Advice needed on hardware for Blender

[Nick]

Hi all,

New here, just want to say great site and read some nice articles on hardware for Blender and 3d in general, very informative for someone not very tech-savvy like me! I'm just starting out using Blender, rendering in Cycles and post in photoshop for Archviz, interior concept, and architectural environment concept design. I guess the environment concept design is quite heavy using addons such as graswald and botaniq but not sure how heavy with respect to hardware requirements.

I think I would prefer a desktop purely for upgradeability and cooling but at the moment I need the mobility of a laptop so will have to go with one. I was looking at the following:

Lenovo Legion 5, 15.60", Full HD, AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, 16GB, 1000GB SSD m.2 2280, nVidia GeForce RTX 3060. I'm in Switzerland and it retails for CHF 1399, approx USD 1550.

It seems pretty good value, do you think the above spec is adequate? (or even overkill?!).

Also, if going with a laptop will the cooling be adequate for the work I plan or should I be concerned about potential thermal issues? If there is a chance of prematurely killing the machine or reduced performance to the extent that my workflow will suffer then I might have to look at a desktop and sacrifice the mobility.

Many thanks,
Nick

 

[Jerry James]

Hi all,

New here, just want to say great site and read some nice articles on hardware for Blender and 3d in general, very informative for someone not very tech-savvy like me! I'm just starting out using Blender, rendering in Cycles and post in photoshop for Archviz, interior concept, and architectural environment concept design. I guess the environment concept design is quite heavy using addons such as graswald and botaniq but not sure how heavy with respect to hardware requirements.

I think I would prefer a desktop purely for upgradeability and cooling but at the moment I need the mobility of a laptop so will have to go with one. I was looking at the following:

Lenovo Legion 5, 15.60", Full HD, AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, 16GB, 1000GB SSD m.2 2280, nVidia GeForce RTX 3060. I'm in Switzerland and it retails for CHF 1399, approx USD 1550.

It seems pretty good value, do you think the above spec is adequate? (or even overkill?!).

Also, if going with a laptop will the cooling be adequate for the work I plan or should I be concerned about potential thermal issues? If there is a chance of prematurely killing the machine or reduced performance to the extent that my workflow will suffer then I might have to look at a desktop and sacrifice the mobility.

Many thanks,
Nick

Perfect. If I was picking out a laptop, that's pretty close to what I would pick too. The only downside for some might be the Full HD screen, but hardware and value-wise - absolutely no complaints.

 

[Nick]

Hi Jerry thanks for the quick reply. Would you be concerned with overheating issues using blender on a laptop?

Also I can get an Asus Rog Strix G15 and an Asus tuf gaming a15, both with exactly the same spec as the Lenovo for a similar price. Any preference between the three?

Thanks.

 

[Nick]

Perfect. If I was picking out a laptop, that's pretty close to what I would pick too. The only downside for some might be the Full HD screen, but hardware and value-wise - absolutely no complaints.

Hi Jerry thanks for the quick reply. Would you be concerned with overheating issues using blender on this laptop?

Also I can get an Asus Rog Strix G15 with exactly the same spec as the Lenovo for a similar price. Any preference between the two?

Thanks.

 

[Jerry James]

Hi Jerry thanks for the quick reply. Would you be concerned with overheating issues using blender on a laptop?

Also I can get an Asus Rog Strix G15 and an Asus tuf gaming a15, both with exactly the same spec as the Lenovo for a similar price. Any preference between the three?

Thanks.

Yes, workstation tasks are usually quite demanding so do generate a lot of heat. However, AMD's new mobile processors run quite cool so it shouldn't be an issue. I haven't come across any bad reviews of the Legion 5, mostly good response all around. Same with the ASUS Strix one except for a poor screen (wrt brightness). The TUF had received scathing reviews due to poor heat management last year (Ryzen 4000); make sure you check if that got fixed in the new generation.

 

[Nick]

Yes, workstation tasks are usually quite demanding so do generate a lot of heat. However, AMD's new mobile processors run quite cool so it shouldn't be an issue. I haven't come across any bad reviews of the Legion 5, mostly good response all around. Same with the ASUS Strix one except for a poor screen (wrt brightness). The TUF had received scathing reviews due to poor heat management last year (Ryzen 4000); make sure you check if that got fixed in the new generation.

Thanks Jerry, I'll stick with the Lenovo I think. Appreciate your help.