# Want a new Laptop for Art/Animation....Info/Advice Wanted!



## Whisski (Feb 28, 2013)

Hello all,

I'm a largely traditional artist (my area of expertise is oil painting), but I have dabbled in digital art, and beginning my first animation project. I'm really enjoying myself with it.

My problem is: I only have a netbook.

It's a lil Toshiba that has served me faithfully for a couple years now. It's does everything I want it to and outside of play DVDs/CDs (no CD drive) and play videogames (not much of a computer gamer anyways, with a couple exceptions). The thing is, it's terrible for doing art. Sure it runs all the programs just fine, but if I want to work on anything large it'll probably not be able to handle it. Not to mention trying to do digital art or animate on a 7inch screen is terrible.

So, I'm looking for an upgrade. This is still in the hypothetical stages, but I figured I should start doing research now.


At this point I would either get a high-performance laptop (I'm fond of Toshibas but could be convinced to get another model) or a Macbook Pro (probably with Retina because, well, we are talking about art).

I will say, I'm kinda leaning towards the Macbook, because I know Macs have a good history of being "art laptops" and being really good at it. My boyfriend owns one and I know it'll run everything I want, even play World of Warcraft (one of the few PC games I like). The only problems are the pricetag, and that I'm really not fond of MacOSX. I taught myself to use computers, and learned how to do all sorts of stuff on pcs. It's not that I wouldn't be willing to learn, I just really prefer windows operating systems. (love my iphone OSX though). 

And since Macs now come with BootCamp that shouldn't be a problem.The fact that Macs tend to have planned obsolesence is a problem too (I don't want to have to replace the thing in 4 years unless it actually has a problem).

But....I don't know what system is right for me. I've used PC laptops alot but never with a serious dedicated art program, I don't know how it'd be different from my netbook. And I like the backing that Macs have as art laptops, but would it do exactly what I want? And is the price worth it?

I want to go to an art school, and I don't want to be held back by technology.

So, please artists, give me any advice/info you have! I'd greatly appreciate it!
And thank you so much!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I don't have the space for a desktop. I know that a desktop would be the absolute best thing for art, but I would have nowhere for the setup to go! I need something powerful and portable!


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## Arshes Nei (Feb 28, 2013)

Really for good digital work you want a desktop. A laptop is a good *starting* point for digital but not a great finishing point. It's not that you can't do any work on a laptop but there's considerations in screen size and other limitations that are just not cost effective.

You're spending more on components on a compact size when you can get parts you want and multiple output options like a desktop. - You can hook another monitor up to the laptop but they tend to heat up because of the setup, where a desktop you can usually have components better built for it. 

Macs might have a nice display, and better audio, but the "art model" is no longer relevant these days. There's a plethora of software that deals with art and a lot of it actually is more for PC. 

You might want to scope the Digital Artists thread as well because I do lay out things that are very important.

Monitor is more important than high end tablet.
You need to decide if art is more important than Games - because it may change the kind of components and savings.

I just find that spending the kind of money over - $500 on a laptop is a waste that could be spent on getting a better and serviceable desktop.


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## Zydala (Feb 28, 2013)

Honestly Arshes is on the money about that - laptops are not the BEST suited. I don't know what your situation is as far as space goes (I'm in-between houses so I don't have the space to set up a desktop myself), but if you can manage to fit a desktop somewhere, go with that. any 500-600 dollar rig, laptop or otherwise, will do the job just fine for what you probably want, spend the majority of the money on the monitor. If you DO want to go into animation and 3D modeling you will need more power behind the thing but honestly I find I can make a 300 dpi 3000px high object without much lagging on my 600 buck laptop I bought last september.

Best thing to do? Build one. It's not that hard, it's easy to upgrade later, it costs less and you learn a lot in the process


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## Tiamat (Feb 28, 2013)

Yeah, when macs had their big revival in the early 2000s they were really touted as being -the- computer for art. (This was when photoshop itself was also rising to real prominence.) 
In truth they were, but the balance has shifted, or at least evened out. Macs are falling to the wayside again, especially as Apple is more focused on their various 'pads and pods'


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## Whisski (Feb 28, 2013)

Oh oops, silly me, major thing I forgot to mention in the opening ^^; I don't have the means of owning a desktop right now in terms of space. I know a desktop would by far be the best option, but I'd quite literally have nowhere to put it! My apartment is tiny and what space I do have is already taken up by my easel and painting supplies. And at home-home (for the rare times I visit and would want to take my setup with me) I'd have even less space there. My roome is pretty much the size of a walk-in closet. So I'm really looking for something powerful and portable, sorry for not mentioning that sooner!


