Graphics Arts Laptop <$2000

[surfsk8snow.jah]

My sister is looking to buy a laptop for school (Art Institute of San Diego - Computer Graphics Major) which she'll be using for photoshop/illustrator, 3dstudioMax, Vegas, video rendering, etc.

Anyone have any recommendations on what would be the best components for her to look for in a laptop?
Better yet, anyone know of a good laptop that fits this category for less than $2000US?

Thanks!

[kwchang007]

You prefer any brands? And btw...desktops are best and this is in the wrong section...I'll pm a mod and ask them to move it.

[zekrahminator]

Thread moved to general hardware so you'll get more hits and responses to your question .

[freaksavior]

buy a mac book pro...

Macs are better for that sort of stuff. Pc can do it but macs are more designed for editing stuff now-a-days so mac would best suited for that.

[cdawall]

those are all PC apps freaksavior i recommend a BYO asus laptop

http://www.asuslaptop.co.uk/categories.php?cat=5

that with 2gb of ram, an e6600, any vid card NV 8500 or higher

[freaksavior]

Originally Posted by cdawall

those are all PC apps freaksavior i recommend a BYO asus laptop

http://www.asuslaptop.co.uk/categories.php?cat=5

that with 2gb of ram, an e6600, any vid card NV 8500 or higher

Originally Posted by surfsk8snow.jah

photoshop/illustrator,

hmm afaik adobe orignaly made the software for mac then pc users liked the software so much that it got ported to pc.

as far as the other software i bet $100 there is a program for mac that will do what the pc software will and do it better.

[cdawall]

they are pretty even now IMHO i love vegas plat ed. and sound forge and those are just as good as the offerings on the mac...


if you want proof my hist techer made us all do vid projects and yes you could tell which was done on a mac and which was done on a PC cause the mac one had a menu that had an apple at the bottom but the kids with real PC editing software (not Windows movie maker) looked as good (read better) than the mac version but that could have to do with cams adn etc ie my vegas made one had a $600 canon WS camera that was on a tripod VS the grainy handheld cam the other person used

[pt]

i just got this one for cad, image editing, and of course GAMES!
F3KA - 15. 4'' TFT (WXGA) Color Shine, AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, 2048 MB DDR2 667, 160 GB, ATI HD2600 256 MB DDR3/1 GB HM, Gigabit LAN 802. 11b/g BT, Vista Premium

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...26&modelmenu=1
all for 850€ (big discount thanks to a friend)

[freaksavior]

you suck.

it's not rocket science dude! macs are just better for editing whatever it is. don't be a pc fanboy.

[zekrahminator]

I've worked with Macs and PCs, for what Macs do, they are EXTREMELY effective and efficient. If all you're doing is photo/video editing, publishing, developing, or whatever-ing, you'll find a Mac will do all you want. However, for PC enthusiasts like us...Macs leave something to be desired.

[freaksavior]

http://www.barefeats.com/macvpc.html

read and weep

[zekrahminator]

Those benches are old, if you saw some Core 2 Duos on Mac OS X 10.5, you'd see some serious ass-hauling .

[pt]

Originally Posted by freaksavior

you suck.

it's not rocket science dude! macs are just better for editing whatever it is. don't be a pc fanboy.

how are they better?
edit faster?

[freaksavior]

Originally Posted by zekrahminator

Those benches are old, if you saw some Core 2 Duos on Mac OS X 10.5, you'd see some serious ass-hauling .

Originally Posted by pt

how are they better?
edit faster?

fine. buy a pc.

[Atnevon]

Hey surf.

Being student myself, I am in the same boat as your sister. ATM moment I'm on a desktop (see my specs) but laptops can be fine for many, but limited uses as long as you pick the good ones.

As for which ones, it can be a toss up. For PC, I would go with the HP here:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...nfig_id=206157

Now due note. Graphic work on the 2D base is fine with this. Gaming is great too. However, 3D and Video rendering (AfterEffects for example) are going to struggle a little bit more.

As for Mac:
The MacPros are very pricey. For 2K, this would be your only go:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...n7SPd2/10.?p=0

Now, please take this to heart. As this has happened to me. Laptops are great for portability. This is why I'm camping out for Black Friday deals. I miss it way to much. (RIP HP DV8000). However, I have done things in and out with my new Quad that blows any MacBook out of the water (for now).

