[starbug]

As the title says i am looking to buy a laptop and need some advice, I am currently studying at Carlisle uni, the course i am doing is the Art of Games Design. That covers everything from concept, modelling, texturing etc.  My desktop machine handles that all fine, 3ds max 2011, zbrush, photoshop. The thing is a am moving house closer to the uni as i stay 45 miles away from campus, its starting to take its toll traveling, so i am moving into a student flat and i don't want to take my desktop machine, also for the fact transporting it on public transport will be difficult and my room is small so i am going to get a laptop. Problem is i don't know much about laptops and i also have a budget of £600-£700. I would ask at my local UK PCWORLD/CURRYS but i know for a fact the staff in my will lie through there teeth to sell my anything and most likely not do what i want so i am asking you guys for help on this.

This is what i need my laptop to do.  As i said i have a budget of around 600-700 pounds

Run 3DS max 2011, Zbrush, Photoshop smoothly
Run Crysis 2(well thats optional LOL  )
Thats about it. So can anyone here give me any advice on what to go for (Most likely not  Alienware as they are really expensive!), as my knowledge of laptops sucks eggs ?

[Hades]

If you can run Crysis 1 at medium or high settings you can run Crysis 2 at its highest easily, it has far better performance.

[starbug]

Ok cool, but what spec of laptop should i go for the modelling programs, or really is it just the same as desktops? Also my main concern is graphics, i know of laptops have onboard graphics.

[Hades]

Modeling, depending on your program, usually doesn't require much to run decently, except for rendering. General modeling can easily be done in intelgrated laptops.

[starbug]

The programs i am using at uni and have bought are 3ds studio max 2011 and zbrush

[JGZinv]

Go look at notebookreview.com forums - in the "what laptop should I buy" section. They will have
country specific suggestions.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/

There was a thread similar to this not long ago here, search a bit within the last 30 days of posts.

Asus units are great for the build, guts, and price overall.

Don't buy anything that runs on integrated graphics, such as Intel Integrated. Nvidia and ATI have their
own line of integrated and hybrid (has integrated for low power and a dedicated chipset for higher performance)
chipsets now as well. The hybrid are not too bad, but I'd still stay away from integrated only. It just has no ability to
be upgraded and lacks any real power.

Yes you can run Max on Integrated... you can run a lot of "one thing" on integrated. My major beef with it though
is that you typically get less driver support, again, far less capability than a dedicated card, and no potential to upgrade
which could extend the life of the laptop.

[Nuke]

i dont know, my asus laptop burned out 2 years after i bought it. i mean the computer was treated well and is in pristine physical condition, but one day it was just dead. and about a month after the warranty expired. i must also add that they never supported any other operating system other than vista. frankly it sucks, leaving me with an old, heavily abused 8 year old hp laptop with missing keys, a dead battery and a 2gb flash chip for a hard drive that i inherited from some inlaws.

[JGZinv]

..and how long ago was it bought? Did you keep up with the BIOS updates?
About 4-5 years ago Asus had a short period of heat issues when they went from the
single/dual cores into the quads, and they were inventing new cooling systems pretty
much at every revision trying to contain the heat. The gaming community got pretty uptight about
it and it boiled down to drivers and BIOS updates to fix most of the issues. Since then there's been
very little to complain about. Asus mobos are still considered some of the best.

About the only things comparable would be the Sager/Clevo units, and you can add extra thousands
of US dollars on the starting price tag, for what really is a lot of the same components.

[starbug]

Cheers JGZinv i will check out that website

[Nuke]

..and how long ago was it bought? Did you keep up with the BIOS updates?
About 4-5 years ago Asus had a short period of heat issues when they went from the
single/dual cores into the quads, and they were inventing new cooling systems pretty
much at every revision trying to contain the heat. The gaming community got pretty uptight about
it and it boiled down to drivers and BIOS updates to fix most of the issues. Since then there's been
very little to complain about. Asus mobos are still considered some of the best.

About the only things comparable would be the Sager/Clevo units, and you can add extra thousands
of US dollars on the starting price tag, for what really is a lot of the same components.

i was using the most recent bios, and drivers.

i would also argue that asus mobos are not all they are cracked up to be. ive had 3 of them die on me. in fact the only asus product i have that still works is a usb wifi stick that i hardly never use.

i had a clevo back in 2002-ish. badass little machine, weighed a ton, massive, and reliable for the most part. that is until your mother spills a coke in it.

[IceFire]

I have an Asus U30Jc that I absolutely love. It does Photoshop on the go, plays StarCraft II, has a hybrid graphics system so it's either powerful or energy efficient (one is Intel GMA and the other is a nVidia). Average battery time is about 6.5 hours although if you play it really conservatively you can make it last longer. It may last up to 3-4 hours gaming before it runs out. It's a 13.3in which means it's relatively portable and isn't a giant thing.

Very pleased with it. I know it's been replaced by an even faster and lighter model...

So maybe it fits the bill for what you're looking for. Have a glance at it anyways.

[JGZinv]

In the interest of full disclosure...

Currently use a Asus G50vt-x5, previously owned a Sager/Clevo NP5797. Also used a D901C, two Dells laptops, a Compaq,
and an HP. More recently I've had a pair of different Asus desktop mobos in the C2D and Core i3/5/7 variety. Various brand
desktops previous to that.

[Wobble73]

One thing I like about the newer Asus laptops are the cooling pads, an area next to touchpad that actually cools your palm!