Hello everyone

nice to be with you in this forum

i realy need advice on buying a new laptop …i will be using it for Houdini Maya and Zbrush

after some seraching i've decided to buy either Alienware M17x or MacBook pro 17…. i will be buying the high end of any of them meaning the best hardware ,

about Hardware , the alienware wins it has better hardware

so i would love to know which one is more reliable and durable and have more lifetime ?? and also does the mac OSX makes any difference ??as i heared that it might be better for 3D work and video editing ???

Thanks

hi, I have no problem with Alienware, but it's just so ugly, bulky and tacky ……

I will definitely go for Macbook Pro if I don't want to vomit on my laptop as a result of staring at it everyday.

Check out the Dell Precision M6500 if you want something really high end.

It's marketed as a “mobile workstation” so it has high end options available like a Quadro 5000M video card, Intel Extreme edition i7 CPU, and supports up to 32GB memory.

I have no idea on how well Dell has managed to put all of this together though, so be sure to read up on it. There's certainly potential for some serious heat buildup and short battery life. Possibly high noise levels too.

thank you very much for replying guys ,

well i guess u r right about looks, the macbook pro looks more better ..but the alienware doesnt look that bad though , i dont care that much , after all iam not buying a good hardware laptop everday . iam not that rich ….

and i have superstitious believing that the bulky and big laptops are more trusted ….

about the Precision M6500 i already checked it is realy good but it is realy expensive , i realy cannot afford buying it as my budget is 3,500 US $ ,
i also checked the thinkpad w520 workstation realy nice but has 15.6" screen and Quadro 2000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 , and the good new Extreme processor Core i7-2920XM ,

so how is the the Quadro 2000M is compared to the AlienWare VGA Cards ?

but another Question when it comes to Alienware M17x i have one of two options about VGA card either :

2GB DDR5 AMD Radeon HD6970M which is realy powerful OR ….
1.5GB DDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX460M which 3D vision enabled comes with 120Hz screen and 3D glasses which is realy fantastic ……..

how much performance difference i can get from the 6970M when working on 3D modelling or animation ?????? also i believe the Radeon 6970M supports 3D too , so i can glasses later , but is it gonna be good oin 60Hz screen , as i only can buy the 120 Hz with NVIDIA ???

so which one i should go for ???? realy tough decesion here too … please help on that ….

sorry if i asked alot of Questions ……..
Thanx

Out of those options I would go for the Lenovo thinkpad w520. It seems to be fairly priced for what you get.

Between the GTX 460m, Radeon HD6970M and Quadro 2000M I would choose the Quadro. It's going to give you a more reliable experience in Houdini, Maya and Zbrush.

You mention 3D glasses though, so if you plan on playing video games then the GTX 460M will be a better trade-off then the ATI card.

Unless you're using a Mac, I would stay away from ATI cards. They do not perform well with Houdini historically.

If you simply like to use Mac OSX, then I would choose the Mac. They are excellent laptops (my wife owns a new one).

I have to say my opinion might be biased. So, go for the best within your budget!


BTW, can I steal this post to ask a question about Mac?

How well does the latest MacbookPro 15inch go with Houdini with the following graphic card:

Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5


Thanks!

Just a comment about OpenGL version.
Mac OS X use openGL 1.x (3.x with the next release of OS X 10.7 - LION) when linux or windows use openGL 3.x or 4.x
BUT you can use your macbook pro under these operating systems with BootCamp.
For info on my MacBook Air 2010 (nvidia 320M-10.6.6-H11.701), i have some little problems when i create a new node (see attached screenshot), it's just a problem of refresh. Move or click to refresh and all is fine.

As of OSX 10.6.4, your mac will have support for OpenGL 3.0.

http://www.neowin.net/news/software/10/01/13/latest-mac-os-x-1063-beta-adds-opengl-30-support [neowin.net]

Rumor has Lion running OpenGL 4.x, not 3 but only time will tell.

I have been using the latest MacBook for the last month and can run Houdini very well. No issues with Houdini.

Thank you very much, experts！

It seems I shouldn't worry too much to go for the latest Macbook Pro with AMD(ATI) graphic card.

Hello , sorry for late replying …. Thank you very much for replying , that is realy helpful ,

so my plan is to get the ThinkPad w520 i with those Spec. :

- Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor (2.50GHz, 8MB L3, 1333MHz FSB)1
-Genuine Windows 7 Professional 6412
-15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
-NVIDIA Quadro 2000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory
-16 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (4 DIMM)8
-UltraNav with TrackPoint & touchpad plus Fingerprint reader
-320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm4
-DVD recordable multiburner5
-9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++60
-Bluetooth 3.0
-Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 625010
-Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable65
-1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller7

also i wud realy like to know what is the difference between normal processor and extreme one ?

so next if i cudnt get it , as iam ordering it from Egypt .. if i found any dificulties , still confused between the Alienware M17x and the Macbook pro

i can still use alienware with linux , also, MacBooks is know for durability but still expansive for wut i get …….

Thanx

Ahmed_Hesham
also i wud realy like to know what is the difference between normal processor and extreme one ?

Thanx

The extreme lineup of CPU's generally have much higher speeds when “Turbo Boost” kicks in.

The 2920XM will run at 3.2Ghz when you give it work to do on all 4 cores. (ie, rendering) Otherwise, if a job only uses a single core it will boost up to 3.5Ghz.

