Just starting to shop around for a New PC. I've browsed through "BOXX & AlienWare". Not fixed on those brands specifically. Will probably be spending from $3000 to 3500(max). Decent PC (AMD preference) with at least a 21" CRT. Anyone have good luck shopping?, and interested in your thoughts on CRT VS LCD. Rod

EtchASketch makes a nice inexpensive laptop. Just shake to reboot. (Good luck, Rod. I went the easy route and just bought an HP from the local Staples).

CRT v LCD----- Get one of each,dual monitors are essential'''

If you're into graphics, CRT's are the way to go. Some say that LCD's don't show true color like CRT's do. My 2 ~kimpe~ #rendergods

CRT's still can provide truer color than an LCD, but LCD's are getting closer, escpecially the high-end LCD's. But, the price on those bad boys....wow. Also, if true color is really important, than I would suggest getting a spyder monitor calibrator; http://www.colorvision.com/profis/profis_search.jsp?op=search&department_id=401 You can use the either model of the Spyder ($170 or $300), whether or not you go with LCD or CRT. AgentSmith

LCD's are much easier to work with in my experience. Because CRTs still use glass as the visual "lens," they reflect a LOT of room glare and it makes the picture really washed out and the highlight hard to discern from the midtones. In our digital photo lab at school we have a mix of very expensive CRTs and very expensive LCDs in the room; people are always fighting over who gets the LCDs :) The blacks are much richer because there isn't as much wash-out from the ambient lighting and LCD's are much sharper because the pixels are defined on the subtrate wheras CRT pixels are roundish and fuzzy. And as for color accuracy, you're not going to see a decent LCD looking much different than a good print from a CRT. The color shortcomings are really in saturation of the blue and red areas, not the actual balance of colors, which isn;t neccessarily a bad thing, as prints are always a bit more vibrant than they are on screen. For graphics, even though I'll be stoned for this, the new intel iMac is a great deal. Intel iMac You get a dual 2.0Ghz intel coreduo processor, a radeon X1600 256MB graphics card, a 250GB SATA hard drive, a dual layer dvd/cd burner, built in wifi and bluetooth, and a 20" LCD display 1600x1200 resolution for less than $1800. Bump your memory to 1.5GB by doing it yourself for another $120: < a href="http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/5300DDR2S1GB/">PC 5300 RAM And that leaves you another $1000 for accessories :) (or to save up for nights out on the town woohoo!) If you're not into the whole mac thing then I'd get Monarch to built you an AMD X2 rig: http://www.monarchcomputer.com I built a pretty nice rig for $2500, check it out here: Login here with user name: renderosity password: bryce And I personally can't stand dual monitors. I'd get an apple 23" cinema display or a dell 24" display

Myself, I love dual monitors. SO nice to have docs open on one and your app in the other. I'd highly recommend a AMD 64 X2 CPU. THey have several favors depending on how much you want to spend. But the render power you get out of them on multithreaded apps and video stuff it awesome.

Go with dual processors(3.2Ghz 2MbL2 cache Xeons are nice), better than dual monitors.

id say go with an intel

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12400&Form.ShowMessage=2560592

Incidentally, Cartesius over in Cinema forum is also thinking of buying a new computer. Lotsa suggestions, mine among them. If I had money for another, top-level, new computer, I'd go with AMD FX-60. CRT vs. LCD, to get good colour on LCD, you need to spend more money than you intend for the whole configuration. And then you cannot do motion stuff properly on it because the response time is too high. Take also into account that you usually have to run LCDs at their nominal resolution for good results, like 1920 x 1200. Changing the resolution might lead to unsatisfactory image. OTOH, check the new NEC LCDs. They've already got that SpectraView Reference (widest colour space of all monitors), but they also have new series with very low response time. Finally, it appears that lots of 22" CRT monitors are simply discontinued. Their LCD counterparts are more expensive. BTw, if you find 21-22" CRTs from Samsung, avoid those with DF in name. That stands for DynaFlat and means that the flatness of the screen is achieved with a layer of glass over the curved screen. I've got Samsung 1200 NF, NaturalFlat, and it's quite good while pretty cheap comparatively.

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Viewsonic CRT's, not badly priced for 21", and still Pro-like. The G810 : 21", and online for about $300. Or, the G225fB : 21" and onlne for about $400 AgentSmith

ICM: Make sure you get one of those 'buy-one-get-one-free' deals and give the free one to me......;-)

Attached Link: http://www.falcon-nw.com/fragbook.asp

My most recomended. vary realible and beyond realible.

BUILD YOUR OWN. You can spend all your money on components instead of laying down a grand for labor so a stranger can assemble your components for you.

Thanks guys....Some great stuff here. Bryster: the minute I find one of those BOGOF sites I'll be callin. LOL

I use a 24 inch sony wide screen fw900 series CRT. Weight is about 95 LBS. Very happy with it. They are discontinued. But there are refurbs around the internet and ebay from $300.00 to $2500.00 depening on the condition. Got mine for $500.00 used, no regrets.

Attached Link: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4332

The new Dell looks awesome for an off the shelf..... Ready over clocked to 4.26GHz for the cpu, with 4 Nvidia cards in SLI...