Hey everyone. The topic says it all. I feel stupid I waited so long now, but I need to buy a laptop by the end of the month. My game design college course starts from the 1st of July.
I researched a bit about this already, and I've found that people have found the heavier, bulkier laptops reliable for such purposes. I wouldn't mind that at all. As it is a large, HD screen would be good for game and graphic design purposes.
If anyone has experience using desktops/laptops for such purposes, I'd love to hear that too.
I've already thought about the Laptop vs. Desktop thing, but if someone feels they have some experience to add, I'd appreciate that too. The main thing is I've never found computers at schools/colleges reliable, there is at at times some competition or waiting for the good systems, so its hard to rely on that + PC at home while in college. Also a laptop would be useful for taking down notes and stuff. I've always preferred typing to writing and have always dreamt of the day I would be allowed to use a laptop in class instead of relying on pen and paper lol.
1. What is your budget?
I'd like some recommendations about this too actually. Around 1000$ would be great. Upto 1500$ would be acceptable. 2000$ is the absolute max I'd agree to spend. I'm not too sure how much is required for my purposes.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Not a very big issue. But I'd prefer a medium to large screen. I'd be OK with small too. So 15-17 inch or bigger would be good. I have no issues with carrying around a large, heavy laptop.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Definitely full HD 1920 X 1080. Additionally, is a touch screen possible? Do hybrids come in powerful varieties? How much more would they cost?
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
I think a desktop replacement laptop would suit me better. I'm ok with carrying around a large, heavy model. Though I will have to carry it around probably everyday.
5. How much battery life do you need?
The more the merrier. For the most part, not an issue.
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Gaming is the secondary purpose. I'd say high simply because I'm assuming I'll require that much power if, in the near future, I intend to work with high quality games. But if I'm wrong about this and its possible to complete other tasks with less power, I'm ok with medium too. Just not low lol
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Game design with Unity, GameMaker, and other stuff, Graphic and/or web design with Photoshop and similar software, some 3D modelling, though not the primary purpose.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
While researching, I found that people recommend a 128 GB or so SSD, just enough for installing software and stuff, and using a portable harddrive for the rest. I do not know why, some clarification would be appreciated.
If this is still the case, I do have a 2 TB portable HD already. In which case I could do with a SSD or HDD with low capacity.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Nothing specific. I'm considering buying either online or from Singapore or Dubai, since electronics seem to be cheaper there. I have access to both countries since I'll be going to Singapore for college and my dad often travels to Dubai for work.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
I honestly don't know what to expect. Atleast 3-4 years. Hopefully double of that. I don't see any reason to change anytime soon, atleast while I'm still a student, unless of course Laptops don't last that long, even high-end high-quality ones. I won't be overclocking or pushing it to the limit.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Not a priority. Anything works. Atleast DVD would be good, but I doubt I'll ever use it.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I know very little about brands. I live in India. I consulted an Indian forum, and the recommendations included HP. I'm not too sure about HP, it seems like more of a consumer brand. I haven't used laptops in years. Been using a custom built desktop. Dell and Alienware seem like good brands to me, but I just know them because they're popular.
13. What country do you live in?
India. As previously mentioned, I can purchase online, or in India, Dubai, or Singapore.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Webcam would be useful. Not necessary.
I'd prefer not to mix AMD and Intel. So no Intel processor with ATI graphics cards. I'm not sure if its a rumour or actually true that they don't mix well, but right now I've had a custom built desktop for 3 years with an intel processor and Radeon HD 66xx graphic card. I've had problems from the start. Sometimes, I'd notice everything would start lagging badly, and even the sound was laggy and discontinuous. I installed CPU-Z and noticed all the load was on one core of the processor. Tried lots of stuff, including reinstalling windows. This worked finally, but for some reason since then I'm stuck with 1440x900 resolution. Can't go full HD. And I was afraid of aggravating the old issue again if I tried to fix this one.
Opinions on high-end hybrids (touch screen) would be appreciated too. If its worth it, how much more it costs, etc.
Any information or advice you could give me related to medium to high-end laptops, laptops or desktops for game design/graphic design/modelling purposes, etc. would be appreciated.
