Best Laptop for Maya 2023 – Guide & Requirements

Maya is a professional 3D animation application designed by Autodesk, the company behind virtually every other creative tool on the market. Working with Maya requires a lot of computing power. Therefore, a solid workstation is necessary to avoid frustrating software lags and crashes while working on a large project. For the purpose of this article, I've assumed you already have an idea of what parts are needed for a good Maya machine. I'll cover everything else in my requirement breakdown below. Also, if you want to skip the planning phase and get some solid laptop recommendations instead, just scroll to the bottom.

Processor (CPU)

If you're looking to buy a new laptop to run Autodesk Maya, you're in luck – there are more options than ever before, and the competition between Intel and AMD has never been more fierce. In this article, we'll take a look at what's new in the processor market and how much horsepower you need for 3D modeling and animation. We'll also touch on other considerations like battery life, thermals, and acoustics.

What's new in the processor market?

The biggest news in the processor market is the release of Apple's M1 system-on-chip (SoC) modules for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. These chips offer exceptional single-core performance and battery life, and they're based on Arm architecture (which is also used in smartphones). However, they're not yet compatible with Maya, so if you're looking for a MacBook to run Maya, you'll need to wait for the M2 chips (or go with an older model).

On the PC side, AMD has managed to take 20% of the CPU market with its 6th generation Ryzen processors. These chips offer great value for money and competitive performance, but they're not yet compatible with Maya.

How much horsepower do you need for 3D modeling and animation?

Maya is a 3D application, so it's heavily reliant on the CPU performance – especially when working with complex scenes with many assets and long render times. If you're using other applications in your workflow (e.g., Adobe Premiere Pro), then make sure to check their respective benchmarks for multi-core performance; this will give us an idea of how well Maya will be able to handle multiple tasks at once.

The most common ways to measure processor performance include Cinebench and PassMark scores; these are good enough for comparing processors within the same price range but they don't tell the whole story since some processors have higher TDP than others which means they'll throttle more easily under load. That's why I prefer to use core count as an indicator of single-thread performance when comparing different CPUs in Maya – this is especially true if you're working with complex models or scenes with long render times which can't be offloaded to a GPU due to limited memory capacity (especially on laptops).

Processor recommendation

64-bit Intel ir AMD multi-core processor with SSE4.2

Graphics (GPU)

Autodesk Maya is a demanding application, so you'll need a good graphics card (GPU) to get the most out of it. If you're using an integrated graphics chipset, you can skip this section, as there's no point in discussing dedicated GPUs for Maya if your laptop doesn't have one. In this section, we'll discuss how to rank GPUs by performance and price, and we'll provide a list of recommended GPUs for Maya.

When choosing a laptop for Maya, don't forget about other components such as RAM and storage – these will also affect your performance when working with complex scenes in Maya.

How to Rank GPUs by Performance and Price

You can use 3DMark scores to compare different graphics cards and rank them by performance. In general, the higher the 3DMark score, the better the GPU. However, keep in mind that 3DMark is just one benchmark and doesn't necessarily reflect real-world performance.

In terms of price, you can use two measures: cost per 3DMark score or cost per frame. Cost per 3DMark score is simply the price of the GPU divided by its 3DMark score. This measure is useful if you want to compare GPUs with different 3DMark scores. Cost per frame is the price of the GPU divided by its frame rate in games. This measure is useful if you want to compare GPUs with different frame rates.

Recommended GPUs for Maya

Here are some recommended GPUs for Maya, based on 3DMark scores and prices:

• Minimum: RTX 1650
• Recommended: RTX 2070
• High-end: RTX 3080

Memory (RAM)

4 Best Laptops for Autodesk Maya

Table of the Best Laptops for Autodesk Maya

Laptop	Price (approx)
MSI Sword	$200
HP Victus 15t	$900
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	$1,350
ASUS ROG Strix Scar	$2,310