Expert: Andre Hickman - 4/19/2008

Question
QUESTION: greetings.
i would like to ask if 3dmax 9 would be advisable to be run by laptop computers..??
i've been using 3dmax for quite some time now but then im thinking of having a laptop right now. would laptop be okey for 3d rendering with not to high resolution having global illumination an just a bit of final gather, ranging from residential to commercial building..??
im thinking of buying ACEr aspire as4520g-552g16mi notebook. an AMD62bit processor with 2gigs memory...
i would greatly need your advise just before buying one. your suggestion with regards to the matter is highly welcome.
thanks, GOD BLESS..


ANSWER: Hey Christian,

I think that would be absolutely fine.  Your processing power and memory are the main things you need to be concerned about.  A lot of people think that the video card effects the rendering, but it really only effects the real-time editing.  

I am running Max on a P4 2.8 ghz processor, with only 1 gig of memory on one of my machines.  I have even run Max version 6 on a P3 1.0 ghz processor with 786mb of ram.  The only downfall really is the time it takes to render. I'm not sure what the specs are on your desktop machine, but the program will work fine, relative to memory and processor speed.

Dual core processors will allow the processing flow to be smoother, because Max can utilize one pipe, and other windows functions and software can utilize the other.  Make sure that you get a laptop with a screen size and resolution that is suitable for your needs as a designer.  I personally use a dual monitor system, and actually plan to go to quad...A laptop would be great for me to do some work on the road, but with all of the windows that I keep open, and surfing the web at the same time, it probably wouldn't work for me on a regular basis, not because of the processing power, but because of the limited screen size.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Andre'

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks for the shared knowledge andre.
one thing, using 3dmax in a laptop surely generates greater heat than using other software like microsoft office...
is there any limit with regards to time in using 3dmax aplication, like 3hours of using 3dmax then 30 minutesd break...??

Answer
I wouldn't worry about stuff like that...If the computer has the specs to run the software, then it should be able to do just that, without you worrying about hardware overloads.  As long as you are running the laptop on a surface proper for adequate ventilation, you should be fine.  

If you are concerned about heat issues, they actually have cooling pads for laptops that are supposed to aid in dispersing heat.  Here are a few links:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=355998

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=18797

http://www.hardwarecooling.com/default.php/cPath/33

Cheers,
Andre