Notebook recommend. 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, AE, (mostly 3ds max)

[kerosene350]

I am looking to buy a notebook so I can take part of my work with me on the road. Below my answers per the FAQ



1. What is your budget?
USD $1000-1500

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15+ screen I will also probably get a 24"/1920x1200 screen to my "other location" so screen space is not THAT crucial

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Decent, haven't had notebook in a while, I assume 1600+

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
ability too wok in a bus or similar would be nice but more looking for desktop replacement, ultra portability not crucial

5. How much battery life do you need?
See above, not that crucial. Reliable few h is enough

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
no games, work only

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
3D studio max is my main tool and I do work with some pretty heavy scenes, not motion graphics but full large scale all CG sets. Other than that Photoshop occasionally premier or AE, but not crucial

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
not that relevant My current desktop machine has SSD system drive and I love it though.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

its in Finnish bu this is one (on the upper end) Samsung NP700G7C 17.3"/Intel Core i7-3610QM/16 GB/2 x 750 GB/GTX 675M/Blu-ray/Windows 7 Home Premium
http/www.verkkokauppa.com/fi/product/23436/dgjsv/Samsung-NP700G7C-17-3-Intel-Core-i7-3610QM-16-GB-2-x-750
same in amazon:
http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006MX0WHU/

Samsung 7 series used to have OpenGL issues but I think that the newer ones have different graphics chipset.
--

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
--

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
just basic, Bluray read would be nice but not important

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I live in Finland and many smaller US brands (alienware etc.) are not available here Thus the big ones: Samsung, Lenovo, Hitachi, Dell etc. are more appealing brands for support. I don't have great experience with Asus right now for another product so hesitant to give them more money now.

13. What country do you live in?
Finland

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I will really appreciate any help / tips

 

[kerosene350]

Lenovo ThinkPad W530

Another candidate that is available for me locally:
http/www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-W530-2-60-3-60GHz-i7-3720QM/dp/B008UAH2RQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1350548476&sr=1-1&keywords=Lenovo+ThinkPad+W530

 

[kerosene350]

Nobody has anything to say?

Am I the only 3ds max freelancer with laptop dreams?


I guess I'll go with the lenovo.

 

[kerosene350]

I bought the lenovo. I had some drama getting some custom plugin and tools working right, also dropbox stopped working and refused to re-install. I had to do a full reinstall of windows which is not my idea of fun and quite a time waste when I would rather be working on something I get paid for.

That being said now I am very happy with the laptop. Lenovo drivers are easy to find and I have installed sort of minimal setup so everything is pretty lean. 3d performance is ok, sucks compared to a desktop with dual 24"s. 4gigs is also getting to be low for me but memory is cheap.

My 2 product design buddies have the older version of the machine and they are quite happy too. I have no comparison to other higher end laptops myself but I am quite content now that the Windows side of things got solved (win 7 pro btw.)