Your Computers

[XenoZiden]

So, What kind of computers do you all use anyway. I'm looking to upgrade my own and I want to see what kinds others use.

[clueme]

I have a 2 computer.
If U render pics, U'd better buy excellent Cpu.

PC -
CPU - Q6600
memory - 4G
mother bord - Asus P5LD2
Vga - Gforce 7800GT
HDD - SATA2 160G + 80 G + 80 G
Power - sirtec 450W
Case - Simple - Zeit

Laptop
Samsung Q45/w210-12.1"
xp home edition Korea

CPU-Core2Duo T8100(penryn)2.1 Ghz
memory - 3BG / cash - 3MB
Hdd- 200G / Geforce 8400(512Mb)

[Swisher]

PC-
CPU - Q6600 2.4 Quad
Heatsink - Zalman CNPS9700 110mm LED
PSU - 850 W Thermaltake
HDD - 2x 150GB WD 10,000 RPM Raptor
MB - Asus P5N32-E SLI
VGA - Geforce 8800 GTX 768mb
Souncard - Creative XiFi Fatal1ty Professional
Monitors - 2x 20" Viewsonic Optiquest 1680x1050
Memory - 8GB DDR2 800
Case- Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000B
OS- Windows XP 64bit SP2 and Windows Vista Ultimate 64 SP1

imo, the Q6600 is the best bang for the buck right now. 8800 GTs are awesome for VGAs. And if you do plan to go SLI one day make sure your power supply/mobo supports it (SLI certified).

[cookepuss]

I work out of my apartment so there are 10 PCs here. 7 of them are in other rooms, but 3 of them - including my main workstation - are here in my bedroom. (Convenient since I can work late and just crash on my bed.)

MANUFACTURER: Hewlett Packard
CPU: Q9550 2.83 Quad
RAM: 8GB DDR2 800
HDD: 1.5TB SATA 3 7200rpm
CD1: Blu-Ray/HD Writer combo
CD2: DVD
VID: GeForce 8800GT 512MB
VID 2&3: Dual ATSC-NTSC tuners
SOUND : Sound Blaster XiFi XtremeGamer w/ Logitech 5.1 speakers
MONITOR 1: Samsung 22" Widescreen @ 1680x1050
MONITOR 2: Acer 19" Widescreen @ 1440x900
OS: Windows Vista 64 SP1
OTHER: Wacom Intuos 9"x12"

[XenoZiden]

Do AMD Processors work well? I was thinking about getting AMd 9750 2.6ghz Quad-core, but since three people so far have Intel based, I feel I should ask that question.

[Shadownami92]

I feel like my computers are going to be a lot weaker than other people, mainly because my main working station right now is my laptop, but here we go...

MANUFACTURER: Fujitsu
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.20 GHz)
RAM: DDR2 - 2.19 GHz, 1.99 GHz
HDD: Fujitsu MHW2100BH (101 GB)
CD: DVD/CD
VID: (Too lazy to find the papers that came with the shipment box and the website seemed to replace my model with a new one, but it's probably eqivalent to a Geforce 6 series card of some sort)
SOUND : Sound Blaster XiFi XtremeGamer w/ Logitech 5.1 speakers
MONITOR 1: 15.4" Crystal View WXGA or WSXGA+ TFT display (Laptop)
OS: Windows XP 32 SP 2
OTHER: Wacom Bamboo (Its like 8x11 I don't remember and Im too lazy to get it right now.)

I'll probably update this later with my desktop computer, it's a bit better than this one.

[muppet man]

man, I gotta upgrade.

I'm still using my Dell Dimension 8200 with a sweet Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 2.4Ghz and 512 MB of RAM. I recently added 300 GB hard drive since my whopping 30 GB hard drive was full and added a dvd drive but can't get sound since there's nowhere to hook it into my sound card but I just use it to get screen grabs from movies. oh wait, it gets better......

Graphics card is an NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4200. I can't run CS2 and max at the same time and I can barely run zbrush on it. Both monitors are 19 in. CRTs one of which is getting blurry on me.

