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Hey folks, I'm in the market for a laptop with some unique features that I could use some help on. I've done a bit of homework and come up with some solutions, but I was hoping there might be some other ones I'm missing I could possibly consider. I'm a concept artist for a video game company, and right now I'm using a hodgepodge of a few different devices to do all my mobile work/play on. I've got an older tablet PC, an iPad with a Pogo Connect stylus, and my Cintiq with a full desktop at home. The iPad, while decent for sketching, doesn't really fit my workflow all that well, and my old tablet is sorely outdated for the type of images I'm creating these days (huge paintings, lot of layers, some 3d stuff mixed in). Ideally, I'd like to get a new tablet PC utilizing some of the latest stuff that's come out in order to do some work while on the go. My Cintiq setup is fantastic at home, but I'm finding myself having to do more work on the road. I'd also like to be able to play some games on it, mainly for reference for work. Things I need: -tablet/pc hybrid with a Wacom digitizer stylus -able to run Photoshop with pressure sensitivity very well (core i5) -4gb RAM minimum, preferably 8gb -128-256gb SSD Things I'd like: -dedicated graphics card (like the nVidia 650M) -core i7 -can play things like Dota 2, Payday 2, etc. on low-medium settings decently, as well as 2d games. Systems out now kind of close to what I'm looking for: Microsoft Surface Pro (ehhh...) Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T Fujitsu Lifebook T902 There are some new machines coming out that may fit the bill, but there's a ton of speculation in that area. Any advice? turnways fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Aug 5, 2013 |
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Aug 5, 2013 21:04
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 14:25 |
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I don't know if the B&N link in the OP is working quite right; I signed up with a username and they sent me a password, but no matter what I do it says I have invalid credentials whenever I try to log in.
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Nov 29, 2013 05:19
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Hey folks, I am in the market for a new laptop. I am a professional game designer, 12 years in the industry (primarily UI design, so a mix of 2d/3d graphics, animation, and coding) making games for all platforms (PC/Mac, console, mobile), and working from home this past month has made me want to both tear out my remaining hair and streamline the hell out of my workflow and setup. We don't have room for a home office currently, but I prefer working around the house with a laptop in my lap anyway, so that hasn't been a problem. My main issue is having to juggle the 3 devices I use: iPad Pro 12.9 (1st gen) w/ Apple Pencil: for sketching / design layout using Procrete and Affinity Designer. It's thin and light, perfect size for sketching or creating some quick assets. I especially love doing vector work with the touchscreen in Affinity; it's way quicker than my old setup with a Cintiq and Illustrator. Macbook Pro 15" (2015, 16gb ram): for heavier layout and design work, animating, coding, and building UI and simple game prototypes. Photoshop/Illustrator for art touchups, Sketch/XD for advanced layout and design, and Sublime and Visual Studio Code for coding. It's also thin and light, and an absolute joy to use just sitting on the couch. I used to hate Macs, but I fell in love with the touchpad, the keyboard, the display, and just how quick it was to do pretty much anything with this Macbook. Also the lack of computer janitoring was nice. Alienware 17 r4 (2017, 16gm ram, i7-7700HQ, GTX 1070): for actually running the game engines (UE4, Unity), implementing my work, playing games. I haven't had any performance issues and it still runs every game decently, but it's super heavy, I hate the touchpad, I have to keep it plugged in constantly, and it's such a huge pain getting away from my 'spot' if my kids need me for something and I have to set aside my whole kit (heavy laptop, laptop tray, mouse, controller, other devices) vs. just closing my Macbook. My current frustrations with this setup: 1. it's a huge pain in the rear end to get files from the iPad to the Mac to the Alienware and back, but it sucks doing Photoshop work on the Alienware and I can't run the game stuff on the Mac, 2. the MBP is starting to slow down as I work on more complex things, and I can't do anything 3d related on it, and 3. the Alienware is too big for me to lounge and work, especially if I have to have my other 2 devices around, but I need it for the horsepower. Ideally, I'd like to consolidate all this into 1 device, or 2 paired devices. Things have come a long way in the thin and portable gaming/studio laptop area recently, so I think it may be possible. My options are: 1. MBP 16", with iPad connected through Sidecar and Windows access via Bootcamp. With the new (old) keyboard in the 16" it'll be comparable to my MBP 2015, has an actual dedicated graphics card that seems pretty decent, and I can boot into Windows to (hopefully?) do whatever I need. Downsides are, I'm still tied to Windows but on a non-Windows machine, at some point the graphics card will become a bottleneck, and I've seen some pretty bad ghosting with the response time which would get in the way of my animation work. (I'll ask in the Mac thread if this starts looking like the best option) 2. Asus Zenbook Pro Duo, with iPad sending through Dropbox. With the stylus and touchscreen + 2nd screen on the Asus, I can do more art-based work on the laptop (using the iPad as more a quick sketchpad), I can skip the macOS step, and the 2060 will last me a lot longer. Downside is, I lose the awesome MBP trackpad and keyboard, the Asus is bulkier and has a weird keyboard/trackpad setup, and I don't know how gimmicky that 2nd screen really is. 3. A powerful 2-in-1. I don't know of any with the graphics horsepower I need, and plus they all seem to use pretty crappy digitizers (and I refuse to touch another Wacom-branded computer), but on paper the Surface Book 3 sounds like it could work. Having never used one I'm not sure how comparable it is to a MBP comfort-wise, but it's something to consider. 4. A Pro or Studio-grade laptop, with a dedicated GPU, and just deal with transferring files via Dropbox from the iPad. I don't know who makes the best trackpad/keyboard/etc. in this arena, or who uses decent panels, but I've heard horror stories from pretty much all of them (Razer, MSI, etc.) Budget is up to $3500, would prefer less if possible. I know I'll need 32gb of RAM and a 1tb SSD, plus a very color-accurate screen with a low response time (60hz refresh rate is fine, but I can't handle a 50ms+ response time, too much ghosting in what I'm working on). Any recommendations? turnways fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Apr 25, 2020 |
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Apr 25, 2020 19:46
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