Modeling laptop

[biggest_kid]

Hey guys, looking into doing an animation course at uni next year, and thought id like a laptop to take with me when i move away so i can, well you know model shit and use facebook and help me out with uni, all the regular laptop stuff.

So i was wondering what would be some good choices? Ive been looking around and doing tonnes of research and every time i think "Hey that looks like a good model" i go and find one that looks better but is cheaper and then get told its not actually better haha.

So anyway im looking to spend around 1000$ - 1700$, and would like atleast 8gb ram, atleast a quad core cpu, and an ssd. Screen size doesnt bother me too much as long as its no smaller than 13". Im in australia by the way so no Sager's or anything like that please.

The current one that is leading the pack in my mind is the Dell Inspiron 14z Ultrabook. I can get it for $1613 aud including the extended dell 3 year warranty. Its specs on the australian dell portal are:

- 3rd gen i7 3517U cpu(4mb cache)
- 8gb 1600mhz ram
- 256gb ssd
- radeon hd 7570M(1gb) graphics card

What do you guys think? Have any other models you'd suggest that fall within my budget? Will this laptop be enough to render large, high poly scenes and navigate 3d and 2d software without lag?

Any help you can offer is much appreciated,
big

[infinixier]

Hi biggest_kid,

I'd like to give some of my experiences. I've seen the review about Inspiron 14z Ultrabook, and IMO that's quite enough for you to do 3d things there. And that's kind of a good decision for your budget as well. I've never used Dell product, so I cant say so much about this brand experiences. Maybe you need more recommendations from the experts in this forum.

Since I do things like play hardcore game and 3d-Modelling software, I bought Asus G53SW-A1 last year and it's quite enough to do my hobbies everywhere. Dont be in a rush to buy the laptop, you have to make sure read a lot of reviews before you decide to buy one. Goodluck

[biggest_kid]

Hey infinixier thanks for your input. And yeah dont worry im doing tonnes of research on this before i decide to buy, asking on forums is just part of that research.

The reason i decided to not look into gaming laptops is because ive heard they have terrible battery life due to their high end hardware. Have you noticed this at all on your G53SW-A1? What is the typical battery life on that laptop(both under stress and just idling?)

Thanks,
big

[infinixier]

Based on my experience about gaming laptop, it's true that that kind of laptop have terrible battery life. And yeah I've noticed it since I bought this laptop. This isn't the best one, but I could solve the problems since I always use laptop where there's always electric plug. I rarely need to do my work outside of my house and office.

[kanga]

It seems obvious but before you buy your 'top' check the sites of the 3d software you intend to use. I know for me that collection of software is the most important. Autodesk has lists of approved graphics cards and I bet any other software has a list too.

Cheers

[darksylinc]

The HW looks OK and should more than decently run modelling software. Except may be the 4MB cache seems low for a quad core; but it's incomplete information since cache specs should say how much of L1, L2 & L3 cache they have.

When it comes to these kinds of rigs, start worrying about Temps & Battery life.
HP's Pavilion notebooks for example run hot as hell. So hot in fact they'll break if you render at 100% for long periods of time. This varies wildly! Some laptop models with same specs will reach 100 °C while other systems (ie. Asus) will stay at 40 °C only because of better thermal design and heat disipation.

It doesn't matter if it is being marketed as "entertainment", "multimedia" or "gaming" laptops; unfortunately the best way to find out is trying it out (a small stress benchmark with temp monitor SW will do).
Try looking for user or 3rd party reviews which talk about temp. Remember! Your average consumer doesn't make extreme use of their systems as we do. Only gamers & professionals stress a system enough to start noticing heat issues.

The battery life issue is obvious, so I won't talk about it. Beware battery lifespan is tied to temp. Notebooks running hot too often will degrade the battery's health quickly.

Hope this helps.