To buy or what to buy, that is the question
deeahr2169
Posts: 451
Its time to replace my computer. I am doing this because i watched the Gadget show yesterday and was told in no uncertain terms that the day of the desktop was over, gone, like Monty's parrot, dead!!
Not that that i am going to get rid of my beautiful iMac that is only just over a year old. But i do think i need something more portable, so that, for example i can sit on my sofa and do stuff, or sit in the pub garden on a hot summers day and have a pint and surf. Okay, i accept that its highly unlikely there will ever be another hot summers day in my lifetime, but i can dream.
So i intend to buy either an iPad air, Mac book pro with retina display or mac book air. The question being will i be able to use Daz on any of these machines, and will my experience be any faster. Also if you were going to buy one for general use but also for Daz studio which one would you choose and why?
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Comments
LOL! More power to you and going portable, but they can have my Desktop (only real way to get real power still, IMHO) when they pry it from my cold dead hands.
That said I do not think an iPad can run DS just the books or laptops at this time. But I'm old school so never checked for sure.
I work in a Windows environment so I could be wrong but doesn't the iPad run a different operating system from the Mac?
As for buying any computer, ask yourself three questions:
1) What do I want to do with it?
2) What software do I need to do 1)?
3) What hardware do I need to run 2)?
These three questions haven't changed in the over thirty years I've been a professional practicetioner in the black and recondite arts.
Something else to bear in mind; 3D rendering is one of the most power-grabby jobs any of our computers will ever do. It's not unusual for someone to hear the difference in the CPU/GPU cooling fan noise when a render starts, and core temperatures will climb pretty high anyway, unless you have a really big, good cooling system. How good is the cooling on these dinky little pads? Can it handle every single core in your CPU going full throttle for minutes... or hours... or even a day or three?
And that one RIGHT there, I'm liquid cooled, stuff that in a pad or laptop. I can run all 12 cores at max optimal settings without the CPU slowing down to prevent Heat blow out for hours.
I was thinking to get 2 in 1 PC as they seem like a good thing, but i can only dream about it for now it seems and this review made me think about it too http://blog.laptopmag.com/2-in-1-tablets-are-flopping
Probably i will be getting from now on laptops only with intel procesors, though for rendering and gaming desktop might be needed but i doubt i will be able to make both for now. I haven't tested DS on lap top yet but i hope it will look good.
Forget the ipad for rendering. It runs the same ios as an iphone or ipod.
The desktop is dead? No! No no no!
Mobile computing is fine for web browsing and chitchat, writing letters and doing spreadsheets and maybe some 2D graphic design. Photoshop runs fine on a lappy, as does Gimp.
3D graphic design needs power and a way to kill heat. Laptops are notorious for having weaker fans than desktops.
DON'T DO IT!
According to my colleagues in PC support, laptops are also chronically prone to hard disk failiure.
Well, only really dabbled in daz for a few years but have run laptops for seven because my work has me in a vehicle for 12+ hours a day, so desktop is not an option. I have run higher to high end gaming laptops, in that time I have only ever had two hardware failures. The other laptops have just run past their shelf life, which is an issue with them, not an easy task to just upgrade bits and pieces as it is to prolong a desktop until you get into mother boards then all you are doing is retaining a case.
First laptop was just manufacture defects as the entire thing just fried, cascade failure. Second was a video card failure. Never had an issue with hardrive or heat, and they are/were heavily gamed with high demand games. That being said, I took and take precautions. Kept good airflow, kept the bottom clear, had a cooling pad that did not just blow in but vented down and blew up into it. Used ac directly under if the need arose. Laptop cpus (Edit:At least the ones I have seen for the laptops I have used so it could be the ones used in the gaming machines) are designed for and are set to run at higher heat tolerances. 80-85 degrees is normal for a render, a game, anything with any load. With cooling pad and good airflow it hovers 75. Edit: iirc the worry zone for my cpu's is around 100-105 degrees
I have run 18 hour renders with the machine I have now with no issues, no shutdowns no abnormal spikes, all cpus and threads running full tilt.
So if you are looking for a laptop for maybe not a full replacement for 3d, because I will admit for absolute best use a desktop is the only route. But something that can compete and do it rather well. A higher end "gaming" laptop with the beefed up cpu and memory options. Because the gaming ones are designed with the need for cooling and high demand running in mind.
Honestly it does stretch the definition of portable as well as it weighs in at about 11 pounds, and with the power supply and such and case, since it is a 17 inch monitor about 15 pounds..
but that's my 2 cents
There are a lot of things to consider, but the first was my rather stupid reference to an i pad, i had not seriously meant that was an option. Im going to find a corner and nice pointy hat and vanish for a while. Before I go though let me say that I intend to keep my desktop, and i rather think that for the foreseeable future, it will remain my main route to Daz.
Given that the power required to run something like Daz kind of makes a mockery of the notion of portability, i doubt i will ever be rendering a 3d scene in the garden of the Rose and crown. To be honest though, after a pint of two i doubt i will care very much.
Currently i have no issues at all with rendering or any of the other tasks that this hobby requires of my computer. My mac handles everything with consummate ease, apparently, and i am not clever enough to understand all the references mentioned in this thread. Let me just say that maybe you are all doing stuff that is far more demanding than i am, but when i am doing my amateur hobby stuff with Daz, and rendering high resolution images, there is silence from the machine, i hear no fans struggling to cope with the heat.
This screen shot is of no merit at all, except to demonstrate the speed and quality of bog standard rendering in DS using 3delight. This was done with off the shelf figures, store purchased props and clothing. Nothing exceptional. Image size was 829x1171 pixels, lighting one distant light with ray traced shadows at 1% softness and .10% bias. Uberenvironment2 light at 4X high setting and intensity at 50%. The render took 4 minutes and 21 seconds.
I don't think anyone could ask for more...well done Daz and Apple
And i will get a iPad air, for all those frivolous things i just HAVE to do in the garden of the Rose and crown, if i can conquer the glare.