buying advice for workstation/gaming laptop under inr 140K

[kunalgujarathi]

1) Think Tesla, not Titan. And Mobile Quadro(s) are never sold in SLI configuration (if someone is selling them, then they are defeating the purpose of Quadro), and it is rare to find Quadro in SLI in desktop scenario(and SLI is not the proper term, Maximus is).

2) Tracking a laptop is not an easy task, and of what use is a laptop when the precious data is gone. (And when something is stolen, it is usually broken down before).

3) Entry level AMD Firepro W4170M beats Quadro 3100M in openGL benchmarks. The area where it counts. And it is good for light gaming too. (Keyword, entry level, M5100 is better which is entry level option for Precision M4800)

4) We are talking about India here, where warranty problems play havoc and lack of laptop can render a semester useless.

5) The present Kepler series is by definition obsolete now. If he really want to use CUDA 5.0 or 6.5, he should wait for Maxwell. Other K3100M and K2100M are not that different in terms of raw performance(difference of 200 cores at low clock rates).

6) Buying a card directly from HP/Dell would not need any flashing, since the card comes pre configured for system.

Simple words!
Guys wait for Maxwell and next Intel Roadmap lauch in couple of months!

 

[seamon]

1) Think Tesla, not Titan. And Mobile Quadro(s) are never sold in SLI configuration (if someone is selling them, then they are defeating the purpose of Quadro), and it is rare to find Quadro in SLI in desktop scenario(and SLI is not the proper term, Maximus is).

2) Tracking a laptop is not an easy task, and of what use is a laptop when the precious data is gone. (And when something is stolen, it is usually broken down before).

3) Entry level AMD Firepro W4170M beats Quadro 3100M in openGL benchmarks. The area where it counts. And it is good for light gaming too. (Keyword, entry level, M5100 is better which is entry level option for Precision M4800)

4) We are talking about India here, where warranty problems play havoc and lack of laptop can render a semester useless.

5) The present Kepler series is by definition obsolete now. If he really want to use CUDA 5.0 or 6.5, he should wait for Maxwell. Other K3100M and K2100M are not that different in terms of raw performance(difference of 200 cores at low clock rates).

6) Buying a card directly from HP/Dell would not need any flashing, since the card comes pre configured for system.

1. Eurocom and Sager sells Maximus.
2. Xotic PC Article & Info Section - NAVBAR_TITLE
3. Hope driver problems don't render the laptops useless.
4. You don't have to play cricket with your laptop.
5. 576 to 768 is a lot.
6. I don't think Dell/HP will even sell MXM cards. OEMs usually don't. One has to order from eBay.

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Simple words!
Guys wait for Maxwell and next Intel Roadmap lauch in couple of months!

That's the right thing to do. Maxwell Quadros are going to be awesome. But alas, one will have to wait nearly 4-5 months for them.

 

[Siddhartht]

1. Eurocom and Sager sells Maximus.
2. Xotic PC Article & Info Section - NAVBAR_TITLE
3. Hope driver problems don't render the laptops useless.
4. You don't have to play cricket with your laptop.
5. 576 to 768 is a lot.
6. I don't think Dell/HP will even sell MXM cards. OEMs usually don't. One has to order from eBay.

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That's the right thing to do. Maxwell Quadros are going to be awesome. But alas, one will have to wait nearly 4-5 months for them.

1) A laptop has to survive daily travel and hostel life. I guess sometimes it might need to go through occasional torture by roommates or batch-mates (Mine had to survive a fall from top shelf, ADP was used next day, case had a major dent, screen had a grid of dead pixels around corner, but the laptop was working).

2) OEMs allow after market upgrades/or in house upgrade.

3) Precision and ZBooks are ISV certified. Driver problems will not render the laptop useless....unlike Clevo, which is...Xotic PC/Eurocom certified ? (Can they give their ISV report ?)

4) 576 to 768 is not a lot. Clock speeds matter. Quadros run at lower clock speed for stable and sustained performance.

5) Checked, none of them sell Mobile Quadros in Maximus configuration.

 

[seamon]

1) A laptop has to survive daily travel and hostel life. I guess sometimes it might need to go through occasional torture by roommates or batch-mates (Mine had to survive a fall from top shelf, ADP was used next day, case had a major dent, screen had a grid of dead pixels around corner, but the laptop was working).

