Hi everyone!

I need to get a new laptop and I am looking at this:
ASUS GL753VE-DS74
I am new to Houdini but was loving it intensely until Windows 10 killed my current laptop.
I work with ZBrush, KeyShot, Blender and a bunch of other stuff, but what I need to know is if this laptop would be good for running Houdini, its price is at the high end of what I can do (I was not expecting my operating system to kill my hardware!), but I can upgrade the ram (I think) to 32gb.
Im not into gaming, but it looks like this would be great for 3D work. Especially Houdini and stuff that likes a good GPU.
Any opinions?

Thanks, and Cheers!
Mealea Ying

For Houdini work just buy a desktop.

I don't understand how Windows can kill your laptop, it still turns on…right?
If you don't like Windows just install Linux on the laptop and move on. Houdini will run on Linux as well.

Enivob
I don't understand how Windows can kill your laptop, it still turns on…right?

My current laptop has (had)two video cards built into it, an Intel HD 4000 for low power stuff and an Nvidia Geforce GT650m for things like Houdini. During the creators update, which happened while I was not home,windows crashed (I was rendering stuff) and took out most of the drivers for my peripherals. The Nvidia card does not work at all any more (and installing and uninstalling drivers didn't help) and the computer it self simply stops doing anything for long periods of time. Its dying. If you happen to know how to fix this: “Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)” I would be thrilled, but I'm still getting a new computer.
As far as linux goes, the other software I use doesn't run under Linux, and the reason I need a laptop, while completely irrelevant to my question, is that I use it in more than one place. One of which is on my boat. I dont see lugging a desktop machine around as an alternative to getting a new laptop.
I do love Linux, its just not compatible with the stuff I use, I wish it was.

If it were my hardware, I would blank the hard rive and try a new install of Windows. This assumes you have a Windows CD or USB image to do that with. I know laptops can die from excessive heat and two graphics cards inside one laptop just might do that. Can you still hear the fan spinning? I had a laptop burn out a nVidia graphics card 9500m, twice, so I can feel you woe. I simply gave up after the second burn out. Maybe try blowing compressed air into fan output vent. Try to really get it spinning, you'll hear a whirr if you get it right.

If you can get into the BIOS of the laptop look for an option to disable the HD4000, then try rebuilding the system with that hardware not detectable. One less item to draw power and generate heat.

If you look at it as a “bricked” tech object, why not try out a Linux install? At least you would get Houdini.

I certainly understand needing Windows for various softwares. I use Adobe and Sonar on my Windows builds which are not available on Linux.

A quick google reveals some info on the (Code 43) error. Basically suggests disabling offending hardware in the Device Manager. If you can get online, try pulling down the latest nVdia drivers, that might help.

Buy a laptop with 32-gigs of ram if you need one for those times that, I dunno, you're moving or desktop is down or those moments in life.

I just sold my GL753VE. It was a good machine but it was heavy! I replaced it with a GL502VS 15.6 with 32gb ram. It has the same cpu, better GPU and is a lot lighter.

-b

The Intel HD 4000 is not a separate graphics card, its is part of the CPU die.
I don't think it draws any power if a discrete GPU is operating.
On macOS all the recent MBPs have this and automatically switch to the discrete GPU for applications that need it.
High end Windows laptops also have this arrangement.

It sounds like a clean install of Windows 10 would most likely be necessary to get the laptop working again.

Work just got me a msi g63vr, very happy with it.

http://www.tokeru.com/cgwiki/index.php?title=GeneralUtilties#MSI_G63VR_7RG [www.tokeru.com]