I think I am using pretty much cheapest hardware I can myself. I really get by with Ryzen 5 5600X, 64GB of RAM and RTX3060 12GB version. It’s around 700 euros only(excluding monitor and other stuff). And that’s because I wanted some fast SSDs. It could be even slightly cheaper. It works. It’s fine. No complaints for what I do. It handles modelling and rendering for archvis and product visualizations. I think it would still be usable for animation. But can you get a matching laptop for that?.. Something even close?..
2 Likes
Yeah for a desktop you can get a lot more for your money, when I built my PC I spent £1000 and got:
Intel Core I5 14600K
Noctua NH-D9L CPU cooler
Gigabyte B760M motherboard
64GB of DDR5 RAM
500GB WD Blue SN570 NVME SSD
ASUS TUF RTX 3070
Phanteks AMP GH 1000 W 80+ Platinum Power Supply
I’ve an 2022 Gigabyte A7 K1 (AMD Ryzen 5000 series) gaming laptop
- WIN11 Home
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX3060 GPU
- AMD Ryzen 9 5000 HX CPU
- 16GB RAM
- 17.3" Thin Bezel FHD IPS 144Hz display
- x3 USB ports
Paid $1,800AUS (Australian dollars) at a discounted price three years ago…ahem! we actually pay “Australian tax” 
down here, btw I didn’t read through this thread so not sure of your currency does it refer too US dollars? anyway $500 - $800 seems imo slightly low if you’ve quality purchase in mind. Now the apps/tools I routinely use for mobile gamedev is fairly basic:
- Blender 3.6.1
- Inkscape
- Gimp
- UE4 or UPBGE (mostly content showcase)
Obviously this platform can easily handle as apposed to industry standard applications (Substance suite, Marmoset TB etc or even UE5) which tend to be computing resource intensive and importantly will cause thermal stress, a pretty common laptop killer over it’s lifetime although things like a cooler pad I’ve found with it’s multiple fan configuration helps mitigate component failure. I also might suggest 32GB as bare minimum especially with animation, otherwise there are ‘off-the-shelf’ options but again be prepared to pay little extra.
Edit:
These might be of interest…
2022 MSI GE76 Raider 17.3" - $2000USD
or
2022 ASUS ROG Strix G17 17.3" - $1889USD
And both laptops also ship with a GeForce RTX3060 GPU, 2TB SSD plus 64GB RAM.
https://www.reinisfischer.com/top-20-laptops-64gb-ram-gaming-business
1 Like
You’re not alone with that mindset.
I have a comparable system with an Ryzen 7 3800x, 64 GB RAM and a RTX 3060 with 12GB VRAM.
I paid more because I bought mine earlier and I had to pay Covid tax.
I think you can get something close on paper - but close in terms of raw performance?..idk. It would give me constant anxiety running a laptop on 100% load for longer periods of time. 
I consider upgrading mine soon by putting a cheap, slightly older Ryzen 9 16C in it which will prolong its life by a couple of years. Another factor that makes desktops more valuable in the long run.
Almost twice the performance for ~250 more bucks is a great value proposition.
2 Likes
No, but not really. What laptop GPU has 12GB of VRAM and what laptop for that price has 64GB of RAM. I mean lower CPU speed makes stuff slow, lack of memory makes stuff impossible…
3 Likes
You are right, I totally ignored the RAM/VRAM and was focused on the CPU/GPU.
I’ll take it back.
1 Like
I suppose the question then is what the OP needs it for exactly. I mean at the moment they mentioned
I mean… Rendering what exactly?.. I think I could use a smart toaster for modelling, but rendering? Smoothly?.. I don’t know. It can be slow and smooth 
, but if there is not enough VRAM to fit the scene in then it’s not smooth any more. It depends on the situation… @Green3d, what are you going to use it for? What kind of modelling? What kind of animation? What kind of rendering?
1 Like
These should be mandatory questions everybody who wants to get hardware recommendations should answer first.
3 Likes
Yes I agree more information would be helpful here, realistic scenes require loads more VRAM and resources than simple low poly scenes.
Technically, in many ways it’s more a question of textures. For example, you could have a forest scene, with a pretty high/realistic polygon count, but just a single 4K PBR texture pack for all the bark/leaves, etc and chances are a 8GB VRAM card would render it fine.
Or a lower polygon count character, but with 20 UDIM tiles, all with 4K textures, etc and now that 8GB card is in trouble.
As the saying goes, the devil is in the details.
2 Likes
If your budget is around $500-$800, I’d focus on getting the best GPU possible.
For Blender, I’d look for:
- RTX 4060 if you can find one on sale
- RTX 3070 / 3070 Ti used
- RTX 3060 as a minimum
- 16GB RAM minimum (32GB is even better)
- SSD storage
Personally I’d rather buy a used laptop with a stronger GPU than a brand new laptop with a weaker GPU.
Also don’t get too caught up chasing the “perfect” laptop. Whatever you buy today will eventually become slow as your scenes get bigger and your projects get more ambitious.
Get something that lets you comfortably model, animate, and learn. You can always upgrade later 
If you post a few models you’re considering, people here can tell you which one is the best deal. 
1 Like
32gb with a good GPU is unlikely due to RAM prices, i would say 16gb with a good GPU is better.
Personally, I wouldn’t buy used, since you usually don’t get a warranty and you don’t know how long it has been used for, or what the actual condition is.
1 Like
I won’t really answer your question but will be straight to the point: laptops are a terrible investment for 3D art. Just save money and buy a second hand desktop, that you will upgrade as you go.
1 Like
Not at all, I use Blender on an MSI laptop with an RTX 4070 and 64GB of RAM.
Close it, take it with me, and start blending.
I use it at my vacation home, when I’m staying at friends or family for a few days, and even recently in the hospital 
That would be nearly impossible with a desktop computer.
2 Likes
Agreed, a portable form factor is an excellent content generation platform when on the go / travel.
Edit:
As an aside OT personal observation, I’ve been looking into Valve’s steam machine because atm it’s running LINUX ARCH so I’ve really come to the head desking end of my time dealing with MS WIN operating systems for 25yrs and want to make the jump but software compatibility is a stumbling block for the foreseeable future. Anyway portability/mobile hardware alternatives to be honest may be the next disruptive tech, I think particularly in terms of CG orientated industries.
2 Likes
FYI: The importance of the “GPU” has a great deal to do with whether you are using Cycles in your workflow, or EEVEEx. Both of them use the chip, but they do so in different ways.
Heat can be an important consideration in any laptop. For example, I use a MacBook Pro, and Cycles is not friendly to that machine. (I don’t like to hear the fan switching on, because it’s not much of a fan …) However, my workflow is based on EEVEEx, and this is part of the reason why.
If budget is a serious consideration, visit a local non-chain computer store and see what gently-used equipment they sell. You can adapt your production to it.
“Operating system” is really up to your own preferences. (The store can install anything you prefer.) Just make sure that Blender and all of your other tools run well on it. The hardware should be more than capable of running current versions of any system that you select, and be expected to continue to be able to do so for some time in the future.
1 Like