[ayz]

i think it would be interesting to see the age demographic of people picking either one
 
if I were still 16, yeah, probably using a hackintosh would be worth my effort, because I don't have the money for an MBP. I would probably also think 3 monitors is cool as hell.
 
now that i'm 25, I don't feel like dealing with *the* ideal hardware configuration for a hackintosh, not to mention a potential headache every time apple releases an OSX update. I also prefer my home office being aesthetically pleasing (single 24" monitor and MBP) over it looking like some crap out of revenge of the nerds.
 
also a lot of people touting all these souped up PC laptops seem to pick laptops based on how fast a processor / how fast a gfx card can I cram into it, a.k.a. "how well can i play games on it", which again is stereotypical of the younger crowd.

 

[Adda]

Quote:

I also prefer my home office being aesthetically pleasing (single 24" monitor and MBP) over it looking like some crap out of revenge of the nerds.

Bingo, that is the best reason to buy a Mac, if you like how it looks, well nothing else looks quite like Mac.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

also a lot of people touting all these souped up PC laptops seem to pick laptops based on how fast a processor / how fast a gfx card can I cram into it, a.k.a. "how well can i play games on it", which again is stereotypical of the younger crowd.

Have you read the OP? Hybrys is using this laptop for 3D design and lighting. As he puts it, "top performance". The discussion shouldn't be about what's a nicer, prettier laptop, but what packs the most punch and for the best price.
 
Also, believe it or not, a faster processor does tend to help when using a computer, else we'd all still be running P4s 

 

[Adda]

^
And for 3D design and lighting, Quadro and FireGL/FirePro video cards is the way to go.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

^
And for 3D design and lighting, Quadro and FireGL/FirePro video cards is the way to go.

He wants a laptop. Because he doesn't know if he'll be working with a traveling employer or not.

 

[fratey]

I'd probably have a 15" MBP if it wasn't like $4000 for one with 8GB RAM and the slowest dual core processor. Thanks, but I'll pass, as I need something that is fast for my photography and design work without the price tag of half of Denmark.
 
To sum it up, Mac = Bose products.

 

[Adda]

Quote:

He wants a laptop. Because he doesn't know if he'll be working with a traveling employer or not.

I know, and many laptops are available with these cards, my W510 has a Quadro FX 880M.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

I know, and many laptops are available with these cards, my W510 has a Quadro FX 880M.

My bad, thought they were desktop cards. I see it's relatively new, though, so that explains it.
 
Do you have performance numbers? All this site says is "noticeably better" than a 330M.
 
Well Hybrys, if you're doing nothing but business with this laptop, I'd consider a W510. The 4GB RAM and 500GB HDD version is even on sale.

 

[Adda]

 
Quote:

My bad, thought they were desktop cards. I see it's relatively new, though, so that explains it.
 
Do you have performance numbers? All this site says is "noticeably better" than a 330M.

Well Quadro and FireGL/FirePro cards for laptops have been around for a while, my old ThinkPad R50p from 2003 has a FireGL T2.
But you have to look a business laptops to find models with these cards.
 
The Quadro FX 880M IS a Geforce GT 330M with slightly lower core clocks (GT 330M 575MHz vs. FX 880M 550MHz) but it supports a lot of OpenGL extensions and highly optimized drivers that Geforce don't.
The clocks have been lowered to improve stability under extreme loads that Geforce cards don't have to cope with.

 

[12thgear]

Quote:

i think it would be interesting to see the age demographic of people picking either one
 
if I were still 16, yeah, probably using a hackintosh would be worth my effort, because I don't have the money for an MBP. I would probably also think 3 monitors is cool as hell.
 
now that i'm 25, I don't feel like dealing with *the* ideal hardware configuration for a hackintosh, not to mention a potential headache every time apple releases an OSX update. I also prefer my home office being aesthetically pleasing (single 24" monitor and MBP) over it looking like some crap out of revenge of the nerds.
 
also a lot of people touting all these souped up PC laptops seem to pick laptops based on how fast a processor / how fast a gfx card can I cram into it, a.k.a. "how well can i play games on it", which again is stereotypical of the younger crowd.

Yeah I'm sort of in the same boat regarding age, but it's just a matter of what constitutes fun for me. I don't think I'll ever be too old for video games, but I want to spend the time playing them, not optimizing my system, patching the game, disabling the DRM, getting everyone's voice chat to work. It's why my preferred system is my Xbox 360, even though my PC can run circles around it. And it's why my main systems are from a quality OEM (in this case Apple), rather than something I integrated myself. 
 
Also, Revenge of the Nerds is a classic movie, so you take that last insult back!

 

[7H3L457H0P3]

 
 
 
Quote:

Do you have performance numbers? All this site says is "noticeably better" than a 330M.

 
The number were all on the link posted but I'll help you out and post a direct comparison. Sorry for the column formatting the source is: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html. Which is good for all current mobile GPU's.
 
