Needing a computer. Help?

[Scheihingny]

I've always done hand drawn maps and am trying to get into digital. Any suggestions on computer specs?

[damonjynx]

Hi mate, before deciding on a computer, you need to decide what software you're going to use; Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator, or GIMP/Inkscape, the Campaign Cartographer range or some other type of illustration, drawing software. Once you've decided on that you'll have a good idea of the minimum requirements re RAM, HD space, processor and platform, i.e. Mac or Windows. Basically though these days something with 8MB RAM, 1TB hard drive space and a fast processor with a good graphics card would be pretty much the minimum, I think.

[Rongar]

Basically though these days something with 8MB RAM, 1TB hard drive space and a fast processor with a good graphics card would be pretty much the minimum, I think.

Lol. Sorry, I'm not disagreeing, but I just had a good laugh realizing how out of date my PC really is. You meant 8GB Ram, by the way, not MB. I don't think a 1TB HDD is necessary, though. I have 160GB and use only 50GB. I would rather invest in a 240GB SSD, which is much faster than conventional HDDs.

[damonjynx]

Lol. Sorry, I'm not disagreeing, but I just had a good laugh realizing how out of date my PC really is. You meant 8GB Ram, by the way, not MB. I don't think a 1TB HDD is necessary, though. I have 160GB and use only 50GB. I would rather invest in a 240GB SSD, which is much faster than conventional HDDs.

Oops! Lucky I wasn't thinking back to my Apple IIc! No hard drive and 128k RAM! Yes SSD's are much better. I'm thinking of upgrading my 2007 I-Mac 5GB RAM, 500GB hard drive to a 750GB SSd. It will cost me a few hundred $$ but at the moment I can make a cup of coffee in the time it takes to boot! Still cheaper than a new machine though...

[Mouse]

You can get by with a laptop that only has 4GB RAM, but I wouldn't recommend it - speaking from experience

[jfrazierjr]

Get as much ram(most important) and as much CPU as your budget allows. 5 years ago when I was in the market, I knew I wanted a 17 inch laptop. I utilized GIMP and had a number of maps with 30+ layers which struggled horrendously at 8GB of ram. Rendering of a filter generally took 1-2 minutes as did hiding/showing layers.

My goal was 16 GB of ram and honestly, at that time finding any laptop with that much ram was extremely difficult. It was even hard to find laptops which would SUPPORT 16 GB of ram, regardless of how much came out of the box from various top PC vendors. Eventually, I found Alienware(a division of Dell) and not only was I able to meet my needs, but surpassed them with 32GB of ram and at the time a small hybrid SSD. The price was expensive, but I was able to afford it(barely), so I purchased it. I love the power and there is very little stutter with anything I have thrown at it, including a full poster sized image with 50+ layers. The big issue is, it's heavy as hell.

ultimately, you need to make a trade off somewhere. Cost vs speed. As others have suggested, it also depends upon your goals and software. If you want to make a simple map for single page printing, a mid-low end machine will likely work just fine. If you plan to do poster sized images, well you will likely need a much much more powerful machine.

[Rongar]

Eventually, I found Alienware(a division of Dell) and not only was I able to meet my needs, but surpassed them with 32GB of ram

I mean no blasphemy, but the moment you power up a PC with 32GB RAM for the first time is how I imagine the second coming of Christ, with angelic choir and all.

[Mark Oliva]

I mean no blasphemy, but the moment you power up a PC with 32GB RAM for the first time is how I imagine the second coming of Christ, with angelic choir and all.

But before anyone does that, consider what program you're using. Dundjinni, FM8 and CC3/CC3+ all are 32-bit programs and won't make use of the top 28 GB of the 32 total. Dundjinni hasn't been updated in 10 years, and although there were some hopes for a new Version 2.0, they haven't managed to go anywhere yet. It does not look like a 64-bit Dundjinni will appear in the foreseeable future. ProFantasy has made quite clear that CC will stay a 32-bit program until CC4 appears, and there is no projected time frame for CC4. Ed Diana is working on a new FM9, but he has not revealed if the new version will be available on a 64-bit basis. All three programs - Dundjinni, CC3/CC3+ and FM8 - really can groan when the 4 GB memory limit is taxed.

The bottom line: If you want real computing power that can use your full memory resources, you need to go with The GIMP or Photoshop in 64-Bit versions. Both of them sing with with high memory resources. But if one wants to stick with Dundjinni, CC3/CC3+ or FM8, one has to settle for the fact that one is working with relics from the 20th Century.

[Mouse]

jfrazierjr is right. I'm currently working in GIMP with only 4GB RAM, and a map that's approximately 10,000 pi square. I can only use 7 layers before it gets to be totally impractical, so I have to work around that limitation by merging them down once I'm reasonably happy with the combined appearance, to make space for new layers

[Scheihingny]

Thanks guys super helpful