A laptop for basic game development with Unity3D and Blender

[Nasric]

Hey there everyone. I've been looking around for a good laptop for game development in Unity3D and basic 3D modeling with Blender, and I was hoping I could get some recommendations. Right now I've got a budget for around $600 - this isn't going to be a gaming rig, I've got a desktop for that. I just need something to do some development on the go while I'm at college, something that will run those programs easily. I'd be willing to press $700 if I'm getting a good deal.

Ideally I'd like something with a dedicated GPU and a sufficient amount of RAM, 8GB or so. I'll also be replacing the optical drive with an SSD, if that matters at all.

 

[Justin Millard]

Broadwell i7 5500u with integrated graphics should go ok. Otherwise Haswell i5 4300u at minimum with at least 740m or 840m.

If you can spend $700 on desktop parts you will get something far better. Hopefully your college has an ok computer lab so you can work at college and then bring your programs home to your desktop.

 

[Nasric]

I actually already have a fairly nice desktop for my gaming and whatnot, and I use this for development if I need something particularly beefy. I just need something portable so I can develop basic games and practice some modeling when away from my desktop, particularly since I'll be trying to get involved with various game organizations around the college.

 

[Justin Millard]

Alright. What I recommended should do the job for 3D modeling.

Also let me know how it goes. My girlfriend is studying architecture so I've been researching parts that will work well for her course as well. All I really know is my current laptop the i7 4700MQ with 740m has never let me down so far. What I recommended exceeds her system that can slowly do the job in 3D modeling, and has slightly weaker CPU performance than my current laptop that was $600 Australian on sale back in late 2013.

 

[Nasric]

Would an Integrated Graphics card like the Intel HD 4400 work well for my purposes, or would I be better suited to spend money for something with a discrete card? I'm particularly looking between the Lenovo G50, which has an i7 but Intel HD 4400 graphics, or the Acer Aspire V3-572G-54S6, which has a discrete graphics card, the GTX 840M, but an i5. I'm not sure of the differences between the two processors, but would getting the Acer impact performance with Unity or Blender if I'm just making more or less basic games and models?

 

[Justin Millard]

Nah, the older intel integrated graphics were terrible. The new ones in Broadwell are much better for that sort of thing.
840m with an i5 would go alright, but you probably want the i5 4300u version for that higher clock speed.