Im saving up for a Laptop, so that I can continue to follow my little dream of mines to become a Graphic Designer/ cartoon artist. *the light of my life*

But I don't know which one to get..

I herd Macs were the best though...

Any sugestions?

Mac's claim to fame (which I find really.. well, unconfirmed for me) is that they represent colors better than windows when you print. IE, what comes out on the paper looks more closely to that which is on the screen with a mac compared to windows.

OTHER than that, I can't really say Macs are any better at one thing than windows. I mean... if you're going to use photoshop on the mac.. people dont seem to understand.. ITS THE SAME SOFTWARE on windows. :P

PC's are cheaper and support for them by comparison is prolific.

I have a nice HP laptop, dv8000. The one with the 17" wide-screen display and the full keyboard. Because I'm a programmer is why I chose the large screen and the addition of the num pad, but I've started farting around with a tablet on this computer and PSP 8 and I have to say, I'm really pleased with it.

It's kind of heavy for use on one's lap but I can't draw on something in my lap anyway. Did I mention it has space inside for you to have 2 hard drives?

If there was any thing I was upset with on this laptop, it would be the screen. I noticed it has a rough time with hot-bright colors, namely pink. Yes.. KSZ appears somewhat dull on my laptop screen versus my LCD for my desktop. Also (though I think its due to my take-it-with-me-to-school-everyday-for-2-years approach) the screen developed 2 dead pixels :(

Otherwise, I haven't had any problems with hardware in it. The case is very well made (doesn't feel flimsy or cheap like Acer computers) and stuff that you would upgrade is very easy to get at.

Be sure, if you're going the way of using a tablet, you get one that matches your screen aspect ratio.. I have a 6x4, which is perfect for my wide screen. If you get a laptop with a regular (squareish) screen, you should get a matching tablet.


That brings up the other idea... get a tablet PC.. one of the ones you can draw on. (though, the way the touch screen works, I dont know if a touch and drag works as a click and drag. Check that out)

I will say that Macs are considered a more artistic computer, and many design companies use Macs or want you to be familiar with both Macs and PCs. They are decent computers, though certainly not godlike as their commercials make them out to be. I've had a good few times where the Mac I was using froze or crashed. XD It really depends on what sort of strain is being put on the system and that goes for both PCs and Macs.

The art school I went to had all Macs in their computer labs (except 1 lab), and considering 1 floor was dedicated to Visual Communications (graphic design, computer animation, product design, etc), that's a lot of Macs. XD So that may be worth considering.

Besides that, I can't really help with recommending what sort of notebook or iBook you should purchase. I do know that since I graduated, Kendall now wants ALL students to have a laptop, preferably a Mac and with at least 1GB of RAM. That's for an art school though, I'm not sure if that fits, or is more than what you need, for your school.

Aside from that, I have no problem between Macs or PCs as long as they do what they're supposed to. I am a PC user, mostly because I'm more familiar with the Windows OS (though you CAN get a Windows OS for a Mac), and because I do more than just art and I prefer the word processors and file browsing on PCs. That's just my personal taste though.

You'll want Photoshop and the like, so you'll want a couple gigs of RAM - and a video card, claim the latest versions (I'm not the person to ask specifics about those, sadly).

Keep in mind minimum system requirements are DIRTY DIRTY LIES - for example, Photoshop Elements claims it'll run on 256mb of RAM, but it only just functions for me with 512, and that's not drawing big like graphics design requires.

If you're looking to attend a specific school, check out what sorts of computers and software they want students to have and go from there.

Dell Small Business is usually where you'll end up buying if you get a good deal on a laptop. I would recommend lots of processor speed and RAM. 17" is nice.

http://www.gotapex.com
http://slickdeals.net

Watch these until you see a deal you like. Once a deal is posted, you probably won't have much time to buy before it goes down, though. Obviously, if a company realizes it's selling something low enough to lose money, it's going to try to stop.

