I am currently working towards a degree in Computer Science. Since UE4 has been released to the public for free, I am in need of a much better laptop because right now my laptop can barely run the shader compiler. So I am in need of assistance looking for a laptop that have specs that can run the UE4 at max. Laptop will not be used for any gaming just game development. Price range doesn’t really matter right now.
Get something with a quad-core i5 or an i7. Then probably 2 gb GDDR5 Nvidia 750m GPU
I’m thinking about just buying a desktop because they would be better for the job at hand but I don’t really know? Where do you recommend I should buy a laptop/desktop from?
Hard question, some would reply “don’t use a laptop for ue4”, i disagree!
I would take the MSI GT72 or the ASUS ROG J* :
17’’ screen, very good processor even the 4710HQ, 16 to 32go ram, gtx 980M 4go, at least one SSD for the boot partition (ultra fast boot and disks operations for UE4)
I simplified my answer for you, but that’s where i am here.
The difference between MSI and ASUS on those models, you can find here on a very good comparative:
Dont use a Laptop for UE4 (i can not resist :D)
No seriously don’t use a Laptop for Development when you plan on buying new Hardware.
My reason is, that an equal or even more powerfull Desktop PC is cheaper than a Laptop. For Development it’s always good to have a machine that’s a bit stronger in general. And you usually save some money.
Please avoid the NVIDIA 750m at ALL COSTS! This is the GPU in the Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15", and I can attest to how HORRIBLE it is under UE4, both under OS X as well as Windows. A friend also has an PC notebook with that very same GPU, and his frame rates are even slightly worse then mine.
I am taking the plunge and going with the Asus ROG G751JY, with 24GB ram, i7, and the NVIDIA GTX 980m. This machine can be had for less then $2400, and blows anything else in that price range out of the water. Currently the NVIDIA GTX 980m is basically the same speed in games as the desktop NVIDIA GTX 970 ( within less than 5% in mosts tests ).
As a side note, any NVIDIA mobile GPU that has the *50 designation is really the pits, it is their lowest of the low mobile tier in that GPU family. Apple seems to ALWAYS choose this for thermal reasons, but the performance is horrible.
I think you would be well suited by either a laptop with a NVIDIA GTX 980m or even the 970m if you are on a budget. Also I would stick with a notebook that uses an IPS 1920x1080 screen, as opposed to one that is using a 4k screen ( alienware ) as you are going to lose alot of performance driving that bigger display.
As a student I can understand why you would want a laptop in comparison to a desktop for obvious reasons. Do not let anyone tell you can’t develop on a notebook, just remember, some of the more powerful ones weigh more then 8lbs, but perhaps you are already used to carrying a ton of books around anyhow 
Good Luck!
Yep, Desktop = more power for the same price, and has always been, but if you really need a laptop the dream has came true since those 2 laptops models.
970m if low budget, but 980m for more memory. You can also choose the previous series with 880m 4/8Go that are cheaper, but seriously i’d go for the last 9xx Nvidia for its low energy consumption/temp/noise AND the new laptop cooling design.
I’d say skip anything other then the 980m or 970m, machines with 880m gpus are selling for almost as much, just with older hardware. Don’t spend your hard earned money on old stock.
I wanted to add another reply as I just received my new laptop. I got the Asus ROG G751JY-DH1. It has the following:
i7Intel Core i7-4710HQ 2.5GHz (Turbo up to 3.5GHz)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 4GB
24 GB DDR3
1 TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive, 256 GB Solid-State Drive (PCIEG2)
17.3-inch Full HD IPS screen, Windows 8.1, Blu-ray Writer
There is still one more ram slot which I plan to add 1 more 8GB chip, to a max of 32GB. One may ask why so much memory, I saw why not
In reality, I was running out of memory all the time on my Desktop, which has 16GB. I would run Unreal Engine 4, Visual Studio, Chrome, iTunes, and standard drivers. I would usually run out of memory the instant I tried to build my light maps, as Lightmass / Swarm would eat another 4GB of memory. I like the idea of a bit more room for my development apps to live in, hence the maxed out memory.
Running tests between my wife’s desktop which has a NVIDIA GTX 970, at the same resolution is almost exactly the same speed in both Unreal Engine 4, as well as Diablo 3, and a few other games we tested today. My Desktop has NVIDIA GTX 680 X 2 ( which we know means nothing in Unreal Engine 4’s Editor ) is slower by a fair margin, but still PLENTY fast for the game I am developing.
After spending the day setting up this new laptop, and working in Unreal Engine 4, I have to say I am SUPER impressed. The performance of the laptop is amazing. The screen is IPS, and very vibrant. The screen runs at 75Hz and is rated to run at 100Hz, which is insane. The weight of the system is the only point of pause. I knew what I was getting into when I ordered this machine, but nothing could really prepare you for the reality of the size of the machine. With a 17.3" 1920x1080 screen, what would one expect. In all this is an amazing machine, simply outstanding for Unreal Engine 4 development.
I have included a link below of the exact machine I bought, via Amazon for $2269:
ASUS ROG G751JY-DH1
I have the Aorus X7 v2, which so far runs UE4 just fine. SLI GTX 860M graphics setup + 17" etc. Pretty insane performance + the 3 SSD disks in raid make it blazing fast in general.
If you are not required to take a laptop into school/college/university and it is for working at home then i would defiantly go for a desktop
Are there any laptops or desktops that can run the UDK engine 4 with a $1000 budget?