Computer Help Needed!

K

kstratton

New Member
Ok, here's the issue I'm having:

I'm a college student and I work in the computer labs as well. I'm at the college from 8am - 8pm most days. I have an outdated PC at home. I have some financial aid left over after paying for my classes, and I'm hoping to buy a new computer. I need something that will run Alias's Maya (specs at bottom), and I'd prefer it to be able to run some graphics intensive games as well (doesn't have to have great settings, just run them). On top of this I need it to be portable, and under $1,000 (preferably under $800). I've got a 1.1GHz processor at home and would prefer to go to at LEAST a 2.0 (higher is better, Maya can take forever to render).

I already have a 120g hard drive, as well as my media drives. I've been looking around and haven't found anything that would be cheap/portable enough...any suggestions?


Specs for Maya:
Windows: Intel® Pentium® III or higher, AMD Athlon™ processor
Macintosh: Power Mac® G4 and G5
512 MB RAM
CD-ROM Drive
Hardware-Accelerated OpenGL® graphics card
3-button mouse with mouse driver software
450 MB of hard disk space
 
No laptop under $800 is going to render anything quickly, especially things like Maya, Poser...even Photoshop. I think rendering programs tend to use large swap files, and you tend to get better performance out of them by having the swap file on a seperate physical drive. I know Photoshop does. I've only messed around with software like Maya and Poser, so I'm not 100% sure on that.

Regardless, you won't have 2 drives on a laptop. $800 will probably get you a Dell that meets your specs. That certainly doesn't mean the program will run well; just that it will run.

For any 3D rendering, I'd recommend a Mac. For you, a Powerbook, but it's out of your price range. The laptop I use is a Powerbook G4; one of the newer ones. Maybe the 12" iBook would work for you...it's priced right @ $1k and meets your specs:

1.33GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache @1.33GHz
512MB memory (DDR333 SDRAM)
12.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
ATI Mobility Radeon 9550
32MB DDR video memory
40GB Ultra ATA hard drive
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Built-in AirPort Extreme
Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Scrolling Trackpad
Sudden Motion Sensor

Good Luck.
 
Can't use a Mac >< I've already got the PC software, and couldn't afford to buy it again. Should have said that sooner.

I don't care if it's a laptop, or an easy-to-carry case. I go from home to the lab where I work, to class, and then back home. They have a table in the lab I could set it up on with an outlet right there. I don't have too many books, so weight isn't prohibitive (although the lighter the better). I'm not sure what I'd do about a monitor if I just had a case though...I can't unplug the school monitors and use them. They don't want people bending the pins.
 
"macs are extramly useless compared to high end systems"

So do you have anything useful to add? Perhaps you do 3D rendering and have a PC suggestion? ...or are you just posting to post?

Clearly you've never used a high-end Power Mac, or spell check.

kstratton - If you need a PC solution, then like I said, maybe a lower-end Dell Inspiron or something would do the trick for you. Sadly, quick rendering takes a pretty beefy machine, be it Mac or PC. You could probably stuff something into a Micro-ATX style case, but like you said, it doens't solve your monitor problem. Whatever you buy, I'd put 1GB of RAM in it if you can. Even if you have to skimp a little on the processor to afford it.
 
or you can build the machine ground up for cheaper and you can find a light case, might wana look into intel p4s and atleast a gig of ram. And you'll probably have to get a really small lcd monitor.
 
for $800 a pc without HD and optical drives is really possible :)
(i paid about that much for the pc i have now.. just because i had my case HD and opticals already to :) )
 
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