Dell? You mean like Dell computers? I'm really not impressed with Dell's customer service from when Schala had to send in her laptop. D: It took them like three months and various sending-in-computer-for-repairs before they "fixed" the darn thing, and she really needed it for school. Not sure if that's common for their customer service, but she really could've reported them to the Better Business Bureau or something. D: I'm very wary of Dell.

Yeah, Dell just wasn't on my side at all. From totally stupid answers to promises of "it'll just be 10 days! =D". It killed any respect I had for Dell. I've heard of others that had gotten bad service, so...I'm not sure if it's common or not either.

It was sent in...December 10th, I got it back in February - to find that they didn't fix it. So, it was sent back in and I didn't get back until mid-late March I think... I just know it was sometime in March.

I had Photoshop CS running on my computer back when I only had 192mb of RAM. It was slow but I could still use it. Of course, it would have been completely hopeless if I'd tried to do any big design-y stuff on it.

I prefer Macs. They feel nicer to use than PCs for me (PCs always tend to crash when I so much as touch them D: ) and the only problems I've had with a Mac was when my old Mac was severely lacking RAM. If you need to you can run Windows on a Mac (you can't [legally or easily] run OS X on a PC). And there's no viruses for the Mac - the only way a Mac can get a virus is through Windows if your not careful.

There's two types of Mac laptops. The MacBook and the MacBook Pro. The Pro being the better of the two and what's recommended for serious Graphics stuff. But yeah, Mac's are generally more expensive than PCs. And keep in mind that laptops are more expensive than desktops. I got a new iMac last week and it was half the price of a MacBook Pro with the same specs.


:blink: I sound like a Mac salesperson.

Lawl, it's good to have some input from someone more Mac experienced though! :D

I think aside from some Mac crashes due to them being crappy overloaded school computers, the only real "D:" Mac experience I had was when I accidentally unplugged my external hard drive before ejecting it from the Mac. The Mac was like, "HO CRAP I NO U DID NOT JUST DO THAT LOL U MAY HAVE LOST INFO"

My whole drive got corrupted and I had to reformat it. D: (This is why backups are important for ANY computer stuff. XD)

Of course later, I had it hooked up and a friend accidentally rolled over the cord with his chair and unplugged the cord and it was fine. So... it's not like it happens ALL the time.

Windows computers aren't as picky about ejecting hardware, though they do RECOMMEND it. Of course if you're running on an old Windows OS, be prepared for a blue screen of DEATH if you yank something out. :D

That's really a minor problem though, and is more HUMAN ERROR than system error. It's just something to watch out for if you're switching between systems. :D

On topic...
yeah, if you're going to go to school, I'd recommend getting whatever the school suggests.

If you are not, then I'd suggest getting something with lots of RAM and a decent processor. Lots of harddrive space for projects and stuff.

As for Mac VS Windows.
I like Windows on desktops, if only because I can mess with the inside of the system, instead of limiting to myself to whatever the manufacturer put inside it. But I have used Linux-based OSes before. I don't mind Macs either. But I don't think Macs are all that wonderful. You can only really legally use Mac OS on Apple-built systems. That's so limiting.

3 words.

Choose. (button) DIE

Clover Leaf. (button) WTF

If you're into the mac look, but you dont want the price tag, you can configure KDE (on linux) to look.. basically like a mac :P Linux runs on ANY computer, and is free. (so subtract ~200 bucks from your total price, if you can buy a computer with out an OS)

~Edited cuz I obviously can't count to 3.

Thanks guys...^^


Im leaning towards the MacBook pro. Only because Im hearing good things from it in other places. Im the type of person who would Spend a lot of money for perfection. So Im just going to keep saving until I reach that 3,000 mark..Thats when I'll make my move..


BOOOOOOMMM SOOO MUcH MonEySSssss!!!!! : o


The ones they use to give us in school always kept Freezing, but come on! were talking about cheap old high school.

But I would rather a PC. The Mac s just getting a lot of talk on how there the best for graphic designers.

Curse you hatch and your PSP 8... XD