Is this a good laptop for blender?

I’m currently looking to purchase a laptop for blender use. Based off my understanding of blenders recommended specs, I have selected this computer:
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/ConfigureView?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&catEntryId=3074457345620383331&urlLangId=&quantity=1
I have customized it to have

  • Intel Core i7-1255U (up to 4.7 GHz, 12 MB L3 cache, 10 cores, 12 threads) + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Laptop GPU (4 GB)
  • 32 Gigabytes of RAM
  • 1 Terabyte of Storage
    Do you guys think that this is a good laptop for blender?

It’s great if you want a laptop- props for getting 32 GB of RAM, that’s one of the biggest difficulties with latops

No, it has a outdated graphic card. The 4000 series are arriving. 4Gb VRAM is also in lower end
Get at least a RTX 3060. But if you wait for 4060 they will have 8Gb VRAM instead 6Gb.

Whatever you buy check if screen is 100% sRGB at least, 300 nits brightness is okay for working inside apartment but do not go lower.

32Gb is okay but also depends on what you doing.

When are those going to come out? Does it take long for newer graphics cards to be installed in laptops?

I have seen the page you posted and there is already one 4060 in OMEN series. It is a bit expensive but the 3060 you can fit also there is not much cheaper. I would search other manufacturers.

Although there is a $1199 Omen there in promo w/RTX 3060 but only 16Gb RAM and 512Gb SSD. Seems to be the cheaper even if you update the SSD and RAM. But you will have to do that work and check HP garanties.
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/omen-by-hp-laptop-17-ck1010nr#techSpecs

One thing i forgot to add, you should care is the wattage TDP of RTX card you will choose. It can vary significantly and change the performance. An 3060 have maximum 115w base and up to 25 w boost on top of that. But there are 3060 in some laptops that only can go to 90w so they will have much less performance.
I don’t know what wattage these OMEN have.

I found this one, which has a 3060 GPU (6GB) as the base, but also let me customize the RAM to 32 Gigabytes and have 1 Terabyte of storage:
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/ConfigureView?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&catEntryId=3074457345620427819&urlLangId=&quantity=1&color=shadow%20black%20with%204-zone%20rgb%20backlit%20keyboard
Do you know how to check or where to look for the wattage?

If you customize it will be more expensive. But that not a bad deal even if i think the CPU is too powerful for the chassis. The prices there in HP are quite bizarre with inferior systems being more expensive.
You can buy a 1TB SSD and 32GB RAM for less than 200 euro. In Black Friday i even got that deal here in Europe for 132 euro but i suspect today will not be possible.
Concerning RTX watts you will have to go to the support page and the manual, contact HP directly, or try to find reviews or OMEN user groups.
One thing that puts me in backfoot is that the OMEN do not have the usual 4 cooling vents to evac that heat, so i’ll try to find reviews of that model.
If you will be doing renders instead of simulations the most important part is the GPU not the CPU.

Edit: The OMEN seems to not have numpad. Some Blender keys are there not sure if it is easy to change.

Yes, that is one thing I noticed about this versus my original pick, although based on the pictures it might have programmable keys. I can’t find 1 Terabyte + 32 GB for less than 1,250 USD anywhere… With HP I can get a sizable discount, so that’s usually where I shop. But as long as it has a good wattage, the 3060 GPU (6GB) is good, right?

Yes. I can get 29.9 seconds in Classroom and 12.85 sec in BMW27 in my legion.

What does that mean?

Render times for Blender demo scenes that are usually used to rate GPU performance. The BMW27 is already legacy since now it is too easy for current Geforces.

Got It. Thanks for your help!

I get also 2615 score in Blender database Benchmark. A 2050 have 779 score. So it is more than 3x slower.

Hey, Just talked with the rep about the laptop, they said “Nvidia rates the GeForce RTX 3060 TGP at 170W, making it the lowest power Ampere GPU by 50W. It has a combined with the x16 PCIe slot that’s enough for up to 225W of power.” I think that means it has a good wattage, right?

There’s no way a laptop can output 225 watts of power to the GPU- laptops output between 60w and 200w, generally speaking, some gaming laptops can do >300w, but this isn’t a gaming laptop. The GPU might be able to go up to 225w, but this laptop isn’t going to give it 225w, which means it’ll be throttled below maximum performance

The Omen 17 is a gaming laptop

The “rep” is someone you should not trust he is being a weasel talking generically about Nvidia when it is HP that have the information of what limitations they made in that laptop for that particular card.
And there are no laptop RTX3060 with 170w TDP. He is talking about desktop one which make it even worse.

You need to know what is the RTX3060 TDP for this specific laptop model no ifs or buts.

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Thank you for the clarification. I thought that might be the case due to how he worded it, but I wasn’t sure. I (probably) won’t be getting this laptop due to the discount not being as large as I expected. If someone has recommendations for a good laptop for ~1000 usd, I would love to hear about it, even though it’s probably a far ask.

Check for Lenovo Legions, take care to verify if it is 100% sRGB screen.

No information if that link notebookcheck posted is a reliable store.
If you can go for a 16" it will have a better 16:10 screen.