I’m not sure which machine would give me the best performance for using Blender, which I want to get back into. Also need it for camera work, so I finally decided I needed to go for a laptop instead of a desktop.
For blendering, I may have an external monitor hooked up as well, so I am kind of wondering if a 15" with slightly improved specs might be better. But my laptop at work is a 15" and seems a bit cramped.
My best price/performance are a 17", 1 TB/16 GB DDR4 laptop.
(Note the prices are in Canadian dollars. And there’s tax of 13% HST on top, so these are on the extreme end of my price points )
a) either i7-6700HQ with an Nividia 960M GMem not specified
Not including a 1 year extended warranty for another $195 So with the extra warranty, this one ends up being $100 more.
b) My choice thus far is an ASUS i5-7300HQ with an Nividia 1050 with 2GB of Gmem.
It probably has the mobile 1050, but even the mobile GPU version is still faster than the 960M by 25% or more according to one benchmark I saw. It also comes with a gaming mouse and backpack, but importantly for price it includes the Costco standard 2 year warranty. Although I hear they have additional coverage. Not sure how much that is.
So is the 1050 GPU overcome the slower i5, or would the i7 be better despite the 960M? Or would the combination be SO much better, I’d be better off settling on a 15" instead of 17"?
In which case… Should I go for an 15" with i7 with 1050 GPU?
$1299 http://www.staples.ca/en/MSI-GL62M-7RD-218CA-15-6-Gaming-Laptop-2-80-GHz-Intel-Core-i7-7700HQ-256-GB-SSD-8-GB-GeForce-GTX1050-Win10/product_2607978_2-CA_1_20001
Oh… although this one’s only got a 256 GB SSD, no hard drive.
But again, that’s not including the 1 year extended warranty for another $195 So with the extra warranty, this one ends up being $100 more.
Fast response appreciated, because these are sale prices and probably limited stock.