What computer should I buy with £1000 or $1426?

Get an iMac. ;)

Though I hear a rumor they might be updated soon with a quad-core… Who knows?

Or a Macbok :)

I figure becuase essentially apple and non apple are intel based, i’ll get more for my money not buying apple, I can then put macosx on and dual boot with XP. So any recommendations non apple, sorry should have been more specific. Also I use 2 G5’s and have a network of 25 XP machines, the MAC’s give me the most issues.

If we’re suggesting non-Windows based systems…

If you have any tech knowledge, I highly suggest that you Build your own.

I made an insane computer for $1300 that would have cost $2100+ from any prebuilt vendor. The best part about building your own is you know the quality of every part, and understand exactly what part you’d like to upgrade after a few years.

With £1000 you can build one amazing computer.

If you dot mind me asking, what will you use this computer for? I can give you an example from a vendor and then a parts list just so you can see how much you’ll save.

Basically needs to be as much power I can get for the money and be capable of 3D / 2D rendering.

I shall build thee the greatest $1400 computer ever!

Cheers!

I would recommend a System76

I’ve made 3 different set ups, all great in their own way:

#1 i7 Monster
Core i7 920 + ASUS P6T Deluxe $564 (in combo)
6GB OCZ DDR3 RAM $170
nVidia GTX 285 $350
Corsair 850w PSU $120 post MIR
Total: $1204

#2 Dragon Platform
Phenom II x4 940 $235
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe $188
8GB OCZ Gold DDR2 800 $88
ATI Radeon HD 4870×2 $420 post MIR
Corsair 850w PSU $120 post MIR
Total: $1051

#3 Core 2 Duo – Insanely Cheap, but still awesome
Core 2 Duo E8500 (Overclocked mine to 4.2ghz) $188
ASUS P5Q Pro $115 post MIR
8GB OCZ Gold DDR2 800 $88
nVidia GTX 295 $505
Corsair 850w PSU $120 post MIR
Total Cost: $1016

I don’t know what style or screen size you like, so I left it up to you to pick your case and monitor.
Every single one of those configs are amazing, it’s just up to you to choose =P

O yes, I recommend Vista Home Premium 64 bit, or youll only utilize about 3.3GB of that RAM.

Whatever you do, don’t buy a premade computer. Make your own computer so that you can upgrade each part if you need to (premades are much harder, sometimes impossible, to upgrade components), and so that you gain the knowledge to do so confidently. That’s the best way to deal with computers.

Great recommendations by Eambos.

Remember that (1) it’s a violation of the license agreement to install OS X on non-Apple hardware and (2) Apple only includes drivers in OS X for the hardware they actually ship, and so your “cheap” Macintosh will not work nearly as smoothly as a real Macintosh.

Everyone I know who has tried installing OS X on non-Apple hardware has either gone back to Linux or bought an actual Macintosh. Your mileage may vary, but it would surprise me. If you really want OS X, and you really want it to be useful, get a Mac.

Oh, I see your point now about wanting to put on OS X. My comment was just about a good computer, based on your suggestions of wanting a Dell or similar. Yeah, I’m agreeing with cwilbur. This isn’t the route to go if you really want OS X.

If you have already learned the Macintosh tools for your eventual use of the computer, then you should pay for it and get support when needed. If you can learn the tools on XP, then buy one of Eambos’ computers and run XP or Vista.

By the way, if this is related to your question about opening an animation business, I hope you are aware about laws or regulations against using pirated software, or penalties that may arise from doing so (seeing as it is not permitted to run OS X on non-Apple hardware). It’s very improbable that you’d be found or punished, but the odds are not zero. Also consider, you will be able to count the computer and possibly software as a business tax deduction if you do decide to make a business, thus offsetting some of the cost against buying any computer.