Hi
Advice required, I am only just starting out with this software and now realise I need to upgrade my computer. Although I bought a second hand desktop which I felt had enough power it was ridiculously slow when operating iClone 7. I do not have an unlimited budget and looking to purchase a laptop, the spec is below, please could anyone advise me as to its suitability, thank you in advance for any advice

MPN / Model / Part number: Alienware 15 R3

Processor: Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4 Core, up to 3.8GHz, 45W)
Memory: 32Gb 2400MHz DDR4 Memory Non-ECC ram
Graphics: nVidia GeForce GTX 1070 8Gb
Storage: 1Tb SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) + 256Gb SSD M.2
Screen: 15.6" FHD (1920x1080) IPS AG 300-nits Display
Operating System: Windows 10 Home (64bit)
Battery: Primary 6-cell 99W/HR Battery
WWAN: None
Optical drive: None
Communication: N WiFi and Bluetooth installed
Keyboard: UK Backlit keyboard layout

As a laptop it's a pretty good machine for iClone (the main problem with iClone and laptops is the GPU is always the thing you want to be the best, and you can't easily -- or at all -- upgrade a laptop.  The 1070 isn't a bad card for iClone, and at this point in time is the least card I would recommend).

---

Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Thanks for taking the time to respond. If my understanding is correct would it therefore be better to purchase one with less ram or older generation i7 processor and get one with a GTX 1080 graphics card

That's what I would do but everyone needs to decide for themselves.

I also know folks have run external GPUs from another machine -- laptop?  So that could be a possibility as well.  But the GPU (and the memory it has) are really the top important things for iClone 7, and the 1080 is a fine card for it.

---

Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

What are the desktop specs?

You may just need a new GPU to be fine.

I have an Alienware 17 R5 and it has served me well. It has a GTX 1070 with 8 GB. There was an option for an 1080 but it required more power and thus cooling so I went with the more modest card.

I choose the AW 17 R5 because of the larger screen size. I have two drives an SSD with 512 GB and then a regular 1 TB hard drive.

EDIT: If you go with the laptop, I would recommend Windows 10 Pro. For one, it gives you far more control over Windows updates.

---

Thank you all for your feedback. Firstly, maybe I should mention my intention to start with is making two characters from Toonmaker into sort of news readers, so not building games etc. Secondly, I would prefer a laptop Rampa as I maybe in India for six weeks in the summer and would like to do some work whilst there, however, I have put the specs of my desktop below as if there are no issues with it my problem may lay elsewhere (Not overly technical myself)
So I can get things straight in my head, if it come down to it would you guys chose 
(a) 32gb Ram with GTX 1070
(b) 16gb Ram GTX 1080
Or is that a naive question?

Specs for current Desktop
Motherboard- Asus 970 proGaming/Aura 
Cpu- Amd FX- 8320 Eight core 3.5ghz 
Memory- 16gb DDR3 2133mhz dual channel Corsairvengeance pro series. 
Gpu- Amd R9-290 4gb Gddr5 Sapphire trix 
Storage 1 - 240gb SSD Crucial 
Storage 2 - 1tb WD 
Storage 3 - 3Tb Seagate Barracuda 
Network- Wireless network card 
Psu- Corsair CX750M semi modular 
Os- Windows 10 Pro 

Thanks

As Rampa noted, you could just put a better GPU in your current desktop and you'd be fine.  But if you want a laptop, by all means pick the best GPU you can afford.  The rest of the specs are *relatively* unimportant (any laptop that has a top end GPU will have enough horsepower otherwise).

And remember it's the GPU RAM that really counts -- not the system RAM.  That's not to say you don't want enough (it's hard to buy any system nowadays with less than 16GB).  A GPU with AT LEAST 8GB is needed -- and there the more the definite better (although you won't be able to get more than 12 and that will be very, very tough in a laptop).  And the 1070 is the least card I'd get nowadays -- like Ani, I have a laptop with the 1060 and it works but it's not nearly as good as my 1070 (and doesn't hold a candle to my Titan XP on my main machine).

So -- keep thinking "best nVidia GPU I can afford" and you'll be okay.

---

Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Thank you all for your advice, so I bought the following laptop
Asus ROG Strix GL702VI-BA016T Gaming Laptop -
Core i7-7700HQ
16GB DDR4 RAM
GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
120Hz G-Sync 17” Display
256GB NVMe Boot Drive
1TB Seagate Firecuda SSHD 

Got it for £1220, three months old with almost 2 years warranty still live, so finally can start getting creative. Once again thanks for the help

Looks good and I think you'll be happy with it.

---

Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley