Who Works On A Laptop / Recommendations?

[Gavin]

Hey guys,

I'm currently thinking about getting a laptop to work away from home, mostly just for a change of scenery. The problem I'm having is that I'm kind of in the dark when it comes to these things...no real idea what's good or what's bad. Not surfing on the cutting edge of technology. I'd want it to be able to handle ZBrush without much of a hiccup. I don't really have any brand loyalty, but I was looking at some Alienware machines.

So, I guess i actually have 2 questions...

1) Who here works on a laptop and how do you find it? Honestly I've used a laptop maybe 3 times in my life, so I'm not sure how big of a difference there is. What I'd really like to be able to do is just travel outside of my home and be able to do a little work (Like the guys that work on their novels at Starbucks!) I'm just wondering if it's easy enough to do that or if I'm expecting too much...

2) If you do have a laptop and use it for the same purpose that I would be, what do you recommend? Again, I was looking at Alienware...but really have no preference. Obviously, if there's a better machine out there dollar for dollar, I'd go after the better one. So, any recommendations based on personal experience/ knowledge?

Thanks for the help,
Gav

[Corsair970]

First, if you want it for anymore than 'teh internets', you'll need to spend a good bit more to get a laptop with a decent GPU.

You'll want to get a good CPU/GPU/chipset because you won't ever be upgrading those. Ram is easy enough to get and install so while it's quite important, you can always buy it cheap off newegg than spend out the nose for the same model laptop with half a gig more ram.

You'll need a good mouse. Touchpads are hell for someone who doesn't have to use a middle button, let alone a 3d program.

If you want a work laptop, be prepared to pay a lot or else it will likely dissapoint. That said, I haven't checked laptops in a year so maybe they've finally made useful laptops affordable!

Quick check with Alien shows they're probably still an arm and a leg, unless you have the budget, then I'm envious.

[doylle]

I've been working on a laptop for almost 3 years now, took a week vacation last year, so minus that.

I got so used to my laptop that i don't know if i'll even buy a desktop anymore. First i had a toshiba, can't remember the exact model, but was very happy with it, now i have a Dell xps m1710, and i can do everything with it. It even runs UT3 on "acceptable" settings.

There are a few downsides that you must consider before you buy one though. You're talking about zbrush, and i'm guessing photoshop and max or maya will also be on that list. Now if you're at home or at the office, that's not a problem at all. I can run PS and Max at the same time. But when you're not at one of those places, and you have to use the battery, then don't expect either will do good, and i'm pretty sure zBrush is out of the question (i haven't tried this, i must say). Even though they say your battery lasts for 4 hours, if your laptop is a year old, it'll do 1. (at least both my laptops did).

Another thing is the screensize. I now have a 17" screen, and again, in the office or at home that's great.
But 17" is quite big, and if you plan on taking your laptop all across you realy should think about a 15" model to. It's smaller, but it'll allot easier to cary around, and finding a good looking/propper bag for 17" models is quite hard, at least here in Belgium...

I'll close with an answer to #1, mixed them up a bit there. The idea of being able to work somewhere is nice, but personally i haven't been in a single situation where i've been able to work comfortable, and productive, other than home and school. I have to take a 40minute train twice a day, and i couldn't be bothered to get my laptop out, because i know the only thing i'll do is browsing in my folders, and doing stuff that i can do in 10 minutes while at home...

can't realy help you with hardware questions, i stopped following those long time ago i'm afraid, but get at least 2 gig of ram if you want to use zbrush propperly, don't know if that's what they recommend for desktops to, but my 1 gig ram does have a problem with zbrush once in a while...

if there are other things, don't hesitate to ask

cheers

[Shadow71]

I'm using a Macbook Pro right now, got the highest res monitor I could buy and thats really my primary concern, having the extra space (especially in Photoshop) helps a lot.

It was pretty expensive though, especially since I also put down the money for Vista to run on a partition, but in the end, it's great having OSX/Vista on one machine.

