Solved! Mobile Workstation for Audio Visual / 3D Design Professional

sdonlin1208

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Sep 6, 2011
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1. What is your budget?
$3,000-$3,750

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
17"+

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1920x1080 - Does not need to be that exactly, do like a lot of real estate

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop Replacement - Will rarely move

5. How much battery life do you need?
Not big concern, pretty much always plugged in

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
No Games - Work Computer

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
3D Modeling with 3ds Max, Sketchup, and various rendering programs. Also Photoshop and some video editing

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
500GB should be fine. Do most of my work from External Harddrives because I work on different computers often with same materials.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Nothing specific as of right now. My company purchases Dell M6600. I am currently looking into some Custom Build companies. I think I may be able to get a better bargain. Eurocom, Xotic, and Xi were foudn on first glance.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2 years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD is sufficient. BluRay is nice

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
No preference. Obviously companies like Dell and HP would have better warranty plans. I have had a Sony Vaio for the last two years, would like to move away from that if possible

13. What country do you live in?
USA - DC

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

My Company typically purchases one type of Dell M6600
Dell precision M6600
Core I7-2920XM @ 2.5 GHZ
8 GB Ram
512G Solid State Hard Drive
Nvidia Quadro 4000M 2 Gig Video

The cost that it comes in at is a bit high for it to be approved at my location. I would like to find something comparable below $4,000. Would really like the Video Card to be more suitable for 3D modeling than for Videogames persay. If you have thoughts why that shouldn't matter, please let me know.

I really like the idea of buying from one of these custom build websites. I think there may be more value there. Just want to make sure it's trustworthy and reliable.

Thank you in advance for all the help!
 
Solution
Hey,

You sound like you already have a good handle on things but the one thing you need to remember is that for what you are wanting to do with a laptop requires the same things that video games do. So although you will not be gaming, the graphics design and 3D rendering will require as much or more power than a gaming rig. It would be better to do what you want with a desktop, no laptop as the laptop will not be fully upgradable. But if you must, something like the Alienware M17X would have the power you need (although with its stutter problems, the M17x is a suggestion not a recommendation). Getting a Dell would be best with the warranty, HP is known for BAD video cards and dell is known for bad CPUs. I know they are not made by...

RyanMoroz

Distinguished
Sep 6, 2011
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18,510
Hey,

You sound like you already have a good handle on things but the one thing you need to remember is that for what you are wanting to do with a laptop requires the same things that video games do. So although you will not be gaming, the graphics design and 3D rendering will require as much or more power than a gaming rig. It would be better to do what you want with a desktop, no laptop as the laptop will not be fully upgradable. But if you must, something like the Alienware M17X would have the power you need (although with its stutter problems, the M17x is a suggestion not a recommendation). Getting a Dell would be best with the warranty, HP is known for BAD video cards and dell is known for bad CPUs. I know they are not made by those companies but something must be going on. Just do your research and you will find the laptop for you. It like getting a new car for me, its all in preferance and I prefer Lamborghini rather than a Ford, just cannot afford it.
 
Solution