neonbulbs80 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Hi Everyone, I'm moving to other place soon and since I'm using desktop, I'm considering to buy a laptop to replace it for my houdini work. But I'm still quite worry about the stability of temperature for laptops since I'm going to use it a lot on rendering, lighting and comp. I'm not a mac user but recently I look at Mac Mini which is quite affordable and it basically a mini cpu version that I can bring everytime I move to different place without having to worry about shipping cost and extra baggage. My questions are, have any of you guys use Houdini 12 with Mac Mini before? The spec that I'm planning to buy is i7 Quad Core 2.3 + 8 GB RAM + 1 TB HD + Intel HD 4000 for graphics. My only worry would be on the Intel HD 4000, would Houdini able to run with it? Since I understand that I can't replace the graphic card with NVidia. So hopefully any of you guys can shed a light on this Cheers.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 For a causal use, small projects, sketch ideas, could be ok. But don't expect to handle large files, process a lot, or display wild... Regarding the intel HD4000 I tried houdini once on a macBookAir (previous gen but still intel graphics), It was slow, but it worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeiamyourfather Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 A Mac Mini won't be any better than a laptop because that's basically what a Mac Mini is (uses all mobile components). The difference though is you can't get a Mac Mini with workstation graphics or four memory slots. If you have no choice and need to get a small machine check out mobile workstations like the ThinkPad W530. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mangi Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) LAP TOP buy the extra garantee and burn the F@@K out of it. A CPU that is overheated only slows down. Don´t put it flat on the table, let air flow under it use 2 books or something. If you fry it let, the garantee cover the unit , DELL has that m amnd maybe even mac (care somehting) example http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m6700/pd 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM Processor (2.6GHz, 6M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) Windows 7 Professional, Media, 64-bit, English 17.3" UltraSharp™ FHD (1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare, Premium Panel Guarantee 8GB2 DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz 750GB 2.5" 7200rpm Hard Drive 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load NVIDIA® Quadro® K3000M with 2GB GDDR5 3 Year ProSupport with 3 Year NBD Limited Onsite Service After Remote Diagnosis 7.76 lbs MAngi Edited January 22, 2013 by mangi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neonbulbs80 Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 LAP TOP buy the extra garantee and burn the F@@K out of it. A CPU that is overheated only slows down. Don´t put it flat on the table, let air flow under it use 2 books or something. If you fry it let, the garantee cover the unit , DELL has that m amnd maybe even mac (care somehting) example http://www.dell.com/...cision-m6700/pd 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM Processor (2.6GHz, 6M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) Windows 7 Professional, Media, 64-bit, English 17.3" UltraSharp™ FHD (1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare, Premium Panel Guarantee 8GB2 DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz 750GB 2.5" 7200rpm Hard Drive 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load NVIDIA® Quadro® K3000M with 2GB GDDR5 3 Year ProSupport with 3 Year NBD Limited Onsite Service After Remote Diagnosis 7.76 lbs MAngi Hi Mangi, Thanks for the advice. It does look yummy indeed . I know that my friend also used Dell laptops and their warranty is good. Any damage within the warranty years can get a replacement right away. But precision seems way out of my budget , does XPS can do the job same as precision? It doesn't have to match it but at least it has some power to run Houdini for medium sized work. Luke : Thanks for the info. Looks great! That can be a good options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafaelfs Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 That Dell laptop is nice, but if you customize it a bit the price turns ridiculous! My version went above 4K in a few clicks and it wasn't even maxed out with the very best options... Plus, it's an 8lb laptop, which is not as mobile as you'd like, more like a laptop to keep at home! I think that aside from videocard on the macmini, you'd be fine. Asus also have a nice laptop for around $1100. I'll get you a link in a bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafaelfs Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Here it goes: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=7358182&sku=A50-11126%20CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neonbulbs80 Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 @rafaelfs : Thanks for the suggestion. Appreciate it. I ended up with late 2010 Macbook Pro with Core 2 Duo that I got from my sister since she's not using it. Quite OK, just need to render lower resolutions now . Other limitation would be with lower graphic card, Houdini Viewport can't show environment light's environment map. Cheers.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.