Er, I would vote to go for more RAM. I don't know that the difference in the video card would be as big of a difference as in the RAM. But that's just my humble opinion...

pick macbook pro! it has video card (8600GT) and more RAM (4GB).

and is 50% more expensive - for the same thing.

Thanks though. Perhaps one day, but not this day.

Personally I would go for more Ram.

However, since it is a laptop, the video card may be dedicated to the motherboard, i.e. non-upgradeable.

You best bet may be to buy the one with the better video card, and immediately upon purchasing (or possibly delayed if you are poor) have it upgraded to 4GB Ram.

Go with more RAM. You do not need The BEST of th BEST video/gfx card., it's not as if you are gaming 24/7. A good video card, is more than enough, RAM is more important, especially if you are going to have all of these rendering programs running at once, and thank about it, it's not as if you are going to have a bad video card, your still going to have a high quality video card at the same time.

Thanks everybody. Although the right answer still eludes me, I'm going to go with those of you who argued your point most clearly, and understood my original question ;)

Ram over graphics card. the graphics card really only will make the modelling within 3d applications smoother/faster. it won't affect say rendering times.

RAM will greatly increase speed and productivity throughout all applications and overall computer performance.

buy the better video card with the reason cadalyst gave above. you can find ram for really cheap these days and it easier to upgrade

for the sake of clarity: how much time do you spend modeling compared to the amount of time rendering, then think how much faster you would model if your graphics cards would keep up with you, less downtime, also if you dont have money to upgrade for more memory you could always dedicate part of you hard drive to be used as you memory (PC only unclear in mac). so then my 2 pesos is get the better Graphic card, but keep away from vista, i hate that crap...but that's just me.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a laptop (other than from Dell or HP) that came loaded with XP. Instead, it comes with Vista home premium, whatever that is. I'm toying with the idea of installing XP over top, or in a partition that I can boot from.

Anyway, if anybody's still reading this, I went with an ASUS G1S-A1. In December or January, I'm going to double the 2GB of RAM it currently has. RAM's cheap.

i just bought an Asus also (Asus F3SV -B1) i i love the machine but i comes with Vista as you said and i also wanted to boot with XP instead of Vista, but i believe yours comes with a SATA hard drive so if you are installing a secondary partition then you need to find a driver for XP before it would boot up from the CD. then download all the drivers from the manufacturers to make them work, the Apps that is, i have not found a driver for XP so i am thinking of returning it, but if you find all that you need let me know.

T+S, the F3SV-B1 was my other choice. What software are you running on it, and have you had any compatibility issues with Vista?

yes i hate it, Maya some hotboxes dont show complete, rhino, wont run, adobe CS3 i will install tomorrow but i dont know if it will run, CS2 seems fine, Archicad, txt of the screen, cinema 4D wont load,Fucking autocad 2004 wont run i hate it and i need to find that XP driver soon or i will return this great piece of ....

CS3 should run with no problems. Rhino 4.0 should run, but probably with decreased performance (according to Rhino, anyway).

What do you mean by XP driver? Do you mean the driver to a specific piece of hardware? Because operating systems don't have drivers themselves, they use drivers to run hardware/software.

There shouldn't be any reason you can't install XP right over Vista, though you will lose any work you've saved to this point.

be careful buying a vista machine thinking you can just put xp on it - i was going to get a very small sony and they only come with vista in the uk - the guy at the sony store said sony did not and does not make any xp drivers for it so you might be able to install xp but its most likely going to crap up with some other compatitbility problem. i might just buy the sony as my other laptop is for design.

After looking into it a bit, it might be more trouble than it's worth, and I think you're right.

I also found out that there's a BIOS flaw (yet to be fixed) that limits the CPU to 1.2 ghz when the laptop is at less than 90% charged, but plugged in. It'll roar at top speed on battery alone, but once you plug it in, charging takes precedence, thus hobbling the cpu until the charge gets back over 90%. Ridiculous, but I hear that Asus is working on a new BIOS. It had better, or it's getting returned. Enough people are complaining about it.

Fortunately, the laptop will be either plugged in (at home, fully charged) or unplugged in use during class time. Shouldn't be a problem, though it had better get fixed!

You can get Dell's Business laptops with XP.

My advice:

Go with XP 64 bit (you'll need the 64 bit version of programs like Max, VRay, etc.). Without a 64bit operating system you won't get the benefit of having more ram.

So, that's how I'd make the decision. No 64bit OS then don't bother with more ram. If you get the 64bit OS, and software, then you'll notice the improvement.


I like the Dell M series for laptops. Some great construction/build quality, great graphics cards (when I got mine, the best offered), etc., etc.

If this issue doesn't get resolved in the first 30 days, I think that's what I'm going to do. I don't need the headache.

I haven't even received my laptop yet and it's already causing me grief.

Ahhhh, technology. Fuckers.

DONT GET A DELL

word to the wise, for laptops only, their desktops are better made, plus you can gut out the part that fails much easier than if you get a laptop... i love technology but hate the MOFOS that designed the vista OS

i have a gateway duocore. just 1 gb ram. it is more than enough for most things. only problem comes up with rendering (c4d) and the thing seriosuly heats up. i guess both processors are kicking out heat and the fans just can't handle it. rest of the time is fine.

i had a laptop literaly cook the hd and multi-drive after working hot for a week of solid work in the japanese heat. the company replaced all the parts but i lost a lot of work. turns out fans are impt spec too.

Absolutely. In my previous (desktop) computer, I built it myself, including two HUGE fans to cool the thing. It'll heat up a room (which will be handy through the Winnipeg winters....)