Portable/small laptop for 2D Animation. Will this handle 3D/gaming though?

Would you recommend build 1 or build 2?


  • Total voters
    0

PolygaNom

New member
Hi there,

I'm looking for a laptop that can handle animation work and some gaming (because I build games and want to test them, rather than playing them). I use the Adobe suite including After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Illustrator. I use Maya for 3D although don't plan on using this computer for the 3D aspect so much.

Looking at what other people are building, I'm probably being a tiny bit ambitious in hoping for a small form factor while being able to run all the above... my priority is 2D/portability over speed though. I have a desktop at home which I plan to upgrade if I need a proper beast of a machine.

Anyway, here are my specs:


Chassis & Display
Enigma Series: 14" Matte FHD IPS Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Dual Core Processor i7-7Y75 (1.30GHz, 3.60GHz Turbo)

Memory (RAM)
16GB LPDDR3 1866MHz LOW PROFILE SOLDERED

Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 615 - DirectX® 12

M.2 SSD Drive
1TB WD Blue™ 3D NAND M.2 SSD (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)

Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader

AC Adaptor
1 x Enigma Series 36W AC Adaptor

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable

Sound Card
Realtek 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS

Battery
Enigma Series Lithium Ion Battery (5400mAh)

Keyboard Language
ENIGMA SERIES SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence


The only thing that seems to stand out to me is the graphics card as something I may find lacking - unfortunately this is the only one i can get in this Chassis. If I wanted something better I would have to go 15 inch or above, resulting in my other build:


Chassis & Display
Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 7700HQ (2.8GHz, 3.8GHz Turbo)

Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® MX150 - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12

1st Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE SLIM SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)

Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)

AC Adaptor
1 x 90W AC Adaptor

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable

Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 3

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0

USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Battery
Cosmos VI Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Keyboard Language
SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence


So I suppose what I'm asking is...
1. Is the first build suitable for 2D animation (After Effects) at least?
2. How suitable is it for the rest (3D etc), would it manage at least on a threshold level?
3. Is the second build still portable enough and would the upgrade in specs be enough to handle all of the above?

Thanks in advance!

Nom
 

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
What is your budget? its always easier to give advice if we have your budget, a poll may not be really helpful sadly as its feasible that our advice could be to swap out a few components in one (or both depending on your preference) builds.
 

PolygaNom

New member
What is your budget? its always easier to give advice if we have your budget, a poll may not be really helpful sadly as its feasible that our advice could be to swap out a few components in one (or both depending on your preference) builds.


Budget is £1000-1400. Thanks!:eek:
 

PolygaNom

New member
Update: I've decided that I'm happy with a 15.6" screen as I realise it will be better not to have to hunch over the laptop too much. S now I am just trying to decide which chassis is best for that size whilst being lightweight/portable. I would still really appreciate any answers to the original question though, especially about the specs :)
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Your uses would benefit massively from an -H series laptop CPU - i.e. the i7 7700HQ, as opposed to the very low power -Y series CPUs (e.g. i7-7Y75 ). The Y series CPUs focus on low power, and will power throttle quite significantly, meaning the high boost frequency won't last long at all. It also has half the cores and threads of the i7 7700HQ.

If you look at these benchmarks: https://tinyurl.com/ybnfgh2j
You can see an i7 7700HQ offer upto 3 times the multithreaded performance of an i7-7Y75

Whether the Intel graphics, MX150 gpu, or a better GPU like a GTX 1050 ti are better for your game testing needs depends a lot on the games, and I can't really advise you on that. But Premiere Pro certainly could benefit a lot from a GTX 1050 ti over an MX150, which is much weaker.

I'd therefore suggest the Optimus VIII chassis, which is a similar size and weight to the Cosmos. The spec you had with the cosmos looks good (CPU, RAM, storage, etc) but since you can easily afford the Optimus with its GTX 1050 ti, and still have plenty of cash left over, I'd strongly recommend that. :)
 
Last edited:
Top