BOXX Laptops

[Morne]

Just get a couple of these laptops:

https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/n...=so-lin-lt-798

[Vizioen]

Stop feeding the troll.

[super gnu]

i know you dont like the idea of waiting, but the current threadripper is the best performing cpu you can get for vray, but has some issues with memory intensive applications and performance can be patchy. the new version that is due out any month now seems to have adressed those issues and should be an absolute beast. i suggest, in this case, waiting is a good idea. get a new threadripper based workstation, and use your old one as a renderbox. forget laptops, too many compromises. and forget big brands like BOXX. you pay another 50% just for the name.

[glorybound]

Stop feeding the troll.

I am not sure what that means

[glorybound]

i know you dont like the idea of waiting, but the current threadripper is the best performing cpu you can get for vray, but has some issues with memory intensive applications and performance can be patchy. the new version that is due out any month now seems to have adressed those issues and should be an absolute beast. i suggest, in this case, waiting is a good idea. get a new threadripper based workstation, and use your old one as a renderbox. forget laptops, too many compromises. and forget big brands like BOXX. you pay another 50% just for the name.

I have about six months before this warranty is up, which is when I have to start getting serious about a replacement.

[super gnu]

I am not sure what that means

he means that since an overpriced laptop is not really a good solution to your issues, proposing a super overpriced laptop is trolling, as in, not constructively adding to the conversation but giving a humorous reply.. (id suggest "stop feeding the troll" wasnt the correct turn of phrase, but i got the meaning)

[super gnu]

I have about six months before this warranty is up, which is when I have to start getting serious about a replacement.

plenty of time, new threadripper will be out and we will know if its as good as expected, and/or horribly expensive.

[fixeighted]

"and forget big brands like BOXX. you pay another 50% just for the name.''

Yes....and don't forget about the cost of all those holes in the hideously expensive aluminium casing!

I think they look lovely personally, on a serious note, but the cost is so ridiculous and it just doesn't make sense when there are vastly cheaper
options available that strip all the plainly unimportant shiny fluff aesthetics ( they mostly sit under your desk, no?, with nobody to admire them ) and go for sheer power etc..
Then you can have another holiday!

If I was building a machine I would ask Muhammad on the Maya forum - he really seems to know his stuff (I'm sure loads here do too but he just exudes knowledge-based experience in building/testing pcs)

Just my 2 bytes

[dgruwier]

Do you need the portability of a laptop? It seems like most people in here assume you don't, but obviously if you do, all the suggestions of desktop machines and render nodes are moot. If you do need the portability, I can highly recommend ThinkPad. I've used laptops from them for close to a decade, and I've never had a single RMA or fault, despite rough handling. Their top spec P73 doesn't quite beat the BOXX you linked in CPU performance, but it looks to have a significantly beefier GPU and is $500 cheaper.

If you don't need portability, don't want to replace your workstation, and don't want more render nodes, I'd suggest a desktop PC specced similarly to the BOXX and a KVM switch and just use that like you're thinking you would use the laptop. Same performance, arguably better functionality, and much cheaper (especially if you're willing to build it yourself)

[glorybound]

I haven't looked at the ThinkPad, but I'll put it on my list. I was thinking of a laptop because I could have it on my side desk and my monitor supports up to seven inputs, so I could toggle over to it if needed. It would be a backup, for when my main workstation is rendering something out. Most of my stuff can render in an hour, so in that hour I can be doing some light modeling, creating textures, or photoshop work on it.

[fixeighted]

That seems like a better explanation of your needs I reckon - so you could still do an absolute load of that on something that doesn't cost the same as a car
Get a nice gaming laptop - good to go for Max/Pshop etc. and for the sneaky gaming sessions when you should be working
That's exactly what I was contemplating, as like you, if my main machine is busy I'm basically redundant.

[cheerioboy]

My vote is to just build another PC -- you say you don't want to manage the licences, but wouldn't getting a laptop be the same situation? Slowly add desktop machines to your office, and retire old ones. Once I get the funds, I'm considering building a single PC that how the power equivalent to the 5 smaller machines I build for my in-house farm. And then slowly add on to that if needed. I could see having a single core machine for working on, and then 1-2 massive CPU/GPU machines for processing.

I used to work on a macbook pro with bootcamp. It was terrible but I'd setup backburner on the laptop and have vray not use the local host cpu for renderings. So I could watch the rendering while working and let all the DR machines do the crunching. Something to think about.

Also with secondary PCs, you can setup remote desktop to log into them without needing extra monitors/keyboard setups.

[glorybound]

BINGO! Right now I have my iPad Pro, which I do my emailing and web browsing, which is the only thing it is good for. I had a 2019 MacBook Pro, but it wasn't much better for work than my iPad, so my wife inherited it. I start as many projects as I complete, so when one is on the ending color stages (main machine) I can be working on the next while in grayscale (laptop). I can also create colors and materials for the new project on the laptop. Once the new project graduates to landscape and final render it'll be moved to the main machine and then the cycle repeats. I would do grayscale and light color proofs on the laptop. I read about these monster laptops throttling when hot, so you would be wasting money. I think I read that an i7 runs the same is an i5 when under stress.

[dgruwier]

That has been the case on some recent MacBooks, less so with more sensibly proportioned and cooled machines, and even less so with those thick ones with large cooling fans like the one you linked, which is probably fine. But laptop CPUs and GPUs generally don't benchmark as much in extended use as they would in a proper desktop case (even a small one), since cooling is such a big limiting factor.

[dean_dmoo]

I really don't understand this discussion and why you are making it complicated. Just calculate how much downtime you have per day because of the renders on your WS. Multiply that by your hourly rate and multiply that by 5 years and then you have the max investment available to be cost neutral. Anything lower is profit / better use of your time.

Next step is decide whether your want to work mobile or not. From what I read that is not the case. So really you are left with the choice of building a new WS and using the old one as RN. Or continue using your WS and building a RN. Extra software is pretty irrelevant as either way you will need it.

You should really give network rendering a go, setup is really easy and gives you so much more time to continue working. I find it crazy with your work ethic/amount that you continue to handicap yourself because you "don't want to manage licenses'. The cost of RN licenses is minimal. 1 render at your rate and everything is paid for.