Yeah, you know you're jealous.

cmof

[cookepuss]

Do AMD Processors work well? I was thinking about getting AMd 9750 2.6ghz Quad-core, but since three people so far have Intel based, I feel I should ask that question.
AMD works just fine. Just keep an eye on things if you intend on dropping it into a mixed CPU network. Every CPU manufacturer does things just a bit differently. I once tried mixing an IBM CPU Mac with an AMD PC and an Intel PC on the same render network. The results were disastrous. They each handled floating point math, critical to 3D, just a bit differently. The results weren't so pronounced at first. It was when I rendered out a large animation that I noticed a twitchy shadow here, a flicker there, or a slight pop yonder. All Intel = Good. All IBM = Good. All AMD = Good. Mixed = Meh.

I thought that it was something I was doing. I later found out, from one of the devs working on a major 3D app, that it was a hardware level thing.

So, you're good to go with AMD. Just think ahead if you're planning a network. Plus, Intel CPU speeds have, iirc, already eclipsed what AMD's doing and the prices are dropping too.

[cookepuss]

Yeah, you know you're jealous.
You're beating the snot out of people with 4x the system you've got. Yeah, your PC sucks and you definitely need an upgrade, but none of it can hide your talent. Rock on, muppet. Rock on. :)

[BiG ToE]

its true, for a guy who can't see what the texture looks like on the model, while working on it in photoshop, you got a real handle on things. I'd be scared to see what you can do with a simple upgrade of memory.

me PC(main):
CPU: Q9550 2.66 Quad
RAM: 4GB DDR2 800
HDD: 500 gig SATA 2 7200rpm
CD1: DVD burner
VID: GeForce 8800GT 512MB
SOUND : Sound Blaster XiFi XtremeGamer, Altec Lanseng 5.1 speakers.
MONITOR 1: ViewSonic 22" Widescreen @ 1680x1050

the other 4 are about the same, but lack in one way or another. Also have 4 external hard drives equaling 2.5 tbs. I keeps my art work backed up.

[Parnell]

man, I gotta upgrade.

I'm still using my Dell Dimension 8200 with a sweet Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 2.4Ghz and 512 MB of RAM. I recently added 300 GB hard drive since my whopping 30 GB hard drive was full and added a dvd drive but can't get sound since there's nowhere to hook it into my sound card but I just use it to get screen grabs from movies. oh wait, it gets better......

Graphics card is an NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4200. I can't run CS2 and max at the same time and I can barely run zbrush on it. Both monitors are 19 in. CRTs one of which is getting blurry on me.

Yeah, you know you're jealous.

cmof

Muppetman how the hell did you work on Dom War stuff? My computer could barely work with the 2048x2048 textures?!

[Marcus Dublin]

Here are my system specs as of today:

MANUFACTURER: Bare Bones Kit / Ultra Grid ATX Mid-Tower Case
Mother Board: Intel 975XBX2KR Motherboard
CPU: Intel Daul Core E6600 @ 2.40GHz
RAM: OCZ 4GB DDR2 800
HDD: 3 Internal 500 GB Drives / 1 External 1TB Drive 1 External 500 GB Drive
CD1: Light on DVD
CD2: Sony DVD
VID: GeForce 8500GT 512MB
SOUND: Turtle Beach RIVIERA Sound Card
MONITOR 1: Dell 19"
MONITOR 2: Ic Power 19"
OS: Windows Xp64 64 SP2
OTHER: Wacom Intuos3 6x11

I’m looking into upgrading my Ram to 8GB:D and my video card to a Geforce 8800 in the near future.

[Parnell]

marcus buy a cintiq man!
that would be money well spent!
B

[BiG ToE]

we should start a muppet man upgrade your pc fund.

[cookepuss]

This looks like a job for Bono!!! ;) Call it "Muppet Aid" or "Wacoms Across America" :p

I can totally see how how MM gets his work done though. I used to work, a long time ago, with a P3-800MHz and 512MB. (An old PC at the time, btw.) I had to do an archvis walk through of a scene with 2.1mil polys and LOTS of glass. You just have to kill all nonessential background apps and forget the idea of multitasking. Really, the worst part is waiting on screen redraws and swap file writes.

