Cintiq users, what sort of computer set up do you have?

Chip Valecek · 2 Feb 2018, 13:48

@eric-castleman when my computer died a couple years ago I was about to go down that path of building a computer and getting a cintiq. The total with everything I was going to get was near $2500. Then I came across the Surface Book which was around $1500. It had everything I needed for work as well as play. The bonus is I am able to take it anywhere I go. I do plan on investing in the surface studio or the dell canvas one of these days when I can finally plant that money tree in the backyard.

Eric Castleman · 2 Feb 2018, 16:30

@chip-valecek my brother loves his surface pro. What has me moving towards a cintiq is that I have been working with an ipad pro for the last year or so, and I love it, but it really limited me in a lot of ways. So I was considering just buying a mac and running astropad on it, but then I realized that a mac is about the same price as a cintiq, and decided to go that route and just figure out the computer side of things since I can possibly just build a PC.

Andy Gray · 2 Feb 2018, 17:46

dunno if you saw my post asking if cintiq worked with a mac. I've been an intuos 3 plus pc user for years. I am in a very favourable financial position at the moment...and there are no spare parts for my intuos. It works fine, but the overlay isn't in stock anymore Besides, its not even widescreen So was going to have to replace it anyway. My laptop needs to be for DJing and making music on, its original purpose, and the illustrator business is growing nice and quickly.
Ive been working on the ipad pro with procreate most of the year, and sharing screen time for art creation then onto the 27" monitor. TBH...I love both. But its easier working on a larger screen.
the price difference between my build workstation and a spec with a mac is £500 (in apples favour) including the screen.
the only way i can really afford the power is to build a system...but that risks headaches and all sorts. My experience of ipad is it just keeps going. noissues. unlike my laptop and every other computer i have had for the last 20 years. I've been running old iphones too. And i have a specilaist geek friend.

So yeah, i know that imacs aren't a perfect set up. but for me...well I think i am sold.

Chip Valecek · 2 Feb 2018, 20:01

@eric-castleman with the surface book you are not limited to anything. Its like a laptop. If you are going to build a PC i would recommend going to a store and having one of the guys there help you. Not sure what around by you but we have a store called Frys. I built a PC there before, its like a grocery store. You go up and down the aisles and pick what you want. The people in the store are there to help make sure everything you pick will work together. Then they will even put it together for you. But with that, if something goes wrong you are on your own to fix it.

Eric Castleman · 2 Feb 2018, 20:54

@chip-valecek my brother is always trying to get me to go to Frys, so it seems like I should make my way over there.

Chip Valecek · 3 Feb 2018, 00:40

@eric-castleman its worth checking out for sure. At the least you can research and get a total on how much it will cost to build.

Eric Castleman · 3 Feb 2018, 01:53

@chip-valecek out here in So Cal, you would think we would have them everywhere, but for some reason we don’t. I will make the trip this weekend and see what they tell me.

storlal · 3 Feb 2018, 04:00

@eric-castleman
Can’t wait to hear what you find out as I was thinking about trying to build a machine too!

Taru · 5 Feb 2018, 06:49

Currently I'm using a 13HD Cintiq with a laptop (running on Windows) that I configured myself. I don't know a lot about computer specs, but I did a lot of research and came up with a configuration that seemed alright. Then I posted that plan on an online forum for computer projects/reviews/etc and asked feedback on that plan (and mainly asking then if the setup I had in mind would work for the purpose I needed it for). They provided me with a lot of great feedback! I then had the company I bought the laptop from put it all together. The laptop cost me about €1600 and the Cintiq €600 (2nd hand but in great shape).
If I would have put all those specs into a pc rather than a laptop it would probably have cost me half the price, but I needed to bring it to school with me. It was still a lot more economical than buying a Mac with the same specs; that would've cost me around €2500.

It can also be very rewarding to look for 2nd hand pc's. I regularly see 2nd hand Alienware pc's that are more than capable to run several graphic software programs at the same time for less than €800.

Good luck with your search!

evilrobot · 5 Feb 2018, 16:58

I have a 24HD Cintiq (It's a beast takes up so much room) My PC is a straight off the shelf HP Pavilion it was around $600.00 then I spent another couple hundred to max out the ram to 16 gigs. It's around four years old now. I average having to buy a new one between 4-7 years. I've never really had any trouble just buying straight off the shelf and with a couple quick easy upgrades having a machine that works just fine as long as you have lots of ram and decent graphics card. I love my Cintiq and for me it was the way to go. I'm one of the very few that hates the I-Pad pro. The pencil just feels too rubbery on the screen for me.

braden H · 9 Feb 2018, 17:29

I needed a small, but decently powerful computer that had at least 2 display outputs so I could present my art live at cons.

A lack of support for Corel Painter on macs combined with a general growing frustration with them (NEVER had a problem with my gaming PC) I decided to build a mini-itx computer.

Cost me around 800 bucks, windows licence included. Nice little case with decent power, liquid cooling, 8 gigs of ram and a solid state drive. No video card since Painter just uses the processor and I'm not playin' games.

I had a friend help me put it together. Wasn't too hard. A lot like working with lego. Without help, it would have taken me twice as long, but with the amount of 'how to' videos about building your own PC I could have easily done it myself. If it were in a standard sized case it would have been easy.

This site lets you pick parts and lets you know if they will work together (saved me a TON of headaches) PC part picker

And reddit has a community around first time PC builders.

Ended up looking like this:

Snugs right inside my easel.

And if something eventually breaks/wears out I've got the know-how to fix the problem myself, now.

Good luck if you decide to build your own! I found it a rewarding experience.

Eric Castleman · 19 Feb 2018, 08:16

Ok So I went over to Fry’s and had the people there give me a rundown on what they thought. I ended up getting an Acer GX-785-UR. The specs are:

Intel Core i7 7thGen 7700 (3.60 GHz)
16 GB DDR4
1 TB HDD
Windows 10
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB GDDR5

I sorta went over what I needed, but because I am incompetent when it comes to what goes into building computers, and this computer came with a decent graphics card, which seems to be a hot item right now because of bitcoin (idk what that has to do with graphics cards).

What’s next is a good desk. I had to get the ergo arm for my cibtiq because I am super weird about angles when I draw; that being said, I am going for a table that can me used as a desk. Any solutions?

late2theparty · 19 Feb 2018, 13:29

@eric-castleman that should make a fine computer. Bought a certified refurbished Dell with roughly the same specs for about $600 a month ago off Amazon. I don't own a Cintiq yet but Photoshop CS works great. Plenty of power and storage. Paid about 3x that for my last quad core Pentium system that I built and it lasted about 10 years... Good luck!