United3dArtists Archive

Not to worry all of these replies are on topic XD, but I figured I would update my first post!!

Thanks to everyone's helpful replies and a lot of digging I've narrowed my choices to 3 laptops, all different but optimized to cost 1 grand... so really one isn't cheaper than the other.
The numbers by the GPU and CPU is rank.



1) MSI GE60  i5-3230M (60) GeForce GT 650M 2GB (70) 16 GB Memory HDD (500) Win 7
2) MSI CX61 i7-3630QM (21) GeForce GT 645M 1GB (88) 8 GB Memory SSD (120) Win 7
3) MSI CX61 i7-3630QM (21) GeForce GT 645M 1GB (88) 16 GB Memory HDD (750) Win 7
4) QAL51-FHD i7-3610M (27) GeForce GT 650M 2GB (70) 8 GB Memory HDD (750) None (Linux)

Well in my land of personal preferences I am not recommending Windows 8 to anyone.

I am running Win 7 64 bit with a 3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-2600K.

My mobo is ASUSTeK Computer INC. P8Z68-V PRO running at 100 Mhz with 8Gb of RAM.

My vid card is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti powering an Acer H233H.

For people that are starting CG from scratch I am suggesting they start in the world of linux with a starter kit of:

- Blender for their all around 3d tool
- Wings 3d for a terrific low requirements box modeller
- Gimp, Xara Xtreme and/or Inkscape for 2d
- Libre Office and Celtx for screenplay and storyboards etc.
- Blender or Cinelerra for video editing compositing

Using linux open source tools can free up some budget for better hardware.

The sad thing is that the trends toward more proprietary software and devices in the personal computing space combined with having the cloud shoved up our butts is making linux and open source the bastion for folks that want to own what they pay for and use workstations for work and tablets for email...... sorry ... mini rant inevitable sometimes.

hth

v3rd3 wrote:
The sad thing is that the trends toward more proprietary software and devices in the personal computing space combined with having the cloud shoved up our butts is making linux and open source the bastion for folks that want to own what they pay for and use workstations for work and tablets for email...... sorry ... mini rant inevitable sometimes.

hth

Thanks... I'm actually not too familiar with linux... never used it, but I've heard it is fairly competitive with windows and *ripoff* mac (I don't usually like Macintosh products, I-phone in particular--- liked my original droid 1.0 to my I-phone 4S and that's pretty bad).

your laptop must've cost a fortune.

I actually thought about it, for a while, but there's one small problem. I'm still going to school, and they are big *MS OFFICE* fans, I could care less. However as an engineer major, I will say Excel is pretty good compared to open office.... I haven't tried LibreOffice though.

I actually found a Compal computer at Xotic PC that has no software (just drivers) that costs $724, GEforce 650 graphics. vs. 799$ MSI Windows 8 GeForce 645 (like .3 lbs lighter lol, Worry about bloatware, etc., I just delete mine, but still its annoying).--- I could just buy the computer and use linux, until a better version of windows comes along (8 = vista; next version mostlikely =7) and re-partition, you only need like 10-20 gbs tops for each software anyways. I want to think they are about release next windows this soon, which is sad .

I'm going to download Linux Mint and Unbuntu and try them... this will help some my decision some.

I HATE CLOUD WARE!!!!!! I have terrible interenet so... yeah. I say leave the cloudware to google and such.

I really hope blender doesn't go to the clouds. So help me god if they do!!!

Ok... first to clarify... I use a laptop for email when I am on the road... I have used the same one for 15 years. The spec I listed is a tower pc I bot the parts and put together. I am at that point of my life where bigger screens are better and I have lost my patience for tiny keyboards.

Linux has many flavours ... I run a linux/unix called cygwin under windows to fix some issues that cannot be fixed through windows alone.... If you want to try some of the linux products you can use it as well (no cost gpl license). You can stay on windows and run unix/linux.

Libre Office is a new fork of open office.

There is little difference between excel and libre office for most users but for your career you will want to stay with Excel. There are some functions that you will find easier to work with in Excel. Other than that the biggest issue taking a document from one to the other seems to be formatting.

The small detail for a laptop is to look for one with more than 2 usb ports... Especially if you are planning to nag your grandma for an xmas tablet.

v3rd3 wrote:Ok... first to clarify... I use a laptop for email when I am on the road... I have used the same one for 15 years. The spec I listed is a tower pc I bot the parts and put together. I am at that point of my life where bigger screens are better and I have lost my patience for tiny keyboards.

