General question - Any Windows based computer recommendations with regards to VR?

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I apologize that this is more of a general question and not directly related to Cinder, however, given that it seems a fair number of Cinder folks are doing VR these days I thought it couldn’t hurt to ask here.

Looking to get into VR development in the new year and broaden my skill-set on the side to try and alleviate some of the monotony of my day-to-day job. Currently running an old Macbook (the last pro version w/ discrete GPU before the questionable new touchbar addition, I think it’s a AMD MX370)

I have a general sense of what I’d like to buy, but was hoping to hear from folks and see what you’re using, and see if there are any words of warning or wisdom I should be aware of. Nothing specific, just general things of note you might have experienced along the way.

Also, and I know this is super subjective but desktop or laptop? I’d like to be able to go mobile but I’m guessing heat is a concern with something more compact? If I were to go laptop, I’d be aiming for something close enough to the macbook’s size/weight.

Even if you’re not doing VR; if you happen to own a Windows computer of some sort, you’re input would be most appreciated as well! It’s been a long time since I’ve used Windows computers, much less paid much attention to specs.

Thanks for any input! :grinning:

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The only thing I’d like to say about hardware for VR, is that the GeForce 10 series cards have support for SMP, which is an efficient way to render the scenes for both eyes. The mobile version of those cards is not much slower than their desktop equivalents. Of course, you do need quite a beefy laptop to accomodate cards like that. Expect more weight and larger size than a MacBook. Personally, I’d choose performance over form factor any day.

-Paul

P.S.: AMD is likely to add similar functionality to their line up of GPU’s in 2017.

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Thanks for the tip Paul! SMP is something I hadn’t heard about in my initial research oddly enough but I’ll keep that in mind when looking at GPUs

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ThreeJS user AlteredQualia keeps a pretty up to date list with laptop recommendations for VR:
http://alteredqualia.com/texts/notebooks-vr/

And some tips for laptops with good graphics cards:
https://alteredqualia.com/texts/notebooks/

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