MBP with maya

15 inch
256mb vid

Is anyone using this MPB for Maya?

Would you recommend it?

thanks
Jason

Maya is a professional app.
A MacBook Pro is a professional machine.

Professional app + Professional machine = recommended.

D3v1L80Y said:

Maya is a professional app.
A MacBook Pro is a professional machine.

Professional app + Professional machine = recommended.

Click to expand...

Wow, with insight like that, you could work at an Apple Store ;D

They may both be what Apple considers "Pro" products, but that's a pretty boneheaded way to make a purchasing decision. Photoshop is a "Pro" app, but it runs only marginally faster on a MBP as compared to a regular MacBook. And a non-Pro iMac would run it faster still. "Pro" is just a brand.

Personally, I have no idea how Maya would perform on a 15" MacBook Pro. My guess would be that it would work fine, presupposing you needed a laptop but that it would be best if used with a bigger external monitor. I'd further guess that a 17" MBP would be a better choice in the absence of an external display. I'd further suggest skipping a laptop and getting a Mac Pro if you were an actual Professional doing paid, Professional work. But those are just my guesses, and I think gauranga is looking for some real information.

I'd get a mac pro if I didn't need to travel. But I will be traveling a fair bit, about 4 months out of the year. So I'll need a portable workstation. I can't afford both yet, a mac pro and a macbook pro. So I'm goin with a portable workstation for now.

Thanks for your responses.

I'd like to hear from someone using maya 2008 and an MBP to see what they think.

My maya work includes rigging and animating approx 2000 poly characters and rendering with a toon shader. So it's not VFX work or anything to demanding.

technologist said:

Wow, with insight like that, you could work at an Apple Store ;D

Click to expand...

Hehe... that is about the extent of their advice at the Apple Store, isn't it.

Seriously tough, as terse as it may sound (and whether or not an Apple rep could actually explain why it is), it is still sound advice. The "Power" or the "Pro" in the name is more than just a brand. Their hardware configurations/options are optimized for working with demanding applications.
The increased RAM capacity, faster processors (if only 'slightly'), bigger/faster HD choices, better graphics, larger screen/resolution, better ports/expansion, etc. all add up to a machine more suited to the sort of thing you plan on doing. For most people, the "Power" or "Pro" computers are simply overkill and never really used to their full potential.

If you're running Maya, then you will probably also use Illustrator, Photoshop and perhaps a video editor and maybe some other design apps as well. Try running all of those at once (which is at times necessary) and then render something out in Maya on a consumer machine. It'll choke. I've seen it happen many times with people who took the 'budget' route and got a MacBook (or heaven forbid, an iBook) for high-level design/animation/video work.

If you are going to be doing any 3D/animation work you need a computer with a dedicated graphics card... and the more VRAM the better. 256MB is a good amount. You will also need to bulk up your system RAM. I would suggest at least 2GB of system RAM as a starting point... more down the road is a good idea, too. You will most certainly see the advantages of these when rendering out your animations, even simple ones.

Tech is right about the notebook, you would be much better off with a desktop since they offer even greater options for customization and performance. However, since portability is a factor the MBP would be the obvious alternative.
The MBP is the best choice and the recommended machine over the MacBook for this kind of work.

also if you check autodesks website they have a list of issues the mac version of maya has for example textures don't always work very well. If you are serious about maya you may want to consider a pc. Cheaper and will run maya better. I love macs but for using maya they are not your best option