Laptop for Revit / Maxwell Render / 3ds Max

Hi guys,

Please could you help me with finding the best laptop for my needs. Unfortunately, I am not too knowledgeable when it comes to computers, though I understand the more general and common terms.

80% of laptop use will be with Revit for which I understand a good CPU and, because I use a lot of point cloud data, a high amount of RAM would be required (I often use up all my work's PC's, which has 32GB). The rest of the time I will be using various rendering applications - at the moment Maxwell Render and 3DS Max, though this may change over time. I don't really do any gaming. I don't need the laptop to be mega portable but it will have to be a laptop as I will need to carry it between countries a few times a year.

For storage space, I will just need an average amount as I tend to hold files on an external hard drive and just transfer what I need when I need it. (BTW I don't understand the difference between the Samsung SM and PM M.2 SSD. If anyone can explain that in simple terms that would be great).

Also, I don't necessarily need to buy the laptop for the next month or two, but will need it for when I travel towards the end of the year/January time. Do you think it is better to wait a bit for any new parts to come along, eg. 8th gen intel core i7, or better to buy soon and get everything up and running in case there are issues and it needs returning?

So far the following spec is what I have come up with. This is about the maximum I would like to spend and ideally I would like to reduce the cost a bit if possible.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 120Hz IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-7700k (4.2GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ WIRELESS-AC 1535 M.2 GAMING 802.11AC + BLUETOOTH 4.1 - Is the £17 extra for this over the standard option worth considering?
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 2 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price £2,454.00 including VAT and delivery

The PM and SM m2 drives are much faster than standard SSDs with the SM the quicker of the two. As the Octane uses a desktop CPU it should be just a case of waiting for Clevo to produce a chassis that will take the new ones and I think the extra cores and thread of the 8th gen would be good help for you so if you do not mind waiting I would do. You could give PCS a call and ask if they have any info on when the new Octane will be out.

Thank you for your reply Stephen M. I'll go for the SM over the PM then.
I will look to find out about any new chassis - thanks for the advice

You'd expect the laptops with the 8th gen CPUs to be out quite soon. That said, only the Z370 chipset is out and I'm not sure when the other, lower end desktop chipsets are being released - it was originally said to be early 2018. Since I don't think previous Octanes used Z170/Z270 chipsets it may be the Coffee Lake Octane will need to wait until the lower end chipsets start coming out.

But that's just weak speculation on my part - if you phone PCS, will be interesting to hear what they say.

For storage space, I will just need an average amount as I tend to hold files on an external hard drive and just transfer what I need when I need it. (BTW I don't understand the difference between the Samsung SM and PM M.2 SSD. If anyone can explain that in simple terms that would be great).

Click to expand...

Why not switch to a single 960 Evo 500gb drive rather than have a 256gb PM961 and a 500gb 850 Evo?

Thanks for the reply Oussebon. Having the one drive sounds like a good idea to save a bit of money - I'll certainly consider it when it comes to the final order.

I spoke with PCS and they said they're under a NDA with regards to when a new Octane or any PCS laptop might be out with an 8th gen CPU. The guy suggested it may be worth the wait for the improved performance but it may be some time - very mysterious! :shifty:

8th gen in

Hi again,

So it looks like the 8th gen processors are in for the Octane IV (well 27th November). I assume no other CPUs are on their way shortly. I've now configured the spec below. Please could someone have a quick check over it to see if I am missing anything, or not needing something I have put in.

For the graphics card I'm not sure whether to go for the 1070 or 1080. I'm now hoping that in the future I will start to create VR models of my work (using a mixture of Revit, 3DS Max and something like Unreal Engine) so that's why I have picked the 1080 but maybe the 1070 is good enough as I doubt I'll be playing games on the laptop.

For the hard drive, is adding in some cheap storage worth doing or will I get similar performance from a connected external hard drive? It will hopefully just be for transferring files now and again.

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 120Hz IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache ()
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
Get Destiny 2 with select GTX 10 Series GPUs! ** Limited Codes Available **
1st Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SAMSUNG 960 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2100MB/W)
FREE Assassin's Creed: Origins with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ WIRELESS-AC 1535 M.2 GAMING 802.11AC + BLUETOOTH 4.1
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 2 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £2,956.00 including VAT and delivery

It looks good, and seems worth the wait for the 8700k.

Are you sure your uses will really benefit from 64gb RAM rather than 32gb? If not, given the high price of RAM at the moment, you could stick to 2x16gb with the option to install more later.

You may not find the 960 Pro to be worth the premium over the 960 Evo

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I will go for the 960 Evo as you are right about it not being worth the extra cost to me. 64gb or 32gb is pretty much my last decision. I do max out the 32gb on my work laptop quite regularly but its easily dealt with by reducing the amount of data files open at one time. So I suspect I would do the same for 64gb - max it out by being lazy and having everything open at the same time. The cost and what should be an easy upgrade if required later is making me lean towards 32gb; though having 64gb does make me smile I'll give it a last think before ordering...