Thoughts on this computer

[Herding Cats]

MSI workstation

Opinions on the above computer? Or other recommendations?

I currently have an MSI and have been pleased with it. It's a gaming laptop and doesn't have a Quadro card. The RXT A3000 seems like a nice balance of speed and cost. I'd like to speed up toolpath generation of more complex 3d paths.

 

[lobust]

You have to use a laptop?

 

[Herding Cats]

You have to use a laptop?

Pretty much yes. I have a couple stations set up around the shop with multiple monitors and program right at the machines.

It's also common for me to model stuff in the house or whatnot.

I like the flexibility of the computer being portable and I rather not switch my license key to a dongle.

I know a desktop would be more powerful but it would also be an inconvenience to how I work.

 

[Imachine909]

No numeric pad on the right side? How could you program without that?

 

[Herding Cats]

No numeric pad of the right side? How could you program without that?

Oh my, I didn't even notice that

 

[Mhajicek]

That CPU is only 2.4GHz. What do you intend to run in it? Solidworks? Mastercam? How big and detailed are your models and programs?

One option to consider is having a desktop (much more power for the money, longer lived, upgradable) and a KVM switch to rout the inputs and outputs to your assorted stations.

 

[lobust]

IDK about Mastercam, but most all cad software (SW included) only cares about workstation class graphics when doing mixed mode rendering, ie. hidden line, mixed transparency and the like. They tend to fall back to software rendering when doing that if on a gaming card. If you're doing all your work in basic shaded rendering then the quadro card will be doing nothing most of the time except costing money. If you actually need workstation graphics, the smart money is on Radeon Pro graphics anyway, generally much better bang/buck compared to Quadro.

Also, the 11th gen Intel Core skus are pretty poor across the board. Negligible performance uplift over previous generations (regressions in some cases). The 2.4Ghz quoted is the base clock, it will turbo up to 3.something or maybe even higher, but the thermal envelope of the laptop cooling system will prevent it from doing so 99% of the time.

Windows laptops are in all practical terms always complete turds in terms of performance, but if I absolutely had to buy one, it would be a completely AMD system. Current AMD cpus are way ahead of Intel in terms of power requirements, which means much lower TDP, which means more time spent running fast and less time spent being throttled by the inadequate cooling system.

For reference, one of the primary drivers for Apple to develop their own silicon was that they were being held back by intels terrible thermal and power performance.

 

[TeachMePlease]

No numeric pad on the right side? How could you program without that?

You get a USB one and plug it in. They even have wireless USB ones, IIRC.

 

[Herding Cats]

WS76

Hows abouts the above little guy?

 

[Mud]

You get a USB one and plug it in. They even have wireless USB ones, IIRC.

Look for a Logitech N305. They are discontinued and bring big money on ebay, but I still find them for cheap occasionally.

 

[lobust]

WS76

Hows abouts the above little guy?

Hate to sound like a stuck record, but it's still going to suck.

There isn't a laptop on the market that has the thermal headroom to keep an i9 running at boost clocks, let alone an "ultra-slim".

Expect constant fans at high rpm, which is not good news in a relatively dirty environment, with clock speeds bouncing all over the place and spending a lot of time at base frequency. It will get HOT to boot, especially with that gpu.

Generally speaking, unless you really need the extra cores, i7's are a much fit in a laptop than i9's. IOW, in spite of all the shit I said about it, the first one you were looking at is almost certainly a safer bet than this one.

A friend of mine has the latest HP Z-Book, with an i9 and RTX4000, supplied to him by his work. I can literally hear the fans screaming over the phone when I talk to him. It drives him nuts, especially since I rarely miss an opportunity to gloat about my absolutely silent macbook pro...

An anathema to some, but the best windows laptop money can buy is an intel macbook pro with windows running on bootcamp. Just don't buy the i9 one... BUT before you run off and buy one of those there are caveats to be aware of, like Windows' woefully inadequate support for very high resolution screens, and the apple trackpad having only basic functions in Windows.

 

[Mhajicek]

Beg to differ; the best Windows laptop is a remote desktop to a full sized workstation.

 

[lobust]

Beg to differ; the best Windows laptop is a remote desktop to a full sized workstation.

Absolutely agree, but HC has already excluded that as an option...

 

[Mr. M]

This is something like what I would get:
Dell Outlet

 

[SD&M]

This is something like what I would get:
Dell Outlet

Here’s another vote for something like that Dell....I’ve got a 7740 that’s a couple of years old, and have had a couple of other “Precision” laptops that have all served well.