2) OEMs allow after market upgrades/or in house upgrade.

3) Precision and ZBooks are ISV certified. Driver problems will not render the laptop useless....unlike Clevo, which is...Xotic PC/Eurocom certified ? (Can they give their ISV report ?)

4) 576 to 768 is not a lot. Clock speeds matter. Quadros run at lower clock speed for stable and sustained performance.

5) Checked, none of them sell Mobile Quadros in Maximus configuration.

1)Your problem. Not everyone is as carefree.
2)Link?
3)Clevo boasts world's largest forum support as basically all custom laptops are Clevo based. What's ISV?
4)K3100M provides more cores running at a higher clock speed(than K2100M) with a wider bus width(256vs 128 in K2100).
5)Eurocom Configure Model Configure GPU as 2xK5100m.

 

[Siddhartht]

1)Your problem. Not everyone is as carefree.
2)Link?
3)Clevo boasts world's largest forum support as basically all custom laptops are Clevo based. What's ISV?
4)K3100M provides more cores running at a higher clock speed(than K2100M) with a wider bus width(256vs 128 in K2100).
5)Eurocom Configure Model Configure GPU as 2xK5100m.

1) Let's wait for thread starter's view.

2) From official communication with Dell Support agent(through University liaison).

3) Independent Software Vendor certification(certification from a software vendor, for example Autodesk, Adobe etc which assures that their software has tested for trouble free operation on system), that is possibly one of the things which makes a workstation a workstation.

4) Please see the benchmarks which reflects the use of thread starter to see if difference is high enough. He is not asking for a gaming system. Comparing professional GPUs is not same as comparing consumer grade cards. One has to see the software in question.

5) Is that a laptop(with err...17m of battery life) ? And nvidia doesn't list Eurocom as official Maximus distributor.

I have owned a Sony Vaio Z series laptop, a Panasonic Toughbook ,a workstation, and a HP Pavilion. I know the difference between a laptop made for masses and a laptop which is made for a niche.

 

[shubhamgarg55583]

wow, A lot of great ideas here...

I'll ask someone to bring it for me, if I am not able to find anyone then I'll definitely go with dell, so there aren't any issues regarding duties in RAM and SSD's(Both are cheaper at XoticPC).

1) I do need good build quality because I am not one of those people who treat the stuff with extreme caution. Laptop Should be able to handle wear and tear. [MENTION=284377]Siddhartht[/MENTION] You said your laptop was damaged, If m4800 gets damaged the exact same way then will Dell replace the Screen and fix the Dent free of cost, under warranty ofcourse?

2) I don't know how much i'll be be upgrading the machine once i buy it.

3)ISV certificate, good point...I'll contact XoticPC helpline for this and ask.

4) I feel Quadro K2100M will be a good option(or even K1100M) cause they are cheap and will be suffice for now. If need be I'll upgrade it to the new Maxwell GPU's later on.

5)Researching for Clevo's performance, support and certification.

I don't want to go for AMD GPUs cause of all the driver issues that I have heard. I trust Nvidia in this.

About Maxwell Gpus:I Can't wait for 6-7 months for the GPU.

 

[seamon]

wow, A lot of great ideas here...

I'll ask someone to bring it for me, if I am not able to find anyone then I'll definitely go with dell, so there aren't any issues regarding duties in RAM and SSD's(Both are cheaper at XoticPC).

1) I do need good build quality because I am not one of those people who treat the stuff with extreme caution. Laptop Should be able to handle wear and tear. [MENTION=284377]Siddhartht[/MENTION] You said your laptop was damaged, If m4800 gets damaged the exact same way then will Dell replace the Screen and fix the Dent free of cost, under warranty ofcourse?

2) I don't know how much i'll be be upgrading the machine once i buy it.

3)ISV certificate, good point...I'll contact XoticPC helpline for this and ask.

4) I feel Quadro K2100M will be a good option(or even K1100M) cause they are cheap and will be suffice for now. If need be I'll upgrade it to the new Maxwell GPU's later on.

5)Researching for Clevo's performance, support and certification.

I don't want to go for AMD GPUs cause of all the driver issues that I have heard. I trust Nvidia in this.

About Maxwell Gpus:I Can't wait for 6-7 months for the GPU.

1) Clevo laptops are pretty solid built.

