New Laptop, suggestions?

[Joel Gray]

Hey Guys,

 

I've been considering a laptop for the occasional time I've needed the ability to work while on the road. I'm budgeting around $2k but can adjust as needed. Pretty convinced I want a 17" screen at a minimum, SSD for the OS, 20-30GB ram and Nvidia GPU. I've looked at a few MSI configurations on Amazon but I just don't have any experience with them. BOXX is just too expensive even though I've enjoyed a few of their desktops in the past. This will be mostly for modeling, texturing and Photoshop work... I'll buy the most CPU I can but I won't mind waiting a little longer for a 3D render in trade for the convenience of working mobile.

 

Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

Joel

[Ernest Burden III]

I'm having trouble finding it among all the options, but have a look at the Covet model - the red one. I have the two-years-ago version and it has been fantastic. But I paid for an almost top spec, so it was $4K

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m6800-workstation/pd

[Amen]

Hi, I know it is not 17'' but the new dell xps 15 is a very beautiful laptop.

The 4k display is 100 percent Adobe rgb. The ssd is nvme, not the fastest possible but at least twice a sata ssd. 16Gb ram (32 is possible) and a 960 Nvidia gpu.

 

I will definitely get one.

 

Bye Jan

[Joel Gray]

I'm having trouble finding it among all the options, but have a look at the Covet model - the red one. I have the two-years-ago version and it has been fantastic. But I paid for an almost top spec, so it was $4K

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m6800-workstation/pd

 

For $4k I would hope I could do 99% of my production work on that machine! Is that where you do most of your production work, Ernest?

 

Joel

[Ernest Burden III]

For $4k I would hope I could do 99% of my production work on that machine! Is that where you do most of your production work, Ernest? Joel

 

These days, yes. I have a good BOXX workstation but I often work places other than my studio--client's office, girlfriend's place, Starbucks or a library while my kid is in school (it's a long drive from my place)... When I'm away from my studio I can send tasks to my workstation with GoToMyPC, too, so I can run renderings on one machine while I continue working on the other. The biggest downside is that a big laptop with a big power brick plus mouse and Wacom tablet make for a heavy backpack.

 

The Covet has a glass IPS screen that goes to about 115% of sRGB, so you can do final Photoshop work. There should be cheaper builds of it, I just went for the best CPU I could afford, Quadro and lots of RAM. Really work the specs on the Dell site, call them, this is their best Pro model.

 

The only other brand that had as good a display was one model by HP.