lap-top-time

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lap-top-time

Postby Scott DeVarenne » Mon Jul 26, 2010 1:04 pm

Hi persons,
Help me buy a laptop. I got the money part covered, thank you. I am looking at spending $500, plus tax. I want to purchase from a store, physically located in my area (Saint John).
I want to use it for recording audio, mostly just over dubbing, but possibly some modest multitracking (8-12 tracks, tops).
PC, Windows.
Content with 15" in screen.
I am guessing at least 3GB of memory/ram/whatever-you-call-it, would be good.
I don't need a crazy large hard drive; 250-320GB seems pretty standard in lappies these days.
Processing/Processor is an area where I am fuzzy. GHz?? What? Dual-Core?? Who?
What should I be looking for? I don't need the most ultimate rig on the planet, but I do want flexibility regarding the audio interface I can use with it. I want it to be simple to set-up. I don't understand partitioning and all that stuff.
Connections/Ports? USB is good, right?
Look at this little fella-
http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/ ... 58-enCA-en
Does it have FireWire? I can't tell. FireWire is good, right?
Help.
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Postby macrae11 » Mon Jul 26, 2010 1:49 pm

Well I'm not up on PC trends anymore, but I'll do what I can. That laptop doesn't have firewire, nor does it have expresscard slots so it's not expandable.
That computer does have a 7200RPM internal drive which is nice. You may or may not have to spring for an external drive, depending on how hard you push it. It's got a dual core 2.1 GHz processor, which should be fine for your needs. I ran lots of tracks for years on a single 2.6 GHz processor.

USB is mediocre at best for audio, particularly multitracking. Although USB2, is a big improvement, it's still inferior to the original FW spec which is much older. This computer will give you decent enough power for doing some regular audio work, but not give you much flexibilty. That being said, I doubt you'd be able to find a local laptop with FW or Expresscard in your price range.

What software are you using? Have your hardware picked out? If this is going to primarily be an audio machine I would suggest starting with those points and finding an appropriate computer to match. That would greatly reduce the wailing and gnashing of teeth.
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Postby Scott DeVarenne » Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:06 pm

I agree and accept that I will not find a laptop in my price range that has Firewire, and quite unlikely even an expresscard slot.
Oh well. I been thinking and looking and was attracted to this mmmaudio interface but I am wondering about Windows 7 support sketchiness. They don't even mention Win7 in the technical specs page(s). In general, anybody got any gossip regarding Win7 for recording audio? I've heard that installing an older OS on a new machine voids the warranty. Is Mom just trying to scare me?
This little cutie has caught my eye.
Simple, very portable. Maybe at a later date I could look at a Desktop/Tower. Surely, that route would offer lots of options/expandability/more I/Os.
Right?
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Postby macrae11 » Wed Aug 25, 2010 2:49 pm

Buying a desktop in the future will offer you more power, but you'll be limited I/O wise based on the card you get now. If you know what your end goal is going to be, and can find something that will work now and later, I would recommend that so as to avoid buying twice. The other option is to go cheap now, and get something that would still be useful as a portable device in the future.

If you're going to be using Windows 7, then stay away from anything AVID based for the time being. They're very slow to the game when releasing updates, but are usually fairly stable once they arrive. M-Audio was notorious for doing the opposite of this, but from what I've heard they've improved in that area.
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Postby Scott DeVarenne » Tue Aug 31, 2010 1:24 pm

macrae11 wrote:The other option is to go cheap now, and get something that would still be useful as a portable device in the future....

AVID

Yes, this is what I am thinking. And I will to look into this AVID thing of which you speak. Thanks.
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Postby macrae11 » Tue Aug 31, 2010 2:56 pm

Just so you're aware, M-Audio is a division of Avid now.
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