How to choose a Window laptop for 3d real time graphics

Using Cinder
1

Hi all!

I’d like to buy a windows Laptop to be able to work with real time 3D grapchis, open GL and shader with good performances, high resolution (up to 4k).

Looking around I’ve seen that there are two option:

Gaming laptop
Workstation laptop

Talking about NVIDIA, the first implement, GeForce series, the second implent Quadro series.

Someone can give some details and help about choosing the best option?

Thanks in advance.

Mantics

2

Looking around I’ve found this link:

http://alteredqualia.com/texts/notebooks/

It seems really interesting.

Anyone has any comments on it?

3

The advice in the link is pretty spot-on. I agree with all of it. Please also note what they say about 4K: avoid getting a combination of higher-end CPU and high-DPI 3K/4K screen. A 4K screen on a 17inch laptop is not worth it. You can still run 4K if you connect an external display if you really want to. But laptops still aren’t built for that many pixels, due to their cooling systems.

Another piece of advice would be to look at these laptops. While Dell and other well-known brands sell good quality machines, you still pay for design and name. Spend your money on better hardware instead. I bought one around two years ago and it has hardly ever let me down (apart from the NVIDIA Optimus stuff, which is horrible).

Finally: I would advice against the Quadro series, because it is designed for high memory bandwidth, not high shader performance. Quadro is a good choice if you want to drive 16 monitors from one machine, or display a 3D mesh containing millions of vertices. For gaming and real-time graphics, stick to the GeForce series. Also note that AMD is going to release their new GPU in Q2 of 2017. You might want to wait for that.

-Paul

4

Thanks for your advice,

I visited the web-site that you suggested and I asked them a setup that works well with OpenGL, shader and software like Cinder and Openframeworks,

They have suggested to me a configuration using:

  • VGA / GPU Graphics Options: 4GB GDDR5; NVIDIA Quadro M3000M (N16E-Q1); 1024 CUDA; OpenGL; MXM 3.0b; 28nm; 75W,
    Saying that Quadro are optimized for OpenGL.

  • Processor / CPU: Xeon E3-1270 v5; 4C/8T; 8MB L3; 3.6GHz; FCLGA1151; 14nm; 80W,
    Xeon for stability.

What do you think about that?

Thanks!

5

Disappointing.

Sounds to me like they don’t know what the [beep] Cinder is. As if they read “OpenGL” and automatically think you want a CAD workstation. See this link for a comparison between Quadro M3000M and an old GTX960M. Next, see what you’d get if you invest in a proper GPU.

The Xeon family of CPU’s is also geared more towards a workstation. It excels in multi-threaded, multi-core applications and has a larger L3 cache. Pretty cool, but is it worth choosing over a 4C/8T i5 or i7? I think I would choose the latter. Perhaps you should ask them about the benefits of a Xeon to decide if it is the better choice.

-Paul

P.S.: I assume you’d like to use your laptop for creative coding, with a focus on real-time, game-like graphics. I think it’s great that you ask advice here on the forums, so my apologies if I sound like a grumpy old man :slight_smile: By the way, this is what I think about when talking about OpenGL.

1 Like
6

Yes, I’ll use that PC for creative coding.
I’ll decide upon a GeForce with Intel i7.

Thankyou for all the infos!