Solved! Need a 15" laptop for DCC, animation, design must play well w/ ubuntu

aestheticcataclsysm

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Jan 21, 2011
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Hellooo THG friends!
I am looking for a new laptop to fit my needs as an artist, animator, web designer, etc. I use heavy apps like Maya, CS5, and am looking to learn Houdini. I have considered the new Asus g73j or what have you, the System76 Serval Pro and Gazelle, and the lenovo thinkpad y560p but I'd like to know what else would be out there for me. I need something that is going to play nice with Ubuntu 10.1 and here are some more needs. Any advice would be appreciated.

1. What is your budget?
I'd like to keep it below $2.5k

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
must be 15"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
full 1080p

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
A nice mix, leaning more towards desktop replacement

5. How much battery life do you need?
at least a couple hours

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)?
I do not play too many games but I will occasionally play the high end FPS and survival horror games.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
DCC, maya, CS5, video editing, web design, etc.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
the bigger the better.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I'm really leaning heavily towards this, loaded with the highest option in every category
http://www.system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=113

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
as long as possible, durability is preferential over aesthetics to a point.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I'd love a blu-ray drive but it's not essential.

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.
I prefer to not buy from HP or Dell, as I have had extremely bad experiences with them as a computer repair technician. Their quality control is abominable and their support is worse. No apple, the specs for the price are awful compared to PC offerings with the exception of battery life.

13. What country do you live in?
United States

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Must have HDMI out, which is one of the reasons why i don't want a mac. I would like an illuminated keyboard but it's not a must.
 

Klosteral

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Jun 29, 2009
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Haha nice work Maziar you beat me to this one (for the past few days, that is what I have been recommending to many).

I might also point out that the Sager NP5160 - that has not been released yet - has quite a decent graphics card and a good CPU - the same ones as the N8P130/8150. It is also several hundred dollars cheaper, but you can add in a full HD screen and larger hard drive. The battery life on the 5160 is supposed to be very good, also.

Alternatively, for better detail when editing or more enjoyable gaming, you may wish to consider one of the 17" screened Sager NP 5170 or NP8170 laptops instead.

http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-clevo-sager-notebooks-ct-95_51_162.html

-Klosteral