Hey guys, I was wondering what is better? Running on a mac or a PC? Right now my mac specs is a Mac Book Pro, 2.33ghz Intel Core Duo with 2 GB or DDR2 ram and my graphic card is a RadeonX1600. As for computer I was going to create one with a 2,000.00 budget or either get another mac. Thanks for your input guys!
thanks again,
Jon:D
If you really want to maximize Blender speed and resources with a new machine, I’d buy the fastest PC you can afford (most cores + 2GB RAM per core) then run a 64-bit Linux on it (Ubuntu is what I use). In my tests, Blender renders about 50% faster on a 64-bit Linux system than on Windows. It’s certainly faster than on my Mac too, but that’s apples/oranges, as I haven’t compared render times on the Mac box running Linux yet.
Buy a Windows machine, then boot 64-bit Linux for Blender work. BTW, my QuadroFX card also seems to perform better on Linux than it does on Windows, but I don’t any solid way of testing that. It just feels more responsive.
Thanks Harkyman, Im going on newegg right now to build it. I have a really stoopid question, I know blender is free, but is it better than Max and Maya? Im still doing my research on this but to me it seems a lot easier than Autodesk’s software.
Thanks again.
$2000 will get you a lot better hardware if you build your own. Just run Linux or something to avoid the “Windows Tax”
Use a minimal Linux distro like Arch. Using Blender on Linux literally doubles the OpenGL view port performance, and rendering is around 20~30% faster(varies largely depending on what you are rendering).
Build your own computer and avoid Windows completely.
I’ve been using windows since I first touch in a PC… until recently I gave Ubuntu a try 
… Well I had Windows XP x64, so I was already benefiting of extra performance, but Ubuntu is really better is in Multi task :yes: I’m rendering a complex object and writing here wile editing a screenshot in Gimp … in windows If blender is rendering I couldn’t do nothing more. Better memory manadging too.
DEFINATELY build your own (PC). You’ll get so much more performance for your money. You can build a real beast of a machine for 2000. I’d definately recommend getting one of the new Core i7 CPUs/MBs. The 920 can be had for around $300 and it FLIES. I hear it’s a really good overclocker as well, but I haven’t tried that with mine yet. Coming from my old Athlon X2 4600+, the difference is unbelivable. Also, unless you’re a gamer, there’s no reason to use Windows. That hundred bucks could get you an extra stick or two of ram.
Also is Linux really that much more efficient? A 50% increase in render speed is absolutely amazing! I’ve never owned windows 64, so I don’t know. I can tell you that Ubuntu/Fedora 64 rocks though 
It would be an interesting project to run some benchmarks on different OSs and post the results here. Would make for a nifty article on BA.
I’ll tout the Linux horn too, I always use my Blender compiles on Linux as they
generally perform better under Linux, there are easily explainable reasons for this:
Technically running Blender on Windows or Linux should really make no rendering
difference, if it does - it is because you may have a better (more optimized)
Blender compile running under Linux, you should be able to optimize the same way
under Windows.
Viewport wise (especially with Nvidia drivers) Blender tend to perform faster
under Linux as the OpenGL environment is somewhat faster and handled better
(afaik) then on Windows.
For absolute maximum performance I suggest the hardcore way to do things
on Linux, this is somewhat involving, but if you want the best performance
you can squeeze out of your pc…this will be the way to go:
Learn to install and compile your own Linux, you could learn the easy
way by installing “Slackware”, this is somewhat hardcore, but you WILL be
guided by “text” all the way by his neat scripts, I learned a lot by using
Slackware without beeing “too” hardcore.
Now learn to compile the entire Linux environment, compile your hardware
drivers from scratch, in fact - compile Xorg, compile KDE - compile Blender
and OPTIMIZE your compiles.
Compiling Linux on slack is in fact as easy as:
make mrproper
make menuconfig
(this will take you to a huge comprehensive text menu where you
can optimize your future Linux core by making some relatively easy selections on
what processor you have, the sound chipset …etc…if you have that information
handy, this should be a walk in the park (may take one hour or so the first time, but
you’ll be a better person for it)
make install
lilo
And you should be up and running with your new kernel, I won’t guide you to it
all, you have to venture out on your own, get wet, get dirty with compiling…
You’ll experience MAD blazing boot-times, (as little as 10-15 seconds booting)
and even MADDER Blender performance, seriously.
