Laptop Question + Reintroduction
polycounter lvl 18
Hey guys.
I've been busy with school this past year and haven't produced much (any) art, but lately the creative juices have been flowing and I've decided to commit more seriously to my artwork. I think I may have been a bit hasty in jumping directly into 3D work when I first registered here. I learned my way around a few applications and pumped out some pretty awful character models, but never really seemed to improve much because I lacked solid foundation skills. With that in mind, I've decided to start at the bottom this time. I've been taking a weekly life drawing course at a local community college, and I just picked up "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" which looks like a lot of fun. Polycount has always been my favorite place for receiving butt-kickings from massively talented artists, so I'll try to put up as much as much work as I can! The new digital sketchbook forum looks like a great addition.
Sorry for the lengthy intro, but I'm hoping that by putting it down in writing I'll discourage myself from wimping out.
Before I head back to school I'm looking to pick up a laptop for work + art. I know this isn't a tech forum, but it seems that a lot of Polycounters know their way around a motherboard so I thought I'd ask. I'm looking for a computer powerful enough to run art apps, and with enough battery life and portability to make it through a day on campus. I suppose I'm just asking for a solid laptop. Price point is around ~1500 but I might splurge a bit if an exceptional opportunity presents itself (MBP is tempting, though I've never owned a Mac before).
Any help is appreciated! Looking forward to getting torn apart all over again in P&P!
I've been busy with school this past year and haven't produced much (any) art, but lately the creative juices have been flowing and I've decided to commit more seriously to my artwork. I think I may have been a bit hasty in jumping directly into 3D work when I first registered here. I learned my way around a few applications and pumped out some pretty awful character models, but never really seemed to improve much because I lacked solid foundation skills. With that in mind, I've decided to start at the bottom this time. I've been taking a weekly life drawing course at a local community college, and I just picked up "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" which looks like a lot of fun. Polycount has always been my favorite place for receiving butt-kickings from massively talented artists, so I'll try to put up as much as much work as I can! The new digital sketchbook forum looks like a great addition.
Sorry for the lengthy intro, but I'm hoping that by putting it down in writing I'll discourage myself from wimping out.
Before I head back to school I'm looking to pick up a laptop for work + art. I know this isn't a tech forum, but it seems that a lot of Polycounters know their way around a motherboard so I thought I'd ask. I'm looking for a computer powerful enough to run art apps, and with enough battery life and portability to make it through a day on campus. I suppose I'm just asking for a solid laptop. Price point is around ~1500 but I might splurge a bit if an exceptional opportunity presents itself (MBP is tempting, though I've never owned a Mac before).
Any help is appreciated! Looking forward to getting torn apart all over again in P&P!
Replies
It does pretty well with most things, but try to find one with an 8600 if you can, they're a decent step up from an 8400, but still, equivalent hardware in a laptop is a bit slower than a desktop, so I wouldn't suggest only using a laptop for work unless you're planning on spending a lot of money!
:poly108:
I used to be a big fan of the IBM T-series, like T-40, 43, etc. but since IBM sold their laptop business to Lenova, I'm a little iffy to recommend them. My HP does pretty well, is durable, etc.
Plus when the laptop passes its useful lifespan you'll have to scrap the whole thing, whereas with a desktop, you can upgrade it a bit at a time. If you build it yourself, you can also buy the pieces in chunks over time instead of buying with credit or dropping a fat wad all in one day.
How often do you plan to be out and about and want to work on digital art?
I'm not saying getting a high end laptop is a mistake, but think outside of the treadiness of it, and think about what you're giving up.
With that said...
I own a Sony Vaio I'm happy with it. It does all I ever need it to do. I've installed more ram but there isn't much I can do when it starts to show its age, which won't be for a while with what I do. A side from some heat issue when sculpting or playing games and the tiny screen space (as compared to my dual 22" samsung's) It's great. My wife uses it more then I do, and to be fair we did buy it for her =P
To sum it up, a good 15' laptop for 3d sculpting and newer game engines (such as Unreal3) Would have a Geforce 8600, 2+ gb ram (3+ if running Vista), and a dual core processor. For a 17' you can go as High as Geforce 8800, though In late August the mobile 9800 is supposedly coming out.
Brand wise:
Vaio - Newer ones with the locked in keyboards are good.
Dell - The XPS line is solid, but from what I've heard are being discontinued
Clevo (often rebranded As Sager) - I've heard nothing but good things about these for a long time.
I personaly use an Asus c90s, but I don't recommend it.
Vig, unfortunately a desktop isn't an option given my housing situation, otherwise I'd bring along my old rig. I'm not looking for a monstrous, SLI laptop that has to be plugged into a wall to function, but at the same time I don't want my lightweight to slow to a crawl whenever I open a 3D application.
My own research had led me to the Dell XPS M1530, which happens to be significantly discounted at the moment. My only concern is that Dell forces you to purchase Windows Vista, which I have no experience with. Is this reason for concern?
Thanks again for all the advice!
Seeing as how XP has been discontinued and won't be on any new premade PC or Laptop, it's not like you have a choice. Though you could always buy a copy of XP somewhere else if you want to, and just install that over it.
Thanks to all that helped.
I'll be there.
It had two physical HD's (weird but much appreciated) I ran a dual boot system for a while. XP on one and Vista on the other. Everything ran great under XP with the 2gb of ram.
The vista side didn't catch up until I maxed out the ram. Since then I have removed XP and things have been great.
One more thing I forgot to mention about the laptop is its video card set up. It has two, an Intel piece of crap, and the Geforce power hog. The Geforce eats through the battery in 6-8hrs and is the main source of heat, cool mat required and watch out for those keys, your hands actually act as insulators trapping heat. If I run the intel it chews through it in 12. So don't expect it to go very long with it being un-plugged. I guess with all that dual hardware something had to go...
Extra batteries are expensive but through a loophole in Best Buy's warranty policy I was able to get a replacement battery and keep my old battery. It pays to get chummy with the people at the service counter.
Hands down my desktop blows the laptop away, but its a good substatute if couldn't have a desktop.
Kat, most vendors seem to only offer "glossy" screens these days. Is that a serious problem? I've heard that they can skew colors somewhat, but I didn't think it would be an issue for a hobbyist like myself. Additionally, Dell doesn't seem to mention whether the copy of Vista I'm getting is 64 bit or not...
I'll open up a sketchbook thread this afternoon, Elysium. Going to need all the help I can get.
Dell will most likely be selling 32Bit Vista if they don't say anything.
if ur in the uk, check www.pcspecialist.co.uk
iv got from the latter and its great