Advice for buying a new laptop for 3D animation

[Will]

Hi,

I'm looking to purchase a new laptop and this will be my first non Apple buy!
I'm an animator working in C4D (using Arnold but will be moving into Redshift) and After effects, and learning Maya. I'm not looking for my new laptop to be my primary workstation, as I'll have that at work. I am however looking for a machine which will be powerful enough should I need to work remotely on heavy 3D projects (probably won't need to render long sequences but will need to do look dev at least) and at a budget of £1500
After some research based on some great advice from this site, and with a budget of £1500, I've whittled a list down to the below three options. Any advice, or experience on which would be best suited to my needs and budget, and best value for money, would be hugely appreciated.

ASUS ROG Strix G17 G713 17.3" Gaming Laptop
£1400
https://www.cclonline.com/product/a...crosoft-windows-10-home-g713qm-k4218t-364937/

Gigabyte AORUS 15P XD 15.6" RTX 3070 Laptop
£1578
https://www.cclonline.com/product/g...windows-10-pro-aorus-15p-xd-73uk224sh-354894/

MSI GS66 STEALTH 11UE-250UK GAMING LAPTOP
£1450


Thank you in advance ,

Will

 

[Jerry James]

Hey Will, if I were you, I'd go with the AORUS model purely looking at hardware. An extra 178-odd GBP is fine for the graphics card bump, IMO. But I'd recommend asking around locally to make sure that the warranty/repair/RMA experience won't be a hassle if ever needed.

 

[Will]

Hi Jerry,

Thank you for your response and advice.

I was incredibly tempted by the AORUS, however I found a deal on the Gigabyte A7 (recommended as the "all rounder pick" by Alex here ) for £1500. This sent me into a dilemma between the two! However after much deliberation, and based on cinebench scores of +14% on the multicore performance and various reviews online I've opted for the A7, and I've purchased it today! I was torn between the performance of the A7, and hardware that comes with the AORUS (+ the thunderbolt connectivity, but minus the odd placing of the camera! )
I don't know if price is always a good indicator but the A7 had £300 off and the AORUS had £600 off which made me question my decision. However, I think I've made the right choice for what I need... I'll find out tomorrow when it arrives!

Best,

Will

 

[Will]

here's a link to the A7 deal I found

https://www.ebuyer.com/1286766-giga...zen-9-16gb-512gb-ssd-rtx-3070-a7-x1-cuk1130sh

 

[Jerry James]

Very decent indeed! Let us know how it goes