You’ll also pull your hair out from little annoyances Linux will throw you, such
as reconfiguring the etc/X11/xorg.conf file contents and adding mouse and
tablet functions…
…but it’s all on Google…
Good luck, and I hope you do this - You’ll love it and never look back.
Silly me…I forgot to explain WHY the performance becomes better by
compiling stuff yourself:
…err…
In layman’s terms that simply means that the OS’es comes with HEAPS of
pre-compiled drivers, scripts and a gazillion classes, libraries and useless code-junk
that have been made to be “compatible” with just about any PC on this planet.
…you may think of your computer as having employed a 1000 interpretors that
has to “explain” to your hardware how things work and needless to say
this slows things down terribly.
When you compile on YOUR OWN COMPUTER,
every program you compile - will be optimized to suit YOUR installed
hardware - AND - your installed software, classes, options and whatever YOU
have chosen, not the other way around.
So you may even say - now - all the software on YOUR computer has
been specially produced and created for YOUR computer only, that’s
rather nifty, don’t you think?
See…it’s worth the effort!
dude, thats a walk in the park, compared to some other possible problems,
but people will only meet them if they decide to dig in deep. 
Hehe…luckily (or should I say hopefully) It ain’t that “terrible” anymore, I can
remember when Linux was a nightmare to set up, that’s like 6-10 years ago.
I remember being so happy that Nvidia finally decided to create 3D-drivers
for their graphics cards on Linux, but desperately working for WEEKS
to get them up and running on my own preferred distro. I usually sank down
in my chair, and caved in - followed by a connect to IRC to ask some true
Linux-GNUs HOW to do it, and IF I waited for like 10-14 hours Online, I
MIGHT get some help, but OH BOY it felt good to see 3D-acceleration
work on the Linux - and finally having the chance to Ditch windows in
the every day use.
Today it takes like 2-10 minutes to solve issues, and they’re comparatively
few to back then.
If he starts with Ubuntu - then it’s indeed a walk in the park
If you dont mind command line go with Linux. Most of the time any problems you have with it will only be resolvable through terminal. This is something thats very annoying for people like me who like GUI, hence why im back to windows.
Also whats worth mentioning is that if you like your commercial apps like Photoshop (which you cant run under Linux) you will have to look for replacements. Its very annoying when you cant run your favorite app.
The terminal just happens to be the fastest way to solve a lot of problems, but not everything has to be done in it. And you can run Photoshop in a Linux distro, just use Wine or some equivalent.
Wine can run Photoshop 7 and no other version later than that. So if you want to use apps that came out 10 years ago use Linux. I like my CS 4.
Yes terminal is the fastest way to do things but there are many things you just cant do from GUI, while under windows I can do everything from GUI. Linux will not get far untill things like this change and we are able to run commercial apps natively.
Jonnyblur,
your headline points that you are mostly interested in using blender and software that fits with the blender work flow such as GIMP and Yafray … just to name a few.
As others have pointed out, and I agree, Linux compares favorably as long as your goal is a blender based work flow.
How ever, modeling, texturing and rendering is not everything and sooner or later you will have the need to prepare audio files to go with your artwork and also use additional software that is not available for Linux.
The best way is still dual booting between Linux (for blender-yafray based work and maybe online banking) and an “optimized” XP install, preferably thinstalled so that you get the speed you need.
For an already optimized Linux distro I can highly recommend paldo. The reason I’m suggesting this is that paldo GNU/Linux comes with the latest version of blender, GIMP and pretty much everything else too. The best feature of paldo is that IT IS NOT based on Ubuntu or RedHat, but rather built on the “Linux from Scratch” idea.
If you have time, head over to paldo.org and download the “testing” branch of what ever platform you want to try (32/64 bit) and give it a go.
Do a little search on the forum as there are already blender related posts and “Amnon82” is amazing when it comes to helping with additional questions you might have.
I Hope you will take some time to find a workflow that you don’t have to change because that also means loosing lots of hours of work which is costly.
CS2 ran fine last time I tried it, just needs some font installed or it segfaults on start up.
GUI’s suck, Windows manages to fit everything into a GUI by being virtually imposable to customise. All of the major configuration options on Linux already have GUIs, but fitting everything into a GUI would need so meny buttons and what not it would be close to impossable to fins what you want.
