On a lookout for a laptop for AE, how important is the Quadro card ?

Adobe After Effects

On a lookout for a laptop for AE, how important is the Quadro card ?

Posted by Evan Lee on October 10, 2011 at 1:48 am

Hi gentlemen,

I’m now looking for a laptop to do some editing work. Although I used to be pretty tech savvy, I’ve not kept up with the development of the laptop for a long time and the nomenclature of the models is maddeningly complicated and misleading.

After researching for a while, I narrow my option down to two model:
Asus G73SW-XT1 and DELL M6600. specs are listed here:
Asus G73SW-XT1
Screen Size: 17.3″
Maximum Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Capacity: 500G
Hard Drive Speed: 7200 RPM
Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Class: Core i7
Processor Type: Quad-Core
Processor Number: 2630QM
GPU/VPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M
Video Memory: 1.5GB DDR5 VRAM
Memory: 8G

DELL M6600:
17.3 inch UltraSharp 1920×1080 Wide View Anti-Glare LED Backlit
9 cell battery
Backlit Keyboard
Intel Core i7-2720QM Quad Core Processor (2.2GHZ base frequency)
4GB RAM -

Hard Drive: 500GB SATA 7200RPM

2.0 Nvidia Quadro 3000M GDDR5 Graphics

I can get a new asus for 1100usd while a refurbished M6600 from Ebay will cost me 1500usd.

since I can install ram and hard drive myself, they are not the deal breaker in each case.

so the comparison boils down to a simple showdown

2630qm+gtx460m vs 2720qm+quadro 3000m

I understand quadro is a touted “professional” video card, but as far as the benchmark test is concerned,it is more or less the same as gtx460, so what makes it “professional” or it’s just another marketing ploy? I’m still a student, so the cost-effective performance is first priority for me.

The application I will use:

After effects &Premiere(Everyday),cinema4d &photoshop (sometimes), maya(rarely)

Your advice are appreciated!

Todd Kopriva replied 14 years, 11 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
3 Replies

Tudor “ted” jelescu
October 10, 2011 at 11:32 am

For Premiere, C4D and Maya I would choose the Quadro. AE likes loads of RAM and processing cores. So if the best performance in 3d is your most important thing and fast editing in Premiere, Quadro is the way to go. If AE is what you use most, get the GTX and add more RAM.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist
Evan Lee
October 11, 2011 at 6:17 am

Thanks for your suggestion!

one question: why does premiere work better on quadro? is it simply because quadro can enable the mercury engine? In that case, I heard there is a way to work around it to make almost any nvidia card work for mercury engine(“hacking”, I mean)

does it make GTX460 a better choice?
Todd Kopriva
October 11, 2011 at 4:42 pm

The best way to see how each kind of card performs for Premiere Pro is to look at real-world test results. The PPBM5 site has lots of such information. Look at the test results page, specifically.

https://ppbm5.com/

But performance isn’t the only consideration. One advantage of the Quadro cards is supposed to be their durability (i.e., their time under load without failure).

Regarding the GPU for After Effects: Whatever you get for Premiere Pro will be more than enough for After Effects.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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