Tom Klaber Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 I am leaning toward getting the new Razer Blade for my next machine. It has a 1060. It does have 1 thunderport - but only 1. I am also considering the SC-17. This is a 17" laptop. I little thicker. 32GB ram and a 1070. The biggest downside is the ports. No thunderport - just a 1 USB 3.1C and 2 USB 3.0As. I have always been a 17" laptop guy, but since I have it hooked up to an external most of the time - I am thinking the added portability of the smaller machine might be nice. Very conflicted. I know this is a Mac-heavy forum to be asking about specialty PCs - but if you have any sound advice - it would be appreciated. Thanks! Tom Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted November 23, 2016 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 23, 2016 Do you know what you plan to use the Thunderbolt 3 port for? The SC-17 seems to also have HDMI and two MiniDisplayports which covers displays, and the rest of what you'd normally use would be through USB 3 or USB-C 3.1 anyway where 10Gbps is generally plenty fast for things like external storage drives. Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 22 minutes ago, JimW said: Do you know what you plan to use the Thunderbolt 3 port for? The SC-17 seems to also have HDMI and two MiniDisplayports which covers displays, and the rest of what you'd normally use would be through USB 3 or USB-C 3.1 anyway where 10Gbps is generally plenty fast for things like external storage drives. ...No... I just want it... It seems like the future. I want this thing to last 4 years and I felt that Thunderport could open up expandability options... But in reality, I doubt I would get anything like the Razer Core. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted November 23, 2016 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 23, 2016 Not a bad line of thinking. It certainly would keep your expansion options open for tech that doesnt exist now but might in 2-3 years like external GPUs. The 1060 is pretty darn good. The 1070 is superior at the moment but likely only superior in Vectorworks if you're going to be running one or more high res displays off of it and the 1060 having a nice comfy 6GB of VRAM shouldn't become a limiting factor anytime soon. They both have Wifi AC, Bluetooth 4 or higher, great storage speed great CPUs, these are both very solid choices for a future-resistant laptop. I would say the SC-17 wins out overall at least slightly in every category BUT the Thunderbolt port so it really comes down to deciding how much you want that. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted November 23, 2016 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 23, 2016 Also, if you've never used a sub-15" laptop screen before, make sure you put your hands on one in a store or something first, the'yre a lot smaller than you may think, though its a personal preference thing. I favor the 17". Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 Thanks Jim. This was helpful. 1 Quote Link to comment
P Retondo Posted November 25, 2016 Share Posted November 25, 2016 Tom, from experience, if you are working on an airplane, anything larger than 15" doesn't work too well. I also find it is very nice to have a touchscreen - just a personal preference. Quote Link to comment
AlanW Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 @Tom KlaberHi couldn't bear to see you sit on 99 for so long. Cheers. 3 Quote Link to comment
nrkuhl Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 (edited) I have the previous generation (geforce 970) Razer Blade. I went from a larger 15" MSI laptop down to the Razer, and it's awesome so far. I get some weird behavior in VW with the mismatch between the resolutions on my external monitor (1920x1080) and the QHD laptop screen though. But, in general, VW on Windows is a miserable experience filled with GUI quirks (at least when splitting between a laptop monitor and an external) with a graphic feel like windows 95. Edited November 29, 2016 by nrkuhl Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 (edited) On 11/26/2016 at 5:45 AM, Alan Woodwell said: @Tom KlaberHi couldn't bear to see you sit on 99 for so long. Cheers. Thanks! I was up past 100 for a little bit - then got some down votes for my Design Layer rant. Cheers! Edited November 29, 2016 by Tom Klaber 1 Quote Link to comment
Ethan R. Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 (edited) I'm in need of a new laptop as my MBP is aging. Is VectorWorks on PC really that much nastier? I almost feel I should get a cheap PC laptop for month to play with windows and see if I can live in that environment. Has anyone else made the switch over to PC lately? the Razor sure looks sexy though Thanks Edited January 2, 2017 by Ethan R. