Need help, can't decide!

M

matget

Member
Hi, I'm new here so sorry if this is the wrong place. I am currently trying to decide between the following two laptops with shown specs, I am a games design student and will be modelling, using photoshop, watching films, playing games and maybe a bit of rendering. Both these machines are at the very peak of my budget!

OPTION 1:
Chassis & Display
Enigma III 540: 15.6" Glossy FHD LED (1920x1080) (Special Offer)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BD-5730S 6x BLURAY WRITER & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£79)

Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC, MS)

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

Bluetooth & Wireless
ENIGMA GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 3.0

USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

Battery
Enigma III Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,100/5,200 mAh)

Price: £765




OPTION 2:
Chassis & Display
Optimus II: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-2430M (2.40GHz) 3MB

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 2GB)

Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

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

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0

USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

Battery
Upgrade to 62.16WH 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (£39)

Price: £752


Which option would be better for me? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks
 
A

AndyL

Well-known member
The 1st machine will be much quicker at rendering and modelling due to the better processor, however the 2nd machine will be better at gaming due to the better GPU.
 
M

matget

Member
hmm, well I think that's why I'm haviong such a dilemna. Which build would be the most balanced then with fewest bottlenecks?

Also if that fails, what would people personally go for given a choice of these two themselves?
 
Frenchy

Frenchy

Prolific Poster
AndyL said:
The 1st machine will be much quicker at rendering and modelling due to the better processor, however the 2nd machine will be better at gaming due to the better GPU.
Click to expand...

I wouldnt agree with that tbh, while CPU power is a factor, GPU power is much more important while rendering.

I use dual Quadro 6000's on the same spec PC as my PC that has SLI GTX 580's, the performance difference is outstanding between the two builds, purely down to graphics cards. The time consuming bit of rendering is everything that is done by the graphics cards, i. computation of photons etc, even physics in animations is now being dealt with by the graphics cards.

I actually think the second build is a more solid build, although if you can up the ram to 8GB.
 
Frenchy

Frenchy

Prolific Poster
matget said:
What do you mean? My main non game software use will be 3DS Max, Unreal Development Kit and Photoshop
Click to expand...

Not sure about photoshop

Rendering programs though im pretty sure all render on graphics cards though, i think its pretty unheard of of any modern applications / renderers.

3Ds Max will use GPU so will UDK, I use both of these. UDK will profit more from a gaming card, i.e a GTX or 6xxx 7xxx series AMD, 3Ds Max would profit more from cards in the Nvidia Quadro series.

If you are planning to use both UDK and 3Ds Max then dont go for a Quadro card as your FPS in UDK will be terrible.
 
M

matget

Member
Frenchy said:
Not sure about photoshop

Rendering programs though im pretty sure all render on graphics cards though, i think its pretty unheard of of any modern applications / renderers.

3Ds Max will use GPU so will UDK, I use both of these. UDK will profit more from a gaming card, i.e a GTX or 6xxx 7xxx series AMD, 3Ds Max would profit more from cards in the Nvidia Quadro series.

If you are planning to use both UDK and 3Ds Max then dont go for a Quadro card as your FPS in UDK will be terrible.
Click to expand...

hmm ok. will a GT540M be sufficient for UDK and max?
 
M

matget

Member
Also something I need to ask, can I get away with lowering the processor on the first build from that i7 down to an i5-2430M to save money? Will I notice much of a difference for named software?
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Fair enough!!! Just that I could get you a perfect laptop for that. Sure you have to save the extra £28???just don't buy as many coffees, bike to work to save fuel prices or maybe ignore lunch for a couple of days to make up for the extra £28? Oh well, I am sure you will find a decent laptop that will suit you perfectly anyway!!! Best of luck!
 
M

matget

Member
Music Guy123 said:
Fair enough!!! Just that I could get you a perfect laptop for that. Sure you have to save the extra £28???just don't buy as many coffees, bike to work to save fuel prices or maybe ignore lunch for a couple of days to make up for the extra £28? Oh well, I am sure you will find a decent laptop that will suit you perfectly anyway!!! Best of luck!
Click to expand...

What would make it the perfect laptop? Upgrading the RAM on the second laptop?
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Well, I think this would be it:

Chassis & Display
Optimus II: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W Adaptor (GT 540M) / 120W Adaptor (GT 555M)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £793.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
M

matget

Member
That looks amazing, but I think I need to draw a line somewhere :( , this laptop was originally going to be £600 max!
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Improved the price slightly...the only thing I have done is cut the RAM, I have put 1 4GB stick which gives you the option of upgrading later if your system becomes slow due to a lack of RAM. The only problem with this is that 1 stick is slower than 2 x 2GB but it does give you the upgrade option.... Anyway if £776 is still too much, then maybe try dropping the thermal paste, will save you £9. But £776 is only £10 more than your original spec, think you could do it??? Here is the spec:

Chassis & Display
Optimus II: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W Adaptor (GT 540M) / 120W Adaptor (GT 555M)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £776.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
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