[Octillus]

So apparently my machine that's five years old and was middle of the road upon time of purchase is apparently outdated. Who would've thought that technology goes obsolete?

I'm utilizing my resources (such as the INTERNET. Did you know they have shopping on it now?) to try and figure out what kind of machine I need for the work I need it to do.

A lot of you guys are musicians and artists, and thus do a lot of self-production, and so you're actually a more reliable source of info than most web communities I belong to...

Okay so here's the situation:
I'm going to be slightly homeless in about a month and a half, so a laptop is definitely preferred, but if there's some kind of ridiculously great desktop deal that someone knows about, I'd probably bite. I'd prefer not to have to give Apple money, not because I'm anti-Apple (though I do prefer PCs), but rather because I actually was given a legit copy of Adobe Premiere and After Effects, and I'd like to use them on their intended platform. Additionally, the Mac Premium for alleged system stability just isn't worth it for me, since i'd need a macbook pro.

I've been looking at Newegg, Amazon, etc. trying to figure it out, but I figure I'd defer to you experienced folks for your opinion.

I really appreciate it.

You don't write how much monies do you plan to spend, so if you don't have limits buy some expensive one, it'll surely be good

On more serious note - pretty much any quad core based system with 4 gigs of ram will handle anything you'll throw at it. I have a Quad Q9550, which is getting somewhat obsolete thanks to newer LGA1156/1366 chips and I still consider it pretty fuckin big thing. If you'll buy something recent (liek some Intel core i7 or quad core i5 - don't know about AMD ones) it'll probably be at least 20% awesomer.

I've been running a dual core AMD 64 3 ghz processor with 3 gigs of ram a few months now and I find it fine for gaming and general recording. Though I now wish I had a 64 bit system to use 4 gigs of ram. If you want those programs to run smoothly do like bruno says and get a system with a quad core processor and at least 4 gigs of ram.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/

I ordered mine here. It was a pre-packaged "build-it-yourself" deal that didn't come with any form of windows, but I had a friend hook me up with that
This is the easiest way to go if you don't want all your memory and a ridiculous amount of hd space being taken up by bullshit you'll never use. It was a desktop though, I don't know what kind of laptop deals they have...or if you can even get a laptop stripped down that way. However, it came very quickly and I had no hassles with ordering.

[Octillus]

I suppose I should say that my limits are a little flexible, but I'm trying to stay under a grand here. This may be an impossibility

Dan, thank you so much for that link.

Nonsense!

[Octillus]

Nonsense!

Thanks, seriously. Sometimes, it's all about being pointed in the right direction.

Reasons like this, outside of the fact that it's a Devin board, are exactly why this is my favorite online community.

I really appreciate all of the help.

Nonsense!

Thanks, seriously. Sometimes, it's all about being pointed in the right direction.

Reasons like this, outside of the fact that it's a Devin board, are exactly why this is my favorite online community.

I really appreciate all of the help.

Not a problem, just gotta know what to search for! Of course, at this point I'd recommend a Macbook Pro...but since you'd rather use that software on Windows, I wont.

[Octillus]

Nonsense!

Thanks, seriously. Sometimes, it's all about being pointed in the right direction.

Reasons like this, outside of the fact that it's a Devin board, are exactly why this is my favorite online community.

I really appreciate all of the help.

Not a problem, just gotta know what to search for! Of course, at this point I'd recommend a Macbook Pro...but since you'd rather use that software on Windows, I wont.

Another half of this exercise, is that I'm actually familiar with FinalCut Pro from school (Not a pro, but familiar enough) and if I could become proficient in PC video editing, well, that helps my resume and in turn, my employability.

Good idea. On my side, I'm already familiar with Cubase and Sonar, and I'm going to start learning how to use Logic 9 soon. Just need to learn ProTools now haha. Good luck with the purchase.

It's amazing that old shitty computer starts to shine again with Ubuntu Linux. I have two laptops and the 2002 one using Lubuntu and the newer with Ubuntu 64-bit. 10.04 is the first version that everything works and not missing Windows anymore to do some things.

And for all you digital artist types, there's a Studio version too: http://ubuntustudio.org/

Free. (As in beer, as in speech).

It's amazing that old shitty computer starts to shine again with Ubuntu Linux. I have two laptops and the 2002 one using Lubuntu and the newer with Ubuntu 64-bit. 10.04 is the first version that everything works and not missing Windows anymore to do some things.

And for all you digital artist types, there's a Studio version too: http://ubuntustudio.org/

Free. (As in beer, as in speech).

For me 10.04 has been the first version where NOTHING works. Well, atleast concerning any audio and thus the Studio programs. It was a struggle to get even music playing. I think it's because things in the sound arcitechture got changed a few times. I heard they can't decide what device driver (proper term?) to use mainly with audio in Ubuntu.

I'm using 32-bit though. My dad told me the 64-bit was having problems with audio.

It's amazing that old shitty computer starts to shine again with Ubuntu Linux. I have two laptops and the 2002 one using Lubuntu and the newer with Ubuntu 64-bit. 10.04 is the first version that everything works and not missing Windows anymore to do some things.

