Q: laptop (w/ ATI Radeon x300) for May/3dsMax

rybeck · May 2008

Hello all,

Considering to get used laptop, and wondering if it is suitable to use maya (8.0-8.5), and 3dsMax (9.0).

Specs are...
-Thinkpad T43
-Pentium M 2Ghz
-1Gb Ram
-80Gb HDD (5400rpm)
-ATI Radeon x300

Particularly I am worrying about video card part as I've never used ATI line before...
Thinking of doing light modeling and scripting (no heavy rendering) on the laptop at this moment.

Any advise would be appreciated~

Rybeck

MoP · May 2008

I would recommend against that, it seems very old and low-spec.
My laptop which I got about 3-4 years ago has an ATI Radeon x700 in it, which I am guessing is better than that... also it has 2gb RAM, 160gb HD and 2.6ghz processor.

So unless that is insanely cheap (like $50 or something), I wouldn't bother. It probably won't be able to display normalmaps or any advanced pixel shaders.

Sounds like you could do a lot better, but it depends on your budget.

rybeck · May 2008

MoP wrote: »

So unless that is insanely cheap (like $50 or something), I wouldn't bother. It probably won't be able to display normalmaps or any advanced pixel shaders.

Sounds like you could do a lot better, but it depends on your budget.

Hey MoP, thanks for honest comment...

I wish I can afford more bang for 'secshy & hiend' machine, but for now my budget is quite low (500 plus minus), and I need one to stay away from my place really bad and really soon (my apt will going to be too hot to stay over the summer... and no A/C is allowed)
I don't think I will expect normal map capability from current laptop I have in mind, but at least I wish it won't hick up too much from light modeling since that's primarily what I need.

The other brand I was thinking was Dell Vostro (14") which is slightly over my price range... But after I heard from somewhere Dell Vostro won't suit for my needs, and kinda stay away from it...

Still looking for others (hopefully from who own similar spec and keep rolling hardball on it) opinions, and will be appreciated..

Illusions · May 2008

Actually, thats the same exact laptop I have, but I upgraded the RAM from 512 mb to 1.5 gb (Do this, or you'll want to smash it even more, just buy the right type off NewEgg for cheaper than IBM/Lenovo sells it). I've had it for 2 years, and while it can handle low polygon modeling, it chugs along with anything approaching 100K or more triangles, or heavy amounts of animation. It can't bake out normal maps at anything higher than 1024 x 1024, and forget ambient occlusion. MoP is also right that it can't display normal maps or advanced pixel shaders in real-time (you'll have to render them). Its decent if you don't expect much from it...but I also can't count how many times I've wanted to break it because its frozen in an app due to some random mundane reason. I've worked, the past 2 years in school on this thing, and I am doing so at my current job, and it will probably have to last a few more. Scripting and light modeling should be fine...but again, don't expect anything more than average from it...

...its built solid though. Its handled commuting from NYC for 2+ years, the innards are beginning to clog with dust and age though. The screen resolution is 1440x900, which is pretty good for a 15" TFT. I know its not relevant, but it also comes with an S-Video out port, which is intended for presentations, but you can hook it up to any TV or HDTV with an S-Video input to watch DVDs or movies off of, or output anything else (the onboard video supports an additional monitor, either VGA or S-Video).

rybeck · May 2008

Illusions wrote: »

Actually, thats the same exact laptop I have, but I upgraded the RAM from 512 mb to 1.5 gb (Do this, or you'll want to smash it even more, just buy the right type off NewEgg for cheaper than IBM/Lenovo sells it). I've had it for 2 years, and while it can handle low polygon modeling, it chugs along with anything approaching 100K or more triangles, or heavy amounts of animation. It can't bake out normal maps at anything higher than 1024 x 1024, and forget ambient occlusion. MoP is also right that it can't display normal maps or advanced pixel shaders in real-time (you'll have to render them). Its decent if you don't expect much from it...but I also can't count how many times I've wanted to break it because its frozen in an app due to some random mundane reason. I've worked, the past 2 years in school on this thing, and I am doing so at my current job, and it will probably have to last a few more. Scripting and light modeling should be fine...but again, don't expect anything more than average from it...

