Need a decent Laptop that can do Win7 and Win10 for lightweight 3D modeling.

[Izlude]

Hey guys, I'm looking for a cheaper and older laptop that still gives some good bang for the buck in terms of lightweight gaming and 3D modeling.  I need it to run Win7 and Win10, drivers for both systems available, similar to my desktop which is an i7 920, 5870 gpu, mobo: Rampage III Ex. - The laptop should be equal or higher specs. I can't use Win7 in a VM because one of the programs I use refuses to run in it (Gives a warning that it is not to be run in a VM and exits) some other drama..

I won't be playing tomb raider or anything SUPER demanding (my 5870 won't even run that game without stuttering).  Just TF2, Minecraft Win10 Edition, S4 league, Neptunia series, maybe replay some dead space and madness returns, again all lightweight... All that on Win10,  but on Win7 I'll be running my workstation. Adobe programs, a toy modeling software that runs pretty well on my desktop's 5870, plotter software that only works for Win7 and other stuff..

In terms of budget, costco has HP i5 laptops for about $550, some i3's for 400. I was considering those at first, but realized Win7 probably wouldn't work on them as they would lack a proper chipset and graphics drivers.  Hoping what I'm requesting is cheaper anyway since it's older hardware, even with a dedicated GPU.  I know some of the games mentioned above wouldn't run too well on them anyway, but better on an older system with dedicated graphics.

What do you think? Anything match my specs for around $300 or slightly higher?  USB 3.0 would be welcome, but not required.  HDMI a MUST.

[DevTech]

On 2018-03-09 at 11:31 PM, Izlude said:

Hey guys, I'm looking for a cheaper and older laptop that still gives some good bang for the buck in terms of lightweight gaming and 3D modeling.  I need it to run Win7 and Win10, drivers for both systems available, similar to my desktop which is an i7 920, 5870 gpu, mobo: Rampage III Ex. - The laptop should be equal or higher specs. I can't use Win7 in a VM because one of the programs I use refuses to run in it (Gives a warning that it is not to be run in a VM and exits) some other drama..

I won't be playing tomb raider or anything SUPER demanding (my 5870 won't even run that game without stuttering).  Just TF2, Minecraft Win10 Edition, S4 league, Neptunia series, maybe replay some dead space and madness returns, again all lightweight... All that on Win10,  but on Win7 I'll be running my workstation. Adobe programs, a toy modeling software that runs pretty well on my desktop's 5870, plotter software that only works for Win7 and other stuff..

In terms of budget, costco has HP i5 laptops for about $550, some i3's for 400. I was considering those at first, but realized Win7 probably wouldn't work on them as they would lack a proper chipset and graphics drivers.  Hoping what I'm requesting is cheaper anyway since it's older hardware, even with a dedicated GPU.  I know some of the games mentioned above wouldn't run too well on them anyway, but better on an older system with dedicated graphics.

What do you think? Anything match my specs for around $300 or slightly higher?  USB 3.0 would be welcome, but not required.  HDMI a MUST.

A used Dell Precision will fit your specs exactly. For that tiny amount of money you need to go back a bit in years but they never made a bad model and tons of them come off-lease at great prices. Make sure it has a 1920 x 1080 and these old workhorses had plug-in video cards, plug-in CPUs, and 4 RAM slots for 32 gig RAM.

 

M6600, M6700, M6800 are 17" with CPUs faster than your current and 15" are M4600, M4700, M4800

 

A M6800 with a i7 4940MX CPU and NVIDIA Quadro K5100M GPU is still more performant than most laptops built in 2018.