 
 
Quote:

Pos

Model

Codename

3DMark01

3DMark03

3DMark05

3DMark06

[td] 58 [/td] [td] NVIDIA[/td] [td] GeForce GT 330M[/td] [td] N11P-GE1[/td] [td=colspan:2] 48[/td] [td] 575[/td] [td] 1265[/td] [td] 1066[/td] [td] 128[/td] [td] 10.1[/td] [td] 40[/td] [td] 25991

 [/td] [td] 17803

 [/td] [td] 12503

 [/td] [td] 6033

 [/td]​

[td] 59 [/td] [td] NVIDIA[/td] [td] Quadro FX 880M[/td] [td] N10P-GLM[/td] [td=colspan:2] 48[/td] [td] 550[/td] [td] 1210[/td] [td] 790[/td] [td] 128[/td] [td] 10.1[/td] [td] 40[/td] [td] 33331

 [/td] [td] 18845

 [/td] [td] 13173

 [/td] [td] 6388[/td]​

 

 
 
 


 
 
But I still think the ASUS G Series G73JH-X1 I mentioned earlier is your best bet. See below for comparison. Note the 5870 actually has twice the power of the GT 330M and Quadro FX 880M in synthetic benchmarks. 
 
Quote:

9

ATI

Mobility Radeon HD 5870

Broadway-XT

800

700

700

1000

128

11

40

38466

38656

17932

12711

 
Usually the FirePro/Tesla/Quadro FX etc. cards are just rebraned consumer GPU's with slight modifications or unlocked features to optimize for workstations.
 
 
 
 
 
Quote:

i think it would be interesting to see the age demographic of people picking either one

 

if I were still 16, yeah, probably using a hackintosh would be worth my effort, because I don't have the money for an MBP. I would probably also think 3 monitors is cool as hell.

 

now that i'm 25, I don't feel like dealing with *the* ideal hardware configuration for a hackintosh, not to mention a potential headache every time apple releases an OSX update. I also prefer my home office being aesthetically pleasing (single 24" monitor and MBP) over it looking like some crap out of revenge of the nerds.

 

also a lot of people touting all these souped up PC laptops seem to pick laptops based on how fast a processor / how fast a gfx card can I cram into it, a.k.a. "how well can i play games on it", which again is stereotypical of the younger crowd.

 
The people I know who are touting high end gaming rigs are all in their 20's, myself included. The people with lesser rigs usually just end up buying consoles. Yeah I agree with not wanting a headache from OS X part. My solution get an OS designed for the average person for both personal and professional use and that is easy to use. I'm talking about Windows by the way.
 
Stick with your 24'' iMac all you want no one is stopping you. I just prefer working on multiple displays. More screen real estate is always a good investment especially for power users like myself who can bring any computer (PC or Mac) to its knees. If you want aesthetically pleasing I'd go with carbon fiber or black aluminum. I really don't like Apple's designs; kind of feminine if you ask me. Small and dainty just isn't cool for guys. You need something that has rough edges and screams power. ASUS Lamborghini anyone? http://www.computing.dcu.ie/~humphrys/Notes/OS/Bitmaps/asus.jpg
 
For example I'd rather have this monitor: http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/stories/news-010307/Dell_Crystal_Monitor.jpg and a case like this: http://www.itechnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/corsair-obsidian-series-800d-pc-chassis.jpg.
 
Quote:

Bingo, that is the best reason to buy a Mac, if you like how it looks, well nothing else looks quite like Mac.

 
Yes go buy it because it's shiny. Who cares if it's an overpriced laptop in a desktop chassis it's shiny and that's all that matters *sarcasm.*
 
 
7H3 L457 H0P3

 

[Adda]

Have a look at this thread, post #15 shows some benchmarks.
 
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=789511
 
It shows that a meager Quadro FX 570 (based on GF8400GS) beating the crap out of a GF 8800GTX.
 
Edit: This might be of interest as well http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/geforce-vs-quadro-benchmarks-40actual-tests41/

 

[ZarakiSan]

I bought a MBP for a few reasons:
 
- Good touch pad
- Good keyboard
- Backlit keyboard
- Good screen
- Nice and thin
- Long Battery life
- Not an ULV machine
- Good build quality
 
But yeah, a lot of media-related business is just Mac, mac, mac, mac. I think it has to do with the state of things years ago. Software and drivers developed for Mac because at the time it was better for their uses, and now it's just better because more people use it.
 
Macs aren't magical, and especially the bigger ones are very expensive. But there's a lot of sheer quality you're getting it, and if you're a media professional, I think Macs make sense because a lot of software and a lot of users expect and prefer Macs.

 

[earerror]

I have a mac for the following reasons:
 
No viruses (or few)
Great looks and speed
 
The problem, is the price...but they are worth it. 

 

[Hybrys]

I like the ideas about Quadro/FireGL, but I'm concerned about a few things regarding that.
 
Is there such a premium that it's worth it? (As you can tell, I'm a bang-for-buck kinda guy)
Are gaming instruction sets/optimizations still supported, offering similar performance?
Are there any latest gen Quadro/FireGL-based laptops?  (IE: 58XX or 400-series cards)
Paired with a 'latest gen' i5 or i7 QUAD core is required aswell.  Threaded support is abundant.
 
For everyone else trying to answer the question:
 
It's good that you like the OS, I still don't think that premium is worth it.  And no, the MBP doesn't have any better hardware than the ASUS... Exactly the opposite.  Even the quality of parts used.  <_<  So don't fall for that
 
Also, I don't really like the tongue-in-cheek slight towards me being immature, and thus wanting a better price-per-performance and top tier hardware.  It makes no sense, but you can justify it to yourself any way you'd like.  Other companies than Apple can make aesthetically good looking computers aswell.
 
Think of it this way.  I can get the ASUS ($1600), new $1000 headphones, and a $600 amp.  Or I can get a MBP for around $3200.  (MBP, 17", i7. 8gb ram, AppleCare)