Blackmagic Forum

My current HP ZBook 15 G1, while still a nice machine is showing its GPU weakness, especially with Resolve 17 which doesn't recognize the Quadro K2100M. So, i'm planning to switch to a more powerful workstation laptop (4k editing) but being away from the tech specs world for a few years now i went blown away by the huge amount of all-the-same-but-different notebooks offer. I'm on Windows10 so the choice is way extended that i'm going nuts.

I initially tought to buy the latest generation HP ZBook 15 with an RTX 2070 8Gb and 32Gb ram but i noticed that the ram is now soldered on the mainboard and it's not upgradeable in any way, so i don't think i will stay with HP again.
My need is not a super lightweight machine, but maybe a 15" screen, expandable RAM (64 gb should suffice), a decent sized GPU with at least 8Gb VRAM and the possibility to plug in 2 or 3 ssd drives.
Tried also on the gaming laptop world but they look too fancy for my taste, and i'm still questioning about they being able to work for several hours (also 3d rendering) with no thermal throttling.
I'm not particularly interested in audio capabilities, as i can plug my usb audio interface while working. Maybe the vents noise can make the difference....

Well... i was forgetting the budget... I'k ok for something around 2500-3000 euros.

Any hints maybe?

Thanks! Umberto

Umberto Uderzo wrote:ram is now not upgradeable in any way

That's one of five reasons why Laptops are not suitable for this work.

Build a desktop.

https://www.newegg.com/

I second that if you need a serious PC workhorse with a better price/performance ratio.

If you desperately want portability, have a look at the new Apple M1 machines.
But understand that they are not a complete solution. They are great for doing some work on the road, if you have a serious workstation at home. It will probably take half a year (at minimum) until Apple has a M1 iMac and until next year for a new MacPro. If they'll be as competitive price/performance wise as the current entry-level models nobody knows.

I understand that a desktop is a more capable and cheaper solution. Anyway I'm used to bring the work with me when I'm traveling and I find very comfortable to put all clips into a single machine and keep them there until the work is done without needing to proxy the files that are stored on a Nas. I usually move them to a backup storage when I finished working. As I don't work on feature movies but only on short videos this approach makes me very comfortable to work with.
And when I come home I plug the laptop on the docking station and I have the full plethora of screens and devices at my fingertips.

Anyway as I previously said Apple is not an option because of all the licenses that I own for other software I use.
If I looked for Apple I guess the choice would be more straightforward, too bad the Windows ecosystem is a jungle, hence my request.

Umberto

If you're committed to a PC laptop, Lenovo ThinkPad's workstation models are a great option. There are a lot of models to choose from, and most are very upgradable. I have a ThinkPad P1 (I use a desktop for Resolve, but the P1 could be used too), which is their thin 15" 4k workstation model - it's a great laptop, but being a thin model the fans do get quite loud when under heavy load.

One point is noise, another one is throttling when on battery if also you need to operate off mains.

If both of these don't matter much to you, a high-end gaming laptop is your best bet, like Razer.

I usually work plugged for maximum performance.
My need is being able to move the machine from home to office carrying it on the carrying bag. I'm not interested in working on train or something else.
I'm referring to thermal throttling, I heard some laptops under heavy load get hot and they go into thermal throttling.
Noise may be a secondary issue but it's more subjective.

I started focusing on Dell 7550 with Quadro RTX 3000 and 6Gb vram. The Quadro RTX 4000 with 8Gb vram has more bandwidth but it is already over stretching my budget.
Would it guarantee a decent performance?
Please consider that now I'm on a HP ZBook G1 with 2Gb Quadro K2100M.

Get a good gaming laptop, Quadros are overpriced and don't help you much with DR.

The HP OMEN 15 looks like the best bang for the buck with 32Gb RAM and Nvidia RTX 2070 Max Q. 8Gb VRAM. I'm only a bit concerned about the vents, that look like very noisy from the reviews.

There is also a little more costly Dell Precision 17 (little more weight and size) but way better display (100% DCI-P3, the Omen is 72% NTSC but i'd use them with an external EIZO Monitor) and a little less memory Quadro RTX 3000 with 6Gb VRAM. It can house 4 M2 disks anyway, and this could be nice.

Would a RTX 2070 with 8Gb VRAM make a difference on a Quadro RTX 3000 with 6Gb VRAM?

Umberto

Yes. It may make the difference between 4K/UHD being workable or not.
BTW, they'll all be noisy (apart maybe from the rumoured new Apple laptops to come later this year).

I can muddle through Resolve 17 on a 16" MacBook Pro with 32GB of RAM, but only small projects that aren't too demanding. My opinion is that Resolve wants a more powerful CPU, GPU, and a bigger screen, and it's a bit of a struggle on a laptop. I have to say, though, I've conformed more than a dozen projects with 17 on the MacBook, and it's been OK, even with 2K 444 ProRes files. Not sure how it would do with 4K or heavy Raw files.

@Uli, @Mark... i would like to clarify.

Currently i'm on a sub-par laptop (HP ZBook G1) with a i7 4980 4 cores and a Quadro K2100M with 2Gb VRAM. Whith this configuration i can edit my youtube channel videos on a 1080 timeline (i use 4K footage with optimized footage). Not blazing fast for sure, i need LOTS of caching especially for transitions and titles but i managed to edit my videos (not a pleasure for sure but not being for real work i can't complaint TOO much).

The issue is that after all that editing, when it's time to render the final master i get several GPU memory/generic errors so i need to turn off many effects (mostly temporal denoise) to get the work done. I avoid rendering in H264 because i prefer doing a second pass with Handbrake.

I'm sure that if i had to do real paid work i had to throw the laptop in the trash many months ago.

Anyway. With those premises, i'm trying to understand if the Omen with RTX 2070 Super MaxQ or the Precision with Quadro RTX 3000 can guarantee a decent amount of usability (maybe with optimized footage) and, most important, if i can bring home a render with many effects without it to crash at middle of the work. Both machines can be upgraded to 64Gb RAM if needed.

Vents noise apart, may the Precision be more stable over time when doing long renders? I fear leaving the Omen alone rendering nightwise without a fire extinguisher ready to work.

Well, both machines would be much faster than what you have. Which one is more stable when rendering depends a lot on the state of drivers under Windows…

Umberto Uderzo wrote: Anyway. With those premises, i'm trying to understand if the Omen with RTX 2070 Super MaxQ or the Precision with Quadro RTX 3000 can guarantee a decent amount of usability

Hi.

Resolve do all its Image processing in fp32. Quadro's have its advantages in fp64. So for Resolve is there no reason to get a more expensive Quadro.

And HP Omen's is a bad choice for Resolve. Their performance are lower, than other similar Laptops with the same CPU and Graphics Cards.

Regards Carsten.

At last I opted to follow the ZBook path.
G1 has served me well so now I'm going for a ZBook Fury G7, 32Gb ram (expandable to 128), i9 10850, Quadro RTX 4000 8Gb.
This one can host x4 m2 drives so I can accommodate all my existing stuff.

The GPU is upgradeable to Quadro RTX 5000 16Gb, who knows if it will happen, maybe not but...

Finger crossed but for my kind of work this should last some more years.