Oh and by-the-way, I wanted to tell you what I currently have for a computer. I don't even remember how old this is. It is an HP Pavilion, 803Mhz Intel, running Windows 2000. A 32KB cache. 4x CDR. A couple of years ago I upgraded the video card, the RAM and added a hard drive. I now have NVIDIA GeForce 2 video, two HD's totaling about 140 GB and 390MB of RAM. It works but it is troublesome and tired.

Oh and by-the-way, I wanted to tell you what I currently have for a computer. I don't even remember how old this is. It is an HP Pavilion, 803Mhz Intel, running Windows 2000. A 32KB cache. 4x CDR. A couple of years ago I upgraded the video card, the RAM and added a hard drive. I now have NVIDIA GeForce 2 video, two HD's totaling about 140 GB and 390MB of RAM. It works but it is troublesome and tired.

Oh and by-the-way, I wanted to tell you what I currently have for a computer. I don't even remember how old this is. It is an HP Pavilion, 803Mhz Intel, running Windows 2000. A 32KB cache. 4x CDR. A couple of years ago I upgraded the video card, the RAM and added a hard drive. I now have NVIDIA GeForce 2 video, two HD's totaling about 140 GB and 390MB of RAM. It works but it is troublesome and tired.

Oh and by-the-way, I wanted to tell you what I currently have for a computer. I don't even remember how old this is. It is an HP Pavilion, 803Mhz Intel, running Windows 2000. A 32KB cache. 4x CDR. A couple of years ago I upgraded the video card, the RAM and added a hard drive. I now have NVIDIA GeForce 2 video, two HD's totaling about 140 GB and 390MB of RAM. It works but it is troublesome and tired.

Oh and by-the-way, I wanted to tell you what I currently have for a computer. I don't even remember how old this is. It is an HP Pavilion, 803Mhz Intel, running Windows 2000. A 32KB cache. 4x CDR. A couple of years ago I upgraded the video card, the RAM and added a hard drive. I now have NVIDIA GeForce 2 video, two HD's totaling about 140 GB and 390MB of RAM. It works but it is troublesome and tired.

Phil, that is one monster fan! I have a big yard but I don't think I will use a fan quite that size. PJF, I use a Mac at work (and have for years) so that thought does appeal to me. Pauljs75, sounds like you have some personal experience with the heat transfer situation. I hope it didn't mess up your potential for kids! (and nope, I'm not planning to have any more. Got that behind me.)

For anyone who is interested, I posted this same question in multiple forums looking for lots of suggestions. If you want to read the details look in the forums for Hardware/Technical, Adobe Photoshop, Painter, DAZ-Studio, Bryce, Vue and Poser. Thanx everyone for your great responses. This has been very helpful. There are varying preferences (as would be expected) but you all have given me much information and food-for-thought to help me make my selection. In a nutshell the consensus seems to be as follows: A desktop unit will be faster, better display, and cost less than a laptop. In that vein an Athlon AMD64 processor would be the top choice. Lotsa RAM for sure (1GB or better). DirectX 9+ and OpenGL 2+ is desirable. 256MB video memory. A laptop will cost more, be a bit less powerful and the display won't have the contrast range of a CRT. Having dual processors will compensate a lot by using one for the rendering and the other one for other tasks. As for processors: some said they are happy with Centrino. Andytw suggested the new Intel "Core" chips which replace Centrino will give similar performance to an AMD64. Actually using AMD chips will run hotter and battery life will be shorter. From what you tell me, in either case, COOLING is of EXTREME importance or whatever processor you have will not last so long. Now it comes down to this: I can spend less and get a machine that is rooted on one location, or I can spend more and get a machine that performs a bit slower and be able to take it with me from place to place. Still thinking on that. Will do some shopping and see what I can get. (Hardly anyone suggested prices! but I do know I won't be going the route of the $3000+ Alienware laptop!)

For anyone who is interested, I posted this same question in multiple forums looking for lots of suggestions. If you want to read the details look in the forums for Hardware/Technical, Adobe Photoshop, Painter, DAZ-Studio, Bryce, Vue and Poser. Thanx everyone for your great responses. This has been very helpful. There are varying preferences (as would be expected) but you all have given me much information and food-for-thought to help me make my selection. In a nutshell the consensus seems to be as follows: A desktop unit will be faster, better display, and cost less than a laptop. In that vein an Athlon AMD64 processor would be the top choice. Lotsa RAM for sure (1GB or better). DirectX 9+ and OpenGL 2+ is desirable. 256MB video memory. A laptop will cost more, be a bit less powerful and the display won't have the contrast range of a CRT. Having dual processors will compensate a lot by using one for the rendering and the other one for other tasks. As for processors: some said they are happy with Centrino. Andytw suggested the new Intel "Core" chips which replace Centrino will give similar performance to an AMD64. Actually using AMD chips will run hotter and battery life will be shorter. From what you tell me, in either case, COOLING is of EXTREME importance or whatever processor you have will not last so long. Now it comes down to this: I can spend less and get a machine that is rooted on one location, or I can spend more and get a machine that performs a bit slower and be able to take it with me from place to place. Still thinking on that. Will do some shopping and see what I can get. (Hardly anyone suggested prices! but I do know I won't be going the route of the $3000+ Alienware laptop!)