[BuroKun]

Mother Board: ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium
CPU: Intel 965 Extreme [3.7G/2Mx2]
RAM: (2GB) DDR2-667 Corsair 1GB 5400, DDR2-667 Corsair 1GB 5400
HDD: 40GB, 250GB, External 200GB
CD1: Sony DW Q170A 18X DVDRW
VID: GeForce 8800GTX 768MB
SPEAKERS: Logitech X-530
SOUND: Creative Audigy SE
MONITOR 1: Viewsonic Q19WB 19" widescreen
MONITOR 2: 17"
OS: Windows XP Media Edition
OTHER: Blue NZXT LCD FAN control meter, Multi-Colored fan, Bule case light

[YdoUwant2know]

Wow... I guess I need an upgrade more that I thought.

Currently I'm running a Frankenstein computer that I built myself.

CPU: AMD 4200X2 (old 939 pin)
MoBO: Asus A8N-E
Ram: 2 gig (2x matched 1 gig dim corsair )
Vid: PNY Nvidia Quadro FX 1400 (128 megs ram)

Sound: On board (yeah nothing but the best ;) )
Speakers: Whatever was on sale when I got them
DVD +/- RW drive

Monitor 1: Samsung 22 inch wide screen LCD :thumb:
Monitor 2: ViewSonic POS 17 inch CRT :uhh:

Windows XP pro

[FredH]

I only have a laptop. I haul it around with me wherever I go.

It's from Eurocom.com

Specs:
Screen: WSXGA+ 1680x1050 with Matte Surface
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7700
Video Card: 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8700GT
Memory: 2GB
Hard Drive: 120GB Sata-300 7,200rpm
Sound: Broken
Speakers: None
DVD: 8x Multi DVD+-RW/-Ram burner; Dual Layer
Wireless: No
Bluetooth: No

Windows XP Pro

I am really annoyed that the headphone jack broke:brick:

Muppet Man, wow. After Domwar, I am surprised your computer did not retire forever. Hell, it should have already died during the war:eek:

[BiG ToE]

hey Fred, maybe next year, if everything goes well, first place is a computer.

[TryForce]

Cpu. AMD Turion 64 x2 Mobile [1,8ghz x 2 ]
Ram. 1gb
HDD. 100x2
Vid. Geforce Go 7600 256x
Os. Win Xp Service pack 2

[keo]

am I the first to rep the 2d side?

cpu: 2 x 1.8 G5
ram: 1.25 GB
gfx: GeForce FX 5200 64mb
OS: Mac 10.4.11
vid: 19" widescreen flat panel
tab: Intuos 2 4x5"

since I can jump to 3GB ram for less than $50, I'm really just procrastinating ... but since I can run Maya PLE, PS CS2, plus Firefox, itunes and a chat client without a performance hit I guess I don't need to. :)

[Aftermath]

Laptop

Make/Model: Dell Latitude D830
OS: Vista Biz 32 Bit
Video: Quadro NVS 140M DX10
RAM: 2gb
HDD: 70GB Internal 160WD External
DirectX Version: 10.0
CPU: Intel Core Duo 2 T7300 @ 2.00GHZ 2.00GHZ
Vista Experience Rating: 4.2

MainApps:
Photoshop CS3 (Student)
Illustrator CS3 (Student)
Lightwave 9 (Student)
Bryce (Student)
3D Studio Max 9 (Student)
Zbrush 3.1 (Student)

Games It Can Handle Low/Med:
Crysis
Unreal Tournament 3
Gears of War

[cookepuss]

since I can jump to 3GB ram for less than $50, I'm really just procrastinating ... but since I can run Maya PLE, PS CS2, plus Firefox, itunes and a chat client without a performance hit I guess I don't need to. :)
Don't be a cheapskate. :) Invest in the RAM. You'll be glad you did. You may not think that you have much to gain performance wise, but that extra 1GB frees you up a lot more. Bigger textures. Larger mattes. More complex scenes. Improved mutlitasking. It's worth every dime.

