laptop or desktop
polycount lvl 666
still unsure about whether to get a laptop or a new desktop pc. I will have to lug it up to dundee every so often, so obviously a laptop is a good solution for this, but a good un is so damn expensive.
I could get a decent desktop bare bones for about 400 quid, but obviously its not as portable, though cases are quite small these days so it would fit in to a smallish suitcase.
what do you think.
I was tempted to go for a dell m90 if I went for the notebook option.
Would this run unreal editor( latest one) and run next gen games along with 3d apps with full pixel shader support?
I could get a decent desktop bare bones for about 400 quid, but obviously its not as portable, though cases are quite small these days so it would fit in to a smallish suitcase.
what do you think.
I was tempted to go for a dell m90 if I went for the notebook option.
Would this run unreal editor( latest one) and run next gen games along with 3d apps with full pixel shader support?
Replies
Have you thought about keeping a desktop at both locations, and just getting a portable HD?
I basically need one that will run 3dsmax - have support for at least pixel shader 2.0 and will also run the latest unreal engine games/editor properly.
I would probably buy a new desktop machine later on when my finances are n't so messed up:)
The HP has a geforce 8600 GS 256MB but you can get the VAIO with the GT version which is twice as powerful.
Any thoughts anyone?
HP does have horrible customer service though... And I did tell HP that I wouldn't recommend them to anyone anymore, so I shouldn't be recommending it
I can't speak for Sony though... I've never bought their laptops because they were always WAY more pricey. I do know they laptops are supposed to be pretty solid though.
One thing to keep in mind is that the HP has a number pad, while the Sony doesn't... I'm not sure if that matters to you, but it did for me. The HP also has more video ram, which should come in handy.
Dude I think it has been mentioned in other threads but check out http://www.notebookforums.com Pretty much the most honest info you will find on any laptop you might get.
Perhaps I should buy on the basis of which has the prettiest carrying case instead:)
http://www.ibuypower.com/mall/lobby.htm
Dell on the other hand, has moved their customer service back to knowledgeable staff.
http://www.dadako.com/ikea-part-2
I lost a huge rant about it but the long and short of it all is, HP's customer service is like talking to Vogons, they release hardware with NO drivers (I had a dx9 card with the last driver update only covering dx8). The hardware they throw together in the machines is a wild guess, they just simply wait for it to break and give you a new machine at a lower spec.
And if you plan to go to another country, forget about getting it repaired should it break down.
All in all, I had such a shit time with my rather insanely powerful HP zd7000, that it drove me to switch to Mac. You wouldn't want that.
I would recommend the sony. Even though the HP has a numeric keypad (which I used a lot for max) the sony machine is built for endurance.
Actually, reading Hawken's post reminded me of my Vista change over. I installed Vista onto my laptop, then discovered that HP wasn't going to support Vista drivers on any hardware that wasn't built for Vista. So basically, they only covered a handful of models that they sold with the 'Vista ready' tags. Initially I didn't let it bother me too much since the laptop was working. Then I went to upgrade the video, since the video performance was lagging. HP didn't have drivers (said to go to ATI), then ATI changed their policies and said you have to go to the laptop manufacturer for the drivers. So basically neither company was going to support me for Vista. I'm now running Ubuntu, where I get community support
My wife and I bought one of these and we love it.
- 2.2Ghz
- 320GB HD 5200rpm (160GBx2)
- 2GB DDR2 ram (up to 4GB)
- NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT 256mb Dedicated, 1024mb allocated, supports Shader Model 4.0 and DX10
- Not listed but it has a power saving function that uses an Intel card which is actually pretty decent and pushes the battery life up quite a bit. The Intel card plays TF2 at a min of 60fps, at max settings. GoW I have to switch to the GT.
- The 320GB HD is kind of misleading because they advertise it as 320GB but it is actually two separate drives. Which worked out nicely because I wiped one and installed XP, which runs quicker. My wife boots into vista because she likes the pretty crap, I boot into XP because I like the tiny speed increase and 3DsMax seems to be more stable, which isn't a hardware issue, its a windows vista issue.
Personally I still can't get used to the viewing angle of laptop displays which is fine for modeling but I can't use it to paint textures or do lighting passes, I just don't trust it. The keyboard bugs me also, the bio sensor is in a place it gets tripped easily until you disable it. I still stick to my desktop 80% of the time because my wife is a freak about putting the laptop away and I'd rather not hassle with setting it up each time.
My power adaptor is acting funky right now and I got online last night to chat with someone. Yeah you can call or chat online. He sent it out overnight and I'll get the new one tomorrow.
My next laptop will be another dell. Just can't say enough how awesome my experience has been.
See this link for more information:
http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/
It's a bit of a complicated mess right now, but it might get better in the future.
It has pretty good specs and Run gears of war at pretty near highest settings.
little bit stuttery though but that may just be a driver issue.
acer T7300 - Gforce 8600M GT 512Mb and intel core Duo centrino( 2gig each core). 320 GB hard drive
output to HD tv.
suppose the main bad thing about it is the short battery life at 1.5 hours.
So Far though I am impressed and it has a '20 inch' monitor.
jesus its huge and very heavy like a tank