A laptop for content creation (not necessarily to run Trainz on)

D

Dinorius_Redundicus

kuid 68213
Can anyone advise me on what sort of laptop/graphics card I'd need to do content creation on - that is, it would need to at least run Win7, gmax and Photoshop and have a graphics card that can display normal map effects on models if I open them with PEV's Mesh Viewer. I don't need it to run Trainz necessarily, this could just be a laptop for creating content while I'm travelling.

My work laptop is a Dell M4600 with Win7, but it has trouble with some aspects of gmax and while it can run PEV Mesh Viewer, normal map effects don't display. So I'm wary of laptops...
 
Hello Dino :)

Not knowing your budget its a little hard to give you ideas. I recently bought this for my wife she does Graphic design on her laptop along with MMO gaming. It also has Trainz running on it for the kids to run some of the sessions (Runs quite well)

ACER Aspire V5-571PG-73538G1TMass I grabbed one for her at the $800.00 AU retail (I paid a lot less due to owning an IT business) which isn't a bad deal for the system.

But knowing how much you would like to spend people can give you a much better idea. As with most laptops the more you spend the better it is so to speak, but there are some great bargains out there to be had for laptops if you do the right shopping around. (I personally dont deal in Laptops much, but make sure you do your homework on reading reviews etc before purchasing and or go check the models out instore etc)

Personally I would steer clear of DELL and HP, I find them far inferior to other brand name laptops for the money you pay.

Regards

Trent
 
I guess the big question is what are you looking to spend? I'm using a tired 2009 Macbook that is past its prime. Looking at maybe buying a Toshiba Qosmio X70 because Alienware is just too rich for my blood. I'm actually looking for suggestions on this myself since I'll be buying next week.
 
Thanks for the guidance.

Yes, I definitely will not buy a Dell or a HP.

Cost, I don't know, maybe $2000 australian. The main thing is, how do I know the video card is good enough to render normal map effects on models ahead of purchasing the computer? If it needs a lot of research, I will probably defer the purchase, I don't have the time. If there was one thing - a specification or parameter to look for that tells me the video card will be good enough, what would that be?
 
I just found this..... interesting. I was looking at the Toshiba Qosmio because I know it uses the GeForce GTX770M. This uses a GT750M. Not quite as high horsepower, but a 15.6" laptop too vs. a 17" monster. Anyone with ideas on it? I would assume the 750 can do all that Dino.. and I want? I also want it for creation, but I want it to run Trainz too, since it will be my sole machine.
 
Damn. I bought a Dell by mistake! I didn't know Alienware was Dell by another name. And everything has Windows 8 on it, I didn't see anything with Win 7. I suspect a world of pain has just opened up before me.
 
Last edited:
Dinorius_Redundicus said:
Damn. I bought a Dell by mistake! I didn't know Alienware was Dell by another name. And everything has Windows 8 on it, I didn't see anything with Win 7. I suspect a world of pain has just opened up before me.
Click to expand...

Dean,

The Alienware machines, though Dell, are still made at a higher-quality level. I know because I have one myself, albeit an older model now with Windows 7 Pro.

With Windows 8, with its odd start menu, is very much like Windows 7 once you get to the desktop. If you are interested in booting directly to the desktop and want a real start menu too, check this out.

http://www.iobit.com/iobitstartmenu8.php

This will give you the best of both worlds meaning you'll have the Windows 7 desktop mode, complete with the old familiar friend called the start menu, as well as access to the new "Metro-style" applications from the same location. Look in the forums though for any updates. I ended up downloading a patch to make it work more reliably.

Let me know if you have any problems with Windows 8. I've been using it for a few months now, and have learned a lot about its innards.

John
 
Thanks for the reassurance John. So it's a bit like having a Lexus but you know its a re-badged Toyota!

You're right about the Win8 interface, it is most annoying, but I believe I can get used to it. When you think about it, even Win7 and XP were bizarre - to Shutdown the system, you first had to click the Start button! So they hid the shutdown button somewhere else even less intuitive this time, I found it eventually, but why hide it in the first place? It's like badly designed electronic equipment where the on/off switch is hidden at the back. I'm glad the guy who was in charge of Win8 development got booted recently, he deserved it.

The User Account Control or whatever they call it - the admin rights thing - seems to be even more of a nanny than before. Not sure of the best way to keep it quiet permanently.

