In need of suggestions please

K

Kaveman

New Member
Hello. I am Joe, a college student who is majoring Virtual Technology and Design. Next semester we start getting back into the hardcore stuff, such as advanced modeling with high quality renders, advanced materials and lighting in 3ds max, animation, and other stuff of course.

The problem that i face is that my HP Pavilion dv9000 Entertainment laptop is over 5 years old, has seen more replacement parts than it should have, and is on the fast track to death.

So i need a computer that is quick, powerful, reliable, and the cheaper the better ($400-$800 preferably). My goal is to find a laptop that will last me the last 3 years of college at least, which will probably get much more demanding of system requirements as i advance throughout my major. The school has a list of 'recommended minimum system requirements' at http://www.caa.uidaho.edu/computerpolicy/htm/hardware.htm

The first brand that came to mind was alienware, but in all reality i dont know anyone who has had one, so its just a rumor i have heard. They may be a little too high end from what i see. But i will let you experts give me suggestions. Many thanks everyone.
 
Its cool, but doesnt overly help me. haha. I was looking more for like suggestions on laptop brands, or even specific laptops that fit the criteria for system requirements. I dont really know what makes a computer 'good' for heavy 3d rendering and processing besides the video card, and i dunno what is better than what. haha. thanks for trying tho.
 
I would recommend Alienware, ASUS, HP and Dell XPS series.

Next semester we start getting back into the hardcore stuff, such as advanced modeling with high quality renders, advanced materials and lighting in 3ds max, animation, and other stuff of course.
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That means absolutely nothing to me. :P

I suppose if you could give us the names of the software you are working with, programs you use, etc we could look at the specs and better assist you.

You could also Google around for some of the above brands, find some models you like, then post them here and we could guide you in making a decision. I love Google Shopping for browsing products.
 
3ds Max, which has pretty heavy requirements if you want to have your renders done in a timely fashion.

Other than that im not sure if they will introduce new software. Only time will tell. I just want to be ready for anything thrown at me. On a side note, we were doing alot of second life modeling this semester just to practice concepts and such. Anyone who has played second life knows its a pretty demanding game, and will overheat my current laptop on occasion.

And i dont have first hand experience with ASUS, but have heard nothing but bad things about it by fellow vtd students at my school. Guess the only thing good they do is make a few high end parts, overall computers are crap? Just what i heard. Dont hate me. haha.

I have had 2 HP pavilions, and have been overall pleased with them. However, looking online, i cant find a good laptop that fits my needs that is under 1k.

Heard that dells were generally lower end computers.

Upon looking, the alienware m11x looked fantastic and perfect for my needs, except one thing.

It is only available in windows 7 64 bit, which is highly frowned upon at my school.

But i have a disc that has windows 7 32 bit. I bought it for $10 at the university bookstore. Can you downgrade like that? I upgraded this computer from vista to 7, and it completely screwed my laptop up. Made the battery stop working properly, if i update then my processor doesnt respond, ect. I dont want to risk that on a $800 laptop.

Any other suggestions?

And please dont flame me for what i said about other brands. They are just what i hear. I have been born and raised on HP and EMachines, and am by no means an expert, which is why i came to all of you wonderful people =]
 
I know that you already said that you wanted a laptop, just putting this out there but using a desktop would be cheaper with better performance. You would not have so many problems with overheating as well. But I understand if a laptop would better fit what you use your computer for :D

Kaveman said:
But i have a disc that has windows 7 32 bit. I bought it for $10 at the university bookstore. Can you downgrade like that?
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If you have already used the product key for that copy of Windows 7 then no. The product key that is activated on a laptop that you buy complete is an OEM key and is only licensed to the copy that comes installed on your system. I know that for college students, you can buy a full install of windows 7 for $65

http://www.win741.com/

That may be your best bet. Find the laptop that you like and override the operating system. This will also get rid of the pre installed programs that bog down your computer. Although I don't understand why your school looks down so much on 64bit.
 
