Laptop for 3D Rendering (Maya)

[ajikan]

First of all, here are my specs:
Dell Inspiron 9300
Pentium M 2.26Ghz (P-M 735 1.7Ghz Pin-mod to 2.26Ghz)
2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-533 RAM
60GB 7200RPM HDD
Geforce 6800 Go, OC'ed from 290/590 to 350/700. <- I "softmodded" this to a Quadro FX 1400, but I'm pretty sure it didn't make it any faster, so the softmod didn't really work. (just installed Quadro drivers and used Rivatuner to mod it. I think it's impossible, anyway. no one has been successful with this yet.)
17" LCD, matte, not glossy.
DVD-RW slot loading drive.

I do a lot of 3D rendering, and the rendering times are usually slow.. so I'm wondering, will an upgrade to a Yonah Core Duo laptop have a noticeable increase in performance? or should I wait for the Merom Core 2 Duo laptops?

then there's the problem of selling it.
I'm not super rich so I can't just buy a brand new one and not use this one anymore. (it actually took me a while to get the money/parts for this one)

so... is it worth it to sell this one and get a Yonah/Merom one and keep that, or wait and spend even more money later on to get a Merom + Santa Rosa one? or any other options? >__<

Thanks!

oh, and final production rendering for 3D rendering (using Maya) is done with the CPU, right? so the CPU is more important than anything else.
the VGA card is only for the real-time editting performance..?
and the RAM is for the overall speed? <- I already have that maxed out..

 

[Brainonska511]

Merom is already out and you can buy Dell Laptops with a merom processor. If you can wait though, wait until January when the Santa Rosa platform will come out.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Wait until Santa Rosa comes out, you won't get much for your Dothan 9300 right now.

 

[ajikan]

oh really? o__o
I've been so behind on computers this past month. >__<

Okay, I'll look into the Santa Rosa.

Thanks!

 

[fbrdphreak]

Santa Rosa:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=1106

 

[roninzacek]

Santa Rosa Looks Sexy, but remember more FSB speed=more power, Santa rosa will be a more power hungry Baby +, If you plan to do rendering in regular basis, maybe is better for you to put your money in cheap dell-AMD workstation, they are comming soon; This will cut your rendering times, + will give you a more scalable station, and you can keep your lappy for on the road editing.
Good luck

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: roninzacek
Santa Rosa Looks Sexy, but remember more FSB speed=more power, Santa rosa will be a more power hungry Baby +, If you plan to do rendering in regular basis, maybe is better for you to put your money in cheap dell-AMD workstation, they are comming soon; This will cut your rendering times, + will give you a more scalable station, and you can keep your lappy for on the road editing.
Good luck

Santa Rosa's 800MHz FSB = Dynamic. It will adjust the FSB based on demand to save power. Santa Rosa FTW!!!