record music with PC laptop?

M

michaelpayne

New member
Hello,
I need to buy a new computer to do music on and would prefer to buy a laptop. I could do macs also but after 5 years of sonar/windows, i feel comfortable with that and would like to stick. My question is, can i do music on this PC laptop system? I imagine I could because the specs of my current desktop aren't as good as this and i've been using that for years, but i don't know maybe laptops are different.

Intel Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
I'll get some firewire based soundcard to connect to monitors/preamps/microphones etc.

would this be a good system? or should i get a desktop?

Also, the laptop would come with vista home premium. Will that be a problem? Right now I use Sonar 4 on my desktop. I bought Windows XP for my desktop so I should be able to install that on my laptop if i need to though, right? or will i not be able to because i already put it on my desktop?

Thanks guys, any replies appreciated.
 
Don't get a computer with Vista!
stay with XP,Xp has a better recording platform than vista
Vista is a big headache with recording software.
The more disk space and memory you have the better off you will be.
Get something with a good sound card.
 
michaelpayne said:
I imagine I could because the specs of my current desktop aren't as good as this and i've been using that for years, but i don't know maybe laptops are different.
Click to expand...

If your desktop machine runs fine with lower specs than the laptop, then the laptop will be fine. It won't perform worse because "it's a laptop".

michaelpayne said:
Also, the laptop would come with vista home premium. Will that be a problem?
Click to expand...

Most software is compatible with Vista. But most drivers for recording hardware aren't. So you will need to make sure that your sound card/interface has Vista drivers first.
 
Roguetitan said:
Don't get a computer with Vista!
stay with XP,Xp has a better recording platform than vista
Vista is a big headache with recording software.
The more disk space and memory you have the better off you will be.
Get something with a good sound card.
Click to expand...

if your drivers work with vista there is nothing wrong with going with vista.. it sure is a trend to hate on vista for no reason.. just check to make sure there are vista drivers for whatever soundcard you get.
 
cpc said:
if your drivers work with vista there is nothing wrong with going with vista.. it sure is a trend to hate on vista for no reason.. just check to make sure there are vista drivers for whatever soundcard you get.
Click to expand...

the truth right here. but otherwise that computer is more than capable of handling audio production software. just make sure you get a nice firewire interface that is compatable with vista. good luck with the search i just bought a laptop for recording myself!
 
I just bought a laptop with only 1.5 celeron cpu and 1gig basic ram. I would like to run Sonar...but I don't like my chances of doing anytihng too demanding. Anyway I might get away with it because I only plan to deal with a couple of tracks, a plugin or two and sometihng like EZDrummer. Maybe I'll be ok, have to wait and see.

But your laptop sounds like a beast, should be good.
 
Monkey Allen said:
I just bought a laptop with only 1.5 celeron cpu and 1gig basic ram. I would like to run Sonar...but I don't like my chances of doing anytihng too demanding. Anyway I might get away with it because I only plan to deal with a couple of tracks, a plugin or two and sometihng like EZDrummer. Maybe I'll be ok, have to wait and see.

But your laptop sounds like a beast, should be good.
Click to expand...

I also do recording from my laptop, which had 1.6Ghz Pentium M and 1gig of RAM.....after only 6-9 tracks, 2 soft synths (one being ezdrummer) and 3 or so plug-ins later....i started to get drop-outs. I upgraded my memory to 2gigs....and i havent had any problems since! My laptop works perfectly for my needs, monkey allen you might want to consider upgrading your memory but besides that it should be fine...

michael payne, that laptop will work perfectly for you, and i suggest XP for now just because more programs, plugins, etc will be compatible with it.

_chris
 
I would only be weary about a laptop that used shared memory for the video. Try to get one with a real video card.
 
thanks guys for all the comments. ill get the laptop and if its not compatible with my programs ill just install xp on it. Havoc, thanks for the heads up on the discrete video card. thanks again everyone
 
michaelpayne said:
thanks guys for all the comments. ill get the laptop and if its not compatible with my programs ill just install xp on it. Havoc, thanks for the heads up on the discrete video card. thanks again everyone
Click to expand...

If you are even thinking about installing XP on a new laptop.....

Make damn sure that you can get XP drivers for the hardware in your laptop.
 
Alesis makes some great analog mixers with built in interface. You connect your analog mixer through firewire or USB 2.0 to your laptop and voila, you can record all inputs on different tracks.
But if you want the USB, get the 2.0, the ones with USB 1.1 has only 2 channels on the interface (stereo send and return), unless of course that is what you want.
 
yeah, i need a firewire interface also. definitely something with MIDI. i only need 2 outputs for the monitors, i dont have any hardware. and i have only ever recorded one track at a time and expect to continue doing that in the future. im an amateur so i don't need something "professional" though of course i dont want crap either. of course i need something vista compatible. any suggestions to look at?
 
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