High performance Laptop for 3D imaging and compositing

[Dzelda]

I have recently began a career in VFX (MoCap and 3D animation) and I am in the market for a new PC. My hardware knowledge is basic and I would appreciate any advice as to what to buy and where to go for the product. Details are below. Thank you for your help!!

Preference: Laptop

Budget: $2,000 - $3,000

Software Usage: Autodesk suit (maya, MoBu ect) / Adobe CS6 (After Effects, Premier Pro, ect) / Nuke / Blade

Grade of Work : Personal and supplementary professional

Buy or Build: Either or. Ive never built a computer before but I'm up for the challenge.

Knowledge Base: Little. I know I need a lot of Ram (32GB or higher)
and large Hard drive (1TB or higher)
I know I need a good graphics card but I know little about those.

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE HELP

 

[ram1009]

I strongly suggest you build a desktop. Many people buy a laptop thinking they can do anything on a laptop they can do on a desktop. If that were true desktops would have disappeared years ago. Reserve laptop usage for those times when portability are required.

 

[Dzelda]

I strongly suggest you build a desktop. Many people buy a laptop thinking they can do anything on a laptop they can do on a desktop. If that were true desktops would have disappeared years ago. Reserve laptop usage for those times when portability are required.

Portability is required in this case. I can use the desktop at my studio office. I need something to work on my projects during travel mostly. Thank you for your advice though.

 

[bambiboom]

Dzelda,

As laptop hardware is so specialized to fit a particular chassis, you don't really have the option of building a laptop. Still, you can specify one or upgrade a used one to have the features you need for your applications.

In my view, the best laptop for imaging uses would have a 17" screen, an i7 CPU of 3GHz, the 32GB RAM you mention, and a fast graphics card with at least 2GB or memory. I think the best choice for this would be a Dell Precision M6800 >

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

> and one with the specification you mention is probably obtainable at the top of you budget. These are very nicely built, have excellent displays- including optional Dell Ultrasharp and are a usable size. I think a 15" screen is impossible for imaging use. The M6800 is available with very fine workstation-level graphics cards, including high-end - and very expensive ones such as Quadro K5000m. I've seen benchmarks of Precision laptops that rival quite high performance desktops.

If the Precision is too expensive with the options you need, Dell makes the less expensive Inspiron 17R and this also has the magic 17" screen size. >

http/www.dell.com/us/business/p/laptops.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&~ck=mn#!facets=226292~0~16387362,55846~0~14833549&p=1

Normally, I would suggest being adventurous and saving money by buying a good used one - a high specification M6800 can be $5,000, but for a portable workstation for work, I'd buy a slightly lesser specification new- perhaps start with 16GB RAM and no SSD for example.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2013) > Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHz > 24GB ECC 1600 RAM > Quadro 4000 (2GB)> Samsung 840 SSD 250GB /Western Digital WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > AE3000 USB WiFi // HP 2711X, 27" 1920 X 1080 // Windows 7 Ultimate 64 > Autodesk Building Design Suite, Inventor Pro, Solidworks, Adobe CS MC, Corel Technical Design, Sketchup Pro, WordP Office, MS Office Pro [Passmark system rating = 3815, 2D= 767 / 3D=2044]

Dell Precision T5400 (2009) > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB ECC 667> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 500GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 2496 Sound Card > Linksys 600N WiFi > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > HP 2711x 27" 1920 x 1080 > (earlier versions) AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS MC, WordP Office, MS Office Pro [Passmark system rating = 1859, 2D= 512 / 3D=1097]

 

[Dzelda]

thank you very very much! This is very helpful. Safe journey!