2)Nice incentive.

3)Dude, Clevo laptops are guaranteed to work with all professional software. ISV is more of a brand thing. (A software that has been designed for windows will run in windows, no exception to that). Besides,if Clevo laptops were not designed for professional use then they wouldn't have had the option of a Quadro card in the first place.

4)If you are planning to replace GPU then go for base config instead. Go for GTX 870M now. It has many more CUDA cores than K1100M(more than 3x cuda cores with driver support for CAD applications. It will be enough for entry level CAD work since you are just beginning(I guess?). K1100M is very weak. It's not worth it.

Save money now and go for something along the lines of best Maxwell Quadro card. Buy from upgrademonkey. They are the best in business. They currently have K5100M on sale which even Xotic PC doesn't offer and that too tried and tested for Clevo P150SM.

5)Always do your research.

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GTX 870M trumps K1100M in open GL performance by nearly 100%. Techically it is more powerful than even K3100M but in practice you'll notice much greater performance gains in K3100M due to better driver support. K1100M? Not so much.

 

[shubhamgarg55583]

[MENTION=248727]seamon[/MENTION] Have you ever used a Clevo laptop? Can you comment on their build quality and sturdiness as compared to Dell m4800?! They are a little heavy than dell so I hope it's worth the extra weight!

Yes, I am a beginner so that's why I was pushing for a cheap and reliable solution right now and hoping to go big when I am capable of.

For the next 2-3 years, My work will be mostly involved around mathematica/matlab so I hope gtx870 is better than K1100M(&/or K2100M)?!

And is gtx780 better than gtx870(is it cheaper too)?

 

[seamon]

[MENTION=248727]seamon[/MENTION] Have you ever used a Clevo laptop? Can you comment on their build quality and sturdiness?! They are a little heavy than dell so I hope it's worth the extra weight!

Yes, I am a beginner so that's why I was pushing for a cheap and reliable solution right now and hoping to go big when I am capable of.

For the next 2-3 years, My work will be mostly involved around mathematica/matlab so I hope gtx870 is better than K1100M(&/or K2100M)?!

And is gtx780 better than gtx870(is it cheaper too)?

1) Nope not yet. I have heard great things about them. I'll probably buy one next year.

2)GTX 780m is significantly better than GTX 870m. It contains 4x the CUDA cores of K1100M.


Dell M4800 is a good laptop but no point in buying one for 1L 40k when all you get is K1100M.

 

[Siddhartht]

wow, A lot of great ideas here...

I'll ask someone to bring it for me, if I am not able to find anyone then I'll definitely go with dell, so there aren't any issues regarding duties in RAM and SSD's(Both are cheaper at XoticPC).

1) I do need good build quality because I am not one of those people who treat the stuff with extreme caution. Laptop Should be able to handle wear and tear. [MENTION=284377]Siddhartht[/MENTION] You said your laptop was damaged, If m4800 gets damaged the exact same way then will Dell replace the Screen and fix the Dent free of cost, under warranty ofcourse?

2) I don't know how much i'll be be upgrading the machine once i buy it.

3)ISV certificate, good point...I'll contact XoticPC helpline for this and ask.

4) I feel Quadro K2100M will be a good option(or even K1100M) cause they are cheap and will be suffice for now. If need be I'll upgrade it to the new Maxwell GPU's later on.

5)Researching for Clevo's performance, support and certification.

I don't want to go for AMD GPUs cause of all the driver issues that I have heard. I trust Nvidia in this.

About Maxwell Gpus:I Can't wait for 6-7 months for the GPU.

Yes, Dell will fix anything which is broken(although they are reluctant to change the whole laptop, but yes, they will replace damaged parts). One extreme example I can give is of my friend's inspiron, whose speaker grill had a crack, and they replaced whole base of laptop to rectify it. (I tried to negotiate about replacing my laptop, but according to them, that is possible only when whole machine cease to work, like water spills etc. Also try to make it more "accident" like in your correspondence) One more thing that is good about their service is that the person will service the laptop in front of you at your hostel/home, so you can oversee if things are right or not.


Clevo laptops are not meant for work, they are meant to game. Even in a German university(to be precise, a research institute), I saw people using Apple/HP, instead of Clevo(although I did notice XMG/Clevo once), strange since Germany is one of the prime importer of Clevo laptops.

