Quote - > Quote - When I can render in 1/16th the time (or even complete a render for that matter) in 3ds max using GI and Final gather there is really something wrong.

Sure there is - the price tag (1/27th of 3ds Max).  I bet if Smith Micro's Poser team had an operating budget in line with Autodesk's you'd see a vastly more advanced app.  You'd pay for it too.

I am fully aware of this, you missed my point- as I stated, yes Max has a huge budget, and obviously better engineers, but really read it again- the way I look at it a consumer app should be less resource intensive than a pro app and that is a fact that you can't argue- consumers more often than not have less of a machine than pros so by default the consumer app should be lighter on resources.