Besides, you can never have enough RAM. As long as it is addressable by your OS and your mobo can handle it.... drop it in. I'm using 8GB right now and I can STILL imagine ways to beat the hell out of my system that'd make me cry for more RAM. :)


Since Aftermath decided to list apps, I'll add mine to the mix.

MainApps:
Photoshop CS3 - some texturing
Rhinoceros 3D v2 - for my .AI vector stuff
Cinema 4D Studio 10.5 (64bit) - modeling, CA, rendering, & UV
Zbrush 3.1 - detailing & texturing
AfterEffects
Premiere

[Shadownami92]

My Desktop Computer

MANUFACTURER: Me : D
CPU: Pentium D (?)
RAM: DDR2 - 3 GHz, 3.1 GHz
HDD: Don't remember the type but its 150GB
CD1: HP dvd 740 DVD/CD
CD2: Combo32x (comes with headphone jack) DVD/CD External
VID: Geforce 9600 GT 512 MB
SOUND : There old but good, they have no lebels on them or anything. My external CD drive also has a headphone jack.
MONITOR 1: 19'' or so flat screen digital output
OS: Windows XP Professional 2002 32 SP 2

MainApps:
Photoshop CS (Laptop)
3D Studio Max 9 (Laptop)
Modo 301 [I think thats the version] (Laptop)
ZBrush 3 (Laptop)
Meshlab (Laptop)
FPS Creator (Desktop)
Photoshop Elements 3.0 (Desktop)
Corel Painter Essentials 2 (Desktop)
3D Studio Max 6 (Desktop)
Unreal Tournament 3 Mod Kit (Desktop)
Crysis Sandbox (Desktop)

On an older PC I have Lightwave 7 but I haven't used it in forever. : D

[Miguelito]

CPU Athlon 64 3500
2 gigs of RAM
8600 gt

I hate that CPU. My next machine will have an Intel. Seems to handle more Apps at once much better. Crap AMD!

[Chasarsis]

Handmade
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800 - 2.3ghz
Ram: 4gb
Video Card: Nvidia 8800gt 512 mb
HDD1: Western Digital 150gb
HDD2: Western Digital 500gb
Monitor1: Envision 19inch LCD
Monitor2: Hp p700 17inch CRT
Windows XP Pro 64 bit

[muppet man]

Heh heh. Yup this old clunker is hanging on by a thread. During the war, I just used it for zbrush. All the texturing was done on my work machine so it wasn't THAT bad. But it did suck trying to take screenshots in zbrush and then paste into photoshop. It would chuuuuuuug.

I'm getting a new one soon though. I can't wait. I'm curious as to what I can get for $1,000.00. I need a new monitor and a machine that will handle a gazillion polys in zbrush. You guys have any suggestions?

[cookepuss]

I know that Best Buy has an AMD Phenom 9600 Quad Core (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8775809&type=product&id=1204331848308)with 4GB RAM (upgradable to 8GB), 640GB HDD, & DVD writer for about $750. You'd probably want tow swap out that ATI Radeon HD 3200 card, but it's not a bad deal for the price. It even leaves you money for a decent LCD. As long as the refresh is under 8ns, you should be fine. I've modeled AND gamed with lower refresh rates. (Just minor bit of blur in fast action if the refresh is too high.)

Newegg also has a Cyberpower (??) brand PC (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229033) for about $600. That one includes: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz), 500GGB SATA-II HDD, DVD±R/±RW Dual Layer Drive, GeForce 8500GT 512MB, 2GB RAM, & Vista Premium. You'll want to up the RAM and switch out for Vistax64 or XPx64, but that'll get the job done for a cheap price too.

