pro: Best price and performance and a high rez for a 15"
;::::::::::::::::::::
Want:
Minimums
CPU Min: I5
Graphics Card: DX 11 with 1 gig
BELOW 90th mark on Benchmarks
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
4 Gigs ram: 1333 better if possible.
I don't need a big hardrive. Wanted to replace right away with SSD. For that matter, don't need an optical.
Finds:
::::::::::::::::
$1000
Alienware M11x
Intel® Core i7 640UM (4M Cache, 1.2 GHZ with 2.266 GHz Max Turbo Frequency)
500GB SATAII 7,200RPM
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz
11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
Fwiw: Not a quad core i7
Pro: Super Small
Con: Overpriced. Its a Dell :P
:::::::::::::::
$800
ASUS N82 Series N82JQ-XV1 NoteBook Intel Core i7 740QM(1.73GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230024
Pro: Good Balance
Con: Battery time mentioned in review. Still a bit large
::::::::::::::
Best Deal: Unfortunately a 15.6 incher.
$935
Sager NP5160 / Clevo W150HN
- 15.6 FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- - 2nd Generation Intel® Core i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
- Stock Thermal Compound-
- nVidia GT 540M 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR3 DX11 with Optimus Technology
- No Video Adapter
- ~ 8,192MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS)- Special
- Standard Finish
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Software
- ~ 320GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) - Default
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5160-custom-laptop-built-the-clevo-w150hn-p-2999.html?wconfigure=yes
CON: Bigger than I want to cart.
Pro: Best price and performance and a high rez for a 15"
;::::::::::::::::::::
Replies
FWIW what Waz and I are speaking about:
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8130-built-clevo-p151hm1-custom-sager-laptop-p-2973.html?wconfigure=yes
Sager NP8130 Overview
Display
15.6" FHD (1920x1080) Matte
Video Card:
1536MB DDR5 nVIDIA 460M
Processor:
2nd Generation Intel® Core i5/i7 1333MHz FSB up to 8MB L3 Cache (Customizable)
Memory:
8GB DDR3 1333MHz (Up to 16GB)
Hard Drive:
Customizable from 320GB to 640GB SATA 5400/7200RPM or SSD's
Battery Life:
2-3 Hour
Weight:
6.83lbs
I might do that as well since its not much more than the sager I was looking at.
I did find these.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
$1200
IdeaPad Y460p Laptop - 43952BU
Intel® Core i7-2630QM Processor
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6550M 1GB
8 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
14.0" HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?vt=5&GroupID=243&Code=43952BU&hide_menu_area=true¤t-category-id=653343E0DE54435882FABC3CE1BC569A
Good: Sub 15" & I7
Bad: Price and Graphics.. "decent"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
$1270
VPCSB190X CTO
Intel® Core i7-2620M processor (2.70GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.40GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Black
13.3" VAIO Display with LED backlight (1366 x 768)
AMD Radeon HD 6630M (1GB VRAM) hybrid graphics with Intel® Wireless Display technology
320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
4GB (4GBx1) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
CD/DVD Player / Burner
Good: Sub 14"!.
Bad: Price for this I7 is only dual. Graphics decent.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SYCTOProcess?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921666304162&categoryId=8198552921644768017
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
$950
IdeaPad Y460p Laptop - 439523U
Intel® Core i5-2410M Processor
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6550M 1GB
6 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
14.0" HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?vt=5&GroupID=243&Code=439523U&hide_menu_area=true¤t-category-id=653343E0DE54435882FABC3CE1BC569A
Good: Sub 15"
Bad: Price and Graphics.. "decent" Just a I5.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
$1100
VPCCA190X CTO
Intel® Core i5-2410M processor (2.30GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.90GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Bolt Black
14" VAIO Display with LED backlight (1600 x 900)
AMD Radeon HD 6630M (1GB VRAM) hybrid graphics with Intel® Wireless Display technology
320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
CD/DVD Player / Burner
High capacity battery
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SYCTOProcess?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921666302244&categoryId=8198552921644784024
Pro: Sub 15", and NICE Resolution (where else you gonna get a 1600X900 in 14" let alone 15"?).
Con: Only I5 and 4 gig. Graphics "ok".
:::::::::::
To Reiterate Goals:
-Temp Main System. Will be plugged into external monitor
-Then mobile system. On the go. I run, bike, and bus. So need light as possible. hence smaller, the better.
Oh Ps. The M11X has the same resolution as most 14". So it would be small, yes, but it would be a higher ppi than most. Just means Id have to have it closer to my face, with which that size would make easier.
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m4500/pd
but then I have its bigger brother, which kicks arse
Unfortunately its 15.6" so not ideally what you want lol
Why would I need a quadro? Most game artists don't need it. As it is, the performance of the quadro is below most of the gpus I mention.
Scott, thats a 17" laptop. Even more out of the size I would want. However, it is surprising to hear that about MSI since they supposedly have a good rep.
To me, I would rather have a cheap, light netbook with awesome battery life, that I would actually take with me somewhere instead of trying to find a beefcake heavy laptop with poor battery life and fool myself into thinking i'm going to do any real work/gaming on it. Thats what a PC is for =P. Laptops are generally terrible and uncomfortable to use, so to me atleast, its always more of a pipe dream than a reality to get a "nice" one.
I got a netbook for $265, its awesome as hell and I can actually take it with me when I leave, without worrying about taking the charger with(6-8 hour life), unlike a laptop with a large screen and real video card, most of which have 2 hours or less battery life, I mean, you take that on a long flight and its practically worthless, battery wont last long enough to even watch a single movie.
Its important to note that rated battery life for laptops is for like, basic web browsing. You start doing anything GPU intensive and the battery life will drop drastically.
Buy a real PC for power, and a netbook for travel. Both will be significantly better for their stated purpose than an in-between laptop. And you will likely not pay much extra for the two combined.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/series/category/notebooks/dm1z_series/3/computer_store
It's 11.6inch TFT but 720p res screen, you can get alternative brands fusion netbooks with 13" 1368x768 screens instead though. Having played around with one it seemed snappy enough in the viewport, but the CPU is not render friendly. But for using a realtime shader in the viewport and game art it seemed fine.
however I do have the aforementioned beefcake laptop - I do a lot of commuting and have to stay away from my main PC an awful lot, I do in fact use it all of the time to do my modelling on both at my friend's houses and even at uni, where the computers on the whole do not have much RAM and I can't even load up my project with out crashing their copies of Max
Admittedly, this is because I changed the size of my virtual memory to something the uni computers cant get near
My 15" laptop lives on the couch plugged into the charger, as its useless to actually take anywhere.
Just got done chatting with Lenova. They didnt have anything currently that fit my needs, but mentioned in the next few days to watch their site as the had something coming out that would fit my needs.
Earthquake, Dude. A netbook? Atom GPU? Can you do anything on that other than surf the web? Hell, I know a guy that had three of them and NONE of them could play HD video decently.*
Having something to travel that can't do anything is worthless to me. If one wants to browse the web, thats what smartphones are for (if I had one).
So I have to take the middle ground. I need something I can use for now as main system then redelegate to secondary on the go/work/coffee shop/in bed and want to watch movie, and LAN party system.
I looked at netbooks early one. Even with the Nvidia Ion 2 on the newer ones, they just aren't capable.
(If I had a perfect world the Asus Tablet would have had a dedicated graphics card and not BSOD nor having to use custom tablet drivers to work with Photoshop. That would have been great).
*He did manage to do a hackintosh install of Mac OS on one. That was pretty cool.
Honestly, you're gonna whip open mudbox on the bus and get some serious work done?
Really, if you to waste your money on a computer you'll use for a very short time in between having a real computer, go for it. Its your money.
It's a shame I don't have access to it any more as I sold it on to a friend but it was twice as fast in general experience and in heavily demanding stuff didn't freeze up - just took longer.
But I can't iterate enough how much better the Radeon fusion part was, not having the worst 3d drivers in the world helped considerably to the point where doing low poly modelling/texturing was fine.
EQ you brought this up originally, and get frustrated with my reply?? Where in return I'm trying to understand your reasoning. Why did you buy a netbook versus a smartphone? If the netbook cant do much more than browse. Do you hook into your home network to grab files and remote desktop like Ashvelon (which he does on his ipad)?
Either case, I have a 6 year old computer I no longer do 3d at home on since its such a dog. Can barely play games and would suddenly drop to 2-3 frames a second for a minute in a middle of a battle. Have to share it with a roommate who cant afford his own system. While the desktop (Hammer) I want and have been waiting for patiently until now isn't expected until the end of June for release let alone market availability.
Who said serious work on the bus? The shocks on these buses here suck. I have enough trouble tying to do doodles on them in sketchbooks without getting headaches or looking like someone with a nervous disorder drew them.
TBH, the best laptop you can get is the moleskin/staedtler variety.
just my 2cents.
Basically what you're saying is you need a fast computer, it has to be a laptop for portability, but you're not actually going to do anything that benefits from having a fast computer on the go, so a "good" laptop is pointless.
Now, you can build a super awesome great fantastic PC for the cost of the "good" laptop, which makes things even more confusing. Really, you have a 6 year old PC, but you're "waiting" for a certain cpu or something? C'mon man.
Get an I7 system and call it a day, what is so great about the hammer thing? It will be marginally cheaper with the same performance than an I7 system or something? But, you're willing to buy two PCs instead of one to wait for this....
Notebook check benchmarks: The HD 6310 is next faster than the Ion2. However they are a consecutive 207 & 208. Which for a netbook is good, and the AMD netbook processor is better than the Atom.
Why did you sell it?
How is not "Lan Parties/Work/and Coffee Shops". Places where I expect to do some 3d or game work pointless?
Is the webrowsing easier simply because the netbook is larger for you to see? Curious, what about like a android tablet as that would be the combination of both your items.
Then I ask the same question to you. Why a netbook for you versus a smartphone or android tablet?
For non 3d tasks like just having VLC playing a 1080p MKV on the TV it was fluid with no dropped frames.
I will admit I wasn't doing heavy stuff such as mudbox or subd work in 3dsmax on it, more low poly modelling inspired by the sticky.
Just to point out I had a 17" Acer at work last year with a nvidia dedicated card, believe it was a GTS250m and a low end i7 but the heat and noise even on a desk was unbearable. Then I dropped down to a 15.4" Toshiba with a 330m and that seemed fine.
It really depends what you want to do on it, if you don't mind just using it for light modelling and texturing connected to an external monitor - it should suffice. My friend dropped his down to a pseudo-docked solution of when he's at home it just reads media of the SAN and plugs into the TV with XBMC installed. Works flawlessly as a media center.
I liked it, i've used all kinds of form factor Laptops and lugging the 17" home each night was a crime in itself. The 15" was better but the 11" was no trouble what so ever, plus it's cheap enough that with the extra money you can throw a nice SSD into that bulldozer system in June.
Just my opinions.
edit, for lan parties it plays UT99/Q3 smooth as butter, what else could you need? :poly124:
Screen size, real keyboard, generally being more of a "real" computer. I've got a rather small HTC Aria, touchscreen keyboard is ass, but I can do some basic browsing on it. Browsing on a smartphone is ok, I mean I would rather be able to do it than not, but compared to a netbook it is painful.
I don't really see the point of tablets, they aren't much more portable than a netbook, but lack a proper keyboard.
Do you spend a lot of time doing work in coffee shops, or hanging out at lan parties? This is a serious question, because to me, whenever someone talks about this sort of thing its like "oh it would be cool if I could do X" but then in reality never do it.
Really the AMD netbook Spicy is describing seems ideal, able to do a bit of work if you really need to, but honestly portable, unlike most laptops. How is the battery life on that thing?
Damn it! You saw right through me! Yea it was more "be cool idea". I have wanted to do lans, but since college never had any rides to get to ones to cart my stuff since I own no car.
So you fucker
Spicy: How about L4d2?
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/07/sony-vaio-yb-now-shipping-amd-fusion-to-your-door-for-600/
Two alternatives to the HP
http://www.kitguru.net/laptops/zardon/hewlett-packard-pavilion-dm1z-fusion-ultraportable/15/
Link to the L4D2 results, 30fps aint BAD I guess.
Personally I'd use it to play UT04 and CoD2, real lan games etc
Edit, most of them have HDMI/VGA out, check per laptop though
Edit2, http://www.kitguru.net/laptops/zardon/hewlett-packard-pavilion-dm1z-fusion-ultraportable/19/
This pretty much reflects what I experienced with the battery, I'd say a HD movie was more taxing than just max in wireframe mode for most of the time.
You see, I find netbooks as useless :S because i prefer a better computer and a bigger screen. Each person is a world
Well, following the thread topic i would recommed something cheap with this:
core i5-480m (dual core 2.66ghz + turboboost + HT)
4gb ram
Nvidia GeForce GT 540m <-- the GPU is quite important. they usually build dirt and cheap ati cards with very very poor perfomance.
The laptops with nivida 460m are very hot, and very very expensive. In a 15.6' laptop, with the 540m you have a great perfomace/price, and with an i5-480m it would be like to have a decent and small desktop computer you always can carry with ease.
For browsing the internet, in a smartphone you lose your eyes.
There are some builders like Packard Bell selling that combo with a 500gb HD and more things for less than 560 euros (PB may be a bad brand for laptops though). In dollars it should be a similar price, because in informatic, dollars=euros.
So, my recommendation is not to waste a lot
God damn it. I was just looking at netbooks after the responses and this one dm1z
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/cto.do#
$479 with 4 gigs.
