Consumer Laptop vs Mobile Workstation

[Anonymous]

I am doing research into a new computer to run Revit Architecture and to render with (potentially VRay) and I wanted input beyond just telling that they meet the spec requirements. I was looking into the Microsoft Surface Book with i7, 16gb ram and the dGPU, the Dell XPS 15 with similar specs, the Razer Blade 2016, Dell Precision 5510 with the Xeon CPU, or a MacBook Pro 15 with Parallels and Win10. What will run complex models with site elements and some MEP linked models as well as Render with the best?

[dzanta]

If your ultimate goal is to run Revit on a workstation that can handle what you throw at it (in this case, revit models with site and rendering requirements), then you will want a machine that can handle the processing needs of that task.  Of all the machines you list, the most powerful one will be the DELL Precision Xeon processor model.  i7 processors really cannot handle the multitasking (multiple VM, rendering, etc.) that is required for production work.  The Surface Book does not the right graphics card or processor.  The XPS 15 has a gaming card (960 GTX GeForce) which is great for gaming but not so powerful for CAD/Revit.  The Razor is great for gaming but not CAD/Revit processing.  Mac is a mac...Parallels on Mac with Windows 10 will require you buy Windows 10 as well as the laptop...added cost.  Not sure what graphics card is in the Mac.  Probably good for graphic design/photography...not sure on Revit/rendering.

I own a DELL XPS 15 and it took 9 hours to do a Revit rendering at highest possible custom settings...testing it.

See my signature for the comp specs.  See my article on Revit, rendering, workstations.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/article/14526

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply and the resource, I will take a look at it!

I have been trying to read up of the performance differences between the i7's and the Xeon processors and have been getting conflicting information. It's been alittle confusing. And then depending on your rendering workflow, whether you run gpu dependent rendering plugin or standalone engine adds a whole other level of complexity.

[ToanDN]

For the money I would get a non-mobile workstation dedicated for rendering and an above average laptop for everything else.

[dgorsman]

Indeed.  Rendering high quality on a laptop is asking for overheated components.  Plus, since rendering normally occupies much of the computer you don't really to spend the money get something portable and then tie it down somewhere.

From something upthread - i7's are perfectly fine for multi-threading, including rendering, compared to Xeon processors; the only place where Xeons are better would be multi-processor workstations.  Xeons are slightly more robust in manufacture (to handle operating in a server setting) but for user applications there is no practical difference.  That includes spending a day or two rendering.

GPU rendering will almost certainly require a desktop with something along the lines of a 980 Ti, Titan X, or newer 1070/1080 series.  Those get pretty expensive to start with (and come with a few limitations), so using CPU rendering with a faster processor and a couple of extra cores (hex-core instead of quad, oct- instead of hex-, etc.) is more cost-effective with lower-cost systems.