Hi im a student looking into buying a laptop to run 3ds max not only to work but also render on as well. i want it to last for the next few years until the end of my course. iv been doing research but im confused about the requirements of the GPU to get the full support from 3ds max. things like DirectX 9, DirectX 10, Shader Model 3.0 Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader 3.0 etc.

which GPU would be best?

also the OS 32bit or 64bit?

iv been looking at alienware and these are the two systems that are around the same price and are fully loaded however your professional advice would be very greatful.

M17
Dual 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870
Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM at 1067MHz
Vista Ultimate 64bit SP1

Area-51 m15x
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT or 512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 3600M
Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 2.8GHz
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz
Vista Ultimate 32bit or XP Professional SP3

wow, both amazing laptops! get the M17 if u can, Quad core and 4gb of DDR3 Ram. go for 64 bit, but just don’t run max in DX10, its not properly supported yet. don’t worry so much about the graphics card, all those listed are really good, modern card, would be nice if they were 1GB , but still 512mb is enough for working on a laptop.

3Ds Max 2012+Sp2 +SAP, Vray 2.2, Photoshop CS5.1
OS - Windows 7 Pro x64 Sp1
sys1: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 580 (3GB) (295.51), OCZ vertex 2 120GB SSD, Wacom Intuos 3
sys2: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 560 (1GB) (295.51), wacom bamboo

lol hmmm ... I do have a second opinion anyway it’s great to have a good graphics card for your viewport. However
due to the nature that a laptop it’s harder to work on if you have a small screen and it’s a pain mainpulating the ui
and model on the tiny screen. Would advice you add another 22” screen to make life easy when you work at home.

Sometime pointing device can hample down your working efficiency… make sure you get great pointing devices that
fit nicely with you. I would recommend a very basic 3 button mouse that is targeted at the general market not those super
expensive type.

My peers having worked a long time in this industry have found out that at the end of the day is knowing what sort of
project you did be working on and spending the right budget that is important. Ask yourself ... how complex will the projects
get. Can the workflow be tweeked so you don’t need high end machine so highend till it tip the scale of profitablilty… these are
questions a student ought to experience becos that’s the real world.

Lousy machine pushes your workflow and make you more creative and find new ways to work with your project. Whereas a
very sleak machine makes you lazy and not choose to understand the creative pipline design which will be critical in your
career as a successful 3d person.

Studio Max 2009 x64
X5000 Chipset | Dual Core Intel 5140 | 4G RAM | Nvidia FX3450 | WindowsXP 64

Thank you Companioncube for the reply and thanks victor.nsy for the advice. i was worried about running max on a laptop but you have set my mind at ease.
I have 22” monitor and a good mouse from my desktop which died on me a few weeks ago after getting me through 4 years of my architecture degree and as i dont live on campus, getting to the work stations can be very tricky as they are only open from 8 till 6. There is also a lot of travaling on my course so i decided for pratical resons, instead of drinking and being a typical student id spend my beer money on a laptop and concentrate on my studies for the next three years. (ill make up for it on graduation)

thats cool, just remember if your doing loads of rendering to keep it well cooled, a couple of my friends how destoyed their laptops within a couple of years by using their laptops for excessive rendering.

just curious, what architecture degree you doing? it in uk?

3Ds Max 2012+Sp2 +SAP, Vray 2.2, Photoshop CS5.1
OS - Windows 7 Pro x64 Sp1
sys1: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 580 (3GB) (295.51), OCZ vertex 2 120GB SSD, Wacom Intuos 3
sys2: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 560 (1GB) (295.51), wacom bamboo

yup keep your laptop cool while rendering add a fan unit while rendering for long hours.

Studio Max 2009 x64
X5000 Chipset | Dual Core Intel 5140 | 4G RAM | Nvidia FX3450 | WindowsXP 64