New laptop - need help deciding!

The more system, RAM the better for rendering and running concurrent application processes.

CPU

The Asus Zenbook has:
2.6GHz (3.5GHz Burst) Intel 6th-generation Core i7- 6700HQ (4 core, 6MB Cache)
Supports up to 64GB RAM

The HP Pavilion has:
2.5GHz (3.1GHz Burst) Intel 6th-generation Core i7- 6500U (2 core, 4MB Cache)
Supports up to 32GB RAM

System RAM

The Asus Zenbook has:
DDR4 2133MHz SDRAM - 4GB on board + 1 slot (has 8GB)
12GB total (16GB max.) [!why does the BIOS only support 16GB?]

The HP Pavilion has:
DDR4 2133MHz SDRAM - 8GB in 1 slot

Graphics

The Asus Zenbook has:
Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M w/ 4GB GDDR5 VRAM

The HP Pavilion has:
Nvidia GeForce GT 940MX w/ 4GB DDR3 VRAM

Display

The Asus Zenbook has:
15.6" UHD (3840x2160) 4K

The HP Pavilion has:
15.6" FHD (1920x1080) LED

Summary

The Asus Zenbook CPU has 2x the cores, 50% more Cache,
4% more base speed, and 12% higher burst speed.
(This will be good for rendering.)
It has a better + newer Nvidia card with faster VRAM.
It has a 4K display with 2x the resolution.
It also has a 128GB Solid State Drive (that the HP Pavilion does not have.)
But the Zenbook is 2x the price of the HP Pavilion !


Opinion

For simple modeling the HP is okay.
But for rendering, likely the Asus with it’s 4 cores and more memory is a must.
(I also recommend paying a bit more and upgrading to Windows Pro.)


Generally, These kind of questions have already been asked many times in the forums.

See: