Justin Needs A Laptop For College

Every day I received a gazillion emails and while my extremely busy (not) schedule only gives me a few seconds of spare time I have taken a look at Mr. Justin's email and prepared a 'proper" response.

Justin's question hi, i am going to college soon, and i wanted to know what laptop would be best for 3dsmax, zbrush, and maya. I found the dell xps 15 with optimus graphics and the Nvidia GT540M 2GB, i7 processor. But I am not sure if it will do the job.Will it run these programms or will it crash or even freeze. I already researched and a few people had problems with this nvidia card and that the programs would always lag etc... My budget is around 1400-1500 euros. What would u recommend? Thank You Justin G.

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My reply Justin, The life of the college man is complicated. There has to be a balance of powerful specs without looking too "nerdy". As such my recommendation is the Apple Macbook Pro. hahaha I think you are on the right path of discovering the laptop. One of the laptops that I saw that has impressed me is the latest HP Envy line. The Envy do look very sleek, have good specs, and may catch the attention of girls. (the last one being the most important). Currently the second generation Core i CPUs (Sandybridge) have done an excellent job. Keep in mind that less than half a year we can expect Intel to release it's new Ivybridge line of CPUs. So buying a system right now that can do the things you want is the most important thing. I have used those intensive 3D programs before and know that you need good specs. The specs that you may want to seek are found in systems such as: iBuyPower, Malibal, Dell's Alienware, Falcon Northwest, Asus G series. Of course these systems are a bit heavier than the sleeker looking systems. With a bit of protein in your diet you may grow Arnold sized muscles and attract ladies with minimal verbal skills. Do keep in mind that the heaviness of the laptop may have completely unnatural consequences such as "sweat" (oh my gosh!). A good iron free anti-perspirant and a change of shirts may help here. You could also look at the more business oriented laptops and seek "ISV" certified systems. These are usually considered "workstations" and usually are more reliable. Gaming systems have a tendency to race for performance but fall down on stability. The Dell XPS series is the equivalent of HP's Envy line. So maybe they are good enough for the things you need to get done. I do recommend "googling" the specific version of laptop you want and find information of how the system handles the programs you need to run. Before tossing your money on a laptop make sure you toss less money by researching deals and coupons. One of my favorite websites is logicbuy.com. I'm not sure if it works in the UK, but I'm sure there are popular Brit coupon sites. At the end of the day you will figure out the right system within your budget. Jesse B Andersen Master of the Universe. Now obey!