Linux has many flavours ... I run a linux/unix called cygwin under windows to fix some issues that cannot be fixed through windows alone.... If you want to try some of the linux products you can use it as well (no cost gpl license). You can stay on windows and run unix/linux.

Libre Office is a new fork of open office.

Libre Office is a new fork of open office.-- I just read that, that's why I mentioned Open Office. Actually, you're right I probably will stick with MS Office for the most part (campuses have libraries with windows, and ms word and Open Doc were a like so I just used them interchangeably) and Particularly when, like I said, next windows releases. Like you said Linux is can run with windows just fine (it's free). It's just most likely I'll have to repartition (or back-up) by the time Windos X gets released (and I can afford it and thanks again you saved me 100$ to be used on the Windows X fund, I have no copy of windows, laptop was a best buy special with windows home premium). Actually I'm going try linux with the DVD boot try option thingy... to see what it's like. Like I said most of my games are either older (most like can run on with Wine) or very much compatible with linux.

Actually I am aware that Ubuntu and Linux Mint are of the same branch (probably more closely related as mint came from Unbuntu), I actually just saw mint and liked the looks of it too.

Lol silly me BTW, I thought you were talking about a labtop lol. Still it's powerful, though I bet it is a bit more financially feasible than a laptop lol. I actually need my mobility as I usually spend hours not at home.

I would definitely get an i7 processor, I see such significant speed increase with it in rendering its crazy than the standard quad core I had previously. I currently have 12 gb memory, I upgraded from 6, but really havent seen much difference in speeds. I do monitor my memory usage and I rarely even use 6 gb though, it seems to mostly consume between 3 and 4, I wouldn't go crazy buying a lot of expensive memory, 6 - 8 should be fine. The cpu is what chugs hard at render time anyway. I use all cores at 100 percent when rendering :O And with the i7 I can still do other stuff while its running.

I also have the i7 3770k clocked to 4.4 ,vue uses all cores for rendering and its quick
Blender also uses the full power of it .i also have 32 gig mushkin ram i know
I dont need it all but maybe i can set up a ramdisc with allot ot it

Photoshop uses a lot of ram... its actually the ram that gives you the most power boost in Photoshop..
All the other apps dont need that much..
Peter

I thought I read somewhere that ram is actually a diminishing return sort of deal. Somewhere suggested 4GB is the optimal recommended amount of memory. ( however I think I will go a little higher just in case ). But yeah once you get over 4GB you performance will increase, but not as much as say... a better GPU or CPU.

However dual-channeling is better --- 2x 4GB is better than 1x 8GB when selecting memory or 1x8GB and 1x4GB.

I read somewhere that SSD vs HDD is also a good upgrade. Not as important as memory (going 4gb+) but significant.

I know how to pick a good laptop, I'm trying to balance it to where 1 grand. Where it might be better to go for the features, dealer reputation, and manufacturer reputation... Like for example, I would never buy a dell even if its severely discounted (I've had bad experiences with dell 1 bad laptop and 1 bad tower, and over all crummy commercial computers). Right now it's "RJtech" Vs. "Xotic". "Compal" Vs "MSI".

So, I've considered what everyone has told me and I narrowed my choices. I'll place a poll in a little while.

1) MSI GE60 i5-3230M (60) GeForce GT 650M 2GB (70) 16 GB Memory HDD (500) Win 7
2) MSI CX61 i7-3630QM (21) GeForce GT 645M 1GB (88) 8 GB Memory SSD (120) Win 7
3) MSI CX61 i7-3630QM (21) GeForce GT 645M 1GB (88) 16 GB Memory HDD (750) Win 7
4) QAL51-FHD i7-3610M (27) GeForce GT 650M 2GB (70) 8 GB Memory HDD (750) None (Linux)

MSI it is. After much heartache... I had to choose MSI over the Compal computer. The fist one, RJ Tech said they were backordered with those, and the next one Xotic said after they did some testing they found out that the Compal was defective -- and when they tried to get replacement from the company, the company said they weren't making anymore.
GRRRR! (Some deliveration lead me to the conclusion, it may have been a blessing in disguise... I mean what if the computer model was porely made).

So I when the next best option which was MSI, the same chipset but worse graphics card at rank #88 instead of 70
For those curious its a GeForce 645m instead of GeForce 650m
However I was able to get a SSD 120 GB hard drive with is a great thing.
--But to top it all it has windows 8 XD... which I know is very actively hated. But I've been fiddeling linux mint, and I'm liking it so far, however it's abit unstable comparatively so, but it easily recovers... much more so than windows is.