The most cost effective machine for a beginner

Hi, everyone.

I am just getting into Unity5 now, and just found out my eight year old Dell Inspiron is dying. Rather than spend money on it, I was thinking of just getting a cheap new laptop. My needs are few but they include getting into Unity. I have no grand plans for Unity other than to just learn as much as I can. This is a hobby so I can't justify breaking the bank on a new machine. Would something like a HP EliteBook be sufficient? (Intel Core i5 2.4GHz, 4GB DDR3, 250GB HDD, DVDRW, 14" Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit)

Thanks!

 

Be wary about purchasing a computer that lacks a 64-bit OS. One of the developers in the section dealing with the Linux editor has stated that they may be ditching 32-bit support for the editor at some point.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/32-bit-version-planed-or-no.350335/

Aside from that the laptop should function fine for any 2D games. I don't know how it will hold up for 3D but it should definitely do better than your previous computer assuming you didn't have a dedicated graphics card.

 

good to know!

 

I decided to do a little more digging into the HP EliteBook. The 8460P is a three-year old model but has pretty good specs for the age and price. Amazon has it refurbished for $260 (both the 250GB and 320GB models are the same price). PC Mag mentions a model with AMD graphics but I don't know if the Amazon one has it. It has a 64-bit OS too.

http://www.amazon.com/HP-EliteBook-8460P-14-inch-Notebook/dp/B00XLZWN8S/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404181,00.asp

Edit: Found HP's specification sheet as well. It may ship with only 4GB of memory but the actual maximum is 16GB.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/product_pdfs/HP_Elitebook_8460p_Datasheet.pdf

 

Unity will run on pretty much anything built in the last few years. If you are focusing on coding, then you don't need much. Graphics and graphics heavy games are where most of the resources are required.

 

This is where a problem may be with the laptop. It came with the option of either Intel HD 3000 or Radeon HD 6470. You may be able to find one with the discreet card, but most of them on the Internet are Intel HD models. Chances are the Amazon one is too.

With a budget range I might be able to pinpoint better options.

 

Ryiah and BoredMormon - thank you both for your information. Ryiah, $260-ish was what I was hoping to get away with.

 

At that price I don't think there will be anything better than the HP EliteBook. All the other options I looked over had considerably weaker specs for the same price.

 

Thank you agan for the research and the input. I really appreciate it!

 

Apologies if this is considered taboo, but you can install OS X on to almost all of the Elitebook range of laptops. Just thought you'd like to know, just in case you'd like to dip your toe into the Apple way of doing things. You could even dual boot Windows and OS X if you like.....

 

It is generally discouraged but I don't recall every reason as the topic rarely comes up. One developer has stated in another post that any updates to OS X and/or XCode required him to completely re-install and re-configure Hackintosh. Additionally the EULA for XCode actually prohibits you from using non-Apple branded hardware.

 

Hmmm... not sure how badly the guy in the other post screwed up their Hackintosh installation, but mine works perfectly, updates included. I've got an HP Probook running Yosemitie and I've installed updates to both OS X and XCode, neither of which required me to reinstall or reconfigure anything. I found a website which deals with creating Hackintoshes and the instructions and software made installation a breeze. I won't share the link here just in case it is frowned upon, but it isn't too hard to find with Google

As to the 'legality' (note the inverted commas) of using a Hackintosh with XCode/OS X/etc, it is not a criminal offence. This is because by ignoring a clause in a license agreement you are only possibly in breach of copyright laws, which in this country is a civil offence not a criminal one. Basically software companies can (and sometimes do) write anything they like in their license agreements, but these clauses might not necessarily be enforceable in a court of law.

It would be trivial for Apple to implement controls so that OS X won't run on non-Apple hardware, but they haven't. That should tell you a lot about Apples stance on Hackintoshes.

 

Does not a Windows 32-bit license include a 64-bit license? In either case, as Microsoft offers free upgrades to Windows 10 you can install the 64-bit version of Windows 10 (a friend did this, don't remember if he had to manually activate or not but I don't think so, from what I recall he just installed Windows 10 64-bit via Windows 10 upgrade tools).
The CPU certainly supports 32-bit. (Why are OEMs still selling computers with 32-bit Windows preinstalled?)

 

You're breaking a contract regardless of the type of offense. Most developers prefer to operate in a way that is not breaking contracts and/or the law. We prefer not having to deal with legal nonsense that may result in our apps being pulled from stores. Especially stores that have good potential for income like Apple's.

I know boxed copies of Windows 7 came with 32- and 64-bit DVDs.

My observation from browsing the latest computer offerings is that any system with less than 4GB tends to end up with 32-bit OSes. I don't think we'll be completely beyond that point until those systems are gone completely.