There is a possibilty that this question has been asked before and perhaps this may not be the right forum for posting this, but since it concerns Poser, Ithought I would post it here to start. My question deals with system requirements for Poser on a Laptop. Now, I have read the requirements at CL's website, but it doesn't specify if this is strictly for a pc or if it applies to a laptop as well. I am currently choosing a laptop to purchase this this week and I have searched through a plethora of laptop entries at various sites, both retail and internet. One thing I found that baffles me is the whole issue of video card memory. Some specify 'dedicated' ram, while others specify shared. I am pretty sure I know what they mean, although good clarification would help again. I would love to hear from laptop users out there that run Poser on them and also find out what is the minimum specs I can get away with. I am running on a bit of a budget and don't want to have to spend any more than $1300, if this is possible to run Poser without it giving me probs. Any help would be appreciated. Jim

"shared" on any system usually means the video meomory stated on the specifactions is "borrowed" from the system memory. It's B/S advertisng on the part of manufacturers to make the customer think the machine is faster. example spec: 256mb and 64mb shared video. In real terms you'll have 192-200mb system ram to play with. But if you had a dedicated 256mb and seperate video card with 128mb on board thats what you atually get. I would assume given the purpose of laptops and the way they are made this laptops most would share video/system RAM. Running Poser ? Poser 4 runs OK on an old second-hand Travelmate (win 98 - 650 MHz 192mb ram) and for small scenes with 1 or 2 figure thats fine. It's large textures maps are the killer. So concentrate more cash on RAM than CPU power. Tip: If you have any questions like this, it's often worth calling dell or any other retailer and asking. It's a free call and unlike a store you can't be pressured into buying! Al

Jim, I run Poser5 on a IBM T41 laptop at those times when my PC is otherwised engaged (Kids killing stuff etc). Off the top of my head the spec is a P4Mobile with 512mb Memory and 32mb shared video memory using ATI Mobility (7500 I think) chipset. I have to say the Poser is only marginally useable especially when I have multiple figures. I've yet to try Poser6 but hopefully the OpenGL support should speed things up a bit, as Cinema4d runs ok. My main issues with using a laptop for 3D work as the limited screen resolution (1024x768 normally) and having to use a touchpad or trackpoint rather than a mouse when I'm working with the laptop on my lap rather than at a desk. Shared memory indicated that the video chipset (GPU) will use some of the system memory, ie you have 512mb of physical memory installed, and you allocate 32mb of memory to the GPU (Some laptops allow you to specify the amount in the BIOS) you will then have 480mb availiable for Windows. Dedicated memory is memory that is seperate from the system memory and is useally fixed by the laptop manufacturer, but does tend to be faster than using shared memory. Is there a reason why you want to use a laptop rather than a desktop? $1300 would buy a decent spec desktop PC (Probably better than an equivelent laptop, but I'm in the UK and don't know how US prices compare).

I have limited space in the place I live in and don't have the room for a pc, plus I have a greater need for mobility. I have found some laptops that say they have dedicated memory for the video card. There is one in particular that has a gig of ram, but has 128mb of shared video mem. Would this system be cool? I figured with the increased ram, the video ram wouldn't hurt the resources very much. I hadn't planned on running P6 anyways since I heard about the bugs. I guess now the question is whether having a laptop with greater ram will help with the sharing of vid memory? Jim P.S. thanks to those who have sent their suggestions, I appreciate it!

I have a Dell laptop. Pent 4, 1.8 gig processor, 40 gig hard drive, and 512 DDR Ram. Poser works fine on this machine. I haven't done things in the hair room, but I venture a guess that this machine would cough and wheeze, as would any machine that didn't have a gig of ram because the hair room is a RAM hog. I only render single figures and no backgrounds (still can't figure it out despite reading tutorials on it), and I'm able to do about 10 production renders of 800 x 800 without having to reboot.

Acadia, Sounds like a great system but I would also like to know what you have for a vid card and if it has shared or dedicated ram? Jim

I've been running Poser on various laptops for a couple of years now, but the latest is a definate winner. It's what the manufacturers call a "desktop replacement". It's an Acer Aspire 1714SMI. It has a 17" screen, can go to a resolution of 1280x1024, has a 3.4ghz processor, 120gb hard drive and 1gb RAM. It uses desktop parts, not laptop ones. That means I don't have to pay for expensive laptop bits when I want to upgrade. Also, the video card is replacable(it comes with a nVidia GeForce FX Go5700, which has 128mb dedicated RAM. I could replace that with any PCI video card, though it's been fine for me so far). Poser flies along (I use Poser5 and Poser6 without problems and my runtime is about 20gb of stuff). Cost wise - it cost me 1200 when it first came out. Given that that was in September last year (and that computers cost less in the US than they do over here) I expect what you can get now would easily come within your price bracket. If I were you I'd definately consider a "desktop replacement" when you shop - plenty of screen area, uses standard parts and it's portable (OK, a bit heavy, and the battery life isn't so good because of that whacking great screen). But overall, I'm thrilled with it and the main thing I use it for (other than picking up my email) is Poser.