I will recommend you to swap SSDs for a K2100M in initial configuration , and install one in Easy eject drive bay when you really need it.

 

[seamon]

[MENTION=150630]sam_738844[/MENTION] owns Clevo P151SM I think. Ask him about the quality of Clevo laptops.

 

[Siddhartht]

One more thing I forgot to mention in my previous posts is the availability of expansion slots. While Both Clevo and Dell are on par in it, Dell has one peculiar slot, which in theory, can be used in future to get an external GPU up and running(if you are willing to invest in a $199 peripheral), i.e. Express Card slot. While it might not give that much of a bandwidth when compared to mxm(I guess they use 8x lane), but the performance boost can be phenomenal in some cases. Imagine using a desktop GTX 970 with your laptop. (Express Card roughly provides 1x@3.0/2.0 bandwidth, which might not sound much, but is enough for a sizable increase in performance).

Sadly Dell doesn't ship their laptop with Thunderbolt port like HP or Apple does, otherwise they provide bandwidth comparable to 4x lane(that is actually more than enough for sustained data IO between GPU and CPU)

You can get adapters from VillageTronic or Sonnet.

 

[SaiyanGoku]

One more thing I forgot to mention in my previous posts is the availability of expansion slots. While Both Clevo and Dell are on par in it, Dell has one peculiar slot, which in theory, can be used in future to get an external GPU up and running(if you are willing to invest in a $199 peripheral), i.e. Express Card slot. While it might not give that much of a bandwidth when compared to mxm(I guess they use 8x lane), but the performance boost can be phenomenal in some cases. Imagine using a desktop GTX 970 with your laptop. (Express Card roughly provides 1x@3.0/2.0 bandwidth, which might not sound much, but is enough for a sizable increase in performance).

Sadly Dell doesn't ship their laptop with Thunderbolt port like HP or Apple does, otherwise they provide bandwidth comparable to 4x lane(that is actually more than enough for sustained data IO between GPU and CPU)

You can get adapters from VillageTronic or Sonnet.

Clevo one has a user replaceable GPU. -_-

 

[seamon]

One more thing I forgot to mention in my previous posts is the availability of expansion slots. While Both Clevo and Dell are on par in it, Dell has one peculiar slot, which in theory, can be used in future to get an external GPU up and running(if you are willing to invest in a $199 peripheral), i.e. Express Card slot. While it might not give that much of a bandwidth when compared to mxm(I guess they use 8x lane), but the performance boost can be phenomenal in some cases. Imagine using a desktop GTX 970 with your laptop. (Express Card roughly provides 1x@3.0/2.0 bandwidth, which might not sound much, but is enough for a sizable increase in performance).

Sadly Dell doesn't ship their laptop with Thunderbolt port like HP or Apple does, otherwise they provide bandwidth comparable to 4x lane(that is actually more than enough for sustained data IO between GPU and CPU)

You can get adapters from VillageTronic or Sonnet.

Clevo has 3 slots for external GPUs. 1 eSATA(external) and 2 mSATA(internal) slots which can be used for connecting external GPUs. They all have bandwidths greater than Express card slot(which is 5 GBit/sec?)
I had posted a guide sometime back on how to connect an external GPU using mSATA.
The thing is, the ports will never be able to utilize the power of a GTX 970. They will barely be able to utilize the power of a GTX 660Ti. SLI is out of question because the chipset won't support it.
You have to disable Nvidia Optimus for the laptop to even recognize SLI.
Also, in a laptop with GTX 780M, GTX 660Ti(so whole external GPU concept) is useless. However a weak laptop with K1100M will see substanial gains(almost 3-4x) in gaming.

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Moreover, the external GPU device for eSATA and mSATA cost as low as 99$ each.

 

[Siddhartht]

Clevo one has a user replaceable GPU. -_-

But the cost of a MXM card far exceeds that of a normal desktop grade card.

[MENTION=248727]seamon[/MENTION], I agree with your point, but using an msata slot for GPU requires case modding to some extent, where is case of express card slot, it's just equivalent to inserting a flash drive into port and restarting the laptop. The concept from what I have seen is not completely useless, but is more or less convenient. Also an esata port cannot be used for same purpose because it's just simple sata bus. Whereas in msata, it's an controversial case, some slots work as mini pciex/msata combo with signal multiplexing/pin sharing, some other work in dedicated msata mode on physical mini pciex slot with disabled pins, so msata slot might not work as mini pciex slot, but vice versa is true.

