Resolume Forum

Hi everyone!
I'm going to buy a new laptop and I wanna be sure to choose the right one for vjing.
I need it for real time projection mapping in opera theater, so it's very important that not crash or lag.
I also use kinect whit quartz composer and syphon for real time input in arena.
I saw the macbook pro with these specs:
2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
16GB 1600MHz memory
512GB PCIe-based flash storage1
Intel Iris Pro Graphics
AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2GB GDDR5 memory

Is good enough in your opinion? Or maybe should I switch to windows for a more powerful laptop?
Thank you!:)

Hoping a new Macbook Pro model comes out soon...

Generally, when we've hosted traveling VJs, they have the max-ed out Macbook Pros and they work quite well and consistently, especially if you're pushing a 1920x1080 texture (they do get finnicky when you're pushing more than about 2 layers at 3840x2160, however). I know AMD cards don't always cooperate so well with Arena on PC, but on Macs they are much more stable.

I cannot really speak to their handling of multiple outputs, but I have read on this forum from a few folks that using Blackmagic capture devices (such as an Intensity shuttle or a Decklink card inside a PCIe over Thunderbolt chassis) are solid options.

I am in a similar position — I know that the real work I want to make requires a PC tower, and I'm working on it, but I really need a portable solution. For the sake of saving money and being able to customize with maybe something like NVIDIA GTX970m, I would want a PC notebook, but all the custom builds look/feel way too "gamer" for my tastes, some of them are rather bulky too.

TL;DR - if you need an Apple machine, getting the most tricked out Macbook Pro is your safest bet. PC has the potential to perform even better, for cheaper, but requires more purpose-driven research.

I'm still curious why anyone is ever interested in macs when it comes to real time performance. From my findings window machine with a 970m pretty much hands it to any R9 M370X for less then a macbook pro. A 980m can also be had for under the asking price of a macbook pro if you look at the asus ROG line. The video card is the work horse in Resolume it's kinda an important part of the system.

I mean you can basically get a new tricked out razor blade 970m for that price. Then later get a razor core and run your gig off an actual desktop card for expandability. Even upgrade it to a 1080gtx at some point which would be around 30x more powerful then any macbook and about 4x the graphic power of any mac product to date.

Digi wrote: Sun May 08, 2016 22:12 I'm still curious why anyone is ever interested in macs when it comes to real time performance. From my findings window machine with a 970m pretty much hands it to any R9 M370X for less then a macbook pro. A 980m can also be had for under the asking price of a macbook pro if you look at the asus ROG line. The video card is the work horse in Resolume it's kinda an important part of the system.

I mean you can basically get a new tricked out razor blade 970m for that price. Then later get a razor core and run your gig off an actual desktop card for expandability. Even upgrade it to a 1080gtx at some point which would be around 30x more powerful then any macbook and about 4x the graphic power of any mac product to date.

I read somewhere on here that using that "razor core" extra graphics card wouldn't help Resolueme actually but idk

vj8k3 wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 07:49 I read somewhere on here that using that "razor core" extra graphics card wouldn't help Resolueme actually but idk

Hi, so the new ROG Zephyrus S (GX531)
https://www.asus.com/it/Laptops/ROG-Zephyrus-S-GX531/
is not a good choice for Resolume?
Thanks

I just got a refurb razer blade 15 with a gtx 1070 max-q for 1600USD on ebay and this thing absolutely CRUSHES anything I put on it, I just tested with an 8k composition with 2 outputs and I got steady 70 to 80 fps with the vsync off and using 8k content. It's a VERY compact machine, almost as compact as the macbook and also very elegant, it doesn't have a gamer feel to it, plus the rgb mapable keyboard is an added bonus for mapping stuff on arena, I high recommend it, it's working flawlessly. Also has a sweet 144hz screen that even if you don't game on it, makes everything feels extremely smooth. They've just launched a version with an oled screen but this one goes to up to 3300USD.