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## Arshes Nei (Feb 28, 2013)

As I said, don't waste over 500 on a laptop, it's not worth it period.


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## Ilayas (Feb 28, 2013)

I've been really happy with my Sony Viao.  I did however pay over $500 for it.  Cost me about $1,000 a few months back, however I was willing to pay that kind of money because I wanted something powerful (that I could potentially play games on if I wanted as well as run high end art programs) with a good screen (I went with the 17 inch screen). I actually managed to get it on a bit of a sale because they were switching from windows 7 laptops to windows 8 and I got one of the discontinued windows 7 models.  From what I saw in stores the Viao had one of the nicer screens out of the laptops they had on display.  

I've been using my laptop pretty much exclusivity for creating art while I'm at work (and not doing anything) for close to 3 months now.  The only problem I have had is the colors on my lap top screen tend to be a bit duller then the colors on my desktop screen.  I'm pretty sure it's a problem with calibration but I'm not sure how to sync the 2 screens so that they display the same.   Even so my desktop screen is MUCH nicer (it's a good deal larger and brighter) and I always view my work on that before considering it "complete".  You can get a Viao for much less then a $1,000 bucks and the screens (while smaller) are still of good quality.  This is just my experience, I'm pretty sure some one more knowledgeable about laptops in general could probably direct you to a brand and model that'll get you more bang for your buck.

I'd also like to add as someone that has run boot camp on a mac book pro a few years back I would recommend that you just get a windows computer.  Boot camp is kind of a pain to work with and if you are just going to be running windows on a lap top and have no interest in using the mac operating system then there is no reason to get a mac.   You should get a mac because you want to use the mac operating system.  If you don't then you can get something comparable that runs windows probably for less money.  There are no art programs that I was aware of and wanted to use that only run on the mac OS, but there were a few that I wanted to use that didn't run on mac OS.  Mac may still be the "art computer" in the art school world, but I have found in the real world it doesn't really matter.  In fact I'd say mac is loosing it's edge.


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## Taralack (Feb 28, 2013)

I've used Photoshop on both Macs and PCs, and honestly there is no difference. You'd be better off getting a PC because it'll run the same on either platform. I prefer PCs simply because I'm more used to Windows OSes, I can't stand the Mac one and it feels counter intuitive to a PC user.


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## Arshes Nei (Feb 28, 2013)

Ilayas said:


> Cost me about $1,000 a few months back, however I was willing to pay that kind of money because I wanted something powerful (that I could potentially play games on if I wanted as well as run high end art programs) with a good screen (I went with the 17 inch screen).



I just want to note there really aren't many "high end art programs" unless you're doing 3D work that needs a $1000 laptop. Now I understand people willing to spend that for gaming, but CPU has little issue on most art programs. I've seen maybe graphics issues with certain programs but that's about it. 

I'm not sure what people are thinking when they say a desktop is too big. Sure a full tower one is, but most mid tower or smaller aren't really that huge. The take it every where I get with a laptop, but most laptops have TFT screens that really are blegh for drawing. Even with the one I have I end up going to my IPS monitor for most coloring because there is a big difference.


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## Ilayas (Feb 28, 2013)

If you want a decent screen on a laptop it's going to cost you.  If you don't want a desktop and you want something powerful enough to replace it then you are going to get in the desktop replacement side of laptops and those are going to run you over $500. I agree that a desktop is better but if they want to go the laptop rout and they want something that's not awful to work on it's not going to be cheep.  I was willing to pay that kind of money not only because I wanted something powerful but also I wanted to work on a screen I didn't hate.  500 buck laptops have awful screens from what I've seen.


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## Arshes Nei (Feb 28, 2013)

1000 dollar ones have awful screens from what I've seen. They become the $500 dollar ones 2 years down the line. TFT is just terrible in general.


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## Zydala (Mar 1, 2013)

Honestly if I could have a desktop I would... the monitor on mine is not that great... could be worse (my last one was god-awful) but unless you get a retina screen on a mac it's not gonna be that great... and if you boot windows on it dealing with drivers and calibration is gonna be a bitch...

but until I get a desk (and on that note an actual room to put one in) I'm stuck with second-guessing the colors and saturation on my pieces... sigh...


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