2013 - Laptop under 1000 € ?

[AcdNrg]

All,

I need to build a mobile setup for Ableton and Resolume, therefore want to buy a laptop in the next few weeks (APC-40 already ordered). If there is no killer reason to go for a Mac (better OSC support ?, inter application media data transfer ?), I´d like to buy something Windows based, since I have lots of experience in the windows world and none in the Apple world. Plus, I still think you get a better deal on windows based systems (was like this in the past). But that´s an educated guess, maybe I don´t have all the facts.

So what do you think of this one, which is about 850 € in January 2013:

Acer Aspire V3-771G-736b8G75Maii

Intel Core i7-3630QM, 4x 2.40GHz
RAM: 8GB
HDD 750GB (will add a SSD and use this one as storage)
DVD+/-RW DL
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 2GB, HDMI
Display: 17.3" WUXGA non-glare LED TFT (1920x1080)

2x USB 3.0
2x USB 2.0
Gb LAN
Wireless: WLAN 802.11bgn
Bluetooth 4.0
Card reader: 5in1

From the specs, this seems to be fine, unless someone knows of something show-stopping with that box. The GPU seems pretty usable, quadcore should allow ableton and resolume to run in parallel... anything I´m missing ?

I just wonder if there is some groundbreaking difference between win and apple that makes you pay the extra money. I´m just starting from scratch, so could go any road - it´s just all my other boxes, in the studio and home, are windows based. With decent peripherals like RME cards I had no reason to complain so far, but have not worked with a Mac in comparison, so maybe I´m missing something .


Cheers,

Oliver

[philmcrackin]

Edit: I was an idiot about the whole integrated graphics card thing, apparently I never really had a problem at all.

Anyway the killer reason to get a Mac is for Quartz Composer, if you don't want to use that, no real reason to get a Mac IMHO. I know some people might say oh macs are more stable, this might be true since Resolume is designed on MacBook Pros but on a clean install of Windows 7 it should be just as stable. If you had a partition with just Resolume and Ableton installed that's the best since you can leave out a virus scanner which will give you better performance.

If you want to do anything serious with video, like really make people trip balls and go nuts with effects just build a Desktop PC that will shit all over any PC laptop or MacBook for less money, Use the extra money you saved to buy a Blackmagic PCI capture card. It's not that much more difficult to lug around a PC versus a laptop, tons of bands haul more gear that's heavier and larger than a desktop PC + LCD Monitor. With an SSD installed a Desktop will boot in 30 seconds so it's not that different from having a laptop that comes out of sleep. You could even run a Desktop off a UPS so your computer doesn't shut off if it loses power.

[AcdNrg]

Thanks for the detailed reply, since I don´t plan to work with Quartz as of now and give my history, I´m likely to end up with a Windows based system. Basically, I´m going to travel a lot - job related - in the next time, so I want to have a system that allows me have recreational time in the evenings. Guess it´s much better fiddling around with ableton and resolume than watching TV . Some gaming will happen, too. So mobility is less about what I bring to a gig or party, I need more like a system I can bring with me to get some good use during business travel.

But your experiences with the not-really-working-switchover starts to make me scratch my head.... I know from early PC times that you could for example force the BIOS to use either PCI or AGP based display cards, so I wonder if on the new laptops you can maybe switch the integrated display chip off completely. Not the wise thing to do power wise, but I´m not running from battery anyway, even in the trains there are power outlets these days.

My current idea is to get a box with an ATI Radeon HD7970m, which gives game performance similar to a nvidia GTX 680m, but is 300 bucks less - and according to what I got from the resolume team (thanks for the fast and accurate reply, thumbs up !), CUDA is not used at all by resolume. Once I get the system in my hands, I will report here about how disabling the integrated display chip performs.

[philmcrackin]

Edit: I was an idiot about the whole integrated graphics thing, I don't want to be giving anybody incorrect information so i'm editing this post.

[AcdNrg]

Well, I only googled back and forth and there may be options, keeping my fingers crossed that this solves your issue. OTOH, I now have heard there is at least two weeks delay until my system gets delivered, so I will now do more research on that "integrated GPU" topic. Seems to be an issue with some machines....

I found this quite interesting, the old "install form scratch"

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/368 ... vidia-card

[AcdNrg]

Update,

I read tons of forum posts in the last days and I´m getting rather uncomfortable with the whole optimus/enduro topic.

It seems that all combinations with Sandy Bridge have issues and that there really is no easy way out. Either drivers are fixed or you are stuck with what you got. Even deactivating the integrated gpu does not seem to work as there is no valid option to do so : The nvidia/amd is sending all frames thru the integrated gpu, so you can´t disable it :/.

Ok, resolume performance may not directly suffer from that, but who isn´t likely to do some 3D work on the same box for content creation ? Personally, I will also have a 2nd boot partition for gaming, sooo..... what I ended up with was looking for a notebook that DOES NOT HAVE OPTIMUS support. The only other option I´m aware of is some Alienware boxes, but they are near Apples from a price point of view.

Voila, enter the Clevo P370EM, which is available from resellers under a few different names. I ordered one from Schenker, they label it their P722. Test results look good and since this is made to actually hold two addon gpus, the integrated i4000 gpu is completely disabled and disconnected, even if you only put in a single card. no optimus, no enduro, no cry. OK, this will eat up some more battery, but that´s not an issue, otherwise I would go netbook .

Unfortunately, this is NOT under 1000€, more like around 1500€ which is getting pretty close to Macworld. But given my history I decided to stay clear of Apples (and I may regret that ).

Phil, I understand this does not solve your problem, obviously, sorry to be of not much help. You could nag the vendor to get them writing a profile for resolume or maybe there are already some howtos to create your own profile. OTOH, I´m not even sure if resolume actually makes use of any of the 3D operations available on nvidia. OK, 3D positioning of clips, but no CUDA to my knowledge.

If anything else fails, you may sell your current machine and get something that works better. Maybe an apple, maybe a Clevo - but wait for my review, which I will post with a focus on resolume in this forum.