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Netbook that runs Maya...?

Excluding ridiculously high priced Alienware, does anyone know if sub-$400 netbooks stand a chance at running Maya???

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  • xk0be
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    The minimum maya requirements:

    Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business (SP2 or higher), Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP3 or higher), Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional operating system
    Windows: Intel® Pentium® 4 or higher, AMD Athlon™ 64, AMD Opteron™ processor, AMD Phenom™ processor
    2 GB RAM
    4 GB free hard drive space
    Qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL® graphics card
    Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
    DVD-ROM drive
    Maya Composite media cache requirements for playback:
    10 GB minimum, 200 GB recommended
    HDD: IDE, SATA, SATA 2, SAS, SCSI


    So a netbook with 2 gigs of ram, buy a mouse and it'll run... I don't really see the benefit though, if you're like waiting at the airport you're probably not gonna start modeling a character or something and the bottleneck will probably frustrate you more than just waiting.

    Also theres been 500 thousand threads asking for laptops so if you decide to go above 400 bucks for something that can run it quite well you can search and find some good suggestions.
  • Ben Apuna
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    I don't know about sub $400 but if it really must be a netbook then you'd better get one with a Nvidia ION based graphics chipset(card?). I guess this is essentially a GeForce 9400M G GPU.

    http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_73301.html

    Last I checked Nvidia ION was the only alternative to integrated Intel graphics on netbooks, though my research this subject is ~8 months out of date, there may be something better out there now.
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    Oh, I managed to get 3DS 2011 to run properly on Asus EEEpc 1005PE, wich was something like:

    - Windows 7 Basic
    - Intel Atom 1,70 ghz
    - 1 GB ram
    - Intel GMA 3150 graphics card
    - 1024*600 resolution

    Was perfect for lowpoly-midpoly models, but can get quite painful with large scenes. Anyhow, I managed to render fast many screenshots mockups like this:

    rosscreen15.jpg
  • SpeCter
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    SpeCter polycounter lvl 14
    I really can´t imagine working on such a small screen.I already have a big screen and i wish it was even bigger :D
  • r_fletch_r
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    I had maya running on a HP mini 5101 (I think that's the correct model number). It has some GMA card. While maya was running, it wasn't very useful since CGFX shaders wouldn't run properly. ...basically GMA cards are just crap.

    I'd too recommend looking into a nvidia ion based netbook.

    Personally I'm super duper happy with my switch to a macbook air since it has a "real" nvidia card and a core 2 duo too, but I guess it's not an option given your budget. Still I would rate it the best "netbook" for 3D work.
  • mparis
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    r_fletch_r wrote: »

    Yeah I had seen that before. But I know how Razer prices their gear. O_O

    Thanks for the input everyone.
  • arrangemonk
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    arrangemonk polycounter lvl 15
    i would buy some ION2(gf 350m) based netbook then
    with a dualcore atom

    or maybe one of the new AMD atom pendant, has radeon 4200 as i know
  • martynball
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    martynball polycounter lvl 10
    mparis wrote: »
    Excluding ridiculously high priced Alienware, does anyone know if sub-$400 netbooks stand a chance at running Maya???


    I have got the M11x Alienware notebook, which cost around £800. From owning it I wouldn't say that it's ridiculously priced as it's an amazing laptop.

    It's running 3ds max with a 16 million triangle model pretty smooth.

    I would recommend it, and recommend just save up for one.
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    Alienware notebooks/netbooks are sweet and quite expensive. But, I confess, I'd personally fall in love for an Alienware M11x/M15x/M17x.

    Macbook is another great deal (I'm working on a Macbook Alu 13" now), but they are quite pricey too (I bought one used). Also, moving from PC to Mac is quite painful at the beginning...
  • Spicypixel
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    Spicypixel polycounter lvl 6
    http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/749300-REG/Sony_VPCYB13KX_S_VAIO_YB_VPCYB13KX_S_11_6_.html
    Probably something like that.
    Any E-350 AMD fusion netbook, probably the only netbook choice, sadly its a bit over 400, but all the non intel integrated graphics ones are. Honestly a used core 2 laptop with mid range graphics like a 9600m or 5650 is a better bet.
  • mortalhuman
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    I don't know why anyone would want to do this. You won't be able to do anything meaningful with it, there are tasks outside of 3d packages that you could work on on the go, textures and stuff, but even that is going to be taxing on the lil useless netbooks.

    Honestly, I would look for a used old dell laptop or something way way before I would ever limit myself with a netbook. My 2 cent.
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    I don't know why anyone would want to do this.
    I had this need some time ago.
    Some serious problems in my family brought me to move continuously in my town (I also could only rely on public buses), however I needed to continue working on 3D and Web design projects. Since I could not stop my works, I bought a decent EEEpc. Being very lightweight and small, I was able to walk along with it during my travels without effort, ebveryday (some times I used to travel for hours)...
    Despite being very small and low-powered, it was able to run Max, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and others very well.

    Sorry for this little off-topic.
  • mparis
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    Mr_Drayton wrote: »
    I had this need some time ago.
    Some serious problems in my family brought me to move continuously in my town (I also could only rely on public buses), however I needed to continue working on 3D and Web design projects. Since I could not stop my works, I bought a decent EEEpc. Being very lightweight and small, I was able to walk along with it during my travels without effort, ebveryday (some times I used to travel for hours)...
    Despite being very small and low-powered, it was able to run Max, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and others very well.

    Sorry for this little off-topic.

    Nah man, interesting story.

    And going back to mortal. It's more a situation where I have a fairly low key workstudy job at college that's full of plenty of time where nothing is going on. I didn't want to invest much in mobile hardware, preferring to spend the larger amounts on a solid desktop. So instead of just sitting there with nothing to do I was hoping do have a little productivity at a reasonable cost. I know it's not going to run UDK or anything, just so I can fiddle with modeling. Thanks for all the replies everyone. I'll be thinking about this for a bit before I make a move. If i do end up getting one to toy with I'lll definitely post my findings. I may seriously consider getting a used laptop, as long as the price lines up. :)
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