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Computer help! What should I buy?
17 years ago
I know you some of you furries are also computer whizzes so tell me oh smart ones, what looks good here....
I'd like to buy the Dell Studio 17 laptop....first of all, does anybody have this particular laptop?
I have an old Dell Inspiron 17 laptop that's breaking so I need a new one and since they don't have Inspiron 17s anymore I thought I'd go with the Studio.
I'm trying to do heavy animation work in Maya and play games like The Sims 3 and Spore. Not a huge gaming thing necessary but I need to be able to do my animations and do things fairly quickly.
I'm also not trying to break the bank.
The processors available for this computer is such:
The defualt is
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T6600 (2.20GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache) [Included in Price]
and then the other two options are:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8400 (2.20GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3MB cache) [add $75 or $3/month1]
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6MB cache) [add $250 or $8/month1]
I was thinking perhaps that the middle upgrade wouldn't be too much but I don't know what that upgrade would actually do, if it would make a difference? I think the bigger upgrade is too expensive perhaps though.
Also, I hear that the sound for this comp was originally pretty annoying (it made popping sounds if the wireless internet was turned on, which I need) although I hear it's fixed now? But the sound is still crappy? Would buying any upgrades help?
Default:
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ Advanced HD Software Edition [Included in Price]
and upgrades:
ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card [add $55 or $2/month1]
Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook Sound Card and Wireless Receiver Bundle [add $105 or $3/month1]
or would just plain buying a nice set of speakers instead of upgrading the sound card be enough?
Computerssssssss I don't know what is betterrrrr
Also, if anyone knows of any other 17" computers that can get up to 1920x1200 resolution (my reason for this specific one) you may suggest away! I already checked HP and Sony and they don't offer that in what I'm looking for.
I'd like to buy the Dell Studio 17 laptop....first of all, does anybody have this particular laptop?
I have an old Dell Inspiron 17 laptop that's breaking so I need a new one and since they don't have Inspiron 17s anymore I thought I'd go with the Studio.
I'm trying to do heavy animation work in Maya and play games like The Sims 3 and Spore. Not a huge gaming thing necessary but I need to be able to do my animations and do things fairly quickly.
I'm also not trying to break the bank.
The processors available for this computer is such:
The defualt is
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T6600 (2.20GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache) [Included in Price]
and then the other two options are:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8400 (2.20GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3MB cache) [add $75 or $3/month1]
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6MB cache) [add $250 or $8/month1]
I was thinking perhaps that the middle upgrade wouldn't be too much but I don't know what that upgrade would actually do, if it would make a difference? I think the bigger upgrade is too expensive perhaps though.
Also, I hear that the sound for this comp was originally pretty annoying (it made popping sounds if the wireless internet was turned on, which I need) although I hear it's fixed now? But the sound is still crappy? Would buying any upgrades help?
Default:
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ Advanced HD Software Edition [Included in Price]
and upgrades:
ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card [add $55 or $2/month1]
Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook Sound Card and Wireless Receiver Bundle [add $105 or $3/month1]
or would just plain buying a nice set of speakers instead of upgrading the sound card be enough?
Computerssssssss I don't know what is betterrrrr
Also, if anyone knows of any other 17" computers that can get up to 1920x1200 resolution (my reason for this specific one) you may suggest away! I already checked HP and Sony and they don't offer that in what I'm looking for.
I have all the latest software including all Adobe and Maya updates.
I have several ports you can stick anything USB into.
I have this in my rig and its great
Personally I recommend getting the mid-range processor. It's not faster in terms of speed than the basic model, but if gives you a fatter pipe to the RAM which Maya will be using quite greedily during rendering. For your needs it's a practical increase in power.
This brings up the question of how much RAM is in the box by default - Maya loves having lots of it to romp around in. How much does the system come with?
Finally, you'll probably want some form of 3d accelerator for Maya as well.. Does the laptop come with one by default?
The sound problem you mentioned sounds like it was probably a driver issue, and not a hardware issue, so I would feel pretty safe sticking with the default card. If they fixed it already, it should be fixed for good. Once you've actually heard the built-in speakers, you can decide on whether it's worth it to you to buy a set. Don't go out spending money just because some audiophile wanted to yak about how laptop speakers weren't good enough for him.
Hope this helped!
What you'll want for rendering and other such intensive apps is a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad CPU, preferable 2.4GHz or higher, and not a mobile variation of such. You will want 2+ GB of RAM. You will want a graphics card with a minimum of 256MB of RAM. You will be hard pressed to find a laptop that will provide that for less than $3000, unless you buy a cheap Dell or HP that statistically will brick itself one day out of warranty.
If you absolutely must buy a laptop with the power for these things, stick with Acer or IBM/Lenovo. Sony's not bad either.
My personal recommendation however is to find a custom built desktop for $400-700 and a netbook for $300-400 so you can have the best of both worlds without paying out the ass.
I could build a desktop PC for $500 that would do better for rendering than a $4000 laptop. So can a lot of people in the business. Keep that in mind.
granted you can build a WAY better PC (aka desktop) for half the price, but then again you might neeed a laptop (like me xD I has 3 desktops xD)
just a few things, the sound card? not worth extra, just stick standard ya won't notice the difference IRL.
I dunno if it'll handle maya, but it should as long as it comes with lotsa ram (like mimium 2gb)
here in aus, you sign up to dell "newsletter" and it comes with discount codes and stuffers, save you like 10% or 20% and if ya can, contact a dell representive, sometimes they will give you discounts and stuff to get a sale (cuz I *TTHINK* they like get bonuses and stuff)