Kreme_04 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Hi all Can someone please enlighten me on what would be the ultimate (or perhaps the minimum) specs for a laptop to run Chief on? There is so much conflicting information out there that I thought it best to ask those who really know. I need to replace my desktop and thought a laptop might be the way to go (as long as I can run at least two screens off it!) Thanks for that Baz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Search here for laptops, there is a lot of discussion about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 My advice: Get an 17" ASUS G74X Series with 12 GB Ram, NVidea Graphics Card with 3GB Ram and a minimum 2.4 GHZ quad core processor. You should be able to find one (new) for about $1200.00 It's big and fairly heavy but it's a Gaming Machine with adequate cooling and it'll run Chief just about as well as a Desktop machine of the same price. You can hook up a couple of extra monitors (VGA, HDMI & ????) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbuttery Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Nvidia gaming card with a minimum of 1 GB of video ram an i7 or equivalent CPU a minimum of 8 GB of ram 17" screen minimum brand - roll the dice take a choice - any name brand look at reviews on Amazon and any with 100+ reviews and 4 - 5 stars they all have negative reviews if you go by that you won't be able to buy anything Lew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy1 Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 I just purchased this from HP's website. I did get a custom build. I also saved some money (30%) by getting a coupon discount which is added in the check out. I'm pretty happy with it so far. This laptop also runs a lot cooler than my previous one. See my specs below and compare it with others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkMc Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 I only use laptops. Since I travel with it extensively (and I'm a runt) I prefer 15's to 17's. I think that it is a little less overhead on the video card? at least there are fewer options out there with bigger vid cards for 15's. In the studio I run one or two extra monitors- a Dell IPS24, a Samsung 18, and a Toshiba 14 displaylink (usb connected) that I take to meetings. Hope to replace the 14 with a 15 soon. Both listed in my signature work fine- the Sager is much faster than the Dell. Sagers are the same chassis as Joe's beloved Asus. The Sager was 2k. Since I just do interiors that may matter-but I do a fair amount of new construction and often drawing the entire house- though don't mess with much with the roof and no terrain. My files run between 7 and 14 MB and top out at 20-25. I'm indiscriminate about what is running, usually have at least two plans, a layout, 3 elevations, 2 perspectives- minimum and several other programs running. The most I'm likely to run is 4 plans, layout, 6 elevations, 3 perspectives; Turbocad, 2020, Bluebeam(4 tabs), Firefox (8 tabs), open office, intellect, a photo program (usually XnView) Directory Opus, and an explorer window or two- with one external monitor off the V card and one off the USB. I might shut something down if doing much in 2020-it's badly behaved. I looked recently looked into replacing the Dell for my other designer, went over to XoticPC. They carry a number of brands of the gaming machines (MSI, Asus, Alienware,Sager ..), Many with good customization. After checking them all it still looked like a Sager for my needs- bottom end for me was about $1500. Since I've come to believe in buying as much machine as I can afford I'm likely wait until I could go 2k again. Unless we get desperate AND I find something adequate for a grand. I've not needed support but understand that Sager is not really great and that Xotic is actually better for support. The comparable Asus machines were pricier, had fewer ports that I need and use the same chassis and case. I know nothing about the support from Asus though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kreme_04 Posted May 25, 2014 Author Share Posted May 25, 2014 THanks guys - Here in New Zealand, we don't have some of the brands mentioned but most of the other are here so I'll do a bit of comparing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now