The Student Room Group
Bournemouth University students in library, Talbot campus
Bournemouth University
Poole

Laptop for Animation course?

I will soon be starting an animation course and wondered what laptop I should buy in preparation. If anyone currently taking this course could recommend a laptop, I would be grateful. I'm not sure how important this is to the course or if it differs between each uni.
Thanks in advance
It's unlikely you will do much, if any animation work on a laptop. If for any reason, the software usually used is licensed to the university itself and to get it for yourself would cost an exceptional amount of money. Typically you will work on computer clusters at the uni to do the actual animation and modelling work, and then your personal computer would just be used to do research, write essays, look for inspiration etc.

Even beyond the licensing issues, you would need a comparatively high spec laptop to be able to do animation work (outside of some fairly simple flash type animation anyway - i.e. 3D animation proper) anyway, which also adds a significant cost.
Bournemouth University students in library, Talbot campus
Bournemouth University
Poole
Reply 2
As I thought. Thanks so much for your help!
1) You can always pirate the software online, it's chill.

2) You'll probs end up needing something that's light and you can type up notes (From lectures?) and some work like that.
For anything heavy animated may drive up the price more but it depends on the type of animations you do and the amount of which you do in your course.
Original post by JayC4
I will soon be starting an animation course and wondered what laptop I should buy in preparation. If anyone currently taking this course could recommend a laptop, I would be grateful. I'm not sure how important this is to the course or if it differs between each uni.
Thanks in advance


Okay it's not cool to pirate software as mentioned above. Ignore that. If you want a laptop, don't worry too much. Honestly, I can animate with Cinema 4D on a MacBook Pro 13 inch and it's nothing special specification wise. Unless the course recommends it, don't bother. You'll be able to use their software and equipment and it'll work out much cheaper. You'll also be able to ask their technicians for advice while you're there. If you're really unsure, wait until you start and see if you really feel like you need one then
Some courses will have licensed software for their students to use. And they'll almost always be able to get you discounts on hardware.

I would strongly suggest you wait until you start your course to buy q laptop.
I would recommend only buying second hand gear, but then I know how to fix it. Get a light weight laptop for the library then have a better desktop for your room. SSD hard drives can vastly improve an old computer.

I had an XPS 13 L322X because it was small and light. These are a few years old now so are much cheaper than the newer model.

Don't bother spending a lot on something new for your first year - your requirements will likely change as you progress.

There is an IT recycling charity in Southampton called "Jamie's Computers". They might be able to find you some appropriate second hand gear, but the most cost effective way would be to volunteer for them for a few weeks.

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