Hello,

Since I move a lot, I was thinking of getting a Macbook Pro without a dedicated graphics card (Iris Pro only). I would also like to use an external display with it - maybe even a 4K one (I guess I'm pushing it..).

Do you think that would work with Houdini? I am doing motion graphics and experimental video art type of work.

Hi alexpi,

I am using a Macbook Air from 2012. It works just fine, but as I posted in another thread, I run into heat issues when I am running PointWrangles on 100x100 to 200x200 grids, after about a minute of playback. So I just have to stop playback occasionally.

I was able to get through the CGWorkshop “Vex in Houdini” and all of the example projects ran just fine on my Air. (Heat issues aside.)

Rendering is also very slow, but I'll be looking into network rendering if I get serious into Houdini.

I am quite new to Houdini, but I think to successfully use laptops, you'll want to take advantage of disk caching and clever optimizations as much as possible.

I also sculpt in 3D-Coat with millions of voxels and develop basic games in Unity3D with very little issue on the Air.

Are you planning on doing any real-time work like performances?

Hello Chris, thanks for replying!

I am also fairly new to Houdini. The issue I worry about mainly, is the viewport performance when connecting a large external screen. Since there will be no dedicated gpu, I am afraid that the Iris Pro won't be able to drive it smoothly. I am not sure if this has to do with video RAM. The Iris Pro can use 1.5GB max.

I also worry about any heating issues as you mentioned. I will look into network rendering, but I want to be able to experiment, model, animate etc on the laptop.

alexpi
Hello Chris, thanks for replying!

I am also fairly new to Houdini. The issue I worry about mainly, is the viewport performance when connecting a large external screen. Since there will be no dedicated gpu, I am afraid that the Iris Pro won't be able to drive it smoothly. I am not sure if this has to do with video RAM. The Iris Pro can use 1.5GB max.

I also worry about any heating issues as you mentioned. I will look into network rendering, but I want to be able to experiment, model, animate etc on the laptop.

As an aside, heat issues will reduce the life of the battery.

Given the new slimline design requiring gluing of batteries in new Mac laptops, that may also warrant considerations as battery replacement requires handing back the machine to Apple or (from some online video) DIY with hairdryer etc.

Cheers

Given that driving a 4K monitor is like driving 4 1080p monitors, my recommendation for any GPU connected to a 4K monitor should have at least 3GB of VRAM.

I have a 4K monitor on Linux, and with a reasonable number of windows open, 1.2GB is used. Houdini open fullscreen with a simple scene bumps that to 1.7GB. That doesn't leave much breathing room for a 2GB or lower GPU.