Last thing, anything I should be waiting for? Any new technology about to come out soon that would either give a performance boost or reduce the price of older technologies? I've read rumour of the maxwell GPUs coming out soon, but thats all I know. I do not have enough technological knowledge to understand the significance of that. Also those rumours are there in form posts as old as January. So I'm not sure if they're any closer to being released. Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks
I researched a bit about this already, and I've found that people have found the heavier, bulkier laptops reliable for such purposes. I wouldn't mind that at all. As it is a large, HD screen would be good for game and graphic design purposes.
If anyone has experience using desktops/laptops for such purposes, I'd love to hear that too.
I've already thought about the Laptop vs. Desktop thing, but if someone feels they have some experience to add, I'd appreciate that too. The main thing is I've never found computers at schools/colleges reliable, there is at at times some competition or waiting for the good systems, so its hard to rely on that + PC at home while in college. Also a laptop would be useful for taking down notes and stuff. I've always preferred typing to writing and have always dreamt of the day I would be allowed to use a laptop in class instead of relying on pen and paper lol.
1. What is your budget?
I'd like some recommendations about this too actually. Around 1000$ would be great. Upto 1500$ would be acceptable. 2000$ is the absolute max I'd agree to spend. I'm not too sure how much is required for my purposes.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Not a very big issue. But I'd prefer a medium to large screen. I'd be OK with small too. So 15-17 inch or bigger would be good. I have no issues with carrying around a large, heavy laptop.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Definitely full HD 1920 X 1080. Additionally, is a touch screen possible? Do hybrids come in powerful varieties? How much more would they cost?
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
I think a desktop replacement laptop would suit me better. I'm ok with carrying around a large, heavy model. Though I will have to carry it around probably everyday.
5. How much battery life do you need?
The more the merrier. For the most part, not an issue.
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Gaming is the secondary purpose. I'd say high simply because I'm assuming I'll require that much power if, in the near future, I intend to work with high quality games. But if I'm wrong about this and its possible to complete other tasks with less power, I'm ok with medium too. Just not low lol
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Game design with Unity, GameMaker, and other stuff, Graphic and/or web design with Photoshop and similar software, some 3D modelling, though not the primary purpose.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
While researching, I found that people recommend a 128 GB or so SSD, just enough for installing software and stuff, and using a portable harddrive for the rest. I do not know why, some clarification would be appreciated.
If this is still the case, I do have a 2 TB portable HD already. In which case I could do with a SSD or HDD with low capacity.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Nothing specific. I'm considering buying either online or from Singapore or Dubai, since electronics seem to be cheaper there. I have access to both countries since I'll be going to Singapore for college and my dad often travels to Dubai for work.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
I honestly don't know what to expect. Atleast 3-4 years. Hopefully double of that. I don't see any reason to change anytime soon, atleast while I'm still a student, unless of course Laptops don't last that long, even high-end high-quality ones. I won't be overclocking or pushing it to the limit.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Not a priority. Anything works. Atleast DVD would be good, but I doubt I'll ever use it.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I know very little about brands. I live in India. I consulted an Indian forum, and the recommendations included HP. I'm not too sure about HP, it seems like more of a consumer brand. I haven't used laptops in years. Been using a custom built desktop. Dell and Alienware seem like good brands to me, but I just know them because they're popular.
13. What country do you live in?
India. As previously mentioned, I can purchase online, or in India, Dubai, or Singapore.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Webcam would be useful. Not necessary.
I'd prefer not to mix AMD and Intel. So no Intel processor with ATI graphics cards. I'm not sure if its a rumour or actually true that they don't mix well, but right now I've had a custom built desktop for 3 years with an intel processor and Radeon HD 66xx graphic card. I've had problems from the start. Sometimes, I'd notice everything would start lagging badly, and even the sound was laggy and discontinuous. I installed CPU-Z and noticed all the load was on one core of the processor. Tried lots of stuff, including reinstalling windows. This worked finally, but for some reason since then I'm stuck with 1440x900 resolution. Can't go full HD. And I was afraid of aggravating the old issue again if I tried to fix this one.
Opinions on high-end hybrids (touch screen) would be appreciated too. If its worth it, how much more it costs, etc.
Any information or advice you could give me related to medium to high-end laptops, laptops or desktops for game design/graphic design/modelling purposes, etc. would be appreciated.
Last thing, anything I should be waiting for? Any new technology about to come out soon that would either give a performance boost or reduce the price of older technologies? I've read rumour of the maxwell GPUs coming out soon, but thats all I know. I do not have enough technological knowledge to understand the significance of that. Also those rumours are there in form posts as old as January. So I'm not sure if they're any closer to being released. Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks
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