But yea you are right. I shouldn't spend too much. And I dont know if a netbook would be enough. Especially into a 1680X1050 monitor.
It sounds like to me your saying go for the Sager NP5160? Just with the default i5 versus the i7? Or am I misinterpreting? How would one cart something like that? 15.6.
You could pay $1400 for a pimped out laptop only to realize the screen sucks or the keyboard is terrible.
Well, with that Sager NP5160 you have a new Quadcore of 2.0-2,9ghz with turbo, instead of a Dual core of 2,66ghz. It has a better cpu no doubt, more ram (the double) and the same graphic card, but of course... is more expensive.
In Dell you surely may find similar laptops and at least i can tell you their warranty and support is great (i have had 2 DELL workstations). You may end paying a bit more though. The XPS 15 and XPS 17 are very well known, and you can find models with better nvidia graphic cards such as the 555m for the same range of price. Here in Spain we have very good deals with the 17" models, all people are looking after portability and 15" is the king.
At the end, all depends of the use, so if you need a laptop for "x" thing, don't buy a laptop for "x²"
Are you going to use Zbrush with a laptop? i highly doubt it unless if you connect it to a cintiq or intuos :P. Something good and cheap would be less ram, and less cpu, but if you want something good for gaming, a nvidia 540m is excellent.
If you can try the product personally, the better. In stores like Mediamarkt, we can use and try the laptops and look their quality.
A good screen and a good keyboard are very important aswell.
A smaller Wacom isn't hard to cart. I do it all the time between work and home running with a backpack.
Dells are overpriced, and I only have the Alienware listed because its such a unique placement. An almost netbook thats pretty modern. Its just hard to swallow the price. $1000 for a I7 dual core, slower 8gig mem, and an "ok" graphics card The Dells are not the same price range as the sager. Not even close.
I guess in the perfect world combining yours and EQ advice it would be the Alienware... If it was priced better.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+E-350
Really, what I would do is just try to decide, do you want a beefy laptop as a PC replacement that in all likely hood you will not take out of the house often(possibly ever), or do you really want a compact, portable system that you really will feel inclined to take with you? Chances are if you've lived with that 3200 system this long, you can wait a little longer to properly replace it.
EDIT
Fuck what I just said. If this is gonna last me 6 months. Will it work for a desktop? Including Deus Ex3? I have to go to work on my days off now to play any of my more modern games.
It's a real shame external GPUs didnt take off, this is exactly the kinda time where an external GTS450 or something would have been handy for docked desktop work.
I am amazed how much higher the 1.6ghz bobcat is over the 3200XP. That's actually amazing. I figured they were on par.
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Intel® Core i5 2537M 1.4GHz(2.3GHz w/Turbo Boost, 3MB Cache) with 1GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
320GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000 a/g/n 1x2
1 Year Basic Plan
$999
The newer ones can also take up to 16gb of memory. I can get a 2gb 540m, but unsure worth it as that would help with super only high resolutions of external monitors. Unless modern games are uploading over a gig of textures these days?
Instead, I just wait a year and use this. In meantime bulldozer become more available and revised, next year this time?
I don't think it'll be too different, just more cores.
For all we know AMD will be broke by then. But that laptop looks solid spec wise, but it's damned ugly. If you can live with how it looks it's definitely the nicest internals.
Dell has a deal till friday that works on the new m11x for 350 off if over 1449.
So with that I could get
System Color Nebula Red with Soft Touch Finish
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Processor & Graphics Card Intel® Core i7 2617M 1.5GHz(2.6GHz w/Turbo Boost, 4MB Cache) with 2GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M
Display Panel 11.6" High Def (720p/1366x768) with WLED backlight
Hard Drive 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Sound Soundblaster® X-Fi Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled
Wireless Intel® Centrino® AdvancedN + WiMAX 6250 a/g/n 2x2
Alienware Orion M11x Neoprene Sleeve
For $1,241.59 shipped with tax.
But really. EQ is a good reality check. Do I need it? Can I get away with 4 months on just an ATI netbook?
I mean you have to admit the $350 off is a good deal (thats only through friday). But then...
How is working on models or photoshop in 1366x768? Do people use macbook airs to do PS work? (same size/rez). I mean a netbook would be less headache to worry about since it wouldnt have so much high end internals to go wrong. I wouldnt feel so spooked out putting in my backpack to jog to work and tripping and falling (which I have done).
But then I fall back on. Can I really work in 3D Max with a netbook for 4 months? Can I still play Deus Ex 3 at decent settings at 720?? I still haven't played Portal 2 even though I preordered it as Source finally went SSE2 only for cpus.
