upgrade help

[vangutendog]

Hi all

 

I'm a nerd without the technical knowhow and need a bit of help with purchasing a new laptop. My new office runs as a "when you get here find a space" sort of thing so I need a laptop that can be kept mobile.

 

I have been working in blender recently but I'm not convinced that its the program I will stick to so I might be migrating back to 3ds max.

 

I was looking at a macbook because of blender and I do a lot of concept design so my budget would be the price of a macbook 15" retina ($2000). And I have Cintiq 13hd that is my main workstation.

 

Are there any suggestions you guys can make? I basically need something that will take the place of my home desktop I I won't be pulling out my hair in frustration in 2 years.

 

I'm always connected to a power point so battery life isn't the biggest issue here.

 

Thank in advance.

[paneli]

Why MacBook? If you are planning to go back to max then drop the Apple idea. I know there are people installing Windows on Mac but it's like buying an expensive Nespresso and put cheap capsules in it.

 

Just invest in a good Dell or Asus laptop with a decent GPU (maybe with GTX760 and up).

I found Dell Alienware 17 casts 1500$ and IMO it's a dream of a laptop.

[vangutendog]

Thx for the feedback Eli

 

The main reasons I was looking at Macbook is that I need something without distractions. I don't like fiddling with hardware and most apple products I have used have been "this is what you get and its good for the next 3 years". Also I have purchased normal laptops in the past only to battle with them 2 years later.

 

Yup a lot of people are using bootcamp but I have still not found any CG artists who have given any reviews as to if it is worth the effort.

 

That said I am going to look at those laptops tomorrow thanks. Most likely I'll be going for something like that

[gonzaloberrutti]

I agree with Eli Pan, been using a Dell XPS 17 for the last 2 years and I'm more than happy with it. Never had any issues of any kind running 3d max, adobe suite or any other software.

 

That being said, I have no experience whatsoever with apple laptops, never had the need to either.

[Morne Erasmus]

Don't you pay a premium just because it's a macbook?

I don't think the software matters, since if you'e using maya, max, blender whatever, you still have the same polys pushing through and you want to render your stuff.

 

I had 2 HP laptops, but won't be getting that again. After only a year the battery was finished on both.

You get some decent Dell's on the other hand.

[jasonstewart]

Check out the MSI laptops. They have lots of models in you price range to choose from. I have had one for 5+ years and it has been great, I have re installed the OS 2 times not because it was necessary but because I was changing my drive configurations and just figured it wouldn't hurt. It was my only machine when I first started learning and while a laptop will never be a desktop it is about as close as you can get. The battery lasted me a good 3 years before it died in 1/2 hour or under, I used it for another year before it needed to be plugged in all the time. Recently got another battery for it and its back to brand new again. I have opened it up to clean out the fans/heatsinks and reapply thermal paste a couple times but I think that would be expected of any high performance laptop. If I buy another laptop it will be a MSI hands down. I really think you get the best bang for your buck with them, comparable ASUS systems are about $100 more expensive at least when I did my research.

 

Whatever you buy budget to add a SSD as your OS/programs drive and use the stock drive as a storage drive. Really wakes up these high performance systems IMO.