And for all you digital artist types, there's a Studio version too: http://ubuntustudio.org/

Free. (As in beer, as in speech).

For me 10.04 has been the first version where NOTHING works. Well, atleast concerning any audio and thus the Studio programs. It was a struggle to get even music playing. I think it's because things in the sound arcitechture got changed a few times. I heard they can't decide what device driver (proper term?) to use mainly with audio in Ubuntu.

I'm using 32-bit though. My dad told me the 64-bit was having problems with audio.

I'm about to inherit a really old, shitty computer from my brother who doesn't want it anymore, I was thinking of replacing XP with Ubuntu to improve performance but if it's more hassle than it's worth I don't think I'll bother. I have a bunch of friends have offered their odds and ends of parts for me to upgrade it a bit so hopefully after that performance won't be too much of an issue. Right now it's got a 20gb hard drive and i think 256mb RAM so it's not even going to be useful just to store and playback media. I have no idea what I'll use it for, but I love computers and it was free!

It's amazing that old shitty computer starts to shine again with Ubuntu Linux. I have two laptops and the 2002 one using Lubuntu and the newer with Ubuntu 64-bit. 10.04 is the first version that everything works and not missing Windows anymore to do some things.

And for all you digital artist types, there's a Studio version too: http://ubuntustudio.org/

Free. (As in beer, as in speech).

For me 10.04 has been the first version where NOTHING works. Well, atleast concerning any audio and thus the Studio programs. It was a struggle to get even music playing. I think it's because things in the sound arcitechture got changed a few times. I heard they can't decide what device driver (proper term?) to use mainly with audio in Ubuntu.

I'm using 32-bit though. My dad told me the 64-bit was having problems with audio.

I'm about to inherit a really old, shitty computer from my brother who doesn't want it anymore, I was thinking of replacing XP with Ubuntu to improve performance but if it's more hassle than it's worth I don't think I'll bother. I have a bunch of friends have offered their odds and ends of parts for me to upgrade it a bit so hopefully after that performance won't be too much of an issue. Right now it's got a 20gb hard drive and i think 256mb RAM so it's not even going to be useful just to store and playback media. I have no idea what I'll use it for, but I love computers and it was free!

If you are just gonna browse the net and chat and do stuff like that with it, then I think your life will be easier if you use Ubuntu instead of windows. You wouldn't have to worry about malware, and even if you dont care too much about your computer getting infected, windows will start crashing and stuff if there's enough of that shit there.

Audio processing and editing is such a complex thing that you just have to expect stuff like this when its even done free for you. All you need is a sense of humor with it. And I'm sure the mess in my Ubuntu could get fixed, it would just need some time. I haven't really had much problems that I couldn't fix with other things in Ubuntu.

Btw, I think your computer could run Wolfenstein ET

It's amazing that old shitty computer starts to shine again with Ubuntu Linux. I have two laptops and the 2002 one using Lubuntu and the newer with Ubuntu 64-bit. 10.04 is the first version that everything works and not missing Windows anymore to do some things.

And for all you digital artist types, there's a Studio version too: http://ubuntustudio.org/

Free. (As in beer, as in speech).

For me 10.04 has been the first version where NOTHING works. Well, atleast concerning any audio and thus the Studio programs. It was a struggle to get even music playing. I think it's because things in the sound arcitechture got changed a few times. I heard they can't decide what device driver (proper term?) to use mainly with audio in Ubuntu.

I'm using 32-bit though. My dad told me the 64-bit was having problems with audio.

I'm about to inherit a really old, shitty computer from my brother who doesn't want it anymore, I was thinking of replacing XP with Ubuntu to improve performance but if it's more hassle than it's worth I don't think I'll bother. I have a bunch of friends have offered their odds and ends of parts for me to upgrade it a bit so hopefully after that performance won't be too much of an issue. Right now it's got a 20gb hard drive and i think 256mb RAM so it's not even going to be useful just to store and playback media. I have no idea what I'll use it for, but I love computers and it was free!

If you are just gonna browse the net and chat and do stuff like that with it, then I think your life will be easier if you use Ubuntu instead of windows. You wouldn't have to worry about malware, and even if you dont care too much about your computer getting infected, windows will start crashing and stuff if there's enough of that shit there.

Audio processing and editing is such a complex thing that you just have to expect stuff like this when its even done free for you. All you need is a sense of humor with it. And I'm sure the mess in my Ubuntu could get fixed, it would just need some time. I haven't really had much problems that I couldn't fix with other things in Ubuntu.

Btw, I think your computer could run Wolfenstein ET

It won't actually be connected to the internet, we've only got one of those USB wireless modems, and since the other computer is an 'extra' (I'm writing this from my laptop which I use for everything) it'll probably be easier and faster just to use my laptop for web browsing, chat etc. I might give Ubuntu a go anyway, and hey, if I don't like it I can always revert back to XP I guess.

Haha! It probably could. Actually, that's a good idea, good old retro gaming. It's probably the only thing that machine will be useful for, I've got Vista running on my laptop and every time I try to run Doom everything goes psychadelic, it hates DOS so bad. And DOSbox proved useless.