Looking for a new machine ...

Dejavoodoo

Anyone have any advice on where to shop for a new machine? I'm not looking to build one myself ... and I only know of the usual suspects, Dell, HP, etc. I'm looking for something in the 2-3k price range to handle Max, Mudbox, Photoshop, music ... and thats about it. Any advice??
I find a lot of info describing components being benchmarked for playing games ... but, what about making game art? How does that differ in system requirements ... if it does at all?
Thx in advance!
E

Xaltar

you want a lot of low latency ram for 3d and a good graphics card. Obviously you could go for 3d speciffic cards like Nvidia's Quadro series but that would be a waste of money unless you intend the PC to be an Uber 3d creation tool, otherwise you should be fine with one of nvidia's new geforce 8 series, maybe an 8800gts (the 640mb one) or the gtx, loads of vid ram is always a good thing, especialy for environment artists where you have a lot of textures on screen at any given point. Oh, and dual core is your friend, especially if you are like me and have the full gammit of apps open when you work on your models (PS,max etc).

I am a build it yourself kinda guy but hey, if you can find what you need in a prefab then go for it.

PolyHertz

For 3D modeling apps you want to get a machine with lots of ram (2gb min, 4gb recommended). A GPU that supports shader model 3.0 (ex: Geforce 8 series) so you can handle newer engines effects. As for the CPU, the more cores the better (quad core and Max were made for each other)

Regarding game playing vs making, essentialy the same requirments, just making games requires more ram. You can use things like the quadro line of cards if you have the money to burn, but their only real advantage over gaming cards is increased stability.

Manufacturer wise:
Dell - Customer service sucks, overpriced compared to competitors, but machines are good quality.
HP - Good customer service, good quality desktops, competitive pricing, but current laptops are fragile and don't sell systems nativly with high end gpu's.
Toshiba - only makes laptops (as far as I've seen) which are decent, but nothing worth spending alot of money on
Gateway - average in every way
Compaq - HPs 'poor' brand
ASUS - Havn't seen their desktops, but their laptops are quite good (Asus C90 is probably my next big purchase)
IBuyPower - Has a bad reputation for screwing over their customers in various ways
Alienware - expensive, and very bad customer service (one of my friends almost went to court with them over a customer service issue)
VooDooPC - VERY expensive, but also top quality in both product and service.
FalconNorthwest - an enthusiast pc maker that has fallen from grace durring the last couple of years, but whos prices havn't dropped in reflection
Velocity Micro - Good quality systems, with decent customer support. Can be pricey, but unlike most high-end pc maker can be purchased in stores (ex: Best Buy)

Thats all the manufacturers I can think of atm, but hopefully its of some help