Anyone use Maya/Motion Builder/3DS Max/etc on a MBP 13"?

[RobbyIdol]

I'm an animator who has had a good run with my early 2008 15" MBP, but I'm on the verge of needing a new laptop. I'd like to downsize my daily haul a little bit by purchasing the current 13" MBP (non-retina), but I'm worried the integrated graphics card might not be sufficient to run programs such as Maya, Motion Builder, Max, etc.

My current 2008 MBP stats =
2.5Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT.

Rather outdated by today's standards, but still holds its own with the graphics on 3D rendering programs. Will the 13" MBP Intel HD4000 be worse or better than my current setup?

I suppose the best way to find out is to simply buy the MBP, give it a test run, and exchange it if needed. Just looking to see if anyone out there runs 3D software like Maya on the 13" MBP successfully!

 

[ayeying]

I'm an animator who has had a good run with my early 2008 15" MBP, but I'm on the verge of needing a new laptop. I'd like to downsize my daily haul a little bit by purchasing the current 13" MBP (non-retina), but I'm worried the integrated graphics card might not be sufficient to run programs such as Maya, Motion Builder, Max, etc.

My current 2008 MBP stats =
2.5Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT.

Rather outdated by today's standards, but still holds its own with the graphics on 3D rendering programs. Will the 13" MBP Intel HD4000 be worse or better than my current setup?

I suppose the best way to find out is to simply buy the MBP, give it a test run, and exchange it if needed. Just looking to see if anyone out there runs 3D software like Maya on the 13" MBP successfully!

My friend runs Max on her 13" MBP, 2011 model. It has the HD3000 card and it runs fairly well on her projects. However, if you want to make sure you won't have any issues, the 15" or higher would be your bet.

 

[Barna Biro]

The HD 4000 is faster than the old GPU on your 2008 model. Even if you are working on fairly complex projects / models the integrated GPU for sure will be able to run your stuff, BUT it will of course not render things as fast as a quad-core CPU would and a much faster dedicated GPU ( as on the new 15" models ).

If you've been happy with your old 2008 model, a new 13" model ( even if it only has an integrated GPU ) will surely be able to handle the stuff you've been doing just fine ( better than your current notebook ). The hardware is surely not an issue you should bother thinking about too much... the only question is: "do you want to have an even faster notebook but in the form of a 15" model or not?" ( for a similar price tag )

 

[Stetrain]

Besides the GPU I would also worry about screen realestate. Some of those programs can be pretty heavy on toolbars and palettes which might get a bit crowded on a 1280x800 display.

 

[RobbyIdol]

Thanks for the info, everyone! My main reason for wanting the 13" is the price difference ($600 less than the base 15" model). It's significant enough to me to consider the smaller MBP, as long as the performance is up to par for what I work on.

The screen real estate may be an issue, but then again I've done quite a lot on my 15" all these years when most of my peers wouldn't settle for less than dual-monitors in the first place!

Thanks again!