Desktop Replacement // Power + Quality

[SJ_Park]

What is your budget?
$1500-$2000

What country will you be buying this in?
USA

What size notebook do you prefer?
15-17"

What brands do you like or dislike?
Like: N/A
Dislike: N/A

Would you consider a refurbished laptop?
No

What are the primary tasks you need this notebook for?
Adobe CS6, Autodesk (AutoCAD & Revit), 3D Modeling (Rhinoceros 5.0), Rendering, Gaming

Where will you be using this laptop?
Everywhere

How many hours of battery life do you need?
Doesn't really matter, will be plugged in most of the time

Will you be buying online or in store?
Online

Which OS do you prefer?
Windows 7

List the screen resolutions that interest you:
Max resolution (1920 x 1080)

Do you prefer a glossy or matte screen?
Either

Is the laptops design important to you?
No

Approximately what date will you be buying this laptop?
Upcoming week

How long do you want this laptop to last?
2+ years

How much storage capacity do you need?
Doesn't really matter, have multiple external HDs

Are you interested in SSD for storage?
Yes, not needed however

Do you want a built-in optical drive, what type?
DVD Burner, not needed however

[benmartin1974]

The Samsung series 7 Gamer http://search4laptop.com/ might be a good choice, powerhouse laptop, not cheap but in your price range.

[Prasad]

Consider the Sager NP9150, NP9170.

[SJ_Park]

Consider the Sager NP9150, NP9170.

Yeah, I was leaning towards the Sager NP9150. Seems like a solid investment for a powerful laptop which can be used for both school/work and gaming.

[SJ_Park]

My current configuration is the following:

15.6" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED AUO B156HW01 V.7 95% NTSC Glossy Display
Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM
AMD® Radeon HD 7970M
16GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (4 SODIMMS)

Does anyone feel like I should change anything?

[msjgriffiths]

Thinkpad W530 is a good option for reliability/keyboard.

If you're going to get 16GB of memory, I'd suggest buying aftermarket.

Otherwise, those specs look good for the work you're planning on doing.

[kanuk]

Sager is probably your best bet, especially with an AMD GPU.

[Steve's Job]

How much/serious gaming do you plan on doing? And how intricate is your CAD work and 3D modeling going to be? An ideal workstation GPU would be some sort of Quadro GPU for your 3D rendering and CAD work but these are not good options to be running games, especially if you play first-person shooters that are graphically demanding. However, a Gaming GPU may not perform well depending on your level of CAD/Modeling work.

If you're only going to be doing basic CAD work then I would suggest getting a high end Gaming GPU. This would allow you to run your games with good frames and do pretty well with your 3D modeling. Again, I don't know the level of CAD work you will be doing, but if you purchase a laptop with a workstation GPU (Quadro) you may not like the results when you try running games.

Be sure to take those two tasks into consideration when trying to choose a laptop. Whichever is more prevalent should be a big factor in your purchase decision and since you have pretty high budget, there are plenty of options to choose from.

Check these guys out: Computer Upgrade King. They carry Gaming Laptop and Workstation laptops with customizable options. They carry some good models of laptops from different manufacturers.

On the mid range of your budget, you may like this MSI GT70 with a GTX675m:
MSI GT70 0ND-202US i7-3610QM 2.3GHz-3.3GHz 12GB 750GB 7200rpm GeForce GTX 675M | eBay


Having said all that, your current specs are not bad.

[Prasad]

The powerful 7970M isn't a bad choice either. It's obviously a very strong card, compared to the GTX 675M. It also handles OpenCL very well, and it is catching up quite quickly! While on the other hand, nVidia and their proprietary CUDA/PhysX technology have taken a massive hit with performance being halved by Kepler as opposed to Fermi, the older architecture. The 7970M should thus stand out for you, for both gaming and CAD work. Unless you specifically intend to use CUDA, there's no point in investing in nVidia at the moment.

[SJ_Park]

How much/serious gaming do you plan on doing? And how intricate is your CAD work and 3D modeling going to be? An ideal workstation GPU would be some sort of Quadro GPU for your 3D rendering and CAD work but these are not good options to be running games, especially if you play first-person shooters that are graphically demanding. However, a Gaming GPU may not perform well depending on your level of CAD/Modeling work.

If you're only going to be doing basic CAD work then I would suggest getting a high end Gaming GPU. This would allow you to run your games with good frames and do pretty well with your 3D modeling. Again, I don't know the level of CAD work you will be doing, but if you purchase a laptop with a workstation GPU (Quadro) you may not like the results when you try running games.

Be sure to take those two tasks into consideration when trying to choose a laptop. Whichever is more prevalent should be a big factor in your purchase decision and since you have pretty high budget, there are plenty of options to choose from.

Check these guys out: Computer Upgrade King. They carry Gaming Laptop and Workstation laptops with customizable options. They carry some good models of laptops from different manufacturers.

On the mid range of your budget, you may like this MSI GT70 with a GTX675m:
MSI GT70 0ND-202US i7-3610QM 2.3GHz-3.3GHz 12GB 750GB 7200rpm GeForce GTX 675M | eBay


Having said all that, your current specs are not bad.

I'm going into my 4th year of undergraduate architecture. I was planning on building a workstation with a Quadro GPU, however, I feel my current setup will be sufficient in both 3D Modeling/Rendering, while being good enough to occasionally game. I plan on building a desktop specifically to render farm in the future.