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Hello I have a question regarding pc and drawing tablet suggestions for a former computer design student. My career aspirations are character designer/modeler for games. I have not been up with the latest tech due to other responsibilities but now have the money to invest into a modest home studio for digital art and hopefully 3D modeling. I have a background in photoshop, maya, and 3D studio max.
I have read up on the number of cores to clocking speed and to be honest I was always an artist and viewed the computer as tool and did not obsorb as much tech knowledge as I should have. I have used Wacom tablets in the past and have heard good and bad things. I used to have an iMac that didn’t last 3 years after multiple problems so trying to avoid if possible. But is it worth buying a Mac book or something equivalent?
Also a little intimated at the idea of building but if it is vastly cheaper/better than I will. I mostly want to use this for digital art and character modeling with the hope to even do some video editing. That is a lot I know but if there are any amateurs or professionals with insight I would greatly appreciate it.
Was hoping to keep budget around $4000 for total cost, including programs and monitor. Should I invest more in the computer over the tablet? Is it worth getting the tablet/computers instead of a Wacom? Is it worth getting the whole adobe package these days or just photoshop? Will stop asking questions and thank you again for the help.

My current home setup for basically the same purposes is as follows: MacPro 4.1 (yes, 10 years old box with some upgrades), Intuos Pro M, 3dConnexion 6DOF controller and NEC EA294WMi monitor (I often work with 16:9 graphics for games and having wider screen proportion enables me to not rely on dual monitor setup and still have a room for palettes but if you require tight color calibration it's not the best choice, I use my old Cintiq for print calibration purposes). Using both 6DOF and tablet inputs give you very natural interface - if you are accustomed with manual sculpting and classic drawing/painting I see no other way to interact with software (I have not use mouse as input for nearly 15 years).

But there are a lot of headaches with this setup (mantaining decade old box is one, mainly graphics card upgrades and compatibility) so if you are starting from scratch then you might try to build something else as even 4.1/5.1 are near end of their life cycle by now. If you go Wacom, then manual tracking of which drivers are usable and which ones will give you a day long stall in work untill you revert succesfully to working version is pain, but I honestly don't think that there is anything better than Wacom (when working properly). Two hardware advices though - for 3D work you're better with CUDA than OpenCL so you need NVIDIA, and for stable workflow you need error correction so you need Xeon based workstation. It will save you a lot of hours of work lost to random crashes. As to what OS - whatever you are more accustomed with, I preffer OSX because I like having one more key modifier so a lot more instant shortcuts, but I do miss windows alt-sequences in PS.

Laptop/Macbook is only a valid choice if you need your workplace to be mobile, as you always have to pay "mobility tax" for the same parameters. No graphic designer ever will tell you "I don't really need more display space" with comfort zone starting only at 27" and laptops bigger than 15" are not really all that portable if you also have to carry your tablet, secondary storage, 6DOF etc... with you.

As to software - for character design/modeling PS+3d suite of your choice is a good starter, but making money with graphics design is more "jack of all trades" job, so Adobe "all apps" subscription plan is way, way better than "single app" subscription.

Thank you nou for all your advice. I had completely forgot about something as simple as the best mouse, so that should show you I am out of practice. I have been leaning towards i7 line of processors to save money but should I just go with i9? That seems to be the best suited for the 3D work but know that I will have to upgrade in the future. As for the Wacom tablet, I am leaning towards one with a screen directly on it. I hate not being able to see my hand as I draw haha. My biggest question is should I just bite the bullet and build my own or could a stock computer give what I need? I don’t want to be cheap but also don’t want to waste resources. Biggest fear as a first time builder is inadvertently damaging the expensive parts. Thank you again for all your advice.

Hello, final question/opinion from anyone, have decided to be cheap and lazy and just buy a gaming computer for future upgrading, have narrowed it down to two in my price range and just need help making the final vote. It is also a question of choosing the intel series i7 or the AMD Ryzen 7 series. I am leaning towards Ryzen now that I have herd they can handle rendering better, with the GPU. Yet the intel computer option has a larger ssd drive and a better graphics card. My only hesitation is never having any experience with Ryzen. Please any help would be appreciated. Here are the options.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=3D5-000B-00075&Description=clx%20gaming&cm_re=clx_gaming-_-3D5-000B-00075-_-Product

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAE4N90V9722&ignorebbr=1

I think you need a powerful laptop and a large drawing tablet monitor.
An Apple macbook pro / windows os gaming laptop + 22" wacom cintiq/huion kamvs/xp-pen artist should be great for 3D modeling and digital art.
pctechtest.com/18-best-laptops
pctechtest.com/20-best-drawing-tablets