51-70k Laptop for Architectural Rendering and Video Editing

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venkiraja

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Hello TE-ians!
I've been shamelessly using the website to ask for recommendations or purchases.
Built a HTPC and I'm 101% satisfied with what I achieved with the very minimal budget. Bought a PS3 as well as sold it here. Has helped me a lot. I'll take this as a chance to thank the guys behind keeping this forum alive and running! :D Kudos!


  • Budget? Ideally around 60k. Will stretch up to 70 or 75k if the deal is really worth it.
  • Primary usage: Architectural modelling softwares - Revit, ArchiCAD, 3DSMax, Rendering engines - Vray, Atlantis, Maxwell, Kerkethea and Image/ Video editing softwares - Photoshop, Indesign, Corel Draw, Cinema4D, Premiere Pro.
  • Size and weight considerations: NA. Anything thats comfortable to carry will do. 15" must be optimum. Not really looking for 17".
  • Any brand that you prefer, or any brand that you detest?
    Asus or Dell will be better. Though I'd not hesitate if Lenovo or Samsung has a decent choice which costs lesser. Definitely don't want Sony Vaio, Acer, HCL.
  • Any other considerations?
    Battery backup is very important. Will be hoping to get 4-5 hours of backup after a year's usage.
    Longevity is blasphemous, I know. But can it last long at least till newer Autodesk and Adobe packages release, say till 2017?
    Will Full HD come within the budget?
    Touch isn't essential, but would be awesome if I could add that capability. Saves me the pain of buying a scanner.
    Not an avid gamer because I have the PS3. But, some FIFA won't hurt.
 
^^ Avoid gaming laptops.

I won't recommend any laptops but look for laptops with Pro grade graphics such as Firepro or Quadro. Among the two the latest GCN based card from AMD offer much higher GPGPU performance tha nvidia counterpart.

You can get pro grade laptops from Hp, Dell etc. AMD Mobile Workstations from Dell and HP

Just get some perspective about the difference between pro grade graphics and gaming graphics,

Below is a vide showing W5000 (a mainstream procard) vs 7970Ghz

 
Adding two vital questions.
1. I had the Asus K55 series laptops as the benchmark. Anything that is better than that would make a great deal. Here is a flipkart comparison chart.
2. I don't want to start an AMD vs nVidia war here. I'm biased towards the nVidia though I have an AMD powered HTPC at home. Which one is better for my preferred functionalities? And, is a Quad-core really essential when it comes to rendering mainly? It takes ~12 hours to produce A2 or A1 size renderings in Revit (varies based on model complexity) What combination of RAM/ GPU and Processor would ideally suit these programs?
 
Dark Star said:
^^ Avoid gaming laptops.

I won't recommend any laptops but look for laptops with Pro grade graphics such as Firepro or Quadro. Among the two the latest GCN based card from AMD offer much higher GPGPU performance tha nvidia counterpart.

You can get pro grade laptops from Hp, Dell etc. AMD Mobile Workstations from Dell and HP

Just get some perspective about the difference between pro grade graphics and gaming graphics,

Below is a vide showing W5000 (a mainstream procard) vs 7970Ghz

Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the valuable input! :D

So, what is the basic difference between the Gaming and the Workhorse laptops? Is 4 gig RAM enough or should I definitely go for 8 GB? i5 with HM77 will be better than i7 with HM76? How do I strike the right balance?

And, the only workstation I could afford seems to be Lenovo W530. It has the Quadro K1000. Which of those GPUs can fit inside my budget and still be best effective?

What about the Lenovos and Dells mentioned here or the Asus I mentioned earlier? Are they not good enough?
 
venkiraja said:
Thank you very much for the valuable input! :D

So, what is the basic difference between the Gaming and the Workhorse laptops? Is 4 gig RAM enough or should I definitely go for 8 GB? i5 with HM77 will be better than i7 with HM76? How do I strike the right balance?

And, the only workstation I could afford seems to be Lenovo W530. It has the Quadro K1000. Which of those GPUs can fit inside my budget and still be best effective?

What about the Lenovos and Dells mentioned here or the Asus I mentioned earlier? Are they not good enough?
Click to expand...

Well you being a 3d artist you should know better than anyone :P Anyways jokes apart gaming hardware and rendering devices are mostly built using same GPU silicon yet they differ a lot.

Rendering devices are geared for more memory and higher compute performance and often tweaked for special workload such as OpenCL and CUDA. Some rendering devices even comes with ECC memory which helps in self code correction unlike normal memory.

