High end Laptop for WORK

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Curious_by_Nature

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Hi all

I'm in need of a high end LAPTOP to replace my aging DESKTOP (3930K, 32GB Ram, GTX 670). Not a "gaming laptop" necessarily, although the high end ones usually are gaming ones.
I don't care much about the harddrive if its SDD or usual, but I have some requirements:
17" screen, at least (Matte, not that shiny stuff the low end consumer ones usually have)
32GB Ram at least, upgradable to more at a later date, perhaps to 48GB
GTX 1080 minumum (1080Ti even better). No AMD, no Quadros, no Titans
Modern i7, maybe something equivalent to i7 6700K or better (or Ryzen 1800)
Don't care much about anything else that comes with it

Things to consider:
1) Some kind of international warranty would be great. I may need to get it repaired if I'm overseas
2) I may need to ADD 3 or 4 ADDITIONAL external GPU's, so a way to do that would be great, I will make a separate thread for that.

I've seen VERY HIGH END laptops advertised for R120K. Well there's no way I'm paying that. I do like the Alienware ones advertised at Incredible Connection, the 17" one for R49K, but that one only comes with a 1070 and only has 16GB Ram. I've heard good things about Dell and also MSI, but then which model? I've had low end HP's in the past, but even though I've always been an HP fan I think nowdays they're a bit overrated (and the battery each time needs replacing just after 1 year).
Dell will probably come at a premium, MSI a bit cheaper.

Thoughts or suggestions?
 
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3D Rendering. I use both the CPU and GPU to render. Sometimes the one over the other. That's why both needs to be good. Titan and Quadro is overkill (and price/performance suck). 1080ti is best bang for my buck at the moment
 
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Chevron said:
Then why no Quadro?
Click to expand...

Because 4 X 1080ti is cheaper than 1 Quadro and they perform a LOT better. So price/performance is way better for the 1080ti
The days that Quadros are "better" than "gaming" cards for 3D work went out the window the same time as "Apple is better for Photoshop"
 
Nice, wondered what on earth you were using a beast machine for.
 
Your desktop is going to better than the laptop for price/performance and the laptop is going to throttle in regards to heat.

Why no AMD? I haven't seen any RX mobile cards yet or Ryzen for laptop.

Just random selections, don't think you'll find much locally due to lack of demand though.
http://www.wootware.co.za/msi-wt72-...pm-hdd-windows-10-pro-mobile-workstation.html
http://www.wootware.co.za/msi-gt73v...b-7200rpm-hdd-windows-10-gaming-notebook.html << probably your best bet after upgrading the RAM.
http://www.wootware.co.za/dell-prec...-2-ssd-windows-10-pro-mobile-workstation.html
http://www.wootware.co.za/msi-gt83v...128gb-m-2-ssd-windows-10-gaming-notebook.html

All require you to upgrade the RAM.

Tbh if your rig is still fine I'd see what the performance of the new Ryzen and the new AMD cards will be on laptops.
And I'd still go with a desktop and just buy a cheap laptop to RDP to the desktop.
 
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All very valid points Johnatan56 regarding the desktop vs laptop argument. One aspect not considered is mobility of the laptop. Being able to make changes to plans/drawings/designs on-the-fly while visiting clients and sites in remote loctations can be extremly beneficial.
 
psivius said:
One aspect not considered is mobility of the laptop.
Click to expand...

If you have the beast desktop and only use the laptop to remote (see teamviewer) into the desktop, render it there and transfer back? This is not quite as nice a the monster laptop would be and your limit would be your bandwidth available but you would get all the advantages of the desktop...
 
crazy build!!! Four GPU's, plus two PSU (600w PSU required for a 1080ti), plus lots of wires connecting it all together, all mounted on an external case sounds like fun :). Also may be pretty big so maybe the desktop is a better option.

I don't know too much about rendering but have a friend that uses cloud rendering and he seems pretty sold on this but don't know much more then that. Maybe this an option?

AMD is about to launch Vega which is pretty much designed for rendering that could be an option.
 
Consider the Lenovo P70 (the P71 has been announced, but not yet available). It supports Quadro graphics (sorry), and can go up to 64GB RAM, with two (or three if you drop the optical drive!) hard drives. It's not going to do external graphics cards that I can see, though. Actually, it has thunderbolt, so you might be able to use an external thunderbolt enclosure for additional graphics cards (they are NOT cheap, unfortunately!)

The idea of cloud rendering sounds like a winner, though!
 
RoganDawes said:
Consider the Lenovo P70 (the P71 has been announced, but not yet available). It supports Quadro graphics (sorry), and can go up to 64GB RAM, with two (or three if you drop the optical drive!) hard drives. It's not going to do external graphics cards that I can see, though. Actually, it has thunderbolt, so you might be able to use an external thunderbolt enclosure for additional graphics cards (they are NOT cheap, unfortunately!)

The idea of cloud rendering sounds like a winner, though!
Click to expand...

Here is an example of some thunderbolt enclosures: http://www.sonnettech.com/Product/thunderbolt/index.html

There are other manufacturers, too, google is your friend.
 
psivius said:
All very valid points Johnatan56 regarding the desktop vs laptop argument. One aspect not considered is mobility of the laptop. Being able to make changes to plans/drawings/designs on-the-fly while visiting clients and sites in remote loctations can be extremly beneficial.
Click to expand...
Just be weary of making a decision based on something you'll do once a year. It's very seldom (if ever) that I need to do changes like this when I'm out the office. Take mid-range laptop with if they need to see the work, do changes in the office.
 
Scary_Turtle said:
crazy build!!! Four GPU's, plus two PSU (600w PSU required for a 1080ti), plus lots of wires connecting it all together, all mounted on an external case sounds like fun :). Also may be pretty big so maybe the desktop is a better option.

I don't know too much about rendering but have a friend that uses cloud rendering and he seems pretty sold on this but don't know much more then that. Maybe this an option?

AMD is about to launch Vega which is pretty much designed for rendering that could be an option.
Click to expand...

@OP and in what are you rendering btw? AutoCAD?
If it's AutoCAD, CPU > GPU: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/best-pc-configuration-for-autocad-2016/td-p/6006755

You'd look at getting an Xeon probably, so you'd be forced into getting a Quadro card. Just make sure to compare processors and note that the same processor will not perform the same across all laptops as they all have different limits in regards to throttling/air flow.
 
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