Recently I've been shopping around for a new portable solution, since my laptop of 7 years finally died. For a while I was using a Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet with it, and it limped along just barely tolerably. For my new one though, I'd really like to be able to do 3D sculpting in addition to my illustration work.
My home desktop I built is a custom Win7 beastie and my work desktop is a Mac Pro, so I am very much at home on either OS. As far as resource-intensive programs go, I use the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, Blender, Maya, 3D Studio Max, and Unity regularly. I also enjoy some games through Steam.
I recently gave a Surface Pro and Wacom Cintiq Companion a try, and fell in love with the Cintiq Companion but for its abysmally insufficient integrated graphics. I've since decided the Cintiq Companion Hybrid used in tandem with a somewhat more powerful portable rig could be my best answer.
https://store.wacom.com/us/en/product/DTHA1300H/
I am not keen on getting another laptop, since they are difficult to repair and are vastly overpriced. So I began investigating the possibility of building a small and lightweight desktop.
Along the way, one of my coworkers suggested looking at the Mac Mini... Which could be used in tandem with a ChargeAll Portable Outlet on the go! Genius, right? Well, no. It relies on the same integrated graphics as the Cintiq Companion - has nearly identical specs, but OSx instead of Win8.
So I threw this together on Part Picker...
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DTqdMp
Obviously it has a much higher power consumption because it has an actual graphics card... So using it with the ChargeAll wouldn't be an option (it has a max 85w output), so I'd still have the minor problem of being tethered to a power outlet. I'd be using at least Windows 8 with the new device. No accessories; the Cintiq Companion Hybrid serves as the primary display and touchscreen.
I'm more of an artist than a techie, but I would love to get some advice. Being able to relax on the couch or sit down at a coffee shop, or even bring my device into the conference room for meetings would be most desirable. I'm tethered to a desk enough as it is.
My home desktop I built is a custom Win7 beastie and my work desktop is a Mac Pro, so I am very much at home on either OS. As far as resource-intensive programs go, I use the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, Blender, Maya, 3D Studio Max, and Unity regularly. I also enjoy some games through Steam.
I recently gave a Surface Pro and Wacom Cintiq Companion a try, and fell in love with the Cintiq Companion but for its abysmally insufficient integrated graphics. I've since decided the Cintiq Companion Hybrid used in tandem with a somewhat more powerful portable rig could be my best answer.
https://store.wacom.com/us/en/product/DTHA1300H/
I am not keen on getting another laptop, since they are difficult to repair and are vastly overpriced. So I began investigating the possibility of building a small and lightweight desktop.
Along the way, one of my coworkers suggested looking at the Mac Mini... Which could be used in tandem with a ChargeAll Portable Outlet on the go! Genius, right? Well, no. It relies on the same integrated graphics as the Cintiq Companion - has nearly identical specs, but OSx instead of Win8.
So I threw this together on Part Picker...
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DTqdMp
Obviously it has a much higher power consumption because it has an actual graphics card... So using it with the ChargeAll wouldn't be an option (it has a max 85w output), so I'd still have the minor problem of being tethered to a power outlet. I'd be using at least Windows 8 with the new device. No accessories; the Cintiq Companion Hybrid serves as the primary display and touchscreen.
I'm more of an artist than a techie, but I would love to get some advice. Being able to relax on the couch or sit down at a coffee shop, or even bring my device into the conference room for meetings would be most desirable. I'm tethered to a desk enough as it is.
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