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Imagine you'll be using the laptop for the following programs:
- Autodesk Maya and/or Blender
- Manga Studio 4
- Guild Wars 1 & 2
- Alchemy
- GIMP
This, and the basics, like web browsing, iTunes and email.
You don't have much of a budget, though, so you have to find a combo of necessity, luxury, and price. any suggestions...?
Don't know if this should go here or not.
I prefer to use a computer to work with images.
What you're looking for is a fast CPU. That means look for one clocking in at 2.7ghz or more. The faster the better, usually.
If you get one that has a new Intel chip (the Sandy Bridge series, aka Core i3, Core i5, Core i7), then it should come with a little feature called Intel Turbo Boost Technology, which speeds things up depending on the maximum cpu usage.
That's not all that matters though. You'll need a pretty decent graphics card too. Something moderate from AMD could work. Although I myself love Nvidia card (note they're not actually separate cards, laptops use integrated chips, but modern gaming laptops can usually beat out a modest PC)
Anyways, you can find something like that for close to, or under $500. Depends on the brand really. Acer, Dell, and eMachines are good. I personally recommend Asus, but they're basically gaming laptops, and as such, cost a lot more. Whatever you do though, stay away from Toshiba, unless you're looking for a new heater.
I have a Dell studio 15 that could run everything you've put up. Its avout 2 years old now though so sometimes it struggles with games and it overheats in summer. The stupid thing about laptops is they are harder to maintain and don't last as long. You also can't upgrade them. Is there a particular reason you are looking at laptops rather than desktop?
Laptops are cake to take care of compared to making sure your desktop has an adequate power source, and then making sure stuff doesn't overheat and either melt, or damage the MOBO, so then you have to have a good fan, or a nice cooling system. I haven't used a PC since like, 2008, It's a real mix and match risk. I assume Zekester is looking for portability and power; portability being what most people buy laptops for.
Can't carry around a desktop.
I can try damnit! Also I know what you mean if you're actually building a dekstop, but thats not really an issue if you are buying a prebuilt one.
Yeah, I'm looking at laptops because I recently started college, so there's the matter of portability and battery power, although the latter is not as important (I have access to outlets)
Don't buy HP. Their cooling systems are terrible.
As a side note, would Lenovo work?
And definately Packard Hell, they call it that for a reason.Quote:
Originally Posted by Delphinus