I want to start off by saying I apologize if this isn’t the right thread (I noticed the “This Isn’t A Support Forum” text)
I’m new to Unity, I’ve learned quite a bit but I have far to go before I can actually create something cool and exciting. At the moment I use a desktop. The desktop I have is very bad, it shuts off due to over heating every 15 friggin minutes, it runs everything slow, and my setup is very messy (there isn’t much I can do about that). I know a desktop would be cheaper and probably a better option but the reason for a laptop is I want the mobility. I want to be able to take it wherever I’m at rather then at home and in my office. If I’m getting on a plane, traveling somewhere on vacation. However I don’t know what exactly I should look kfor. My only request is that the screen size is really big (This is so I can run 2 software’s side by side and have enough room to still see everything I need to). The laptop I want needs to be able to run Unity and Blender at the same time without any problem. I know absolutely nothing about laptops having that I’ve never owned one before so I have no idea what to look for. I don’t really have a budget, if it’s $2,000 then it’s $2,000 but I’d prefer not to pay such a large amount. If you need any other information just let me know, thanks!
I’m not going to suggest a specific model, but here’s generally what you want in a Unity development machine:
8+ GB RAM (16+ preferred)
4+ CPU cores
SSD for everything, especially where you store your project
Mid or higher level gaming graphics hardware
The differences between a typical gaming laptop and one more suitable for development is the SSD and the CPU cores, since they aren’t that important for playing games.
Basically the same features you would want in a desktop.
A fast processor (game development tasks take a while to process so the faster the better).
A decent amount of memory (at least 16GB with support for at least 32GB down the road).
A decent graphics chipset (NVIDIA’s laptop hardware is nearly identical to their desktop hardware).
A solid state drive (just about everything benefits from this in some way).
My recommendations are almost always for MSI. Ideally the second laptop of the two below. I only recommend getting the cheaper of the two laptops if you intend to purchase a strong desktop to go with your laptop. It is possible to take the difference of the two laptops, add a little more money, and get a good desktop to go with the less expensive laptop.
Okay. I would suggest a custom built desktop computer.
But since you want a laptop for portability:
I suggest, it has about 8GB of RAM, or 16GB of RAM, or slightly more
in case you need to do 3d sculpting, in sculpting programs such as Sculptris, Zbrush or Mudbox etc.
Or in 3d modelling programs, like blender, 3ds max, Cinema4d, or Maya.
Because highly detailed 3d models (whose details, you might need
to bake down into normal maps, for lower poly models) in some cases,
might have about close to 2 or 5 million polygons.
Or probably more or less polygons, according what you’re trying to create.
I don’t entirely plan on getting a desktop again any time soon, my current setup is so messy and if I got another desktop it wouldn’t be any different. However once things get straightened up I might look into it. For now I just want a laptop. So the second laptop on the list, the cheaper of the two, I mean would that run everything I need without much problem at all? If I can bypass spending about $1500 I will, but I’ll also spend the $1500 if it’s necessary.
It’s completely dependent on the tasks you’re performing. For tasks that are dependent on the processor both laptops will have identical performance, but for tasks that are dependent on the graphics the more expensive laptop will have the advantage (+66% the performance and +50% the memory).
Two of the most demanding tasks for Unity are baking lightmaps and compiling code. Both are currently dependent on the processor, but they are adding support to the lightmapper that will allow lightmaps to be generated by the graphics instead.
Additionally the cheaper laptop is restricted to a 128GB SSD (though you could upgrade it yourself later) which is barely enough storage for the OS, a few major applications (eg Visual Studio), and some data files. It does have a hard drive for additional storage but for most practical purposes that’s only good for backups.
Furthermore while both laptops are upgradeable to 32GB and some people are mentioning 8GB for a minimum I simply don’t advise anything below 16GB unless you just want to save some money now because in the long term you will find yourself upgrading the memory. This is coming from who has had systems with only 8GB. It can be tight at times.
That said since the graphics is the only part you can’t upgrade yourself, that’s the only part you truly need to consider when it comes to the two laptops. I’m currently on a graphics card (GTX 960 w/ 4GB) that is roughly equivalent to the hardware in the cheaper laptop and while I would love a newer one I’ve been mostly fine with it.
I do recommend looking through the available laptops from MSI. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a laptop somewhere in the middle of these two in terms of features and cost. There are hundreds of models on Amazon. Some older generation too.
Just as a quick example, I’m a 1 man team atm and I do not specialize in graphics at all, I am going to be getting into blender tutorials for creating 3D models such as characters and such for my game but most of my assets will be bought from the Unity Store until I am able to assemble a team. Such things as buying realistic tree models and grass, environments and such. Would that be quite tight on the cheaper laptop then? Or would that be fine, I’m just tryna get an idea on what the limits are. Would creating a small game with detailed graphics run fine and it’s when it comes down to creating a large game the more expensive one is what I’m looking for? Because I’m not planning on creating anything huge any time soon, I would like to be able to create realistic looking games and if the cheaper laptop might not cut it entirely then I’ll buy the more expensive one. Just as an idea on what the limitation and cutoff might be for the cheaper one when you say it all comes down to graphics.
Unfortunately there isn’t any real answer to these questions. An unoptimized game (which is what the game will be for the majority of the time its in development) will be more demanding than an optimized game. Additionally the editor itself uses resources too.
For now, I think I’m going to stick with the cheaper laptop since I’ll only be developing smaller games, and as I get better and require more things I’ll go ahead and upgrade, thank you for all your help!
