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Advice for a laptop with eGPU


ahmedsme

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Hey guys. I'm not a gamer and i dont game that much on a PC, maybe on a console, but not a PC. I'm a photographer and i mainly work in Lightroom or Photoshop and do photo rendering and super sized panoramas. Currently i have a Lenovo Thinkpad W520 with quad-core i7, 24GB DDR3 RAM, SSD's, and 2GB Nvidia Quadro, and yes i fill up the RAM once i open 20 36MP RAW photo in photoshop. I had this setup for over 4 years now and i'm looking for something with more powerful GPU. My main issue with getting the next system is that i need something portable since i do travel a lot and need my system with me to work on location. I saw what Alienware did with their graphics amplifier and that idea caught my attention so i started my research into eGPU and need some expert advice if you can. I have few system that interest me for now and not sure which one to go with.

- mini ITX custom built PC with ThermalTake Core V1 case, intel i7-6700k, 16GB DDR4, 1TB SSD, Nvidia GeForce 970 4GB

- New Alienware 13" i7-5500u, 16GB RAM,Nvidia 960 2GB + getting the graphics amplifier and install Nvidia 970 4GB in it

- MSI GS30 Ghost with Nvidia 970 4GB in the dock

- Macbook retina 13" 2.7GHz dual-core i5, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD + any eGPU that you guys recommend as long as it works with Mac OS

- Thinkpad W541 and get some eGPU that works off the thunderbolt 2.0

For the mean time i have a 3000 CAD budget which is fine for all the systems i mentioned. I really liked the MacBook idea but 90% of the guys i saw implementing this system were using windows which i dont want to do if i'm buying a MacBook. What scares me in the Alienware is some people mentioned that the cable might end up throttling the performance of a high end eGPU.

I would love to hear what you guys think of this.

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Hey guys. I'm not a gamer and i dont game that much on a PC, maybe on a console, but not a PC. I'm a photographer and i mainly work in Lightroom or Photoshop and do photo rendering and super sized panoramas. Currently i have a Lenovo Thinkpad W520 with quad-core i7, 24GB DDR3 RAM, SSD's, and 2GB Nvidia Quadro, and yes i fill up the RAM once i open 20 36MP RAW photo in photoshop. I had this setup for over 4 years now and i'm looking for something with more powerful GPU. My main issue with getting the next system is that i need something portable since i do travel a lot and need my system with me to work on location. I saw what Alienware did with their graphics amplifier and that idea caught my attention so i started my research into eGPU and need some expert advice if you can. I have few system that interest me for now and not sure which one to go with.

- mini ITX custom built PC with ThermalTake Core V1 case, intel i7-6700k, 16GB DDR4, 1TB SSD, Nvidia GeForce 970 4GB

- New Alienware 13" i7-5500u, 16GB RAM,Nvidia 960 2GB + getting the graphics amplifier and install Nvidia 970 4GB in it

- MSI GS30 Ghost with Nvidia 970 4GB in the dock

- Macbook retina 13" 2.7GHz dual-core i5, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD + any eGPU that you guys recommend as long as it works with Mac OS

- Thinkpad W541 and get some eGPU that works off the thunderbolt 2.0

For the mean time i have a 3000 CAD budget which is fine for all the systems i mentioned. I really liked the MacBook idea but 90% of the guys i saw implementing this system were using windows which i dont want to do if i'm buying a MacBook. What scares me in the Alienware is some people mentioned that the cable might end up throttling the performance of a high end eGPU.

I would love to hear what you guys think of this.

Wait for Thunderbolt3 (32Gbps x4 3.0) Skylake notebooks to be released. Intel will officially support eGPUs then. http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/10147-intel-unveils-thunderbolt-3-0-mentions-external-graphics-skylake-q4-2015-a.html

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If we start seeing Thunderbolt3 support in some more mainstream laptops, then that gives a lot more flexibility for having a system cpu/ram/storage wise that is "good enough" to last through two or three different gpu upgrades and would make the economics of investing in the base hardware a lot more viable in the first place.

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