Advice for a laptop choice? SFM

[Time to raise my APM]

A laptop is really the only choice I have for SFM, unfortunately desktops are not an option for me.

I'm buying a new laptop and I'm looking for one that can handle SFM with ease, no hiccups, no problems, no trouble most importantly run smoothly with high FPS. My budget is about $1500 NZD (about $1275 USD). I'm thinking of getting the following.

http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/E8A23UA?HP-ENVY-17-j184nr-Notebook-PC-ENERGY-STAR-

http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/902144?ENVY-17t-
j000-Quad-Best-Value
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Or if those don't satisfy the requirements would making a customized order from HP be a better idea?

E.g Customized order. For $1000
Components
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64
• 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 740M Graphics with 2048MB of dedicated video memory
• 15.6-inch diagonal Full HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1920x1080)
• 12GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• NO mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
• No Additional Office Software
• Security Software Trial
• 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
• No Internal DVD or CD Drive
• Standard Keyboard
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Dual Digital Microphone, Fingerprint Reader
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN [1x1]
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These are the hardware requirements for SFM.

OS: Windows 7 / Vista (Windows 7 64 bit suggested)
Processor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher)
Memory: 2GB (4 GB suggested)
Hard Disk Space: At least 15 GB of Space
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 200 series card or better, or AMD Radeon 3000 series or better (NVIDIA GeForce 400 series or AMD Radeon 5000 series preferred)
Monitor: 1366 x 768 (1920 x 1080 suggested)
Audio: DirectX 9.0c compatible
USB headset with mic (suggested)

Reccomndations would be greatly appreciated. :)

[Time to raise my APM]

I'm no computer worm BTW. XD

[Pte Jack]

Dash, I use an HP Envy17 3D that I bought 4 years ago and SFM works extremely well on it. I also use it for most of my Blender work. HOWEVER these are my specs

Operating System
Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 740QM @ 1.73GHz 69 °C
Clarksfield 45nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 664MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Hewlett-Packard 1590 (CPU)
Graphics
Generic PnP Monitor (1920x1080@60Hz)
** 1024MB ATI AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5800 Series (HP) 73 °C
Hard Drives
932GB Western Digital WDC WD10TPVT-65HT5T0 (SATA) 41 °C
Optical Drives
hp BDDVDRW CA21N
Audio
AMD High Definition Audio Device

** Note that my machine has a Radeon HD5800 Mobility chip in it, not a Nvidia Chip.

I've heard horror stories about the Nvida's interaction with SFM and that in the system is Dual Intel Graphics capable, that ppl have had to actually turn off Secure Boot in order for SFM to find the higher end graphics.

The Envy will run extremely hot while using SFM. I actually had to have warranty work done to mine to fix the heat sync and to replace the cooling fan. (after 3 years of use though)

I am wishing that HP had stayed with the AMD Radeon chip or the newer R Series chips, I find them very reliable and forgiving.

Other than that... check your specs, the actual screen size should be 17 inches for an Envy17 and 15.6 for a regular Envy. Don't get ripped off!!! You'll love the large screen but if you're carrying it around, will dread the weight and that large carrying case!!

[Bop]

I would say an MSI GP60 2PE would be a good choice. It's around $1.4k.

Possible Specs (dependant on model):
CPU - 4th Gen i7/i5
Memory - DDR3 1600 Mhz up to 16GB
Graphics Card - nVidia GeForce 840M 2GB DDR3 (always)
Display Resolution - Up to 1920x1080
Hard Drives - Up to 1GB HDD + 128GB SSD
OS - Windows 8.1

Weight - 2.4kg including battery
Size - 383mm (length) x 249.5mm (width) x 32.3mm (height, may vary depending on model)

[Bop]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pte Jack:

I've heard horror stories about the Nvida's interaction with SFM and that in the system is Dual Intel Graphics capable, that ppl have had to actually turn off Secure Boot in order for SFM to find the higher end graphics.

nVidia's been working well in my case. Could be certain models of nVidia GPU's though.

[[Symmetry]]

I use a Lenovo G580, it's cheap but pretty strong.
I have 8 GB Ram, 2 GB nVidia Video Card, only the processor is weak, but you can choose i5 or i7 for this model too.

[Time to raise my APM]

Do my choices including the custom order. Fit the requirements? I don't really understand the computer terminology involved.

[raptornx01]

Also note that ram use in sfm is capped at 3gb. so having more ram means more for other programs but won't improve sfm very much ( unless your use of other programs starts eating into sfm's ram use).

[Time to raise my APM]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย raptornx01:

Also note that ram use in sfm is capped at 3gb.

So does this mean, that even if you get an a higher amount of RAM, let's say 8-16 GB then it doesn't really matter, because it's capped at 3gb?

[Bop]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย MLP/NZ Danger Dash:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย raptornx01:

Also note that ram use in sfm is capped at 3gb.

So does this mean, that even if you get an a higher amount of RAM, let's say 8-16 GB then it doesn't really matter, because it's capped at 3gb?

It means that you can run more stuff other than SFM simultaneously, but won't make SFM perform better.

[Time to raise my APM]

If having a higher RAM than the cap doesn't increase the performance of SFM, then what can be done to increase it's performance and achieve max FPS?

[Bop]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย MLP/NZ Danger Dash:

If having a higher RAM than the cap doesn't increase the performance of SFM, then what can be done to increase it's performance and achieve max FPS?

I believe SFM focuses mainly on the CPU. Any modern graphics card will do. It's why a laptop wouldn't be the best choice (laptop CPUs are nowhere near as powerful as desktops) but if you're stuck with it, well, what can I do?

[Time to raise my APM]

Ok, turns out that I'm not tied down to a laptop choice anymore which is great news! I'll be ordering soon too.

What are your thoughts on these choices? Which out of the two is the better choice?

http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Desktops/HP-ENVY/G6F98AV?HP-ENVY-Phoenix-810st-Desktop-PC

http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Desktops/HP-ENVY/902231?HP-Envy-700qe-Desktop-PC-Best-Value

[Bop]

Either are more than enough to run SFM. The first one would be better at running next-gen games, however.

[Blue Hawk]

I feel like my laptop's monitor is not big enough for sfm, I can run it but should i consider overclocking?

[Marco Skoll]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย BluëHäwk:

I feel like my laptop's monitor is not big enough for sfm, I can run it but should i consider overclocking?

No. Aside from the fact that those two things have nothing to do with each other, laptops are not a good choice for overclocking (given the impact on power consumption and heat).