Mike .... yes - I guess for the moment at least, I'm tryjng to give the Reallusion Solution the very best chance - which is why I updated my laptop. Then, there'll be no 'question marks' over the results because of PC hardware issues. I'll know for a certainty what Reallusion's approach to v2 capture is actually capable of. I'll try my darndest to make it usable and try to help others with any suggestions I can (on Snarp's mocap thread).
But sure, as you say, *other* solutions wouldn't be out of the question, although for me that would probably need to be 'further down the track' since I need to get a finished product under my belt. But hey, things change - and I don't think I've been more aware of personal *change* as much as here in the past 4 months..... About the surest thing I can say is that there's *sure* to be more personal changes in thinking! :w00t:

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Please be patient with me ..... I don't always 'get it' the first time 'round - not even the 2nd time! :(  - yikes! ... 

● MSI GT72VR Laptop, i7 7700HQ 4-Core 3.8 GHz 16GB RAM; Nvidia 1070, 8GB Vram ● iClone-7.93 ● 3DXChange Pipeline 7.81 ● CC-3 Pipeline 3.44 ● Live Face ● HeadShot ● Brekel Pro-Body ● Popcorn FX ● iRAY ● Kinect V2 ● DaVinci Resolve17 ● Mixcraft 8.1

Hi Sonic 7,
I was wondering why didn't you go with the 8th generation 6 core cpu's for laptops(Asus,MSI,Dell) in your shortlisting process. Here in India the 8th gen 6 cores coffee lake cpus had been released a few months back and in the Americas I am sure they must have been released there much earlier . 

Regards
George

Hi gigigeorge2002 ...
Very good point. I was considering the 6 core i7 - had a list here https://forum.reallusion.com/373099/Advice-needed-on-Mocap-capable-Laptop
This list changed quite a bit over time while I was searching. I found that in order to get the 6 core as well as the 1070 graphics card, it took me too far up in price. I *could* have got a 6 core with the 1060 graphics inside budget, but thought the beefier 1070 card to be more beneficial for iClone, - so had to be happy with 4 cores. Would certainly have been *great* to have both - but *hopefully* I won't regret my decision. The 4 core has a base frequency of 2.8GHz and turbos to 3.8GHz.

Just as an aside, when it comes to 'brands' of laptops, I have a lot of respect for ASUS (I've owned 2 lower budget ones), as well as having enjoyed a couple of 2nd hand (albeit dated) Dell laptops. Both these brands are very good imho. For me, the MSI (which I ended up going with), is an 'unknown' - since I've never owned one. However, given that both Mike and Dennis chose MSI in the past and that access to the 'internals' is straight forward, - I'm reasonably confident with the choice. - The only negatives I've heard of are ● the short battery life per charge, and ● the premature failure of the cooling fans in earlier MSI models. But short battery life is fairly universal with gaming laptops, and the fans are extremely easy to replace from what I've seen on youtube videos.

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Please be patient with me ..... I don't always 'get it' the first time 'round - not even the 2nd time! :(  - yikes! ... 

● MSI GT72VR Laptop, i7 7700HQ 4-Core 3.8 GHz 16GB RAM; Nvidia 1070, 8GB Vram ● iClone-7.93 ● 3DXChange Pipeline 7.81 ● CC-3 Pipeline 3.44 ● Live Face ● HeadShot ● Brekel Pro-Body ● Popcorn FX ● iRAY ● Kinect V2 ● DaVinci Resolve17 ● Mixcraft 8.1

Yup, MSI is a really good brand. I used one for iclone 6 and now use it as a satellite audio computer in a big orchestral set-up. Just fnished working on it as a matter of fact. I've used the snot out of it (technical term and it's still going strong). Oddly enough when I was buying my ASUS there were reports of fans going out on the ASUS and the comparable MSI's had better cooling. So it varies by year and model. As you stated above the 6 core i7's are coming out in newer computers, but there is a premium on most (not all) products that they come with since they are usually upper tier computers. Just got another master audio computer with an i6 and it was over 2.5k. I did see an affordable laptop with an i6 but it only had a gtx 1050. So there's your trade off. I'm sure you'll be over the moon with your MSI! 

My "NEWEST" Latest:)  Movie Made With Amaaaazing iClone


—> High Noon”ish” in Narrow Valley<—

Thanks kungphu .... it's always nice to hear from you - with your great insights and encouraging comments - I certainly appreciate it ....
Yes, it seems (as I'm finding out), that when a *newer* component is released - it's not uncommon for it to be packaged with 'trade-offs' like you say...

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Please be patient with me ..... I don't always 'get it' the first time 'round - not even the 2nd time! :(  - yikes! ... 

