My teen son is wanting to learn learn Blender. We are helping him get a new laptop, but it has to be at the lowest end (think Walmart or Staples $400 - budget is really only $300, so that is already stretched). A dedicated graphics card is out of the question. With that understood - can anyone give a little direction? Which features are more important - cpu speed, wattage (18 vs 35), AMD (like E-450, Radeon 6320) vs Intel (PS6200)? Turbo boost? 3D acceleration? Support Directx11? I realize that these specs are pathetic, but it’s that or nothing at all. I need to make the best choice with what we have. Whatever he gets is probably gonna have to make do for 2 or 3 years. Thank you.
Moved from “General Forums > Blender and CG Discussions” to “Support > Technical Support”
cooling might be a problem on the cheaper laptops… blender will put the laptop under more pressure than it was most likely deigned for.
That being said, CPU and ram. try for at least an intel i5 and 4GB of ram. Install a hardware monitor program and keep tabs on the temperature when rendering.
Starting off with a limit isn’t always a bad thing… he’ll learn to make his scenes or animations with greater optimization. Which is good to learn, pretty much all CG industries work with limitations especially the gaming industry. It’s all about how to get the most from what resources you have available for the project.
Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with working with limited resources. If anything at all it will only cause him to come up with creative solutions. I started out in 3D 8 years ago on a laptop deemed crappy even at that time.
As for hardware specs: Sure it’s nice to have 4GB of ram and the latest quadcore processor, but he’ll learn blender just as fast on a cheaper system. I’d say, based on blenders current status he’d do great with a dual-core processor running at 2 Ghz. As for ram: 2GB will allow him to make pretty complex stuff. Anything more would only benefit experienced users interested in simulation, or production ready scenes.
Now some notes on the graphics card: Always get an Ati/Amd or nVidia one! Intel cards are notorious for messing with the interface, causing unexplainable crashes and being slow. Any laptop graphics card might have issues with blender (That’s why they’re unsupported at the moment) but your safest bet is with Ati/Amd or nVidia.
Also it doesnt matter if the card supports Directx11 as blender uses OpenGL.
If your budget is only 300$ bucks don’t be tempted to buy one of those netbooks. A regular sized laptop is always preferable.
If you can’t find a new laptop that’s decent enough, try looking at places selling ex-lease laptops. Yes, they’re second hand but also very cheap, and you might get one with a warranty.
Look for refurbished items from DELL, Gateway, HP etc… You might be able to get more for your money that way. Also, if you are shopping in a physical store ask about discounts on display models. They often sell them for less than the listed price.
You should specify the size of the laptop as well IMHO. Given that your son will probably do other things apart from Blender (hopefully 
), mobility may be a decisive factor. I am from Germany so I am not sure if the price situation is the same in the US. 11.6 inch : 1.) Lenovo Ideapad S205: http://geizhals.at/de/690647 Very good value. The display is refelctive though ,which might be a letdown esp. for mobililty. RAM and HDD can easily be upgraded. 2.)Samsung 305U1A: http://geizhals.at/de/691482 Hardwarewise close to the Lenovo but with a way better display that one can use outside. 3.) Lenovo ThinkPad X121e: http://geizhals.at/de/719470 Very similar to the Samsung. Display is a little more dim, so worse for outdoor scenarios but appearantly the battery last longer.