Laptop Desktop Replacement

richiec

richiec

richiec

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Joined
25 Jul 2014
Posts
31
I'm looking to get rid of my current rig, which is a toweris

Core i5 2500k 3.3ghz
8GB DDR 2 RAM
SATA Hybrid Drive
Radeon HD 6800 1GB

Now I've had this machine for a good few years and have moved into my own house. The reason I want a laptop replacement is that I work as a 3D designer and I'm looking to learn new skills but don't want to be locked away in one of the bedrooms (where my PC currently is), as I have 2 dogs and want to be around them, so I'm ideally looking for a desktop replacement. I don't care if it weights a tonne either.

I'd ideally want a 17" laptop which will perform better than my current rig for the best price possible. I was hoping you guys could link me to the best laptops out there that meet my needs. I'll mainly be using 3D Studio max on the laptop and doing modelling and rendering on. The main thing is that it can cope with a decent amount of polygons on the screen without slowing down and crashing.

The machine I use at work is:

i7-3770 3.4ghz
16GB RAM
128GB SSD Drive
GTX 560Ti 2GB

Basically I'm looking for a laptop to replace my home desktop, one that a step up from my current rig but also a close to my works rig spec as possible for the best price. Ideally sub £1000 if possible.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I've been doing some research and I'm a little confused. I went onto a CPU and GPU comparison website.

Now my CPU is i5 2500K and it gets a score of 6490

The CPU's im finding in laptops get the following results:

i7 4700mq 7916
i7 4710MQ 8319
i7 4700HQ 7983
i7 4712mq 7637

So I'm safe to assume I'll be getting better performance with any of the above CPU's.

But for my GPU which is currentl the HD 6850 1GB I get a score of 2238.

But all the laptop GPU's generally get lower scores:

gefore gtx765m 2112
geforce gtx 850m 2217
geforce gtx 860m 2732

The only one I've found is the 870m which gets a score of 3541.

I am doing this wrong my looking at benchmark scores?

Its just seems like the graphics in expensive gaming laptops don't out perform by 4/5 years old card, which at the time of purchase wasn't that high end.
 
OK :-) So does that mean from that link I would need a laptop with the 870m graphics or higher for me to see a performance boost on what I already have at home?
 
I overlooked one thing which you had written, you require a 17" screen where as the one I recommended was a 15.6" screen.

For your rendering requirements, you need the fastest GPU that can output highest iterations in quickest possible time. So look for GPU having higher CUDA cores in nvidia based GPU, I think in Radeon its streaming processes (not sure).

The best mobile GPU u can get is 880M which will exceed your budget significantly hence I recommended a 870M (the next best thing) that would fit your budget if you are willing to spend the additional 100 quid.

As for performance boost. I guess you will see better rendering in quicker time using the 870M. If you can try the machine first some how, that would be the best case scenario.
 
OK. Thanks for all the info. I'm still unsure as to what to get a budget is a big thing for me, I want the higher priced laptops but am I tight for cash. Would this spec:

Processor: 4th Generation Intel® CoreT i7-4510U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.0 GHz)
Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 750M 2GB DDR5
Memory: 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (8GBx2)
Hard Drive: 1TB 5400 rpm SATA Hybrid Hard Drive with 8GB Cache

Allow me to see a noticable performance increase on my current tower rig?

I know in the future I can swap the HDD for an SSD.
 
It will probably feel slower than your desktop due to lack of ssd. SSD makes a huge difference. Also I think the graphics card would be worse as well.
 
Or would this spec work:

INTEL I7 4712MQ
16GB (2 X 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory)
Samsung 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" 120GB SSD
nVidia 825M 1GB Graphics

Will this give me a performance boost on my current rig of:

Core i5 2500k 3.3ghz
8GB DDR 2 RAM
SATA Hybrid Drive
Radeon HD 6800 1GB
 
Last edited:
Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Haswell Quad Core Processor
8GB DDR3 RAM
1000GB 7200 RPM HDD
Dedicated GTX 860M 2GB Graphics

with the option in the future to make it 16gb and add an SSD?
 
I've found one on another website. I'm not sure if I can mention the other websites name due to forum rules? I know I cant post a link, but the spec is:

i7-4712MQ
16GB RAM
256GB SSD
825M 1GB

Price £780

The other one is:

Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Haswell Quad Core Processor
17.3" Full HD Matte Screen
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64bit
8GB DDR3 RAM
1000GB 7200 RPM HDD
Dedicated GTX 860M 2GB Graphics

£800.
 
I've been speaking to someone who's on a 3D forum I visit often and they are doing high detail work is mudbox and max with about 3 million polygons on the screen and they have an i3 CPU with 8GB RAM and are using intel hd 4000 graphics and they dont appear to be hitting many performance issues. Yes render times will be longer but the machine running smoothly while modelling seems to work well on that relativity low spec.
 
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