I wouldn't worry about ZB3 or any of the other major apps in Vistax64, in case you're curious. I've been using it for the past month. With some basic tweaking and such, it's about as stable and satisfying to use as XP Pro. The memory overhead is a bit higher, but (with enough RAM) you'll never miss it. Sculpting in ZB3 is as silky smooth as you're used to. Every other CG app I have works like a dream in 64-bit. Plus, Vistax64 driver support has gotten better (HP printers not withstanding.)

That's just to give you some ideas. You can do wonders with just a couple of bucks. I'd have suggested building your own, but that takes time and effort that I at least have certainly outgrown. I'm too impatient. I just want to get my work done nowadays. I'll pay somebody else to build it for me. :)

[Aftermath]

to add to what cookepuss said my brother has a emachine with just a upgraded video card and im able to run zbrush on it fine. It only cost him like 400$. Zbrush is such a great app mainly because of the way it handles the vert counts and the stress load on the processors and ram. It stores them differently then say 3d max or maya.

By breaking models down into subtools you can have 10mil+ polys on each subtool and not even kill your system because each subtool runs its own space. This is also a way to work on high poly models on cheaper machines.

You dont need an expensive machine to play with the big dogs. Its how you use the machine you have that counts. Yes a Boxx system or a custom beast computer is fun to play with but if your on a budget you can still get by without killing yourself.

I work on a laptop nowdays and the max poly at a time on one subtool i can reach is 3.4mil which is plenty high. But if i broke the head into a subtool maxed it out then broke the torso down and maxed it out right there my model is at 6.8mil. So you can see it is possible to reach the nice dense mesh that you want it just wont be all one piece like if it was on a power pc.

I hope this helps and doesnt confuse the crap out of you. I tend to not make sense sometimes.

[cookepuss]

You dont need an expensive machine to play with the big dogs.
Not at all. I totally agree. I paid as $2,700 for mine (in my sig) only because I wanted some of the creature comforts. Realistically, you can get any one of a number of "cheapo" PCs and still do super happy big things with them. You usually only pay more if you're going for some of overkill items.

I like systems by the likes of Boxx and such, but you really don't need to spend that much. Not everybody needs the render power of a dual Xeon or mirrored RAID drives or quadros.

Stock Intel Quad Core machines are plenty cheap nowadays. As long as you've got some decent RAM and room to grow or swap components out... you're gold. Just remember, anything above 3 or so gigs of RAM and you'll want to go for a 64-bit OS.

32-bit OSes only support addresses of up to 4GB. Of that 4GB worth of address ranges, some of it (512mb) is reserved for system overhead. Some of it is also reserved for video RAM addresses. So, if you've got 256MB of video RAM and 4GB of system RAM, your 32-bit OS will only register about 3.25GB of addressable RAM. A 512MB video card would take that OS addressable system RAM number to 3GB. So, even if you've got 4GB installed, you're only going to register and be able to use less. With a 64-bit OS you've got the full range. Although, apps compiled for 32-bit are still limited to a stock amount (2GB I think). Apps recompiled for 64-bit can take advantage of much more. It's an inherent limit of the amount of address combinations available in 32-bits VS 64-bits. 64-bit means more possible addresses because, well, there are more bits. :p

Sure you know that though. Just saying it for those who haven't upgraded to 64-bit and don't see the reason why. Frankly, I'm loving it. :)

[Vailias]

Main Workstation:
Manufacturer: Me
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition
Ram: 4gb A-DATA Value Series (PC2 6400)
MOBO: Foxconn N570SM2AA-8EKRS2H AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU Cooler: Scythe SCNJ-1100P 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - (killer cooler!)
HDD: 2 X SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (yay for 1Tb of storage!)
GPU: MSI OC GeForce 8600 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported
Monitors: 2x Acer X191Wsd Silver-Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor

Laptop:
Acer Travelmate 4400

Strong for 3 years ago, and still use it for work away from home. Mostly school work at this point, but it can handle decent modeling and texturing tasks.