I hate buying expensive things. I always get in feedback loops like this. The poitn is and remains. I'm tired of waiting and I cant do shit at home. While I have wanted a laptop or netbook of some type as sometimes I would like to chill in bed versus going to my home "office".
EQ can you slap me around some?
I fell down the stairs with my first laptop, made me a very sad panda indeed...
I like the m11x lots apart from the fact it looks like it'd be rejected from Tron.
Yea. Thats why I dont know if the netbook could cut it.
Here is something I drew up though. For $650 for a Asus AMD Netbook. 8 Gig Upgrade, 40gig ssd, and a USB 3.0 (Since Asus supports) caddy for the original hardrive.
https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=11497509
Well, that price seems really excessive for a laptop, if it was going to really be your main computer it wouldn't be a problem, however the fact that you're planing on building a good PC within 6 months makes me think that is just wayyyy to expensive.
Can you last with the netbook? It will be a little faster than your current system, but I dont know.
Do you need to do professional work on it? Or are you just playing around with personal art? If you need to do paid work, I would say no, if you're not doing anything that has specific restraints or time requirements, I think you would be fine.
I doubt that laptop will play recent games at a high level. But I mean, its just a few months right? Its not the end of the world, if you can save $1000 and wait a little to play some games, isnt that worth it? It would be to me, but I never really "buy X computer to play X game".
However even if you decide the netbook isn't going to cut it, and you want a stop-gap laptop, you should probably be looking in the $6-800 range, not $1400(this is just insane for a laptop). I mean you're planing on building a workstation that will last you what, 3-5 years? You dont also need a laptop with similar specs.
[Edit] Yeah just looking over your system specs again, that is NUTS for a laptop. Man that system is way faster than my current workstation, which I use to do high-end game assets and play current games(like portal 2 at 1920x1200 max settings, buttery smooth). I think you're sort of over-thinking how fast you really need to go. I mean 2gb video card? There is absolutely no reason for that.
Yeah, however an easy option would be to replace it with one of those HDD/SSD hybrid drives, which I think are quite reasonably priced, and are supposed to be great for laptops.
Also, you're linking to your (private) wishlist.
The other issue is that of desktop replacement. Everybody has their own workflow and preferences, but I can't imagine moving from two 24" IPS screens to a 14-15" 1300x700 screen. Sure, you can work on it, but it's a bit like trying to write a dissertation on a blackberry. The only market I really see for expensive laptops are for guys that are constantly on the go that make money off having it, like an international salesmen or something like that. If you're only going to have one computer, you might as well get the best you can. For me, they're really just expensive toys, and I can't justify the cost of an overpriced one vs just upgrading my desktop.
I've got a 15" Gateway. It's a bit of a junker that I paid $400 for, but it works for what I need it for. I can do work on it (spreadsheets/databases) and sit on the porch with my coffee and check my mail. I'd be fine with a netbook if it wasn't for the database thing. I really can't imagine doing any 3D stuff on it.
Irrelevant if you never intend to sell but something to consider.
Nah, because you then have the original drive as an external for other "secondary" programs. I did it for my parents. But now with the added bonus of 3.0 USB, your going near the same speed it would have been installed as SATA internally.
$0 gigs is enough for PS, Zbrush, Win7, Max. If done smartly.
Anyhow I hate how the wishlist system works on newegg. Here is the REAL page.
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=11497509
EDIT: I will be using the system for work EQ. But what I'm creating now isn't AAA stuff fwiw. Though i do have a tendency to make overly high res masters for the normal map baking.
Anyhow, this would seem to be best compromise. But A: The A8-3510MX just released to manufacturers and not available yet. B: Its thermal properties are more than twice the current Fusion. C: Not sure I would see anything under 14" for a system/netbook like.
[ame]
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-U31JG-XA1-13-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B004LRO7QQ?SubscriptionId=AKIAJIONUNVYYXVAZ5WA&tag=13inch-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B004LRO7QQ[/ame]
$700
Intel Core i3-380M Processor 2.53GHz; 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM (2x2GB, 2 slots)
NV 415M 1G DDR3 + Intel GMA HD (Optimus Technology); 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM); No optical drive
13.3" HD LED Display; 3 USB 2.0 Ports; 3-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS); HDMI and VGA Port; 802.11 b/g/n; Bluetooth 2.0
Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System (64 bit) ;up to 9 hours of battery life
Pro: Small and modern graphics
Con: $200 more than the below. Still an i3.
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$480
ASUS UL80 Series UL80J-BBK5 NoteBook Intel Core i3 330UM(1.20GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 310M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220893
Pro: Super Cheap
Con: 14" with low resolution. i3 at that only 1.2. Could I even render AO's at enough speed?