Computer specs for nice 3D rendering/ after effects rendering and video rendering in general ?

Question

Hi there! I would like to know what the perfect specs for a laptop/workstation/computer are, so that I could do my creative work from home..my old laptop (Macbook Pro, 8Gb Ram, V 2010) is not good enough for 3D rendering, not even Video rendering or After Effects... I need to know what graphics card for eg or how much Ram or what I need to look for in a computer so that I won't get any error messages after rendering for half a day anymore...;) (--> very annoying) Money is not a first priority...i would first like to know, what the best option would be that one could have and then down size from there;)
I would appreciate every help:) my laptop is dying...i need something new and better;)
cheers stephs

Answer 1

Regardless of workflow, you want a workstation, not a laptop. You will get much more bang for your buck.
Also, as others have said, Windows machines tend to be better choices than Macs right now. And that's coming from two people who used to use/love Macs...
In general, you want the fastest clock speed on your processor that you can afford. You want as many cores as you can get with that nice, high clock speed.
Ideally, you want 4GB of RAM per core of your processor - MINIMUM 16 GB of RAM, (but get as much as you can afford).
You want an SSD for your cache and a good-sized regular hard drive to hold footage, renders, etc.
GPU matters for Premiere and any third-party plugins that use it (like Red Giant Universe, Element 3d, Mettle's ShapeShifter, etc.), but not for AE and not for Cinema 4D (which comes free with AE these days).
Again, this is just some generalization. For more specific info, we'll need to know more about what you're doing.
Also, you don't need to take our word for any of this; read what Adobe has to say on the matter: FAQ: What computer and components should I buy?