https://clevo-computer.com/de/laptops-konfigurator/nach-anwendung/multimedia-und-unterhaltung/4496/clevo-nh57af1-amd-ryzen-desktop-prozessor-nvidia-rtx-2070?c=841#config
Isn't this one pretty much the same as my XMG Apex 15?
CLEVO is the actual Taiwanese manufacturer who makes the OEM chassis. Roughly 500 +/- local companies like XMG,etc.. then re-sell them with custom configuration.
You can also buy them directly yourself :- ).
Would the answer to this question be different if it wasn’t in a cpu renderers forum?
Yes :- (. Laptops come with far more powerful GPUs than they come with CPUs, and with Thunderbolt3 port, you can add additional E-GPU enclosure.
So for example any RTX 2080 Max-Q (ideally one with 100W power limit for GPU, thin laptops have only 65W for GPU) laptop with E-GPU, you have two powerful GPUs. With Vray or FStorm, you can absolutely work comfortably just using laptop.
With CPUs ? The situation sucks. You either get butt-ugly thick as Clevo, or you are stuck with mobile 8-core chips, which are finally decently powerful, but you know, 3990X is exactly 10 times faster (no hyperbole..it's exactly 10 times).
So "Workstation" is bit of misnomer. No actual CPU rendering will ever happen on most laptops (with exception of those with desktop CPUs like the Clevo one, but those are big, and ugly and still only 15"?)
And when you guys are all like “you can’t render on a laptop because it will fry”. But maybe one doesn’t do super heavy rendering, and over night stuff, but just use it for modeling, materials and lighting and use interactive and small renders, and send it off somewhere else for finals or animation?
Yeah, this is the best workflow with laptops. Set up your scene using Interactive with Optix Denoiser (so Laptop needs Nvidia GPU, no Macbook sadly), and then send the scene to render remotely to cloud or your home workstation/farm over internet.
That's effectively how I want to work.