There are other subtle differences that you would only care about if you wanted to overclock the CPU, but since this is for a notebook it's not worth going into.

thanx for answering ……

so i shouldnt go for the extreme processor ?

because if i dont i might be able to get a good SSD too with my system

, or else maybe a Dual HDD With Raid0 by the way how good is the dual HDD with Raid 0 Compared to the SSD ?

Thanx again … i know i ask too many questions

Ahmed_Hesham
thanx for answering ……

so i shouldnt go for the extreme processor ?

because if i dont i might be able to get a good SSD too with my system

, or else maybe a Dual HDD With Raid0 by the way how good is the dual HDD with Raid 0 Compared to the SSD ?

Thanx again … i know i ask too many questions

I think the Extreme CPU sounds really good. 3.2Ghz is very fast.

It might be to your advantage to go with the extreme cpu, quadro gpu and a traditional sata disk for now. You can always purchase a SSD later on when money allows.

A raid0 has it's purpose, but I don't think it has as much utility as the primary and only drive in your system. If a single disk were to fail you would loose everything. Using a SSD for your OS and a traditional drive for storage is a better option.

Thank you for Replyoing , so yeah i decided on the Extreme processor ,

For capacity , i can order 8GB Ram , and get an SSD 160 GB , and RAM can be upgraded too , and alot cheaper in my country than Buying SSD .

but yet 160 GB is much less capacity for a laptop , dont u think so ?

besides in the w520 , if i dont get raid while buying it , i will not be able to get it later , they dont ship the raid controller with non enabled raid computers and if i enabled raid i will lose my DVD , lol , so iam not gonna enable raid ,

but i willnot use the raid if i get 160 GB SSD ,is it possible that i can still remove the DVD myself and put another HDD for example ?

Ahmed_Hesham
Thank you for Replyoing , so yeah i decided on the Extreme processor ,

For capacity , i can order 8GB Ram , and get an SSD 160 GB , and RAM can be upgraded too , and alot cheaper in my country than Buying SSD .

but yet 160 GB is much less capacity for a laptop , dont u think so ?

besides in the w520 , if i dont get raid while buying it , i will not be able to get it later , they dont ship the raid controller with non enabled raid computers and if i enabled raid i will lose my DVD , lol , so iam not gonna enable raid ,

but i willnot use the raid if i get 160 GB SSD ,is it possible that i can still remove the DVD myself and put another HDD for example ?

I'm sorry I don't know about replacing the DVD for a disk. If the DVD drive uses a SATA port, then it's possible this will work.

160GB is not bad for a SSD. I have a 90GB SSD for my OS and all of my applications. I do not use it for storage though. SSD's really shine for “reading” data, and it's best if you can adjust the way you use your computer around this.

There are plenty of articles on the net to help you better prepare your OS for an SSD if you choose to go this route.

Good luck. It sounds like you'll have a very nice notebook for running Houdini.

Thank you very much for fast replying ,

actualy yes i found a way to add another HDD to thinkpad w520

i dont know if iam allowed to post a link so i will jsut do it

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=38&Code=43N3412&current-category-id=6D8E5191FB0B45CBB39F45EB5B2B986E&&hide_menu_area=yes [shop.lenovo.com]

this thing will do it

Thank you again .. Good luck all

I find the single biggest limiting factor to using Houdini on a laptop is the screen size. Just a different perspective for you.

Thank you for suggesting

well , yeah i believe u r right, a 17.3 “ screen is way much better than 15.6”
and actualy that why i was thinking about when i choosed Alienware M17x or Macbook pro 17.

but when i though about it i realized that a 15.6 “ is a good when iam not home or office,for light weight and mobility , specialy that the houdini very good interface is well made to be customizable , but if home or office i can use and external big display , i have a 19 ” .

Thank you

HP EliteBook 8740w (XT910UT#ABA) Notebook Intel Core i7 740QM(1.73GHz) 17.0" Wide UXGA 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M

I think this would be a good computer for Houdini work if you bought some extra Memory and put in.

Costs around 2900$.

hmmmmmmm well …Elite Book is nice one…but i have fears from lifetime when it comes to HP , they had those times and until now HP laptops here in Egypt had many many defects …

But … what u guys think about sager Brandname ? is it good brand ? good lifetime ? has a good Reputition ? as i managed to configure a good powerful one will cost the 3,500 USD

Display:
17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with Super Glossy Surface (1920 x 1080)

Video & Graphics Card:
AMD Radeon HD 6970M GPU with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory

CPU Processor:
Intel® Core™ i7-990X Processor Extreme Edition ( 12MB L3 Cache, 3.46GHz, 6.4GT/sec QPI, 6 Cores )

Thermal Compound:
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU

Operating System Genuine MS Windows® 7 Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition ( 64-Bit Preloaded )

Memory:
12GB Triple Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 3 X 4GB

RAID Storage Options RAID-0:
Storage ( Data Strip - Requires 2nd Hard Disk Drive or both 2nd & 3rd Hard Disk Drives with identical capacity as Primary HDD)
Primary Hard "
Disk Drive 320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive
2nd Hard Disk Drive :
320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Secondary Hard Disk Drive in RAID configuration

Optical Drive Bay :
— Optical Drive or Hard Disk Drive in Optical Drive Bay with Caddy case 8X
DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software

Wireless Network Card :
Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1102 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module

Bluetooth Internal Bluetooth V2.1 Module

Primary Battery Smart Li-ION Battery Pack

Integrated Security Device Fingerprint Reader

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included in Price

Warranty Sager 1 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty

Carrying Bag Standard Carrying Bag