So anyway, I installed PEV Mesh Viewer and checked if the all-important bump map effects work. Big relief, they do, so the NVidia GT 765M card is working. But the second time I opened the same .im file with Mesh Viewer, I got a 'range check error'? A backwards compatibility problem with Win8. The troubleshooting system fixed the issue eventually and I got Mesh Viewer working again, but I wonder if this will happen with everything...
 
Dinorius_Redundicus said:
Thanks for the reassurance John. So it's a bit like having a Lexus but you know its a re-badged Toyota!

You're right about the Win8 interface, it is most annoying, but I believe I can get used to it. When you think about it, even Win7 and XP were bizarre - to Shutdown the system, you first had to click the Start button! So they hid the shutdown button somewhere else even less intuitive this time, I found it eventually, but why hide it in the first place? It's like badly designed electronic equipment where the on/off switch is hidden at the back. I'm glad the guy who was in charge of Win8 development got booted recently, he deserved it.

The User Account Control or whatever they call it - the admin rights thing - seems to be even more of a nanny than before. Not sure of the best way to keep it quiet permanently.

So anyway, I installed PEV Mesh Viewer and checked if the all-important bump map effects work. Big relief, they do, so the NVidia GT 765M card is working. But the second time I opened the same .im file with Mesh Viewer, I got a 'range check error'? A backwards compatibility problem with Win8. The troubleshooting system fixed the issue eventually and I got Mesh Viewer working again, but I wonder if this will happen with everything...
Click to expand...


That's a great analogy of Alieanware and Dell vs. Lexus and Toyota, and very much so indeed! I am quite pleased with my old tank of a machine which weighs in about 15 lbs. I recently dragged this along on a road trip to Pennsylvania. It was worth taking, but I don't think I'd ever carry it through the airport. The all aluminum base does well with the cooling, although I do put a cooling pad underneath to help. Hopefully, your machine runs a lot cooler and is a lot lighter. :)

Anyway, yes that Win 8 interface is most bizarre and probably we're not quite used to this yet. I've gotten used to it and jump back and forth between the two modes. It's like a Schizophrenic with two personalities. I think this is a transitioning thing that hasn't quite come to bloom, or wasn't as thought out as well as they thought. I'm glad that Balmer is leaving, and Sinofski left just after the launch. I think Sinofski was the one behind the big interface change and made the push no matter who complained. (This sounds familiar, doesn't it.)

Why they hide the important things is beyond my comprehension!

A quick way to shutdown is to close all applications, click somewhere on the desktop and press ALT+F4 at the same time. This will bring up the old-fashioned shutdown option that we've seen before.

For PEV's tools to run properly, install and run them with Administrator rights, just like with Windows 7. This will give them access to the files like they are supposed to have.

John
 
Having used the Alienware laptop for a month now, I'm convinced it's a good thing. It handles gmax/Photoshop very well (my last 2 creations were done on it) and runs TS2010 and Civilization V without problems. I also noticed Dr. Sheldon Cooper on the Big Bang Theory uses an Alienware too (instead of the Hollywood standard Apple). So it must be good.
 
Hi Dean,

I'm glad you are enjoying your new computer. The Alienware machines are made pretty well and are the Cadillac of the Dell performance machines. I too have had excellent lucky with my machine as well.

John
 
JCitron said:
Hi Dean,

I'm glad you are enjoying your new computer. The Alienware machines are made pretty well and are the Cadillac of the Dell performance machines. I too have had excellent lucky with my machine as well.

John
Click to expand...

Need to remember that Alienware was a well established company producing high quality PC's in it's own right before Dell swallowed it up, think any credit should really go to the Alienware, which is a subsidiary of Dell. ;)

Alienware chief executive Nelson Gonzalez said that his company will remain a wholly owned subsidiary of Dell, continuing its own brand, design, sales and marketing, and support.
Click to expand...
 
clam1952 said:
Need to remember that Alienware was a well established company producing high quality PC's in it's own right before Dell swallowed it up, think any credit should really go to the Alienware, which is a subsidiary of Dell. ;)
Click to expand...

That's great and absolutely something that I forgot actually.

However... If you look at some of Dell's recent corporate offerings such as their Precision Workstations and high-end game-level laptops, you'll see some crossover from Alienware. The differences are still apparent, however, with Alienware using metal whereas Dell using plastic for some major assemblies.

This would make sense as the owner tries to consolidate manufacturing and inventories together in the same factories.

John
 
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