Computer advice

[~intro]

Some changes are going on in my studio. Adding some new LCD monitors (sexay), I've got a new Mac in the studio, a new console, some other stuff.

However, I'm caught up on one decision. I want to pick up a laptop. It's gotta be PC, because some of my more crucial software is PC only. However, I know nothing about the things. Never owned one.

I'm looking to get a P4, somewhere in the 1.5-2GHz range, 512MB ram and a 5400rpm hard drive. I was curious if anyone could recommend a brand of laptop that's decent. Or, if anyone has experience with purchasing a laptop, or can tell me of any potential pitfalls I need to avoid, that would be very appreciated. Thanks guys.

-Mark
www.djintrovert.com

[~David Vesel]

As long as you buy a brand name, you should be okay. Toshiba, Compaq, and IBM all have good reputations (though I'm not sure if IBM is still making PCs). Sony seems to be solid, but they're pretty new in the market.

I would consider a mail-order laptop only if you're already pretty good with troubleshooting and working with PCs. In that case you can add Dell to the list. I've heard mixed reports about Gateway.

Anything else, and I'd say it's caveat emptor in a major way.

[~Kirlian Blue]

Assomeone who builds his own systems ..I would say Dell as an overall recommended buy on Price,on quality and value theyre the best ok you cant get my spec on the market but i have over 240gb worth of Hardrives and a twin 2.4 amd processor motherboard ..and 1gb ram but ineed that for rendering animation and footage ..But dell systems are pretty good all roubnd!!! IBM and COMPAQ im not keen on!

[~intro]

I build my own systems too. I'm great at maintaining/troubleshooting PCs. I just have zero experience with laptops. I will check around on the net. If anyone else has any input on laptops, please post it here.

-Mark
www.djintrovert.com

[~Efreak]

Ours is built too. I must agree... Upgrading even more this week. :)
Jamie

[~melibita]

I have a Gateway, and it works OK. It is nothing special.

[~Scar Chemik]

Mark - I don't know if you're using your laptop for recording and such but if so you can not use a 5400 speed hard drive. Actually, I don't know if anyone still puts them in. I hope not.

We have a Gateway laptop in our studio that we have a copy of Logic loaded on and it works very well.

Scar

[~nwdve]

I agree with Scar. 5400 rpm hard drives don't cut it at all! A friend on mine tried using Acid on his laptop with a 5400 and the performance was truly awful.

[~intro]

I picked up a Fujitsu Lifebook N3010. It's got a 60gb 5400rpm drive. However, the performance has been fantastic. I had a project running with about 30 tracks the other night, and I didn't have a single issue.

-Mark
www.djintrovert.com

[~kenporter]

Actually most laptop drives come with a 4200rpm drive. I upgraded my laptop hard drive with an IBM 5400rpm drive and it works really well as well!!! Hitachi who bought the IBM HD division has one of the first 7200rpm laptop drives. However, it's still $340 for a 60GB. But 5400rpm drives for laptop tend to work pretty well, because of their size.

Ken

[~nwdve]

The hard drive is a component that I wouldn't compromise on, especially if you are attempting to stream 24 bit audio. 7200 is much better than 5400, which will not be available for much longer anyhow. Still, if you are getting what you need out the 5400 drive...congrats!

With my Paris system I have had as many as 72 24 bit tracks and it didn't even hiccup once! I've never tapped out the performance of my drive. And that is on my older 850 mhz athlon.

[~kenporter]

I never said that a 5400rpm drive is great, I said it works :-) And like I said before most Laptop HD's come with a 4200rpm drive. When I do recordings with my laptop, and have a large track count, I do use an external 7200rpm drive. A 5400rpm laptop drive easily plays back 20-25 24bit audio files. At home I actually use a 10000rpm SATA drive which has another great advantage, it's off the PCI bus. That means I have more bandwidth for my Powercores and UAD-1 card. This whole conversation as I understood it was about a laptop and its internal HD speed. That was Mark's initial question. I think he knows that a 7200rpm drive is better than a 5400rpm drive ;-)

Take care,
Ken

[~sprung]

some laptop are customize for multimedia application.

I recommended you Dell Inspiron 8500 (http://www.dell.com/ca/en/dhs/products/series_inspn_notebooks.htm)
The Toshiba Satelite is a good choise too but bigger then Inspiron.

IBM ... forget it! Those computer are only good to play with Word and Power point!

[~nwdve]

Originally posted by kenporter
I never said that a 5400rpm drive is great, I said it works :-) And like I said before most Laptop HD's come with a 4200rpm drive. When I do recordings with my laptop, and have a large track count, I do use an external 7200rpm drive. A 5400rpm laptop drive easily plays back 20-25 24bit audio files. At home I actually use a 10000rpm SATA drive which has another great advantage, it's off the PCI bus. That means I have more bandwidth for my Powercores and UAD-1 card. This whole conversation as I understood it was about a laptop and its internal HD speed. That was Mark's initial question. I think he knows that a 7200rpm drive is better than a 5400rpm drive ;-)

Take care,
Ken

I see! It would make sense to use the external drive for high track count. I didn't know this is what you are doing. I stand corrected (actually I'm sitting at the moment). I thought all the pc companies were abandoning the 5400's. Is this not true?

[~kenporter]

I wouldn't be surprised if 5400rpm drives in desktops will soon be replaced by 7200rpm or faster drives. But we were talking about Laptops, and those need to replace the 4200rpm drives first. 2.5" 7200rpm drives are brand new on the market, so it will definitely take a while for laptop manufacturers to put those in as a standard. But I think because of 7200rpm laptop drives, that the 4200rpm drives hopefully go away soon. Remember, laptop drives are a different physical size than desktop drives. Laptop HD's are 2.5", where Desktop drives are 3.5". So, the technology for Laptop HD's is much more sophisticated than desktop drives.

Take care,
Ken

[~nwdve]

Is anyone making use of the faster firewire drives? I think this is the way I will go in the near future.

[~scuba_cop]

IBM...he he he

[~intro]

I'm still loving my Fujitsu.

As for Sony, I've never used them, but last night I read an aritcle on Kraftwerk in the new Remix magazine. Ralf, Florian and crew were on stage, each with a controller keyboard and a VAIO laptop. To me, that's a BIG testimonial, because I doubt they'd use something that was unstable.

Oh, and they're gonna tour the states. ROCK!

-Mark lubs Kraftwerk
www.djintrovert.com