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted January 2, 2017 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted January 2, 2017 The only thing I find that I miss on Windows vs Mac is Mac's superior Color Picker. Other than that I do most of my rendering and animation work on the Windows side since I can more easily get better hardware that way. 1 Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 On 1/1/2017 at 9:49 PM, Ethan R. said: I'm in need of a new laptop as my MBP is aging. Is VectorWorks on PC really that much nastier? I almost feel I should get a cheap PC laptop for month to play with windows and see if I can live in that environment. Has anyone else made the switch over to PC lately? the Razor sure looks sexy though Thanks I switch between the two every day - MAC in the office, and PC at my home office. I do not notice really any difference in VW. (Except the short-cut commands - so I have to spend 10 minutes switching my brain over). As I have said before, with Windows 10, I now prefer Windows. As far as my day to day, the only think that I think OSx does better is color picking and screen shots. It will certainly take some getting used to - but if you have an open mind - I think you will find that it is a well designed OS. 1 Quote Link to comment
Ethan R. Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Thanks Tom ... in the end - which machine do you get? I am pretty balanced between drawing & rendering. Thank you, Ethan Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Ethan R. said: Thanks Tom ... in the end - which machine do you get? I am pretty balanced between drawing & rendering. Thank you, Ethan I have not pulled the trigger. I decided to wait until after CES. Now I decided to wait until spring. I think there will be more options that meet my criteria coming out in the next few months. I really like the Zenbook Pro. I am hoping there is a refresh with a new 10 series Geforce coming soon. I am also interested in seeing what the Surface book 2 looks like. If there was to be a sale Razer or SC17 I would probably jump, but until then I am biding my time. Also, I am curious about the Dell XPS 17 7000 2-1. Edited January 9, 2017 by Tom Klaber Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 I just discovered the Origin EVO15-S. It has been out - I am not sure how I missed it. It is at the same price point as the Razer 14. With some interesting advantages and tradeoffs: It is quite thin and understated. It looks like MSI might have made the case. But simple dark aluminum. You can customize the lid if you want, but no forced gamer stripes. It has a 15.6" screen which is bigger than the Razer - and a full keyboard with number pad which I like. It only comes with a 1080HD - no 4K option, but I think I would go 1080 for battery reasons anyway. It has a dual HD set up with a smaller SDD than the razer but then backs it up with a 2TBHD. I can not decide if that is better or worse than just a 1TB SSD. Tons of ports. HDMI, USB 2.0, 3 USB 3.0, 1 Thunderbolt... Again it is at the $2000-$2400 price point, which is steep - but it's definitely a contender. Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted January 31, 2017 Author Share Posted January 31, 2017 The SC17 just dropped its price by 300 bucks. I jumped. Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted February 1, 2017 Author Share Posted February 1, 2017 I will upload some when it arrives. Its coming today! Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted February 2, 2017 Author Share Posted February 2, 2017 I love it. I do not like the gamer aesthetic - I always felt silly showing up to a meeting, doing committee work, or even sitting in a coffee shop with an Alienware-like machine - just not my style. This is not that at all. All the power - none of the flare. All black brushed aluminum. It is super understated, some might say to a fault - but exactly what I have been looking for. It makes me feel so professional, and not in a Lenovo Ideapad way, but in a sleek black power jacket with a black shirt and black tie kind of way. This thing is a TANK. When I was handling, it felt like it must be much bigger than my old MSIGS60 17". It's not - slightly thicker on the back but otherwise entirely comparable - except it weighs twice as much. This is more of a portable desktop than a laptop. The discrete graphics card does not even run if you are not plugged in. That said it is pretty slim, so it fits comfortably into my bags. Screen is nice - it is my first 4K - so I am getting used the scaling. It took quite a while to get all the OS updates last night - so I have not put it through its paces. Maybe I will run some benchmarks tonight. 1 Quote Link to comment
Markvl Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Wow that is quite the rig. Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted February 3, 2017 Author Share Posted February 3, 2017 (edited) Cinebench R15 Benchmarks Not bad for a laptop. Crushes my Imac. Edited February 3, 2017 by Tom Klaber Quote Link to comment
Ethan R. Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Any one try the Razer Blade yet ? Only negative I see is the possible load fans and running warm ? Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted March 13, 2017 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 13, 2017 Another good contender in this same segment:https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/03/dells-new-xps-15-isnt-the-best-at-everything-but-its-not-bad-at-anything/ Quote Link to comment
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