Edit: also the bandwidth is same in both the cases, i.e. 1x if we consider the pci express lane.

 

[shubhamgarg55583]

I am creating a comparison between Sager and Dell and will reply with that soon. I'm also looking at the presence of SAGER Brand in India.

Meanwhile, Should I consider this laptop. It was just released around a month ago(I guess). It is based on the design of GS60 GhostPro but is made as a workstation rather than a gaming laptop.

Update:
I like it very much. It's sleek, light and beautiful, so i am also willing to settle on lower specs(Processor). The only thing I am concerned about is heating issues. I have heard that the heat produced in a laptop can actually melt the components inside. If that's the case then I'll be in trouble as I won't get service for this laptop in India though warranty is relatively great(1 year global and accidental damage)

 

[seamon]

The point is external GPUs are pointless in Clevo because the internal GPU will itself out power the external GPU due to bandwidth limitations. A desktop Quadro is pointless as an external GPU because they are very costly and the money can be instead utilized to buy a Maxwell Mobile Quadro later.
You are already getting a GTX 870M in the base config in the Clevo which will by default out power any external GPU connected.
The only possible advantage of getting a external GPU is when you opt for a weak K1100M/K2100M which is not a very smart thing to do.

Also I stand corrected eSATA cannot be used for eGPU. However, mSATA has 6Gbit/sec bandwidth while Express card has only 5Gbit/sec(making the point of having an eGPU even more pointless). mSATA with disabled pins are the ones used to connect the wifi card.

 

[sam_738844]

@op, when you buy a horse you dont put a saddle on it which might make it faster but only when it kills him.

You are going to buy a laptop, with one hundred and forty thousand rupees and you are thinking of nailing it down with external GPU ? Yes i own a Clevo laptop and i can play games at the airport in Singapore on a lounge chair with it on my lap. That's mobility and ís what i bought it for. If you know what i mean already, wait for Maxwell mobility series to kick in and buy a gaming notebook later, there is a lot to come in, and hopefully, no... definitely something to regret your decision about, or might as well the way you think about gaming laptop now. 140K on a gaming laptop must not be seen with anything outside the laptop.

 

[seamon]

I am creating a comparison between Sager and Dell and will reply with that soon. I'm also looking at the presence of SAGER Brand in India.

Meanwhile, Should I consider this laptop. It was just released around a month ago(I guess). It is based on the design of GS60 GhostPro but is made as a workstation rather than a gaming laptop.

Its K2100M makes it less desirable. It is also not very customizable.
1)No MXM, so you can't replace GPU.
2)You'll void the warranty if you open the laptop.

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Just on a side note, I advocate against installing a eGPU too btw.

 

[shubhamgarg55583]

Its K2100M makes it less desirable. It is also not very customizable.
1)No MXM, so you can't replace GPU.
2)You'll void the warranty if you open the laptop.

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Just on a side note, I advocate against installing a eGPU too btw.

I know I can't upgrade/customize this laptop but at 0.85" and 1.9 kg, I am willing to close the deal right now for the next 4+ years. Is this advisable?

I'll not be using eGPU

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@op, when you buy a horse you dont put a saddle on it which might make it faster but only when it kills him.

You are going to buy a laptop, with one hundred and forty thousand rupees and you are thinking of nailing it down with external GPU ? Yes i own a Clevo laptop and i can play games at the airport in Singapore on a lounge chair with it on my lap. That's mobility and ís what i bought it for. If you know what i mean already, wait for Maxwell mobility series to kick in and buy a gaming notebook later, there is a lot to come in, and hopefully, no... definitely something to regret your decision about, or might as well the way you think about gaming laptop now. 140K on a gaming laptop must not be seen with anything outside the laptop.

[MENTION=150630]sam_738844[/MENTION] No, I never talked about eGPU, it was just a feature pointed out by Siddhartht.

I am more interested in a Workstation rather than a gaming laptop.
since I am a beginner, I am thinking of going with a cheaper card right now and upgrading it to a professional GPU after 1-2 years as need be.

Frankly speaking, I don't know much about those Nvidia maxwell cards people are talking about, are they the just released gtx970/gtx980 gpus?