Mac Vs. Windows

[nlbakos]

I'm looking to get a new computer for x-mas. So my first question which computer system would work best to make animations on using Animation Master a Mac G5 or a Dell Alienware (dell acquired Alienware)? Also I really wanted to participate in the production of TWO but my old computer was just way to slow. So for my second question what is the best system setup? Inother words which processors i.e. AMD chips or Pentium, dual or quad microprocessors and what is the best bus speed.

[luckbat]

Now's not the best time to get a Mac tower, as the towers do not yet have Intel chips. I'm sure the machines due out this fall will be screamin' fast, but if you're making the purchase right now--Intel Mac towers don't exist yet.

 

Having said that, Alienware machines are primarily geared towards gaming, and if you're mainly interested in animation, you might end up overpaying for components you won't really be using.

[Stuart Rogers]

Now's not the best time to get a Mac tower, as the towers do not yet have Intel chips.

Indeed. They're expected to be announce at the WWDC on August 7th, but when they'll start shipping is anyone's guess.

[John Bigboote]

This old 'Chestnutt'!

 

It's a personal decision. It's cool that the Mac can run Windows, but it begs the question...why???

 

I use both platforms...happen to prefer the PC, and I'm not a 'gamer'.

The Mac has some great ads though!

Get a price from Boxx too. Sony makes a great PC that will double as your Digital VCR.(Vaio) but I'm sure the Mac does that as well...or better!

 

Merry Christmas!

[Ilidrake]

I'm a PC user. I prefer a PC running XP (good stability) and using the Intel HT with a Gig of ram. Never, ever, under estimate the amount of ram you'll need. More is better in this department. Also get a fast hard drive. The amount of time it takes your CPU to read off data or write data to the drive does count, and everyone knows that every tick of the clock counts. These are just a few things you should consider when making a new purchase, be it Mac or PC.

[nlbakos]

so what processes being used when we do a final render? i am currently a PC user W2k and when i create a final render i can hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and its all processor, using very little RAM. this is why i was thinking my next computer might be a MAC since movie makers such as Lucas Studio and Spielberg Studio's use G5's maybe making animations uses as much processing as digital movie editing software such as AVID. i figured Alienware is set for optimal speed since real time rendering and speed make the gaming experience. So are the PC users going into the bios and change the Clocking speed? or turning off IRQ's? Windows has so many process that are running, do you shut them off?

[Ilidrake]

I usually run two configurations. If I'm going to be using AM I run my AM Profile and load only the drivers and programs i need. It took about a week for me to find the optimal preformance. My other profile is simply Windows default with a few tweaks for gaming preformance. You would be suprised how much more preformance you can pull out of a PC by having custom profiles to run. Also if you know anything about the AutoExec and DOS you can set up windows to load alot of it's drivers into upper memory as well as access the black/white memory portion of your video. Few people know that the segment of memory is usually free and you can cram all kinds of stuff in it freeing up more CPU cycles.

[Fuchur]

As far as I know, the PC version of A:M renders slightly faster...

I think, AMD is faster than a Intel-CPU for rendering.

You can shut down some of the processes in the TaskManager, but that will just decrease the rendertimes in a very little way... so I dont think you have to...

Only thing you can do, and which will have a noticeable decrease of rendertimes is to minimize A:M while rendering or even go to the task-manager and kill the explorer.exe.

When A:M has finished, you have to go to the taskmanager again and tip in the cmd "explorer.exe"... it will be back than.

 

CPU-clocking... that is quite a difficult thing and can be very harmful for your PC, so dont do it, if you dont have a big knowledge around that topic...

 

RAM-usage... I think that will be different from project to project... if you, for example have a project which includes many big textures I think you will see a increased use of your RAM.

 

For performence-increasing: look for fast acesstimes at the RAM and the HDs...

Realtime-rendering has nothing to do with A:Ms final rendering... Realtime-rendering is a graphic-cards-task, rendering is a cpu-task... (+ RAM)

So, an alienware will properly give you a very good performence in A:M at working with it (for shaded-view, hair, etc...)...

 

*Fuchur*

[dimos]

so what processes being used when we do a final render? i am currently a PC user W2k and when i create a final render i can hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and its all processor, using very little RAM. this is why i was thinking my next computer might be a MAC since movie makers such as Lucas Studio and Spielberg Studio's use G5's maybe making animations uses as much processing as digital movie editing software such as AVID. i figured Alienware is set for optimal speed since real time rendering and speed make the gaming experience. So are the PC users going into the bios and change the Clocking speed? or turning off IRQ's? Windows has so many process that are running, do you shut them off?

 

Sorry to be a little off topic but as far as I remember from my DreamWorks days ALL rendering was done on HP intel based pc blade server thingy's with linuxOS. I don't remember anything about G5 render machines!

 

Mac and PC are just as good as the other on most things and different in other things. Not so much better or worse just different. I LOVE PCs and I am absolutely falling for MACs (bought one for my wife this past x-mas). I hope to god MACs do more with intels because I am interested in a possible switch, depending on a lot of things. The programs I need mostly run on PC but A:M, $$Maya$$ and ToonBoom products run on MACs so things are looking good for a switch. We'll see!!!

 

-Dimos

[heyvern]

Don't forget the new educational iMacs. I think they are under $900.

 

Very nice price... for students or teachers only of course. But my father is a retired teacher and may get one for my mother.

 

The biggest complaint from reviewers is that it probably isn't powerful enough to... play games... which apparently is the most important feature for educational computers and students.

 

-vern