Also, CLI’s are vastly superior for some things, sutch as working out why something isnt working, Windows error messages are, quite frankly, crap.
As onemanblend correctly pointed out, Linux is only the best system until you factor in things besides performance. XP and Mac both have a wider selection of audio, video editing and other applications relevant to a studio.
OS X has a wealth of their own high-end applications, such as Shake, and Final Cut Pro, or Logic Pro. It even comes with simpler products like iMovie HD, and Garageband. While Linux has alternatives to the above, I’m unsure of their maturity.
I was wondering about this too…
But now all those Linux noises make my head spin… 
Still I’m planning to go for Mac whenever the new ones arrive. Then when I experience my blender still too slow I’ll think back at your kind advises, I might make a Linux bootcamp partition for the heavy renders.
If you think to buy so Intuos tablet in your config or other wacom , or a new mp3 player or hadware… or buy a laptop then you must use Windows.
Why ? Cause on Linux all drivers are outdated , and for new hardware made in 2009 your driver manufacturer will only give Vista option or Windows 7.
I have a good hand made Desktop PC with an Core 2 processor , no difference in performance from Vista compared with Ubuntu running Kde or Gentoo.
I have wasted 2 years of my life with Linux , and I`ll say one thing : - head problems , nausea , waste of time , frustration , high nerve , lose of control
All the app on Linux tend to crash on a flawless PC , all full of bugs , one update to a distro second thing programs with : “segment faults” or some mainboard error cause the Linux Kernel does not know how to enable some function on it.
I have seen Laptops and Tablet PC with drivers and hardware only working in Vista , without any option , installing any linux on them you will get No sound , No video acceleration due wrong mainboard detection .
When things comes new , Windows it is first compatbile second is MAC why ? They have stable development tools and stable environment .
Comparation : Photoshop and Gimp , get Gimp load an 14 mb raw SLR phot , it will crash for some time to time , where Photoshop it is made to handle big file size.
That`s why Zbrush looks good.
Blender3d it is not like Linux Kernel or other apps on Linux , it is an Independent Project meaning that it is not dependable on any Platform , and has full finacial base that support itsefl ex : The Elephant Dreams , Big Buck Bunny , Yo Frakye > without this projects Blender 3D whas not evolving fast.
Nobody give profesional work for free , life cost money , money give us food …artists think different cause they are right mindend but lot`s of programmers think more about profit.
:yes:
I know all the mumbo jubos from instaling linux from scratch , config , reconfig , upgrade , downgrade > cause the nice Gentoo has no option for automatic install , and Ubuntu it is nice to install but full of inutile software.
Linux : good for servers , good for making clusters for a render farm (yes for this it is made), backup data and test some hardware
not good for : gamming ,video edit and image manipulation (there it is Shake for Linux but limited and not for free!) , fast worflow and animation (classical and 3D) from the point of the artists that are not so geek mindend cause for them when you Paint and your brush stroke goes other direction does spoil the Inspiration (The main reason why Photoshop it is top of the industry , folowed by Corel Painter and Xara), and to say something nice : - programming for automated things like industrial robots
-prototyping schematics for subansables etc THERE IT IS NO PROGRAM FOR LINUX that do that in PROFESIONAL way!
This it is not a “RANT” this it is an response for the TOPIC.
MAC hadware no difference from PC > there it is not MAC or PC no more MAC are on Intel processor NOW and that means MAC = PC , OSX it is an UNIX derivate like Linux only difference it is that it is supported by developers and driver developers like Windows
I can instal an OSX OS now on my PC and it is not made by Apple , only by me .
So the MAC vs PC dispute does not exist at all.
The point of my 2 pages are , make your PC usable for your needs , if you like some time to time to play a game let`see Starcraft 2 ?! or Diablo 3 ? hmm , you buy some Sony made things and find that you need Windows… then think more about what PC you get and make.
100 euro it is little compared with the pain you will get if your needs make Linux apps crash , and MAC has so limited numbers of games.
Don`t buy an Apple PC , buy a normal PC cause it is not a diference from them in hardware , if you wanna install OSX it is your choice , buying an Apple made PC you end spending 1000 euro in vain.
Apple policy - you buy the brand.
Windows policy - you buy the OS
OSX costs like Windows 100 euro 150 euro.
Buying an MAC laptop it is like buying 2 laptops instead of an Convertible with nice function.