[UnsteadyTeddy]

I used a laptop for 2 years ( about a year ago ) before switching back to a desktop. If like me you live in a family household constantly having to move around, rather than having a specific workstation, then its fantastic.

1) I had a HP Pavillion zd somethingorotherlotsofnumbershere and it was great! Better than my current setup but as Corsair said, your very restricted to upgrade-ability, so don't be shocked if your machine needs replacing within a year. Your looking at spending £1000 - £1500 for a decent spec machine ( probably a bit less as this was the price i paid 3 years ago ).
Doylle raises a very valid point with screensize. I had a 17" widescreen and it was the nuts for graphics and gaming, but whether you'd want to carry it around with you all day ( a high spec maching is heavy with a robust carry case ( i went through 1 a year ) ) and set it up in shops/ cafes ( more of a theft target ), i'm not so sure. The bonus of a large screen though is the fact that your keyboard space is greatly increased. I would have been lost without my numpad and decent sized keys for those with banana fingers. It would come down to personal preference I think and maybe a trade off between the both.

2) The model I had had a terrible fault with overheating and fried itself, but if you read up some reviews and check the brand/ model your interested in then it shouldnt be much of a problem. I would avoid alienware as you can get the same thing much cheaper elsewhere. From my overheating experience I would avoid HP but i think that was just a general fault with the model and if its in a well vented area ( on a desk rather than on your lap ) (a good idea is to just look at the back of the laptop and you can tell straight away if your going to get some heat issues ). I would also avoid Macs ( i use one at work ), mostly for compatability issues.

Battery life: My laptop was battery intense and if your running max, ps and zbrush at the same time your gonna get an hours life out of it. A good 2 - 3 hours on just surfing etc though. Also my battery died after a year and wouldnt hold a charge so its worth checking the net for reviews on the batteries of the models your interested in. Your looking at around £100 for a new battery. Another tip is to make sure your power cable/ transformer has a robust cable on it. They bend a lot when your using them on your lap etc and mine wore out. Again, they are not cheap!

Thats a long waffle, most if it repeating what everyone else already said. I need a lie down ...

[sarge mat]

I am looking at getting a laptop soon for college next year.

The Dell XPS1530 with the following specs looks nice:

BASE Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2-cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
COLOUR CHOICE 2.0 mega pixel Camera & Tuxedo Black for CCFL Display
LCD 15.4" Widescreen™ WXGA (1280x800) TFT Display (220nits) with TrueLife™
BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION Biometric Fingerprint Reader with BLACK accent
MEMORY 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8400M GS with 128MB dedicated graphic memory
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)

Just wile we are on the topic does anyone have any problems with 15" screens it sounds fine for a laptop to me. I could go for a better GPU but this one looks fine and TBH I would rather keep the money and get a 8800 for my main PC than putting one in a laptop.

[Craig Lewis]

My friend has an alienware laptop, and says it can run Crysis well on the highest settings. I know he's ran zbrush on there, and it's worked fine, though he wasn't doing any proper work in it, just a quick arse around.

[Cyph3r]

Originally Posted by Craig Lewis

My friend has an alienware laptop, and says it can run Crysis well on the highest settings. I know he's ran zbrush on there, and it's worked fine, though he wasn't doing any proper work in it, just a quick arse around.

That must be one hella expensive laptop, itd need atleast dual 8800M GTXs to run Crysis well on the highest settings. Even then itd struggle.

[Craig Lewis]

Originally Posted by Cyph3r

That must be one hella expensive laptop, itd need atleast dual 8800M GTXs to run Crysis well on the highest settings. Even then itd struggle.

I think it was pretty expensive. I know it has dual graphics cards, but I can't remember what one.

[swag]

I have been using a laptop for 3 years as well, and I can still run max and Photoshop at the same time with no real slowdowns. Zbrush can be a little slow, but it's not too bad. Personally, I'll probably get a desktop next time because it's faster and cheaper.