● MSI GT72VR Laptop, i7 7700HQ 4-Core 3.8 GHz 16GB RAM; Nvidia 1070, 8GB Vram ● iClone-7.93 ● 3DXChange Pipeline 7.81 ● CC-3 Pipeline 3.44 ● Live Face ● HeadShot ● Brekel Pro-Body ● Popcorn FX ● iRAY ● Kinect V2 ● DaVinci Resolve17 ● Mixcraft 8.1

Yes, I Agreed MSI Laptop is awesome gaming device( especially in cooling system ) BUT ....
Before I broke my hand purchased ASUS Strix (1599$),  both of my old MSI laptop had been broke screen before ( LCD panel ).
So, I'm curios ... It's co-accident? Cheap build?  or my fault as hardcore user?

Currently, my eeepc ( ASUS first brand netbook ) still working in my parent home since 2008.
what a solid build ...

Hi akuei2 ... Yes well I guess it's always possible that heavy gaming *could* push a laptop beyond it's limits.
I can't comment on the build quality of the MSI, since I haven't taken delivery of it (end of the week hopefully)...
But being designed as a *gaming laptop* - it should cope with the lesser demanding task of using iClone.
Ha - funny - I also have the "eee" version ASUS (the 900HA, win XP) - it still works - the only problem being the silver toggle button beneath it's touch pad - it sometimes fails to make connection when pressed .... But yeah - an amazing little laptop - well 'notebook' really - which is why I *almost* went with ASUS ....
Thanks for the 'heads up' though .... I'll handle the MSI screen with *kid gloves*.

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Please be patient with me ..... I don't always 'get it' the first time 'round - not even the 2nd time! :(  - yikes! ... 

● MSI GT72VR Laptop, i7 7700HQ 4-Core 3.8 GHz 16GB RAM; Nvidia 1070, 8GB Vram ● iClone-7.93 ● 3DXChange Pipeline 7.81 ● CC-3 Pipeline 3.44 ● Live Face ● HeadShot ● Brekel Pro-Body ● Popcorn FX ● iRAY ● Kinect V2 ● DaVinci Resolve17 ● Mixcraft 8.1

I recently bought an AlienWare 17 R5 laptop for travel purposes (I spend 3 months in Atlantic Canada during the summer), and it's behaving quite nicely. There is a six-core version, but it is substantially more expensive and the 4 cores are fine for iClone. I also have a 1070. There is a more powerful version (6 cores and a 1080) but that taxes the cooling of the system. So I think 4 cores and a 1070 (as the other mentioned laptops have) form a good compromise.

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76% of original size (was 661x19) - Click to enlarge

@animagic .... Yes - heard some really great reports about Dell Alienware. - Experienced a couple of 'standard' Dell's, (the now ancient Latitude 630s) obtained 2nd hand, - such a solid machine - *really* well built. If their Alienware is even half of that build quality, they'd be great for sure. (But Alienware was beyond budget for me). - Yeah an i7, 7th generation with a GTX1070 card was the maximum s-t-r-e-t-c-h - and like you say, isn't a bad compromise for mid 2018 ... (even a 1060 would've been OK).

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Please be patient with me ..... I don't always 'get it' the first time 'round - not even the 2nd time! :(  - yikes! ... 

● MSI GT72VR Laptop, i7 7700HQ 4-Core 3.8 GHz 16GB RAM; Nvidia 1070, 8GB Vram ● iClone-7.93 ● 3DXChange Pipeline 7.81 ● CC-3 Pipeline 3.44 ● Live Face ● HeadShot ● Brekel Pro-Body ● Popcorn FX ● iRAY ● Kinect V2 ● DaVinci Resolve17 ● Mixcraft 8.1

I meant to reply to this earlier, but I think you'll be real happy with your selection.  More cores won't do you any good -- iClone isn't setup for that and while some software can take advantage of it by and large it's unlikely you'd ever notice any difference (I certainly don't on my top of the line Alienware Desktop).  The biggest difference in in graphics cards, and the difference between a 1060 and 1070 is appreciable (not, however, between a 1070 and a 1080 -- again, from experience I can tell you you would not notice any change whatsoever).

MSI is a great brand and I do like my laptop as much as I like any laptop (in general I kind of hate laptops).  The main thing I don't like when using it for iClone is the heat -- it's a very graphics intense application and will definitely raise the heat of the card, and laptops in general just don't have the ability to handle that well.  Even on a desk (you do NOT want it on your lap) you can feel the heat come off the keyboard, and the fan will run almost continuously when you get to rendering.  On my Alienware Desktop machine it's liquid cooled nVidia Titan XP is whisper quiet even during the hardest runs, but you can't really do that on a laptop (not enough space for that).  The other thing I don't like about laptops in general is lack of space -- I have 4TB of SSD (and will be adding 2TB more) in addition to the 8TB of hard drive space I have and I *never* feel I have enough (this is all in addition to the 27TB or so of NAS I have attached to).  You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much disk space.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley