Hi guys, New to Game Development -- I am trying to create a portfolio of levels. I think I need new hardware to do this as my MacBook can't seem to handle creating huge outdoor terrain :) I am open to Desktop or laptop for this purpose. Does anyone have any sugesstions? (preferrably under 2k). Thanks, smallsoft

If you are looking to stick with a Mac, I'd suggest a new MacBook Pro. I got the low-end 15" and it's a beast. 2GB of RAM, an 8600GT, and the Core 2 Duo make it very powerful. It actually replaced my old tower. For example, I can boot into Windows and run Oblivion on almost all the highest settings. If you have a student discount it's only $1799 otherwise I think they go for $1999.

You may want to look at a T series Thinkpad, you can get a T61p with an Quadro FX 570M (better than the 8600GT and offers you the Quadro features) for alot less than a Macbook Pro. Look to a 3rd party for memory though.

If you don't need mobility then you have plenty of options. You should have no trouble building a quad core system with one of the new GPUs comming out in the very near future to give you far better performance than any notebook will.

The trick with huge outdoor terrains is to make sure you have good LOD management. Just throwing hardware at it won't work.