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try
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/
for advice
For real though, if it meets the recommended system specs of SFM, then you are good.
The story is from personal experience.
Here, we have a Dell Alienware X51 R2 desktop PC. Inside, we have a i7 4770 processor, a GeForce GTX 760 Ti GPU, 16GB of DDR3 RAM @ 1600Mhz, a 1TB storage HDD, etc, etc. An okay rig. So, we rewind to the day of unboxing. All is going well and machine is perfect for what is required. A few games here and there.
Move a year forward. First signs of problems. Screen starts going black. Warranty is up, conveiently. Take to repair shop. Diagnosed to be a bad GPU. Shell out about 700 dollars for a new one. Computer goes back to normal.
Fast forward about 6 months. Blue screens occur. Take it back. Problem fixed, PC good again. Fast forward 3 months. Blue screens AGAIN! Bring it back. Supposedly fixed again! Fast forward 3 more months. Rinse and repeat.
Currently, this thing is put on permanaent hold and awaiting disassembly, like the alien it is. Will be checked from top to bottom to find out WTF is wrong with her. Supposedly, sh'es been invaded by Gremlins (props if you get the reference).
My point is, as someone who has been the "unproud" owner of an Alienware product, I'm simply giving you a "buyer beware" warning. Since you want a laptop, I'd recommend an Asus or MSI. As long as you meet the spec requirements of SFM and do NOT use an Intel-based renderer (what I'm stuck with ATM and it sucks), you will be fine.
I hope you enjoyed my tale. Feel free to take a water biscuit and a cup of tea on your way out.
If you want stories, here's what happened to me...
I bought a HP Envy17-3D in 2009 from a big box store (No names, no pack drill), I put the 4 year extended warranty on it as well. 2 months before the extended warranty expired, I blew the heat sync and fan and took the machine in for repair. I had a night mare experience with the repair. Although the repair was covered under warranty, I lost the laptop for 2 months. When it finally was repaired, I received back, the hard drive had been completely reformated with just windows 7 put back on, AND my factory recover partion erased. Thank gawd I backed up before sending it in but, I took the machine back and complained.
I asked why a heat sync and fan required a hard drive repair and demanded that the machine be reset to factory standards (I wasn't going to get my data back, but I needed the recovery partition) or be given the factor recovery disks so I could recover the computer myself. I lost the computer for another 3 weeks. When it was returned I was handed a bill for $200 for the factory disks. After much (heated) discussion I was given my computer AND the disks at no charge (and I have never bought anything from them again.)
The laptop worked wonderfully until about 3 months ago when I started getting Machine exception errors (which means it's probably time for a new machine).
After struggling with the errors and constant shutdowns, I went to my favourite (a real) computer store and bought a brand new MSI Dominator and brought it home. (I also bought a 4 year instore replacement warranty with it.)
Why a Dominator, High end 1070 8G GPU, 32G Ram, and a 6th gen I7 CPU and it has 2 Dedicated cooling fans, one for the GPU the other for the CPU with TURBO cooling capabilities. (Something to consider when looking for a Laptop, most don't cool very well and running programs that are resource intensive like SFM, or any other rendering software. If you don't have good enough cooling, you're going to be buying a new laptop every 3 or 4 years.)
I plugged it in and noticed colour banding issues, but never owning a Nvidia GPU before, thought it may be some setting that I'd have to find and tweak out the banding. It took a week to finally get all the programs installed and feeling like the other manchine. However the banding issues remained and it was so bad, I just couldn't work with it.
So I was told of a fix that might work with the old laptop. I ripped it apart, took the motherboard out, wrapped the motherboard in tinfoil and baked it in a toaster at 325 degrees for 8 minutes. (This fix is on the web, btw.) After baking I reassembled the laptop, and it's been working ever since without a problem.
Anyway, I took the new laptop back to my favourite computer shop (toting my old one as well) and showed them the problem I was having with the colour banding. They put the new machine in for diagnostics and I was called the next day. The GPU in the new machine was fried (right out of the box from the store.)
They pulled a new one off the shelf, swapped out the hard drives and handed me a new machine, no further questions asked. (which I'm typing this on now.)
Long story short, The brand new machine had a bad GPU (so much for quality control)
Moral of the story... Research, KNOW what you need, and what you're thinking of buying and Know who you're buying it from before, what warranties are available and what thecover and reimburse if have a problem BEFORE you buy it.
Don't be lead down garden path by asking "Will it run it" type questions on a forum like this or by just asking some sales clerk a couple of questions in a Big Box store.
Questions like this need to be answered by a true computer technician who knows the machine you're looking at.
Everyone here will have an opinion and offer suggestions but we have no knowledge of what you plan to use it for or what the industry trends are going to be in the next couple of years. As for sales clerks and big box stores... well, nuff said.
At the end of the day you'll still be stuck in the same place you are now, wondering: "Will it run it??"
IF you are not sure, go to a real Computer Store, explain what you plan to use the machine for and let them guide you. If the store is reputable, they are not going to sell you a machine that way too much nor will they sell you a machine that is less than what is required for what you want to do with it.
The moral of both stories OP is to just make sure you "do your HW" and research intensively on the type of laptop/desktop you are interested in as well as what programs you wish to run on it. Don't feel bad. I'm currently doing the same exact thing because an Intel GPU just ain't gonna cut it for SFM.
HOWEVER, when you do decide on a Laptop, stay as far away from Intel HD series graphic chips. They don't work in SFM.
You want something that has an AMD or Nvidia chip or card. (Dedicated GPU or a Dual graphics with one of those chip sets at least)
you can't really say that. mine cost 500 buckets. i dunno what they sell in dollars. for that price range you may get a low amd card? i'd not recommend it. my laptop was 'just available' too, but i chose. screen size. specs. notebookcheck gaming benchmarks. it does what i want it todo. okay, i can just hope it lasts a lil bit. i'm confident tho. atleast 3 years. my old one suffered 5. still works.