I run Poser on my laptop and it's great; more stable and faster in fact then my (older) desktop system. Athlon 64 3200+, 1 Gig DDR 400, 7200RPM HDD, 128 Radeon 9700 Video, 15.4" Widescreen; about 6 pounds. I LOVE IT!!!! If I were to give you some advice, check out some of the so called "boutique" vendors, and know exactly what kind of spects you are looking for. I've noticed that a lot of the "big boys" - Dell, HP et all tend to cut a lot of corners on the components by using slow HDD, integrated video or slow RAM to get to a certain pricepoint or they use older technology.

Attached Link: http://www.alienware.com

if there is any way you could manage it, I would highly recommend an Alienware product...many people know what that means, but just in case you're not familiar with the brand, I'll just say that they are the "Rolls Royce" of computers...they are highly coveted by gamers, which my Husband was until he got into 3D graphics...they are all hand built by one Alienware techie and take a bit longer to receive once you choose one (they go through 17 phases of production and testing...the games they use to benchmark the system performance are Doom 3 and the like), but I dont think there are any computers to compare with them...my Husband just bought an Area 51m 7700 and it kicks @ss! and my Husband does have Doom 3 and it plays like a dream...he paid about $2800 for his laptop, but you can go to their website and go through the process of configuring all the features you want so your price could be much different...it doesn't hurt to do it just to see how much it would cost you...you would never regret the purchase...and right now I think they have a few sales on...

Message edited on: 05/09/2005 09:25

I just took a quick look at Dell's laptops and you can get their Inspiron 9300 (17" widescreen) starting at $1199. Adding 256 Mb RAM to get up to 512 Mb is $50 and it's worth spending $69 for another 20 Gb hard drive space. It comes standard with a 64 Mb Mobility Radeon graphics chip and a DVD burner. It's $300 off till Wednesday and has free shipping. That puts the laptop $19 more than what you wanted to spend, but this is a very good multimedia machine. Had this been available at this price back in January, it's what I would have purchased instead of the Inspiron 5150. I'm happy with my laptop and have gotten used to seeing better products come along after I buy one.

Thanks for all your input folks, but alas I have another dilemma which is that I cannot buy online. I am pretty much stuck with retail right now, but have an immediate need for a laptop. I did find what could be a sweet deal at a local CompUSA for a Compaq Presario r4025us laptop. It has 2.0ghz processor, 1gb ram, 80gb hd, 15.4" screen and an ATI Radeon Express 200M vid card with 128mb installed ram. This may be the one to get...as long as they still have it in stock by this weekend. lol Jim

The Compaq looks very good, I think Athlon 64 is the way to go with stuff like Poser (integrated memory controller and very powerful floating point processor). The only thing I would warn you about with it is the hard drive is probably going to be it's biggest bottleneck - looks like it's only 4200 RPM. Most laptop HDD are S L O W .... they are built for low power consumption and heat, not performance. You'll notice this when reading/writing huge files (like the kind Poser can make), or when Windows really starts thrashing the swap file. You can always upgrade it though.

Message edited on: 05/09/2005 13:23

Jim, I have a 2.2 (P4M) Ghz Toshiba Satelite with 1Gb RAM, and a 32Mb Nvidia 460Go video Card. Poser 6 runs very well on it. If possible, I recommend getting dedicated, rather than shared, video ram. Shared RAM will be slower than dedicated video RAM simply because dedicated video RAM is on the video card, and shared must go through the system bus to communicate with the video card, which is much slower. I would also recommend a Nvidia Graphics card, CL worked closely with Nvidia on the open GL implementation, so it only stands to reason that Nvidia cards will be some what more stable (but ATI seems to work well too). More Video RAM means better performance as scenes get more complex, obviously 32Mb works, but 64 would be better, 128 is very good, and 256 would be great. 1Gb of RAM is a BIG plus, I had 512 on my laptop at first, and I was always running out of room and hitting the swap file (which is SLOOOOOW on a laptop). The system you quoted above sounds great. I've used Athlon's for years, and have been very happy with their perfomance. Good luck with your purchase!

I run Poser 6 on my Tablet PC and it performs very well. It's a Toshiba Portege M200 with 1.25 GB of PC2700 RAM, an nVidia GeforceFX 5200 GO and an intel Centrino at 1.5 Ghz. Granted, I haven't run P6 on my desktop to compare but I've had no need to. In fact, I'm quite surprised at how well it runs.

Mine's well over a year, year and a half, old. It's an HP pavillion ze5300, 2.6Ghz, half a gig of ram and not sure of the video card. P6 actually runs better than P5. But with either one - anything print size and using firefly with water reflection and refraction or very high res textures will cause it to hang unless I get offline and turn off Norton and Zone Alarm.

Alienware would be nice. :)

Here are the video card specs of my laptop:

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go (Dell Mobile)
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce4 440 Go
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC

Message edited on: 05/09/2005 22:41

I've got an older Acer Aspire 1700C: P4 2.66, 512 MB DDR333 (upgraded to 1 GB), SiS M650 shared memory graphics card, DVD/CDRW, 80 GB 5400 RPM ATA100 disk. Not as good as the 1714 mentioned above, but Poser 6 works fast and fine, as does 3D Studio Max 6. Doom 3 won't work, but Warcraft III plays fine. It's two years old by now, and it still is one of the fastest portables I've ever encountered.