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View Full Version : Looking for advice on computers for creative multi-tasking!

William Brown
February 7th, 2009, 01:22 AM
Hey guys! just wanted to pop in here with a couple questions and to say thanks for maintaining such a great sight with very talented people participating on it. Hopefully within the next few months or so I'll get the time to put up some of my work - I'm looking forward to it.


Anyway, I have very little hands-on digital applcation knowledge, but within the next few months or so I'm looking to get very involved in it - applying it to my current abilities as a painter, sculpter and illustrator.

I've been doing a little bit of research, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what kind of computer to get and what it would need to run certain programs such as photoshop cs4, illustrator, painter and perhaps a couple modeling programs such as 3ds max and lightwave (I'm only familiar with these by popular recommendation. I'm open to other suggestions). Now I know how i work and ultimately I'd like to be able to get a system that would easily run two or more of these programs at once and of course I'd like to be able to have other applications open and active at the same time. I've already looked up the system requirments for some of these amd I have a basic idea here, but I would like to know what other people have and/or recommend.

Basically, I'm looking for a system that would allow me to multi-task for long periods of time witout any lag, the system burning out in 3-4 months or crashing all-together.

Having all that in mind, I'm aware that Alienware is known for those attributes, but I simply don't have the thousands of dollars to buy that name brand. I'm looking for other less flashy and over priced options.

And while I'm asking for advice, what are some good programs to start with to ease my way into the cg art world?

Thanks,
Will
TomSawyer
February 7th, 2009, 03:52 PM
If you can build a computer that's always going to be cheaper. Newegg is a good place to get parts.
William Brown
February 8th, 2009, 08:18 AM
I've been looking into that but, I would be at novice level - though I believe I would be technically capable enough to set up a custom system and ask the right people the right questions. However, I'm still unsure as to what kind of specs I would need for the system to run as seamlessly as I would like.

Any ideas?

-W-
TomSawyer
February 9th, 2009, 05:21 PM
What's your price range? 4gigs of ram and a good prcoessor would be the most imporant things.
William Brown
February 12th, 2009, 08:00 PM
I'd like to stay under $600 starting out and I seen a couple systems that I think would work. Is there anything else that would be important to keep in mind when looking at the details of a system?

Thanks
-W-
TomSawyer
February 12th, 2009, 09:29 PM
Well a Wacom Bamboo fun comes with Painter and Photoshop, but that's going to run you about 130 by itself, so maybe waiting to get a bit more cash and then you can get what you need. As far as details of the system I think that's all you need really, maybe a decent motherboard.
Elwell
February 12th, 2009, 10:44 PM
Well a Wacom Bamboo fun comes with Painter and Photoshop,
Painter Essentials and Photoshop Elements.
Bill
February 13th, 2009, 01:35 AM
Painter Essentials and Photoshop Elements.

I was gonna say... and depending on the version of elements it may not jive with Vista. My printer came with Elements Version 3 and it wouldn't work. I did find Version 7 at Bestbuy for $70, though, and I think it does a lot for that price.

I don't remember the threads off hand but if you haven't already done so a search might turn up some threads relevant to your topic. Is it Bumskee who knows so much about computers?
William Brown
February 15th, 2009, 04:00 PM
Thank you for your recommendations guys! much appreciated.

-W-
Rob!T
February 15th, 2009, 04:59 PM
Painter Essentials and Photoshop Elements.

photoshop elements has everything that I can imagine an artist would need and more. I survived with it for years, now I have CS3 and can't tell the difference :)
Habbit
March 8th, 2009, 01:36 PM
My 2 cents...
At NewEgg check out this core system (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883108199), Lenovo tower, Dual Pentium, 4 gig, 500gig drive for $575. For a tower, not bad, says its for home/office, but a computer like this will handle Adobe CS4 with no trouble. You can spend anywhere from $150 and up for a flat screen monitor. You might check Craigslist in your area for used computer gear too. Add to that a Wacom tablet (also potential used) and you can drive your cost still under $1000. If you don't want to spend for Photoshop or Painter, you could always start with Gimpshop (http://www.gimpshop.com/), which is a modified version of the open source GIMP software. I was using it last week, and its not too bad. If you want to get into 3-d, Blender (http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/) is free.
Rist
March 8th, 2009, 01:41 PM
photoshop elements has everything that I can imagine an artist would need and more. I survived with it for years, now I have CS3 and can't tell the difference :)

The jump from CS3 to CS4 is a profound journey for an artist.
Not Pink
March 8th, 2009, 03:16 PM
Ill try to find a link for ya, but I know somewhere on the dell site you can get a really good XPS for around 800 if you want to poke around.

I think the specs are something like 3 gigs, 3.1 GHz processor, 8800 GTX graphics, and some other stuff, it's pretty damn good for the price.