Lead Animator needs new notebook asked for advise

Hardware Hub Laptops & Netbooks
1

Hey team,
I postet my threadripper workstation built here,
Have no clue about notebooks.
A friend reached out to me for advise on a new laptop.
He works as a Lead in Animation.

So as far as i can tell - he needs:

-use a bit 3d tools(Maya) to look/check into scenes
-some premiere cut maybe
-most zoom and organising tools to meet with team, plan schedules and such stuff.
-camera
-big screen to evaluate shots

I asked for more info tho.
He’s definetly more away from heavy 3d stuff vs fe my work.

I don’t know what CPUs, makes or gpus to look for. Not very familiar with notebooks at all.

2

Nvidia got the discrete GPU market cornered, however the 4090 mobile is “only” about as powerful as a 4070 Super, give or take a few percentage points.

There are basically three routes to go here, depending on how heavy the workload has to be and how long the laptop is intended to be used:

  1. Powerful laptop, Not the most enticing, as the laptops are dwarfed by what you can do in a PC and nothing will replace a proper workstation with multiple screens. That said, if your friend is travelling around a lot, this is the way to go.

    I recommend having a friendly chat with Puget Systems sales reps, they really know their stuff here.

  1. eGPU with a modest laptop. Buy a Ryzen 8xxx highend system with integrated graphics for $1.5k and go the eGPU route. Better if you have a coworker that travels between locations and dock in to do the “real work”.

  2. The compute box. Have the coworker buy a midrange laptop that allows for some minor edits, and offload renders et cetera onto a big compute box on the office desktop.

1 Like
3

Thank you for the reply.
I have to add that for more serious stuff he logs in per remote to his company workstation.
This laptop is more like a second device where he cuts some stuff. Tests unreal a bit.
Battery and display seems no priority he told me.

4

Suggestion: A “normal sized” laptop with a color-accurate-ish screen maybe and a GPU-dock to provide horsepower when needed (For example: Dell Precision 5480)

Taking all the performance with you will result in a 6 pound slab (examples: Lenovo Thinkpad P15 Gen2, Eurocom ARX315)

Two notes:

  • Check if whatever you pick can be upgraded manually to 64Gig, all manufacturers I deal with overcharge boatloads for some RAM.

  • Two USB4 or Thunderbolt ports on the machine. That way you can have a dockingstation and GPU-enclosure hooked up, should the need arise for either.