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Old 11-02-2015, 01:39 PM   #1
Mass_nerder
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So I'm applying to Masters of Environmental Design in January. Should I be accepted, I'll need to upgrade my computer.
From the program recommendations, and from friends who are already in the program, I've been told I'll need a "high-end" laptop (apparently Alienware is common). I'm not really wild abut carrying a high-end "gaming" style laptop around campus.

I want to explore the possibility of getting a high-end desktop at home, and accessing it remotely from a lighter, more mobile laptop.
I know when I was working for a fairly large architectural firm 5-6 years ago, we had the ability to access our work computers from home for this purpose, so I would assume it should be possible.

I understand the laptop will still have to have a very good graphics card, but are there any real limitations, if the laptop is always connected to the internet?
Would this even be practical?
Money is part of my consideration...I know I can get more for my money in a desktop vs. a laptop, but I'm also considering convenience and durability.
My last heavy duty laptop I carried around frequently broke down quite quickly due to damage in transport.
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Old 11-02-2015, 01:55 PM   #2
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Interesting question.

Normally I would just suggest to go for a custom built desktop PC. You pick and choose exactly what you need in your rig, and pay for only the things you need. Plus, you get a lot more under the hood for $1000 on a desktop than you do on a laptop.

Since mobility is a big concern, you probably want to spend the extra dough and just get a beast laptop, although I don't know if a gaming laptop is your best bet. They have a lot of bells and whistles specific to gaming, and if you aren't gaming, it's a waste of money. There are some Lenovo laptops out there that can really pack a powerful processing punch.
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Old 11-02-2015, 01:57 PM   #3
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Depends what the software is. If it requires lots of visual refreshing, I wouldn't recommend it. I do some mapping work remotely, and while it is manageable, it is far from perfect. If you are working over a less than ideal wireless connection, even less so.
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Old 11-02-2015, 02:06 PM   #4
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Probably a lot of Autocad, maybe some Revit and Rhino, and a lot of illustrator/Photoshop.
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Old 11-02-2015, 02:07 PM   #5
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I would never purchase an Alienware PC for any reason. There ismuch better value available.

What you need to do is find out what software is needed (Autodesk, Solidworks, etc) and determine the Video Card requirements of that software. Typically the best performing drafting video cards are not the same as a good gaming video card, but sometimes one card can give you reasonable performance in both areas.

There is a maker of high end laptops which essentially gives you an 'Alienware level' of laptop but at a much more reasonable price, but I can't recall the name of them off the top of my head.

That said, I have clients who RDP into their workstation remotely who run Autodesk apps, so this *should* be possible to do what you want as far as a desktop/remote access situation, but some video applications (normally games) won't actually run under RDP, so you need to be sure that whatever application it is, will run fine before you commit. You can probably download and install a trial and then just RDP inside your network to test this out, even before purchasing any equipment.

If it does cause issues, you may need to ditch the Remote Desktop Connection program and use something else, like Teamviewer or Chrome Remote Desktop. This is probably not a bad idea as randomly opening ports needed to use RDP externally to your home PC is not a risk-free process.
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Old 11-02-2015, 02:29 PM   #6
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There are a few non-alienware brands that can give you real desktop performance in a laptop. Check out offerings from Eurocom/Sager/Clevo. Also, gaming laptops are getting thinner and lighter. Check out the msi gs40 - i7 skylake, nvidia 970gtx, full hd screen, in a 3.5 lb laptop. One thing - gaming cards don't always do perform as well on engineering software like autocad (things may have changed though) . You may be better off looking for something in the nvidia quadro line.
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Old 11-02-2015, 02:46 PM   #7
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this could blow your budget quickly, but I'm a happy Falcon NW owner, and they have a couple of laptop lines that offer both gaming (GeForce) and workstation (Quadro) oriented graphics capabilities:

https://www.falcon-nw.com/laptops

yes you'll pay dearly, but the support and knowledge of their staff is better than any other vendor I've talked to.
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Old 11-02-2015, 03:48 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by psyang View Post
There are a few non-alienware brands that can give you real desktop performance in a laptop. Check out offerings from Eurocom/Sager/Clevo. Also, gaming laptops are getting thinner and lighter. Check out the msi gs40 - i7 skylake, nvidia 970gtx, full hd screen, in a 3.5 lb laptop. One thing - gaming cards don't always do perform as well on engineering software like autocad (things may have changed though) . You may be better off looking for something in the nvidia quadro line.
This. Don't go for one of the big name gaming brands like Alienware or Falcon NW, Voodoo, or the MSI or ASUS gaming lines etc.

I custom built a Sager/Clevo laptop several years ago and it kicks ass and looks like a business laptop even though it had one of the most powerful CPUs and GPUs at the time. Because it wasn't a gaming machine with all the fancy lights, it was also much cheaper. Hell, even now 5 years later, I saw my laptop in the James Bond Spectre movie being used as Q's personal banged up machine!

Almost all laptops in the world are made by a few OEMs in Taiwan. People don't know they also have their own generic and uncommon brands that most people on the street would never recognize There's a lot of non-descript stuff with powerful hardware that doesn't look like a gaudy bling bling gaming laptop with flashing lights and giant vents.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/foru...-lounges.1069/

As far as remote desktop, the biggest concern is network latency and even if the network remains fast and consistent enough, you'll have some slow-down, lag, and redraw programs as I assume your program will be graphics/CAD intensive.

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Old 11-02-2015, 10:14 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hack&Lube View Post
As far as remote desktop, the biggest concern is network latency and even if the network remains fast and consistent enough, you'll have some slow-down, lag, and redraw programs as I assume your program will be graphics/CAD intensive.
I'm no expert, but having tried a few remote desktop tools, and as a current user of LogMeIn (dictated by work), the lag makes anything other than some rudimentary word processing a chore.
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