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affordable laptop that will run ZBrush or perhaps DS?

RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,343
in The Commons

Hi,

Summer is well on it's way. I can't STAND the heat and often end up in the local Philz Coffee shop just sitting there trying to keep cool but like many that go to the cafe's here and there they are doing work.  As I'm developing content it would be nice to find an affordable solution in a laptop that I could take with me and actually work rather than just sitting there playing silly games.  Any suggestions?  I'm a Windows user all the way so no MAC suggestions!  LOL

Thanks so much

Richard

Comments

  • Charlie JudgeCharlie Judge Posts: 13,253
    edited April 2018

    Bearing in mind that a labtop with the same capabilities as a desktop will probably cust more than the desktop, what sort of price range do you consider "affordable" ?

    Post edited by Charlie Judge on
  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,343

    Perhaps a thousand but not much more than that!  I know... dream on!  lol

  • Charlie JudgeCharlie Judge Posts: 13,253
    RAMWolff said:

    Perhaps a thousand but not much more than that!  I know... dream on!  lol

    Look at some of these: https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/category/gaming-laptops

  • j cadej cade Posts: 2,310
    RAMWolff said:

    Perhaps a thousand but not much more than that!  I know... dream on!  lol

     

    Ehh.... I'm on a laptop that cost just around a thousand when I bought it, and that was more than 5 years ago. You can *definitely* get something perfectly decent for that now.

     

    One thing to consider is what specifically you plan to use it for. If, say, you're going to use it more for set up and making things and plan to do any major rendering when you get back home you don't even really have to worry too much about a gpu and so can extend yourself more on ram

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,704

    Look at some of the asus gaming models.

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,729
    edited April 2018

    I have a 7 year old HP laptop with intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU and it handles DAZ fine 99% of the time. I bought it last year on eBay for $55. Important though is to upgrade 16GB RAM. And as far as i7 CPU vs i5 CPU although i7 is about 25% faster, the i5 GPU that comes in most of them is very quiet, cool, and not too excruciatingly slower than the i7 GPU. For $50 at eBay you will likely need to add your own HDD/SSD and upgrade or even add RAM yourself. It's also likely for $50 you will only get an i5 as i7s typically will cost almost $100 more even though they don't deliver 300% better performance than an i5. So in a public place you want an intel HD Graphics GPU and an i5 CPU honestly - you can even render quietly in public with such a laptop although you'd better be plugged into an AC outlet.

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • tj_1ca9500btj_1ca9500b Posts: 2,057

    Assuming you don't mind the extra size, I'd definitely recommend a 17.1" screen (18 inchers are out of your price range).

    Also, it looks like GTX1060 for the NVidia card in your price range.  6GB of VRAM, so that's respectable.  Assuming you do Iray of course!

    There are some refurbished 17.1" laptops with GTX1060's for just over $1000 at Newegg, a bit more for 'new' models, if you don't mind stretching your budget.

    Dropping the screen size will also drop the price range a bit, but your eyes will thank you for the bigger screen in Daz... unless you don't mind squinting!

  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Posts: 376

    Just a tad over $1000 ($1277) the Acer Aspire V17 has an i7 CPU, 2GB GTX 1070 GPU and16GB RAM. It should be able to handle anything you throw at it in terms of conent development. Of course if you don't plan on doing a lot of rendering you could go for something less powerful but you might want to cover all your options. https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Tracking-GeForce-GTX1060-VN7-793G-709A/dp/B01N6VFLLZ

  • MescalinoMescalino Posts: 436
    j cade said:
     

    One thing to consider is what specifically you plan to use it for. If, say, you're going to use it more for set up and making things and plan to do any major rendering when you get back home you don't even really have to worry too much about a gpu and so can extend yourself more on ram

     

    This is an important question and will determin greatly what you need. That being said for a 1000 budget you do can get something very decent.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    Harry Dresden said:

    Just a tad over $1000 ($1277) the Acer Aspire V17 has an i7 CPU, 2GB GTX 1070 GPU and16GB RAM. It should be able to handle anything you throw at it in terms of conent development. Of course if you don't plan on doing a lot of rendering you could go for something less powerful but you might want to cover all your options. https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Tracking-GeForce-GTX1060-VN7-793G-709A/dp/B01N6VFLLZ

    Hi Harry, long time no see

  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Posts: 376
    Chohole said:
    Harry Dresden said:

     

    Hi Harry, long time no see

    Indeed! Life and lemons and all that. And then Jeff passed away and I was sad for a long time. Also, I was angry at Daz when it turned out Genesis was not the "You'll never have to worry about compatibility ever again!" deal they made it out to be. We got Genesis 2 then 3 then 8 and it's just never going to stop I guess. So I just did what I always do when it stops being fun, I withdrew quietly. But I got over it and I plan to start creating content (did a lot of learning how over the years) but it will probaly under a more marketable name. I'll keep you posted though. ;)

    So what did I miss? :p

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604

    What apart from Genesis 4,5 and 6?    

  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Posts: 376

    Pfff...at least they added dForce. It played a big role in re-kindling my interest. At least now we can get a lot of older content to fit on newer generation characters. What's up with the wait for approval posting system? It's rather annoying! Do you guys now have to read all our posts beforehand? If so do you get paid? It sounds like hard work to me. :/

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,343

    I'll have to check out NewEgg, used to shop there allot.  As for the screen size I'm def all about 17" for my old eyes.  I'll check out EBay too.  I did find one on Amazon I have in my cart, it's just over $1000.00, has an NVidia graphics card with 4 gigs of RAM and there are payment options (5 payments of like $200.00 a month or something like that).  So I all in with that. 

    Thanks so much for all the suggestions! 

    Richard

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,760

    I just got a MDI gaming computer that runs pretty much anything I've thrown at it so far.  But, it was $1600 so it might be a bit out of the price range you are looking at. Not only does it run any game i've tried, it works beautifully with Daz.  I'm pretty happy with it so far.  Will be even happier when its paid off lol.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 108,091
    Harry Dresden said:

    What's up with the wait for approval posting system? It's rather annoying! Do you guys now have to read all our posts beforehand? If so do you get paid? It sounds like hard work to me. :/

    People kept offering genuine fake certificates from various universities around the world, and they must have had a massive stock-pile as they made multiple posts each day. Older members who hadn't psoted for a while got caught too when we added pre-moderation, but you should be OK now.

  • AllenArtAllenArt Posts: 7,175
    edited April 2018
    RAMWolff said:

    Hi,

    Summer is well on it's way. I can't STAND the heat and often end up in the local Philz Coffee shop just sitting there trying to keep cool but like many that go to the cafe's here and there they are doing work.  As I'm developing content it would be nice to find an affordable solution in a laptop that I could take with me and actually work rather than just sitting there playing silly games.  Any suggestions?  I'm a Windows user all the way so no MAC suggestions!  LOL

    Thanks so much

    Richard

     

    RAMWolff said:

    Hi,

    Summer is well on it's way. I can't STAND the heat and often end up in the local Philz Coffee shop just sitting there trying to keep cool but like many that go to the cafe's here and there they are doing work.  As I'm developing content it would be nice to find an affordable solution in a laptop that I could take with me and actually work rather than just sitting there playing silly games.  Any suggestions?  I'm a Windows user all the way so no MAC suggestions!  LOL

    Thanks so much

    Richard

    Gaming laptop is your best bet, because it'll have the cooling you need. However, you did say affordable, and I don't think "gaming" and "affordable" are two words you can really say in the same sentence ;). Mine was 1400 bucks two years ago already (17", i7 Intel quad, 6 gig 970m, 16 gigs of ram).

    Laurie

    Post edited by AllenArt on
  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,343

    The laptop I mentioned that's now in my cart is the ASUS VivoBook Gaming Laptop.  Got good reviews and is more in my price range.

  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449

    Something to think about is that these type of laptops often can suck a battery dry in under 2 hours when not using power saving settings which you will probably not be doing..

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,343

    Actually I'm aware of that so I'll have the laptop plugged in at the cafe'!

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