• switch
  • Karma Chameleon
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Topic: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

Just thought I'd ask outta curiosity.  Some of the people on tis here forum actually work in the industry and I was wondering which you do your work on.  I use a desktop at the office for editing myself.  I am wondering though if laptops are able to do any heavy lifting at all now...  I can see a day when laptops will be the big workhorse machines. 

I am curious partly because the mac pro may only get one more upgrade and then will go EOL.  I'm not sure on that, but that's the interwebs for ya.  Plus, desktop workstations are friggin expensive!  2500 bucks just for an entry-level mac pro?!  Now granted, I purchased one in 2008, but still...  And the PC side isn't much cheaper.  So the question is, are laptops capable of doing the heavy stuff in regards to CGI and high-end editorial? yikes

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  • Teague
  • Teague
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

I use my laptop PC for everything at home, and desktop PCs for probably 95% of my studio stuff.

My laptop is a Sony Vaio i7, and it can playback HD video smoothly most of the time, and is good for the CG stuff. That said, I'm about in the mood to upgrade (re-grade?) to a desktop PC at home again.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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  • paulou
  • paulou
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

Mac/Linux towers at work. Lots of cores, lots of ram.


2008 Macbook Pro at home. With quick external eSata drives I've been pleasantly surprised how well it has been holding up, especially for little production things. I've been comping this little promo for a friend's cycling crew the last couple weeks. Every shot is a vfx shot, ~70 secs long, lots of layers, HD, and Nuke has been mostly usable. A little crashy, but fine for this.

I'm not an expert in the tech and only follow it a little, but I think there's a future for stuff like GPU acceleration to be done through Thunderbolt accessories once it goes fiber optic, making laptops even more sensible production machines than they are now.

There's always work being done on the outskirts of what is technologically capable, like complex simulation, rendering work, Flame/Smoke boxes, but all that is available on Linux anyway.

To answer your question, you need to define "capable". This little promo is just me making something for a friend. If it was a real job with money and deadlines behind it, it wouldn't be an acceptable machine. You pay that premium on the high end desktop machines for the agility, and right now laptops are still incapable of that kind of performance.

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  • From: Seattle, WA
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

Laptops are ticking time bombs of fail.

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  • paulou
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

Gregory Harbin wrote:

noun idiom colloquialism

k

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  • Eddie
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

clap

Eddie Doty

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  • switch
  • Karma Chameleon
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

thanks guys!  Teague, what's your reasoning behind going for a desktop PC?  I'm curious about Brian and Eddie's answer since the two of them edit shows and stuff.

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  • Teague
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

Simply that I don't have a big enough reason to go with a Mac. *shrug* I'm used to PCs, and it still works for me - plus, most of the CG jobs are on PCs, so that platform environment is where I spend most of my time.

That said, DIF is recorded on Macs.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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  • switch
  • Karma Chameleon
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

I should have been clearer with my question.  I wasn't asking about your reasoning fro going pc over mac so much as desktop vs. laptop at home...

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  • From: Indiana, USA
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

I've used laptops for work almost exclusively for 15 years, but I work for ConHugeCo Technology Unlimited*, so we get high performance machines.

I've bought more modest laptops for home use exclusively for about 8 years, so they're easy to give away to a niece and nephew after a year when they're still useful.**

* Not its real name
** I AM THE AWESOME UNCLE

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Zarban's Website

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  • From: Norway
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

switch wrote:

I should have been clearer with my question.  I wasn't asking about your reasoning fro going pc over mac so much as desktop vs. laptop at home...


Personally, I'd always go with a desktop for home. At least when it comes to office-related tasks. I got a pretty decent system a couple of months back, and not only am I always sitting comfortably, without looking down on a monitor, my fingers are not restricted to a notebook keyboard, and I don't have to find space or a pad for my mouse all the time.

Not to mention the price. You can get a pretty solid desktop PC for $1000(ROUGH estimate), but a laptop in the same price range wouldn't be as good. It's bang for the buck.

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  • Registered: 2010-05-01
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

Desktop PCs, because I build and building a laptop is a massive pain in the ass and much more expensive.

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  • From: Seattle, WA
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Re: Laptop or Desktop? Which do you use for work the most?

I'll admit that laptops can be helpful…I'm using one right now to use some mobile Internet while I'm waiting for the Comcast guy to show up with my connection. But for actual work, a desktop is better, and something like an iPad or a Kindle Fire is better for mobile use. I don't know anyone with a laptop who didn't have it come up with some crippling problem within 18 months of purchase. Meanwhile, desktops last for years, let you easily expand to bigger monitors when you feel like, are easily upgradable, and, especially if you use a Mac, have great resale value. I sold my last Mini for 75% of my purchase price, a year after I bought it.

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