Laptop for client meetings, travel, workshops and light 3D/ps work?

[jensandersen]

Hi guys

 

I need a laptop that I can bring to client meetings, use on travels and workshops (light 3ds max and photoshop work) and also just on the sofa at home. Not at all a portable workstation.

So it needs to be portable and light (thinking 14" and under 1.7kg). Have a good screen 1920p will be fine, but needs good color accuracy). Good battery life. No fancy gaming laptop. Simple design. 8gb ram minimum.

 

I'm not sure what is needed cpu/gpu wise for my needs. Will an i5/i7 with the onboard HD520 gpu suffice for light 3ds max and photoshop work or is it totally hopeless? I'm thinking that the discrete GPUs loose out on battery performance/portability.

 

The Dell XPS is too expensive. I'm currently looking at the Lenovo Yoga 700/710.

 

What are you guys using / any advice?

 

Thanks.

Edited August 19, 2016 by jensandersen

[Nic H]

you cant really take PC laptops to meetings anymore because they all look like alien craft and have weird lights all over them

best to get a mac air for presentations, cheap, good battery life and light

[algisraubiska]

best to get a mac air for presentations, cheap, good battery life and light

 

Since when is mac cheap? As I recall it is and always was almost twice as expensive as any laptop of the same specs.

[ramon acha]

I have a Lenovo Idea Y500 and after 3 years is working pretty decently for light Max and Photoshop work during travels, the only but is the trackpad which is almost unusable since the very beginning. If you are going for a Lenovo and are planning to use it without mouse I hardly recommend you to go to a shop and try the trackpad, I hope they have improve it since I bought mine.

Edited August 19, 2016 by ramonacha

[jensandersen]

you cant really take PC laptops to meetings anymore because they all look like alien craft and have weird lights all over them

best to get a mac air for presentations, cheap, good battery life and light

 

I agree with you on the workstation type of PC laptops and that the Macs are indeed more stylish. However, I want a laptop that I can integrate seamlessly in my workflow when needed. So it has to be a windows one. I don't see the idea of getting an expensive mac and run bootcamp on it.

 

I have a Lenovo Idea Y500 and after 3 years is working pretty decently for light Max and Photoshop work during travels, the only but is the trackpad which is almost unusable since the very beginning. If you are going for a Lenovo and are planning to use it without mouse I hardly recommend you to go to a shop and try the trackpad, I hope they have improve it since I bought mine.

 

Thanks Ramon, glad to hear it. Seems the integrated HD520 gpu should suffice for me to use. I don't like trackpads for 3D/photoshop work, so will always bring a mouse for those times

[Amen]

Have a look at the Xiaomi mi laptop. The 13 inch even has a dedicated GPU. It looks as good as a Mac without the apple, it does not show any logo. And it costs a lot less. I think you can even add a second m2 ssd.

Edited August 19, 2016 by Amen

[jensandersen]

Have a look at the Xiaomi mi laptop. The 13 inch even has a dedicated GPU. It looks as good as a Mac without the apple, it does not show any logo. And it costs a lot less. I think you can even add a second m2 ssd.

 

That is really interesting! Can't find a local dealer though and I need it on monday...

[Dimitris Tolios]

How about XPS 13?

 

intel i5-6200U (2C/4T) 2.3GHz (2.8 Turbo) / intel iris 520 GPU / 8GB Ram (soldered) / 128GB SSD (looks like a M.2 2280, so you could drop in a 500GB M.2 EVO or equivalent), 13" 1080p (with external dimensions close to a 11" MBA thanks to the thin bezel screen tech)

 

2x USB 3.0

1x Thunderbolt™ 3 (make sure you get adapters for HDMI or pack a Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter - we have 3x MS wireless adapters in our office and work great for presentations, adapter + HDMI cable is safer, especially if you don't know that the host display will have an available USB port to power the wireless dongle).

Edited August 19, 2016 by dtolios

[philippelamoureux]

it's easy to have windows and macOs on a macbook :-)

 

Asus zenbook are sleek too. Like this one with a 4k screen. https://www.asus.com/ca-fr/Notebooks/ASUS-ZenBook-Pro-UX501VW/

Edited August 20, 2016 by philippelamoureux

[Scott Schroeder]

My vote is to get a surface pro. You can easily run PS on it, you can sketch right on your drawings on it. If you are going to client meetings, you at least want something that is more than just a laptop. We take ours to all of our client meetings, in-house and on site, and it's far easier than having to unpack a laptop, get out your note pad to take notes, and juggle the laptop and note taking.

 

You will pay more for the surface pro, but you get a lot more use out of it even in your daily work.

 

That ASUS Zenbook is nice but it defeats the purpose of a laptop. You only get 6 hours of office work on the battery? What does that translate to Photoshop work, 2-3 hours at best?

[rogue3d]

Scott, Have you tried running max on the surface Pro?

 

I'm in the same boat as the OP and have been looking at the surface pro, surfacebook, and the lenovo yoga p40 / p50. the lenovo seems to be almost as good as the surfacebook, but cheaper. all the reviews I've read concerning the surface line and 3ds are plagued by people insisting on using max with the stylus.....and then getting mad when it doesn't work. I can't understand why they expect it would or why you would want to work that way even if it did. So looking for some real world reviews.

[Dimitris Tolios]

Maybe they want to sculpt with the Stylus, why not?

 

Another lil machine that caught my eye is the Acer Switch Alpha 12. It has specs very close to the SP4, but the resolution is lower @ 1440p ala SP3...still very nice display...

The Stylus is not as sensitive as the SP4, but I think it feels just as robust (metal construction, metal kick stand), latest gen core CPUs, intel AC wifi etc. Claims liquid cooled, but afaik doesn't really matter with 6th gen 15W intel SoC.

 

Saw it @ Costco the other day bundled with i5/8gb/256GB SSD/keyb & stylus for $800 (and 2y warranty). It is not cheap, but definitely cheaper than a equivalent SP4. Type cover felt very solid and nice to type on. I dare to say better than MS?

Stylus was responsive but no real app to test it on - just Win 10 OS. Personally tempted as I do fancy a SP4 (even SP3) but I don't really "need" it to justify the $ (G.A.S.)

Edited August 23, 2016 by dtolios

[rogue3d]

Maybe they want to sculpt with the Stylus, why not?

 

just meant that the UI is not designed to be a touch interface. Also, using it as a tablet deactivates the keyboard which is bad if the user wants to use hot keys. these two things make me think that I wouldn't expect to work well in tablet mode. now, mudbox or zbrush, yeah sculpting with the pen would make sense.

 

that acer does look promising.

[Dimitris Tolios]

I think the issue with the SP3 was with a dated driver included with Win 8 that needed to be uninstalled and updated for the Stylus to work with the updated type "power" cover attached. The whole issue was non-existent with updated drivers or with the old cover being in use in conjunction with the Stylus.

 

Now, the UI might not be ideal for touch, but I would expect (hope) the stylus to be as usable as Wacom pointing devices were in general when in use with desktop applications that had zero intentions to be touch friendly to begin with: i.e. PS / LR / zbrush etc.