Kaveman said:
3ds Max, which has pretty heavy requirements if you want to have your renders done in a timely fashion.
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from autodesk.com:
System Requirements

32-Bit 3ds Max 2011 or 3ds Max Design 2011 for Windows

Operating system: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional, Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business (SP2 or higher), or Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2 or higher)

For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

* Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz or equivalent AMD® processor with SSE2 technology*
* 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
* 2 GB swap space (4 GB recommended)**
* 3 GB free hard drive space
* Direct3D® 10 technology, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL®-capable graphics card† (256 MB or higher video card memory, 1 GB or higher recommended)
* Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
* DVD-ROM drive††
* Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 7.0 or higher or Mozilla® Firefox® 2.0 or higher browser
* Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk® Subscription-aware access
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And i dont have first hand experience with ASUS, but have heard nothing but bad things about it by fellow vtd students at my school. Guess the only thing good they do is make a few high end parts, overall computers are crap? Just what i heard. Dont hate me. haha.
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I don't have any first hand experience either - I've heard nothing but good things about ASUS and Alienware from people here and other forums, so idk. I've always used HP, Compaq and Gateway computers. I've known a couple of people who work in technology who use ASUS lappys, and are happy with them.

I have had 2 HP pavilions, and have been overall pleased with them. However, looking online, i cant find a good laptop that fits my needs that is under 1k.
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I was always pleased with my HP machines. They say you get what you pay for, so... Of course, buying used is an option. Or get a part-time gig and cough up the extra $$$ - I work for GeeksMobileUSA in my off-time. They pay $40/hr. In the past month I've done three jobs for them @ 2.5hrs apiece - so an easy $300 repairing common malware-related problems and data backup. Easy money. :good:

Heard that dells were generally lower end computers.
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Generally, but not the XPS series. I've known many people who work in technology who prefer Dell XPS series. They are well-performing, high-quality computers. So I've heard. :P

Upon looking, the alienware m11x looked fantastic and perfect for my needs, except one thing.
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Nice. I really like this lappy. Looks like your processor is a little lacking in meeting with the specs for 3DS though... the rest of the specs look good. Also, the cheapest I could get it from the Alienware site was $1013... so it doen't meet your price preferences. Oh - and Alienware is a subsidiary of Dell. ;)

It is only available in windows 7 64 bit, which is highly frowned upon at my school.
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Why? I wouldn't worry about what anyone else thinks about my OS or my machine so long as it runs what I need it to run and runs it well (just look at the machine in my siggie :P)

I upgraded this computer from vista to 7, and it completely screwed my laptop up. Made the battery stop working properly, if i update then my processor doesnt respond, ect. I dont want to risk that on a $800 laptop.
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That doesn't make any sense. Changing your OS will not kill your battery or your processor. At worst, it will simply crash or not run at all. But that's another thread for another time.

And please dont flame me for what i said about other brands. They are just what i hear. I have been born and raised on HP and EMachines, and am by no means an expert, which is why i came to all of you wonderful people =]
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Nobody's going to flame you here. This is a pretty mature forum. If someone gets their feelings hurt because you heard something bad about a brand, then that person needs to get a life. ;)

Happy hunting. Post back with others you are looking at and we'll give you our take on them.
 
alright guys thanks for all the help. I should have rephrased the statement about my school frowning upon 64 bit. It is more of the VTD department. Problem is that it wont run 3ds properly, as well as many of the other programs they install in the future. Not sure what those are however.

That doesn't make any sense. Changing your OS will not kill your battery or your processor. At worst, it will simply crash or not run at all. But that's another thread for another time.
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Not even kidding. It somehow messed up how the battery reads the amount of power saved. Its a pretty widespread problem when i did some google research. Not a huge deal though, because im always at an outlet.

I know that you already said that you wanted a laptop, just putting this out there but using a desktop would be cheaper with better performance.
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I have to go to the classrooms and do my modeling in a group setting, so that assistance from the t.a's are available. So laptop is my only option there. =[

I have heard of many people building computers at a cheaper price. Is it possible to do this with laptops, or are parts not overly available for that?

Looks like your processor is a little lacking in meeting with the specs for 3DS though
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Thats unfortunate. haha. well i cant really find any other computers that are really sort of dedicated to 3d graphics and performance besides alienware =[
 
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