Is the Quadro necessary?

[Anoesis]

I will be attending school in July and they offer a laptop program, with discounts on laptop with recommended configurations for the your major. I'm taking the BFA in computer animation and one of requirements says 512mb of dedicated graphics card (avoid ATI, intel, or Nvidia GForce series cards) The software we will be using will be Maya, motion builder, among others. I picked the midrange config from the hardware provider through the school. It shows the retail price and then the student price.

Is this a good deal? And is the Quadro FX 2700M necessary? I would like to get save as much money as I can. Is there any other manufacturer other than dell and hp that have these configs?

HP EliteBook 8730w – Animation II
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
• MS Windows 7 Logo Label
• Intel® Quad Extreme Processor QX9300
• Intel® CoreT2 Extreme Label
• Centrino vPro Processor Technology NOT Supported
• Estar Label
• 17-inch diagonal WUXGA (1920x1200)
• Integrated Camera
• NVIDIA Quadro FX 2700M 48-core CUDA parallel computing processor 512MB (dedicated)
• 4096MB (800-MHz, DDR2, 1DIMM)
• 320-GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
• DVD+/-RW SuperMulti with Double Layer LightScribe Drive
• Full- sized keyboard with numeric keypad and dual pointing devices
• Intel 802.11a/b/g/draft n I3 (non IAMT/vPro)
• HP Integrated Module with Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
• 56K v.92 high speed modem
• HW Kit 150W
• 8-cell (73 WHr) Lithium-Ion battery
• Limited 3 year standard parts and labor warranty, onsite service (3/3/3)
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional Restore Media
• Genuine Windows 7 professional 64 OS Restore Media
• 9x5 NBD On-Site Coverage for Notebooks with Accidental Damage Protection Service, 3 years

List Price: $4,149.00

Total: $2799.00

 

[tybert7]

I will be attending school in July and they offer a laptop program, with discounts on laptop with recommended configurations for the your major. I'm taking the BFA in computer animation and one of requirements says 512mb of dedicated graphics card (avoid ATI, intel, or Nvidia GForce series cards) The software we will be using will be Maya, motion builder, among others. I picked the midrange config from the hardware provider through the school. It shows the retail price and then the student price.

Is this a good deal? And is the Quadro FX 2700M necessary? I would like to get save as much money as I can. Is there any other manufacturer other than dell and hp that have these configs?

If you are going to spend that much money you may as well get the new model

configurable here

http://h71016.www7.hp.com/MiddleFra...=3192&BaseId=32725&oi=E9CED&BEID=19701&SBLID=

Also, you can get what virtually none of your peers have, the dreamcolor 2 display, a 30 bit panel that is supposed to be able to display up to a billion colors. Best laptop panel of all time.


You can save almost 500 dollars by going with the ati option the firepro m7820, but you need to ask the people who swore against the ati why you need the quadro. It may be because of a heavier reliance on cuda, in which case so be it.

 

[tybert7]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/quadrofx-firepro_16.html#sect0



This is from an older card selection but gives a general idea on relative performance between different cards and makes.


How the newer ati stacks up I do not know, but if you can go with it, you can knock off 500 bucks. On a machine with an i7 quad I might add, not the older quad.



The conclusion

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/quadrofx-firepro_24.html#sect0

seems to suggest the quadro cards are the best bet performance wise. Also, it seems to be true that the firepro in the elitebook seems to be a hardware twin of the mobility radeon 5870. But again, if it is enough, go for it.

 

[Anoesis]

Also, you can get what virtually none of your peers have, the dreamcolor 2 display, a 30 bit panel that is supposed to be able to display up to a billion colors. Best laptop panel of all time.


You can save almost 500 dollars by going with the ati option the firepro m7820, but you need to ask the people who swore against the ati why you need the quadro. It may be because of a heavier reliance on cuda, in which case so be it.

what i mean by(avoid ATI, intel, or Nvidia GForce series cards) they are saying avoid the raedons, gforce video cards.

My question is can I save money by just getting one with a GForce or HD raedon card, or do i need a quadro or firepro for apps like maya etc.

 

[Serpico]

Also, you can get what virtually none of your peers have, the dreamcolor 2 display, a 30 bit panel that is supposed to be able to display up to a billion colors. Best laptop panel of all time.

IPS display in a laptop. Yes, you want this. Every high end notebook should have this, ridiculously awesome and IMHO worth the extra cost.

 

[tybert7]

IPS display in a laptop. Yes, you want this. Every high end notebook should have this, ridiculously awesome and IMHO worth the extra cost.

Not only that, the 17" elitebooks have a 16:10 ratio, so you can option them with a 1920x1200 resolution panel.




To the OP it does not look like many if anyone here has first hand knowledge of the requirements for 3d programs like maya. Register and post the same question at more targeted forums. For Maya ask the guys who actually use it directly, and ask them how they would option the laptops in the running.

Try this forum

http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=86


If you can live without the quadro on a new elitebook though, you can save around 400 dollars, with a newer i7 quad than dated core 2 quad you listed in the specs above. The dreamcolor display with the ultra high resolution (1920x1200) is about 500 more by itself, but even the standard res non dream color panels have a pretty decent resolution - 16:10 1680x1050 and are reportedly still ips panels (not confirmed as far as I know).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=470406

 

[Haven]

The Quadro and Firepro cards are built for different things than the GeForce or HD cards. The Quadro and Firepro are built for making graphics for rendering graphics. Where the GeForce and HD cards are more meant for playing games.

You will find that a lot of business level laptops use the Quadro cards because programmers, 3D artists, and graphic designers use those laptops, and the cards do better in business applications like Maya.

 

[jipe]

The reason your school is recommending a Quadro or FirePro is because Autodesk only supports professional workstation cards for use with Maya. This doesn't mean gaming cards won't work, it just means that Autodesk chooses not to support them (one has to wonder if ATI and Nvidia pay Autodesk for this privilege, as their workstation cards are expensive and highly profitable).

Every few days on the "Technical Hardware" forum over at CGSociety, someone posts a topic asking if they should go with a Quadro or GeForce. The overwhelming consensus is always that gaming cards offer way better bang for the buck, and in almost all situations are a better choice. Some Maya features run a little quirky on gaming cards (Paint Effects is supposedly touchy) but there is no guarantee either way.

I recently switched from a FireGL v5600 to a GeForce GTX 260 because I was sick of ATI's terrible support for their professional cards. I couldn't even get the rotation manipulator to display correctly in Maya 2010, and ATI's support essentially sent me to an Autodesk blog (insinuating it was Autodesk's problem). Amazingly enough, the GTX 260 runs Maya like a dream... must not be Autodesk's fault after all. I originally bought the FireGL because I valued stability over performance yet the GTX 260 provides both, and for way less money.

 

[Leman]

Did ATI block out FireGL (I guess they're Firestream now...) drivers from being used on standard Radeon cards? I remember you could put FireGL drivers on a Radeon 9*** card and it'd work fine.