If this topic is still alive, as an animator i'll just say don't get anything under i7, 16GB of RAM and if possible get one with a decent NVIDIA card instead of ATI. ATI is fine for gaming but with graphics, animation and rendering it seems like a problem always arises one way or another. idk why that is, but NVIDIA has always been solid. A second hard drive for assets, data and junk. SSD is ideal but expensive. Use nothing less than 7200rpm.

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My most recent Poser animation:
Previs Dummies 2