For anyone who is interested, I posted this same question in multiple forums looking for lots of suggestions. If you want to read the details look in the forums for Hardware/Technical, Adobe Photoshop, Painter, DAZ-Studio, Bryce, Vue and Poser. Thanx everyone for your great responses. This has been very helpful. There are varying preferences (as would be expected) but you all have given me much information and food-for-thought to help me make my selection. In a nutshell the consensus seems to be as follows: A desktop unit will be faster, better display, and cost less than a laptop. In that vein an Athlon AMD64 processor would be the top choice. Lotsa RAM for sure (1GB or better). DirectX 9+ and OpenGL 2+ is desirable. 256MB video memory. A laptop will cost more, be a bit less powerful and the display won't have the contrast range of a CRT. Having dual processors will compensate a lot by using one for the rendering and the other one for other tasks. As for processors: some said they are happy with Centrino. Andytw suggested the new Intel "Core" chips which replace Centrino will give similar performance to an AMD64. Actually using AMD chips will run hotter and battery life will be shorter. From what you tell me, in either case, COOLING is of EXTREME importance or whatever processor you have will not last so long. Now it comes down to this: I can spend less and get a machine that is rooted on one location, or I can spend more and get a machine that performs a bit slower and be able to take it with me from place to place. Still thinking on that. Will do some shopping and see what I can get. (Hardly anyone suggested prices! but I do know I won't be going the route of the $3000+ Alienware laptop!)

For anyone who is interested, I posted this same question in multiple forums looking for lots of suggestions. If you want to read the details look in the forums for Hardware/Technical, Adobe Photoshop, Painter, DAZ-Studio, Bryce, Vue and Poser. Thanx everyone for your great responses. This has been very helpful. There are varying preferences (as would be expected) but you all have given me much information and food-for-thought to help me make my selection. In a nutshell the consensus seems to be as follows: A desktop unit will be faster, better display, and cost less than a laptop. In that vein an Athlon AMD64 processor would be the top choice. Lotsa RAM for sure (1GB or better). DirectX 9+ and OpenGL 2+ is desirable. 256MB video memory. A laptop will cost more, be a bit less powerful and the display won't have the contrast range of a CRT. Having dual processors will compensate a lot by using one for the rendering and the other one for other tasks. As for processors: some said they are happy with Centrino. Andytw suggested the new Intel "Core" chips which replace Centrino will give similar performance to an AMD64. Actually using AMD chips will run hotter and battery life will be shorter. From what you tell me, in either case, COOLING is of EXTREME importance or whatever processor you have will not last so long. Now it comes down to this: I can spend less and get a machine that is rooted on one location, or I can spend more and get a machine that performs a bit slower and be able to take it with me from place to place. Still thinking on that. Will do some shopping and see what I can get. (Hardly anyone suggested prices! but I do know I won't be going the route of the $3000+ Alienware laptop!)

For anyone who is interested, I posted this same question in multiple forums looking for lots of suggestions. If you want to read the details look in the forums for Hardware/Technical, Adobe Photoshop, Painter, DAZ-Studio, Bryce, Vue and Poser. Thanx everyone for your great responses. This has been very helpful. There are varying preferences (as would be expected) but you all have given me much information and food-for-thought to help me make my selection. In a nutshell the consensus seems to be as follows: A desktop unit will be faster, better display, and cost less than a laptop. In that vein an Athlon AMD64 processor would be the top choice. Lotsa RAM for sure (1GB or better). DirectX 9+ and OpenGL 2+ is desirable. 256MB video memory. A laptop will cost more, be a bit less powerful and the display won't have the contrast range of a CRT. Having dual processors will compensate a lot by using one for the rendering and the other one for other tasks. As for processors: some said they are happy with Centrino. Andytw suggested the new Intel "Core" chips which replace Centrino will give similar performance to an AMD64. Actually using AMD chips will run hotter and battery life will be shorter. From what you tell me, in either case, COOLING is of EXTREME importance or whatever processor you have will not last so long. Now it comes down to this: I can spend less and get a machine that is rooted on one location, or I can spend more and get a machine that performs a bit slower and be able to take it with me from place to place. Still thinking on that. Will do some shopping and see what I can get. (Hardly anyone suggested prices! but I do know I won't be going the route of the $3000+ Alienware laptop!)

ooo... nobody ever told me that before. That is good to know!

Back to the basic question... WHY? WHY does it make a difference to Bryce if you have it set one way or the other?

This sort of thing always fascinates me and I find it incredible. Making art with temporary media like ice, sand, chalk on sidewalks, and food is such an amazing endeavor. All that preparation, work and developement of your skills to create such magnificent work and then.... it goes away.