How is Maya on these laptops?

Hey guys, I have been reading the forums for quite a while now and I can't seem to take my eyes off one of the Sager laptops.

Does anyone here use Maya? And how does it run?

I expect there shouldn't be any problems but I'd like to make sure before I make the purchase.

Thank you!

 

Which model were you looking at? Judging by the required specs on the maya site

Autodesk - Autodesk Maya - System Requirements

You should be fine with any of the base model laptops with 4-8GB RAM and the base specs otherwise. Faster video cards like the 485m or 580m will obviously improve the performance though.

For example, notebookcheck has benchmarks for Maya on the 485m (scroll down to the 'SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080" heading and click the comparison table icon). You can see how it does versus other mobile GPU's

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

The graphs are a bit confusing to me. I checked out the notebookcheck link and it says that the 560M can outperform the 485M by 3%. Yes, it's only a few percentages but then I looked at the 560M's review and the 485M seems to perform better than the 560M.

I haven't decided on a graphics card yet and which card I get will determine which model I decide to buy (P151HM1 or the P150HM).

On a side note. I am glad to get a response from you as I have decided to purchase from Malibal.

 

I can't tell you what to buy. What I can tell you is that the 485m and 580m are gaming cards and thus they are optimised for gaming. Also their drivers are not optimised or certified for CAD/Modelling/Rendering applications.

If you can afford it consider buying a business laptop with a professional graphics cards; a laptop with a Quadro NVS or a Quadro FX GPU (nVidia side), or FireGL (AMD/ATi side).

 

You might want to look in to business class video card ? above are gaming card for more FPS stuff then 3D. It will run 3D but not as good as those business class GPU
Correct me if I am wrong
Sorry 4 my bad english.

 

Ah yes, I do know that workstation cards will easily beat consumer cards when it comes to working with 3D programs and such but I was told that Maya will run almost equally well in either type of card.

I guess I forgot to mention that I would also like to catch up on some games and I keep reading workstation cards are not for gaming.

Thanks for the replies! Going to research a bit more.

 

Unless you intend to do some really complicted CAD work i'd go with consumer chips and save yourself allot of money. Check this link for workstation chips and their 3Dmark games performance:

Mobile Graphic Cards for Professional Users (Quadro, FireGL) - Notebookcheck.net Tech

You can also find out the 3D performance of consumer gpu's by using the url below and clicking on a specfic chip. In each chip review about half way down you should find a benchmark score, usually for Cinebench but should give you an idea.

Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Hope this helps

 

I haven't used maya for a long time. Since maya belongs to autodesk I can only assume it shares some of it components with 3D max. Max support both Direct3D and OpenGL. I should assume that it is the same for Maya.

Gaming cards have the edge in Direct 3D while business cards have the edge in OpenGL. That said I think that 3D appilations are faster when using OpenGL, and thus faster with business graphics cards.

If you're a student and you're using maya or else for you're course work, than you can go with any laptop you like. I've used 3D Max with an integrated intel card for years . The main problem is that modeling and rendering requires more time than with a workstation . I don't mind the extra time since I don't make any money from the models and the rendering I make. As for AutoCAD and Phoshop even 3-4 years laptop is powerfull enough to handle them... so

 

Hi everyone. I've been reading a lot about the m17x r3... I actually have a tx2532la but it's really old for my needs. I have the same question that mjun has. I'm a industrial designer student... my actual specs are:
rm-70 turion x2, 64 bits, 2 ghz
4 gb ram
ati radeon hd 3200
I must say that adobe apss works fine... photoshop, illustrator, indesign, etc... each of them take about 30 sec. to load. I use google sketchup too and works fine... except when the 3d model is complex (for example, a car) or when the models are over 30 mb (a building)... rhino 4 and 3ds max (2010) is the same.
Alias automotive only works about 15 min... and then crashes... it's just too much for my notebook.
I render using v-ray for sketchup and keyshot 2.3 for the other programs via iges and the only problem is the overheat... if I use a cooling system, a nice render is done "fast", because as you know, the render time is up to the cpu and not the gpu.
Well... I want a notebook that works fine with 3d programs and gaming too. I read somewhere that nvidia gtx 580m is a good option as it has cuda... but is really expensive... and the ati has worked fine... i'm thinking to get the 6990m. what do you think? anyway i'm waiting for real benchmarks for both gpus...
and by the way... I want the 2820qm for the m17x r3 to do faster renders...

 

I forgot something... I discarded the m18x because I read that 3d programs do not support dual gpus... I had not finded actual info... is this correct? If I'm wrong please let me know...

 

Would the upgraded CPU really help rendering that much? I ask because I'd like to know. And maybe you can add an SSD to help with overall speed.

I know that Maya will work much better with dual GPUs, can't say about other programs though.

 

I read a lot about the cpus... if you will use only for gaming, then go for the 2720qm, is the best choice you can make between the 2630qm and the 2820qm... the difference in clock speed between the 2630 and the 2720 is "big" and they are 6 mb cache... but if you will do renderes, then go for the 2820qm... it is 8 mb cache... the difference in clock speed in front of the 2720 is only .1 mhz, but the cache will help to do faster renders (obviously with rams at 1333 or higher)... in gaming, 2820 is useless... that's what I read.

 

Besides, the 2620qm only supports rams at 1333 or lower... the 2720qm and 2820qm supports up to 1866mhz

 

Aw man, you are making me doubt my decision on my next laptop lol.

 

Oops? I'm sorry... look, if you can pay for the 2820qm, go for it, if you don't have the money, don't worry, go for the 2720qm, the difference is not huge...

 

No no not your fault at all. In fact, I want to thank you for sharing all that info! At the moment I can only afford the GTX 485M or the upgraded CPU. Hmmm...better GPU means bigger models right?

I would love to just get the 560M but I have no idea how it runs heavy Maya files.

Thanks again for everything!

 

A few maya rendering benchmarks i found:

485M
SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080
min: 6.99 avg: 7 (15%) max: 6.99 fps

560M
SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080
min: 6.47 avg: 6.8 (15%) max: 7.18 fps

Not much difference there, i would suggest the cpu upgrade. Or if you can afford it go with a Quadro, as the OpenGL cards are really made for things like Maya.

Quadro 5000M
SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080
min: 43.9 avg: 44.6 (98%) max: 45.2 fps

 

mjun, I found this page, so you can compare yourself
Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - Notebookcheck.net Tech

that's right zep, but that's to manage the program itself, that's about the gpu, but when you render (i mean, do a estatic realistic image of the 3d model), is about the cpu, and of course, to manage the program, the quadros destroy non proffessional gpus by far...
The question between mjun and me is that both are looking for a gpu that can handle 3d programs and gaming too... I know, it's not possible to compare gaming and 3d programs, but that's what I said before, I manage some old games and 3d programs with a hd radeon 3200 and a amd turion x2 2.0 ghz... do you undesrstand my point? the radeon and the turion x2 are relly old in front of a 2720qm and a 580m or 6990m and I guess I won't have any problem running 3d programs and gaming, but I'm asking to be sure