Rendering devices/card are also certified and tweaked to run CAD/3D applications so as to ensure best possible rendering capabilities.

venkiraja said:
Adding two vital questions.
1. I had the Asus K55 series laptops as the benchmark. Anything that is better than that would make a great deal. Here is a flipkart comparison chart.
2. I don't want to start an AMD vs nVidia war here. I'm biased towards the nVidia though I have an AMD powered HTPC at home. Which one is better for my preferred functionalities? And, is a Quad-core really essential when it comes to rendering mainly? It takes ~12 hours to produce A2 or A1 size renderings in Revit (varies based on model complexity) What combination of RAM/ GPU and Processor would ideally suit these programs?
Click to expand...

1. All the laptops comes with gaming graphics which will not be "as" efficient as a workstation graphics. But then again that depends on your needs and your motive / profession.
If you need the best performance, go with the pro graphics else you can sacrifice few hours with gaming hardware.

2. I am not being biased too - AMD current gen GCN cards are much more powerful in "rendering and compute" task compared to its nvidia counterpart. Choice is yours.
Rendering is a very complex task and more the hardware oomph better the rendering time. Quad Core i'll say is the minimum recommended solution along with 8+gb of ram coupled with OpenCL driven VGA adapter (Considering all the major ISV are porting their brushes to OpenCL even the open source Blender new Cycles renderer is graphics driven )
 
kippu said:
12 hours for a rendering !!! ...wow, reminds me of the old old days of pentium 4 :D
Click to expand...
Vray with Max works much faster than Revit's generic rendering engine. We worked on a Dell XPS (i7 1st generation back in 2010) to get it done, and we had to sleep for 10 hours after we got tired of staring at the pixels for 2 hours. Main reason why I'm looking for expert advice.

Dark Star said:
1. All the laptops comes with gaming graphics which will not be "as" efficient as a workstation graphics. But then again that depends on your needs and your motive / profession.
If you need the best performance, go with the pro graphics else you can sacrifice few hours with gaming hardware.
Click to expand...
Even Alienware laptops won't match the pro-graphics is what you're trying to say? Wow! Thanks. Despite the software skills, I'm only a n00b in hardware.

The budget I have right now is only 60k and I'm afraid I am not going to get any pro-graphics laptop with that. My extended budget has to come from parents, and its based on the thesis next year. So, I have till May for that. Is there any new developments before May or even June? And, is getting the laptop from US a cheaper option? Does Indian market (online or otherwise) - I'm based in Chennai, offer this breed?
 
i think there is mental ray for revit , isnt it? its as comparable to vray in speed actually ,
people will confuse for graphics card , but trust me , just get the fastest cpu and good quality gpu in your budget , no need of those quadros and firepros really

are you a architecture student? be easier to get a nice desktop for your rendering and a smallish laptop to lug around
 
kippu said:
i think there is mental ray for revit , isnt it? its as comparable to vray in speed actually ,
people will confuse for graphics card , but trust me , just get the fastest cpu and good quality gpu in your budget , no need of those quadros and firepros really
are you a architecture student? be easier to get a nice desktop for your rendering and a smallish laptop to lug around
Click to expand...

Yes, I am. I'm at hostels, and buying a laptop for a semester's thesis ain't a good idea. Its better to have a laptop which can last for a good 3-4 years keeping in mind the higher education prospects. If I'd get pro-graphics for 10k extra which is worth it, I don't mind.
What do you think about this laptop? It comes for 53k. Is it really worth investing about 17k extra for Quadro/ Firepro?
 
that looks great , see graphics card is only for viewport polygonal viewing , which means it will be very smooth when you have a lot of polygons , you being a student will never hit that amount of polygons at all, so dont worry and go ahead with it , actually you will be happier if you can get extra monitor real estate , maybe a secondary monitor at the hostel?( not safe at all :D)

does anyone do hand drafting nowadays or is that dead?
 
kippu said:
that looks great , see graphics card is only for viewport polygonal viewing , which means it will be very smooth when you have a lot of polygons , you being a student will never hit that amount of polygons at all, so dont worry and go ahead with it , actually you will be happier if you can get extra monitor real estate , maybe a secondary monitor at the hostel?( not safe at all :D)
Click to expand...
I'm skeptical about the Asus service. Is it any good? And, they keep upgrading the model every month or so. A new K55 pops up with a new codenumber. Its painstaking to see a model we've zeroed on going out of stock within days.

kippu said:
does anyone do hand drafting nowadays or is that dead?
Click to expand...
We are insisted to draught by hand for the first 4 compulsively, or even 5 semesters in some colleges. Then, its a choice. Some seniors have done thesis project without digital aids. RESPECT.
 
dude i made my juniors write my whole thesis book ,with hand drawn sketches and all my sheets were stipled (staedler zindabad :D)
 
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