carlotristan3d Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Hi, I'm thinking of buying (more like investing) a new laptop. I usually work on 3dmax, photoshop, acad. Can somebody help me with the specs? I'm currently using a Sony Vaio that runs on Intel Core2 T2700@ 2GHz,2GB RAM but finds it slow. appreciate your suggestions, guys. thanks. TB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Supposedly the new Dell M6400 is 'the' fastest desktop replacement. They are supposed to send me one to review at some point, so I will be able to give a more accurate assessment in a few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beestee Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Techincally not a laptop, but surely qualifies as a desktop replacement notebook: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9280-built-clevo-d900f-ultimate-custom-laptop-p-2577.html There are several resellers that offer this i7 Sager (Clevo D900F), some may be cheaper, but this was the first one that popped up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Techincally not a laptop, but surely qualifies as a desktop replacement notebook: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9280-built-clevo-d900f-ultimate-custom-laptop-p-2577.html There are several resellers that offer this i7 Sager (Clevo D900F), some may be cheaper, but this was the first one that popped up. Just looking at that thing makes my back hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt McDonald Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 The only caveat I would offer up about buying a "workstation" laptop has to do with the video drivers. Currently I have a Dell M90 which is very nice indeed except the driver for my Quadro is over two years old. Nvidia does not list the 2500m (my Quadro) as one of the mobile Quadros that they will update and Dell has dropped off the map with driver updates. You can try and modify the current Quadro driver to work (Laptopvideo 2 Go) but I personally, have never had any luck with that. So if you get a laptop with a Quadro card check and make sure that you can get video card driver updates from Nvidia or ATI as the case may be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dp Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 dell m6400 - i'm about to place an order for mine as my m90 won't hack the larger model files even on x64 and i think it's the only one that will run to 16gb ram the other option is a lenovo w700 both all running quad corre qx9300 chips and a eurocom dc900 which runs a i7 chip one last point the m6400 has been around for 9 months are a few are now coming on stream as factory refurbs and good saving with a 3 year warranty are availible another last point watchout for cooked gfx cards - there babies run hot and if you plan on rendering on board you may end up with heatsinks detaching - it's a very common problem i've found and the fx3700 gfx card may be problematic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 another last point watchout for cooked gfx cards - there babies run hot and if you plan on rendering on board you may end up with heatsinks detaching - it's a very common problem i've found and the fx3700 gfx card may be problematic Of course there is a certain amount of marketing speak that goes along with speaking to a Dell marketing exec, but that was actually one question I specifically asked. Which was could you use this laptop at 100% CPU for rendering for extended periods of time without worrying about frying the machine. The response was yes and that they specifically test this line for these types of uses. The other lines he said do not undergo the same level of testing as they are not meant for production use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt McDonald Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 I've rendered on my M90 for hours at a time (maybe 12 straight) and its never had any problems...don't set it on your lap though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlotristan3d Posted August 17, 2009 Author Share Posted August 17, 2009 Thanks or all your help. I'm leaning towards DellM6400, should I get 32bit or 64 bit OS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandmanNinja Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 64-bit, all the way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 As I am now also looking to move to 64 but, just be sure to check that all of your apps, utilities and drivers support 64 bit. In my case I found many that did not support 64 bit and these are all new apps and drivers. Smaller developers often don't spend the time to support 64bit officially, although may still work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt McDonald Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Hey Jeff I know you are kind of a color management nut (me too) I've found 64bit and color management to bit a hassle. The windows color control panel app doesn't run on xp 64. Neither will any of the Chromix tools. Just thought I'd offer that up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Hey Jeff I know you are kind of a color management nut (me too) I've found 64bit and color management to bit a hassle. The windows color control panel app doesn't run on xp 64. Neither will any of the Chromix tools. Just thought I'd offer that up. Yeah, I know... I think what I will end up doing is running a VM of XP 32 bit for all of the apps that don't run on 64bit. I've heard that Windows 7 will support some sort of backward compatibility VM for drivers etc. Not really clear on how that works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlotristan3d Posted August 22, 2009 Author Share Posted August 22, 2009 thanks for the tips guys. currently they run only on intel core2 duo processor. but in north america they have an option for intel core 2 quad core extreme.unfortunately its not available in my location. they;ll probably shipping next year with quad core. grrrr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epictor.com Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 the dell precision series is quite good, im working on a m4400 with 8gb ram and a mobile quad core processor. the sytem is about 20 times as fast as the apple macbook pro i had earlier. though - heat is a concern! dell replaced about 5 times the cooling parts and i still see sometimes downclocking. nevertheless its quite alot of computing power in a small package.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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