[Question] Laptop for design.

[Dragon]

HI Peeps

I would like some input from those who are using Matte based laptops.

I am a designer and currently looking for a laptop.

I have found few but i am rather extremely confused as which to go for.

At the moment these are my options

Mecer Xpression W970SUW Haswell 4th Generation

MSI CX702OD (MS-CX702OD-022ZA)

all input will be much appreciated

regards

[irneb]

They both look reasonable, at least to me. What type of "design" do you do? Most importantly, what program(s) are you using?

For me they're about minimum required, but that's because my main program is Revit (which needs 16GB preferred minimum RAM, high GHz CPU rather than multiple cores, and a decent graphics card). If it was AutoCAD or PhotoShop, then that's overkill. If it's 3dStudio then it's too slow (CPU) with too little RAM.

[Houses4Rent]

generally speaking: I thought the more cores the better as that is the only way things can run in parallel? A faster single processor can only handle one thing at the time.

[CLIVE-TRIANGLE]

I was just looking at this issue because I am in a similar boat. This from Wikipedia

The improvement in performance gained by the use of a multi-core processor depends very much on the software algorithms used and their implementation. In particular, possible gains are limited by the fraction of the software that can be run in parallel simultaneously on multiple cores; this effect is described by Amdahl's law. In the best case, so-called embarrassingly parallel problems may realize speedup factors near the number of cores, or even more if the problem is split up enough to fit within each core's cache(s), avoiding use of much slower main system memory. Most applications, however, are not accelerated so much unless programmers invest a prohibitive amount of effort in re-factoring the whole problem.[3] The parallelization of software is a significant ongoing topic of research.

[adrianh]

HI Peeps

I would like some input from those who are using Matte based laptops.

I am a designer and currently looking for a laptop.

I have found few but i am rather extremely confused as which to go for.

At the moment these are my options

Mecer Xpression W970SUW Haswell 4th Generation

MSI CX702OD (MS-CX702OD-022ZA)

all input will be much appreciated

regards

I run a Acer Travelmate P273 i7 8Gb RAM on Windows 7. The machine is the only decently priced i7 laptop that I could find that has a full keyboard and matte 17 inch screen. Lets see, I have a keyboard, mouse, 3D SpaceExplorer , external hard drive, printer, network and a 27 inch Samsung screen connected to it and it runs like a rocket. I draw on the big screen (and sometimes run a viewport on the laptop screen) but I generally watch movies or farm on the internet on the laptop screen while working on the big screen.

I spend 90% of my day drawing in Rhino so I have 1-6 copies of that going, it is a long story but I always have CorelDraw running as well. IE, Firefox and WinAmp are always open and I often use Lightroom and Corel PhotoPaint in between everything else. ...and the machine just keeps on going.

I reboot the machine maybe two or three times a week just for the hell of it.

Ok, to cut to the chase, my Acer rocks and I think that it is the perfect machine for CAD.

[Dragon]

Thank you. At the moment i run graphic design software but aim to run 3D software... well it is 8 cores but they msrge when the power demands it

Im just confused as i have an older gen mecer (the model before the above mentioned.) Bt i need a matte screen now not glossy... i mentioned the laptops above as they 15k each and cheapest in its range bt also exremely exp in my budget...

[Dragon]

Hi i must say all the acer laptops i checked were glossy screens and used the "u" chipz which is the low power saver chip where they cut the lower...i will google ur laptop n check it out..thank u.

The mecer and asus has a qm chip which is power hungry n rated over 7000 on the bench mark...where the u chips are rated over 4000 on the bench mark

[Dragon]

I was also thinking of just replacing my current laptop screen with a matte screen.but i cannot find a place where they can do so for me.. by any chance does any one of you know a place that can do so for me? That way i can save some cash by just replacing my glossy screen on this laptop

[adrianh]

I don't think that you will be able to replace the screen with mate version. Maybe you should try to fin a sheet of matte plastic and paste it over the screen. Go to you local art supply store and see what you can find. What about a A3 matte laminating pouch....

[Dragon]

Thanks adrian. I shall try that . Appreciate the help

[irneb]

generally speaking: I thought the more cores the better as that is the only way things can run in parallel? A faster single processor can only handle one thing at the time.

True, but you'll find very few software can actually run in parallel (with themselves that is). One which is "embarrassingly parallel" is rendering - i.e. once you've modeled the 3d shape then added all the materials, lights & effects (which is 99% of the actual work), you send it through the rendering process which can use multiple cores (and some of them can even use multiple PCs at once).

Generally for something like 3d modeling (3dStudio, Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Blender are some of what I've used before) the modeling process itself (i.e. that where you actually spend more than 90% of your own time) has no parallelism whatsoever. So for this portion of the actual work, a faster CPU for a single thread is better than a bunch of slower cores. Some of these have attempted to do stuff like real-time display using multiple cores or even the massively multiple cores of the GPU, but they still have very little success in the actual use of the program (i.e. the functions for modifying and creating models).

Though I'd advise something with at a bare minimum 2 cores, preferably 4. Seeing as you tend to make use of more than one program at a time. Thus while one of them has that hour-glass / circle going you can continue with the other.

In general (for Revit) I try to get something with at least 3GHz and around 4 cores. Some mobile chips have a "turbo" feature which "steps up" the Hz from somewhere in the 2GHz to just over 3GHz - so usually that's reasonable (just remember to keep your hands away from the vents else they'll blister).

[manny17]

You can search on the B2C website for more choice...

[Dragon]

Hi Irneb

This info u provided really was helpful. Also with a cuda enables gpu shoukd make 3d rendering easier and more capable. I shall see what else i can find out .. appreciate the info you provided

[adrianh]

What software do you use?

[Dragon]

at the moment General software ..photoshop and corel. only now i am looking at 3D and web software. since i need a matte based display i would rather get a proper power machine one time instead of gettign something weaker and then landing in a problem.