2013 macbook pro (i7 with 2gb gt750m) for 3dsmax and vray?

[dharmaone]

Is anyone using one of the new macbook pro retinas (15" with i7 and 2gb gt750m) for rendering (on bootcamp, 3dsmax and vray)?

 

Opinions on how it works and render speed (compared to desktop workstation)?

[benjaminbogaert]

Ha I tried this, I happened to have the same model. I doesn't work... at all. I did a simple interior no maps no materials, just plane grey vray material. 3 vray lights and a vray sun. It calculated a few hours. Unless someone else has a way of making it work...

 

I was hoping to use my mac aswell to render some stuff out. Also I heard its dangerous, because when your in bootcamp you mac doesn't really know how to adept to the cpu usage ( the fan speed etc. ) Well at least that what I read when I tried to play a game on it

[karlallemyr]

If it's ok with a laptop that has à weight of 2.9kg the Dell M4800 could be à good solution. The main thing about rendering on à notebook is heat. À MacBook Pro retina will probably get around 105 celsius when rendering with all the CPU power availible. My M4800 do after à while get a temp. of 87 celsius on the hottest core. A great laptop I think, did put a fast 500gb SSD in mine and a extra 16gb of ram total 24gb. Very easy to access the harddrive and it took around 15 min to do the change.

 

It's just a great computer with a decent graphiccard and good antiglare display. Did choose the M4800 cheapest GPU the Quadro k1100m.

 

Good luck with choosing the right laptop. It's great fun to have a nice one.

 

Byt if it's just rendering go with a custom desktop PC. It handles heat so much better.

[RyderSK]

We have the previous MacPro Retina with IvyBridge (and 650m). It has Window8.1 installed (not through bootcamp, but as only solution, since bc can be just a set of drivers). It gets hot and loud, just as any laptop of this size. It's a vanity laptop, not mobile workstation. With that said, the speed is identical to any other featuring the same clocked i7 ivy, even the haswell.

 

I would opt to go now to Dell M3800 or new XPS15, they are identical laptops, but one has Quadro K1100m and the xps has GT 750m. Same size and thickness, same hi-res display (even notch higher 3200x1800px). It's again vanity laptop for most part, but that doesn't mean it's really slower than anything else. They're beautiful and will impress everyone. They have better cooling that the MacPros at identical proportions (18mm thickness!, literally both are ultrabooks almost)

 

If you looking at mobile workstation to supplement regular desktop with everyday rendering, you're in wrong category though.

[dharmaone]

I had a look at the Dells yesterday, looked pretty good. I'd rather run OSX (I edit a fair bit of ProRes/raw .dng footage and sometimes use Logic for audio/music), but otherwise the Dells look superior in terms of hardware, and price. I need a new laptop in any case, currently stuck on Core 2 Duo macbook pro. I carry mine everyday so needs to be lightweight, the main use is for Photoshop/After Effects, but I thought if I can get one that can also do 3D, I would cover all use cases with one machine. Seems we are still not there with the hardware.

 

I might do what you suggest and build a separate low cost desktop PC for rendering. What GPU would you recommend? does GTX670 still offer the best bang for buck?

 

PS. Juraj, Your renders look great and your Corona thread is very interesting - how are you finding the speed vs Vray?

[RyderSK]

I currently have 760 in workstations, and it's identical in performance to former 670, just waaay cheaper.

 

I am pretty sure the Dell M3800/XSP15 have almost identical hardware to highest model of current MBPR15, ie. Haswell i7 (4702hq), 16gb ram, 512SSD, GT750 (jus the m3800 has k1100 for those who have more CAD preference, otherwise it's same). But it is cheaper at similar specs (2000 vs 2700 euros,eh,roughly from head).

 

But since you mention you actually use OSX, that changes a lot, so MBR isn't bad choice for you. We use 3dsMax, ergo, just Windows8, and the only reason to own macbooks for us for years was the craftmanship and looks. After 3 years, we sold 2010mbp for 50perc. of its original price, they hold value so great. With that said, for actual work while travelling, I use ultraslim gaming MSI Stealth with 17" display (and gtx765m)

 

I find Corona to be great tool for my still images. I am not really keen comparing it to Vray at current stage because they each offer different benefits (though in near future they might look much more similar, from both sides). It is path tracer, or pathtracer with caching, so it has the benefits of this: i.e, VERY fast in certain situations (outdoor, specular mats,etc.), and probably decently slower in other (GI). So I wouldn't go to Corona if one wants faster renders. There is big chance this won't be true.

 

For me, it's about ease of use, I don't fiddle around with numbers and that makes me quite happy. Also results can be notch more realistic, since path tracing avoids artifacts and you can manually adjust the bias (from very fast biased to unbiased, through Maximal sample intensity). It's great conteder ;- ).

 

Tomorrow (I hope) I'll host a blog on Peter Guthrie's page about getting up and running with Corona, you can check it you're interested about trying it.