[pablobox]

cpu : amd x2 3800 + 2.0 ghz
ram : 4 ...ehm 3 (1 is lost) ddr2 of the slow type ahha.
gpu : 8800 gt 512 mb 700 mhz + 1200 mhz ram
3 hd: 1 sata2 300 ,1 eide 300 ,1 eide 400
Dvd rom :that don't play video dvd.
cdburner :not plugged in or pc don't start because is only 400w
power supply :400 w with very low performance rate.
case : one of first ata megatower.
webcam: b&w don't recognized by vista becaus too old.
tablet:induos 3 a4 that costs more than all the pc.
monitor:iiyama 24" i look for another because i worked with 2 monitor in past so i'll take also a 14" to add to it.
sound card :integrated realteck 6 channell on creative 5+1 system.
keyboard:normal one with almost all key sign deleted.
mouse:...ops i don't have a mouse...i'm joking normal mouse.

i have also 1 laptop even worst and another pc the worsest ahaha.
so i can say that my workstation is better than yours.Is always a megamonster workstation super pro++ no one can compete with it.

[Ramseus]

cpu: Intel core 2 duo E6600 2.4gHz
ram: 2x 1 gig RAM sticks, I forget the brand but they're gold and shiny
gpu: NVidia 8800 GTS 640 MB
hdd: 2x 250 Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM
monitor: 19" Hyundai L90D+ LCD
OS: Vista 64 (hey! I heard that! It works just fine, thank you very much)
case: Antec [whatever model] with 3 layers of insulation and 3 massive case fans for general stealthiness
and a 6x8 Intuos 3

soon to have a MacBook Pro 17" with 4 gigs of ram, and a Cintiq 12wx

[Shadownami92]

I was a little curious, do any of you guys know where I could find a really inexpensive laptop that functions well for work that stresses less with graphics such as typing and other functions a normal college student would be using?

[Supernova87]

Toshiba Laptop

cpu: AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-56 1.80 GHz
ram: 2gb
gpu: ATi Mobility Radeon HD 2600
HDD (internal): Toshiba MK2035GSS ATA Device 180gb
HDD (external): WD Passport 200gb
OS: Vista 32bit

MainApps:
Photoshop CS3 - digital painting/texturing for 3D
3DsMax 9 - main 3D software app
Zbrush 3.1 - just started!

Graphics Tablet:
Wacom Volito2 - cheap and portable, gets the job done!

[cookepuss]

I was a little curious, do any of you guys know where I could find a really inexpensive laptop that functions well for work that stresses less with graphics such as typing and other functions a normal college student would be using?

If it's just for school work than nearly any cheap laptop will do. Your biggest concern, given the price, is going to be how much RAM it comes with. The cheaper you go the less it'll come with. You can find some with about 3GB installed, however, for under $700 or so.

From Best Buy (for example):

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/8770/8770671cv1a.jpg (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8770671&type=product&id=1203815682805)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8770671&type=product&id=1203815682805

Dell Inspiron with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5550 (1.83GHz) - $700


Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor T5550 with 2MB L2 cache and 1.83GHz processor speed
3GB DDR2, expandable to 4GB
DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support
15.4" XGA widescreen display @ 1280 x 800
250GB Serial ATA hard drive
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 integrated graphics
Built-in 2.0-megapixel Web cam
8-in-1 digital media reader
Built-in Dell 1395 wireless networking mini-card (802.11b/g)
10/100 Ethernet
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
Weighs 6.2 lbs


http://img5.pcpop.com/ProductImages/Leader/0/794/000794975.jpg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101150)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101150

Gateway P-6832 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 - $750

Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor T5550 with 2MB L2 cache and 1.83GHz processor speed
3GB DDR2 memory for multitasking power, expandable to 4GB
DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support
17" XGA+ widescreen display @ 1440x900
250GB Serial ATA hard drive
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Built-in 1.3-megapixel Web cam
8-in-1 digital media reader
Built-in 1395 wireless networking mini-card (802.11a/b/g)
10/100 Ethernet
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
Weighs 8.39 lbs


1.83GHz is not mind numbingly fast, but it's not like you're planning on using it for CG heavy work. It's just normal school stuff, which they should be more than fast enough for. IMHO, those are pretty good prices, especially for the 17" one.