Thanks Illusions for your 'direct experience' comments,

For memory upgrade, it was way cheaper than I expected (like 20.00 USD for another 1gb stick!~)
Definitely I'll max the RAM slots, and possibly get a faster HDD. (found one from Newegg, Hitachi 80gb whish is NON-SATA. I believe Thinkpad t43 won't accept SATA HDD, am I right?)
How about battery? May I ask what types of battery you got and how it runs? I heard over the tech podcast the other day, and black market version notebook battery is possible to blow up if it is plugged in too long...

Illusions · May 2008

I ordered mine from TigerDirect, and it was just a straight Lenovo/IBM setup. It has the standard HDD in it, and I haven't had any problems with that. The battery itself is, I believe, the default battery you get with the T43 (battery management is telling me its a Sanyo Lithium Ion), and unplugged, you get maybe about 45 minutes on the "Maximum Performance" setting, or about 1 hour 30 minutes - 2 hours on "Maximum Battery Life" (it has a power manager built in). I don't really worry about the battery much, because its plugged in while I'm at work. The battery will degrade over its lifetime though.

IBM has built into it a bunch of extra diagnostic stuff, most of which I don't use. But you have things like Battery power management, and can create your own schemes. Some of its hardware though (like the onboard ATI chip) doesn't seem to have had a firmware/driver upgrade in a while, and so...you're stuck with some things. Like it won't run Mental Mill (it will, but it won't show the nodes).

rybeck · May 2008

illusion,

Thanks for comment about battery...

past weekend, and today were intensively busy, not only with work, but I tried to save as much as I can, sold lots of stuff I don't use any more, in order to raise $$ for new laptop... yes, I switched my mind to invest good money for mobile power.
So now I am after T61p model, and here is the spec. Indeed next hour or so, I am about placing an order, and wish I can hear from you guys' suggestion and/or opinion @ last minutes...

For the RAM, I guess I can add 4Gb set as soon as the machine is here.
'DVD-RW' and 'Bluetooth' seems not to be essential so skipped them.

Any suggestion would be appreciated...

Thank you

[ADDED] --> Last minute thought, I am think of get 2.4Ghz CPU instead 2.5Ghz, as I am not expecting rendering out of laptop... It saves me 75.00 +/- that I may get 4Gb RAM with them.

What's your opinion?

Rybeck

rybeck · May 2008

Hello all,

As I am in market to buy RAM for the laptop, here is 3 choices I have.

GeIL 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Newegg.com - GeIL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Laptop Memory - Laptop Memory

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Newegg.com - mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Laptop Memory - Laptop Memory

A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Newegg.com - A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Laptop Memory - Laptop Memory

Spec seems to be shoulder to shoulder, but if someone have good experience with any brands (either from the list or not), I'll be glad to hear.

Thank you,

Rybeck

PaK · May 2008

make sure the laptop you are buying has 2 slots and not just 1, or else you will not be able to use it.
Make sure the Windows or other operating system you install is 64-bit, or else you wont be able to use the 4 GB of ram you plan to put in there.

rybeck · May 2008

PaK wrote: »

make sure the laptop you are buying has 2 slots and not just 1, or else you will not be able to use it.

Make sure the Windows or other operating system you install is 64-bit, or else you wont be able to use the 4 GB of ram you plan to put in there.

Pretty sure the laptop has two slots for RAM. One that I ordered will be coming with Vista Basic, but I am planning to install 64bit XP later.

Thanks for comments~

Illusions · May 2008

Ohh, when you get it, if you're always going to work with it plugged in, there will be an object in the taskbar shapped like a battery, with a #% inside to indicate how much battery is left. Click it and it allows you to go into a list of power management settings. It should be set to "Thinkpad Default"...by default, but you can change it to Maximum Performance.

rybeck · May 2008

Thanks for sharing info.

As matter of fact, it's been long time to back to thinkpad...
My first one was 1997 or something like that. As soon as I got the laptop, I shipped it back to factory, and I got apple G3 notebook.. until I started 3D works intensively.

Order status extended shipping estimate to 3 weeks from now... Gotta do something make myself busy, not daydreaming my laptop..

Q: laptop (w/ ATI Radeon x300) for May/3dsMax

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