My best advice for her, get a 500 laptop for small little work, and something to bring home on weekends, and get a desktop as well. I cannot tell you the stress of working in 3D applications or hoss work and not being able to work from something beter than a laptop. I hope this helps you.

Let me know if you need any help. Being a design student, I can give you way more insights of things to come.

-Andrew

[pt]

Originally Posted by freaksavior

fine. buy a pc.

i just did, should be here tomorrow, and stick linux on it after a couple seconds

[Rob!]

What does the school use? All my friends who are art majors use Macs, but some schools still use PCs.

If they use Macs, get a Macbook Pro. Obvious choice, and they're $1800 with the educational discount.

[panchoman]

i would say get a macbook [pro], macs are better for media purposes.. or so everyone says.

[Polaris573]

Art students should have a tablet PC. With a $2000 budget you might as well go for a durable one since she'll probably be using it a lot.

Thinkpad X Series

[pt]

Originally Posted by Rob!

What does the school use? All my friends who are art majors use Macs, but some schools still use PCs.

If they use Macs, get a Macbook Pro. Obvious choice, and they're $1800 with the educational discount.

mine uses boths, not everyone has enough money for a apple
and a pc does everything you need prob a couple miliseconds slower
ex:
my friend bought a macbook for 1k€ (2gb, intel c2d, 13' lcd, intel shitty gfx)
i spent 900 in a asus (2gb, amd x2, 15' lcd, hd2600)
now, who has the faster pc in overall?
aqnd the person using the pc is very important aswell, i almost never crash, (only if i do something that may make it crash, oc for example)

@polaris - those seem handy, but most ppl preffer the good old paper and pen adn then a scanner
i certainly do

[Polaris573]

Yes, but she's doing computer graphics. You can't draw a computer graphic on paper and then scan it. Using a mouse limits what you can do in photoshop as well.

[Rob!]

Originally Posted by pt

mine uses boths, not everyone has enough money for a apple
and a pc does everything you need prob a couple miliseconds slower
ex:
my friend bought a macbook for 1k€ (2gb, intel c2d, 13' lcd, intel shitty gfx)
i spent 900 in a asus (2gb, amd x2, 15' lcd, hd2600)
now, who has the faster pc in overall?
aqnd the person using the pc is very important aswell, i almost never crash, (only if i do something that may make it crash, oc for example)

@polaris - those seem handy, but most ppl preffer the good old paper and pen adn then a scanner
i certainly do

Well most of my friends I believe have Macbooks, but they're also illustration majors and the like. The dedicated GPU in the Pro would probably help loads with rendering though as 3DSMax was mentioned.

I build the PC in my sig for roughly $400, and it could kick the shit out of my Macbook and most iMacs out right now, but I still much prefer my Macbook for general use and the software that comes on it.

[pt]

the dedicated gpu is a 86gs or gt mobile, wich is on pair with the hd2600 mobile on mine
@polaris - i think computers gfx is meant as in software (paintshop, 3dsmax, corel, etc) not really drawing

edit: i read your post again, but a 12' screen is no good for drawing, is too small

[GSG-9]

Originally Posted by Rob!

What does the school use? All my friends who are art majors use Macs, but some schools still use PCs.

If they use Macs, get a Macbook Pro. Obvious choice, and they're $1800 with the educational discount.

What Rob is saying here is key, this is not even about which is better for editing, its about what the school considers a standard. The Milwaukee institute of Art and design as well as Minneapolis's college of art and design both use Macbooks.

As for myself I am lookking at this for photoshop and illustrator work, it does not have a high end card to speak of, but its 12' with a high resolution screen and has a tablet built in for Ps work. It is what I would recommend. (With the TL-66, I would buy 4 gigs of ram from Neweg for half the price hp sells it for.)

Originally Posted by pt

edit: i read your post again, but a 12' screen is no good for drawing, is too small

12' is not to small for drawing, thats from experance, the laptop I have above has a resolution of 1200x800, the same as most 15' laptops (some are slightly higher) I have never had a problem with 12' touch screens.

[pt]

12' is too small for me, even 15' (non wide) is small for me
and having a mac as standart in any school is retarded, what you can do on a mac you can do in a pc, faster or slower