deadletter
New member
Hey all!
I know there are many "which laptop should I buy?" and "which interface should I buy?" threads around here (including my own!) but it seems no matter how much I research into what laptop and interface to buy for home recording my band, I encounter potential problems at every possible choice and I'm fast running round in circles!
After initially favouring a USB 2.0 interface such as the Tascam US-1641 I soon realised the audio limitations of USB and that Firewire is very much the favoured interface option for audio to avoid latency problems etc...
The current problem with this seems to be that in the UK at least, firewire is on the way out - not many new laptops have them, and to find a pc laptop with the recommended Texas Instruments firewire chipset seems nigh on impossible (if anybody can for 100% tell me even 1 current pc laptop that has a TI firewire chipset for under £1000 I'd love hear about it!).
Now I know many people would just say go Mac, but A) These are right at the top end of my budget at best, and B) Even Apple have changed about who makes their firewire so I can't buy a new Macbook with confidence that it will work smoothly, which could prove a costly mistake.
It seems to me that here in 2010 we are in between technologies, to the extent that I seem to be researching 2008 models! I suspect that USB 3.0 will be the technology of choice for interfaces in the next year or 2, so I'm ponding getting a new laptop such as the ASUS N61Jq-A1 (which has USB 3.0) with a USB 2.0 interface but then at least I am future proofing for a new USB 3.0 interface for when they start coming out. From what I have read USB 2.0 interfaces like the US-1641 can do the job just fine anyway so I dunno!
This is not even my only problem - I have many other profound questions to be answered such as "Do I need a 7200 rpm hard drive?" and "Do I really need 2 hard drives?" but I guess I will save them for another day!
Really though, any thoughts and advice on where to go would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance
I know there are many "which laptop should I buy?" and "which interface should I buy?" threads around here (including my own!) but it seems no matter how much I research into what laptop and interface to buy for home recording my band, I encounter potential problems at every possible choice and I'm fast running round in circles!
After initially favouring a USB 2.0 interface such as the Tascam US-1641 I soon realised the audio limitations of USB and that Firewire is very much the favoured interface option for audio to avoid latency problems etc...
The current problem with this seems to be that in the UK at least, firewire is on the way out - not many new laptops have them, and to find a pc laptop with the recommended Texas Instruments firewire chipset seems nigh on impossible (if anybody can for 100% tell me even 1 current pc laptop that has a TI firewire chipset for under £1000 I'd love hear about it!).
Now I know many people would just say go Mac, but A) These are right at the top end of my budget at best, and B) Even Apple have changed about who makes their firewire so I can't buy a new Macbook with confidence that it will work smoothly, which could prove a costly mistake.
It seems to me that here in 2010 we are in between technologies, to the extent that I seem to be researching 2008 models! I suspect that USB 3.0 will be the technology of choice for interfaces in the next year or 2, so I'm ponding getting a new laptop such as the ASUS N61Jq-A1 (which has USB 3.0) with a USB 2.0 interface but then at least I am future proofing for a new USB 3.0 interface for when they start coming out. From what I have read USB 2.0 interfaces like the US-1641 can do the job just fine anyway so I dunno!
This is not even my only problem - I have many other profound questions to be answered such as "Do I need a 7200 rpm hard drive?" and "Do I really need 2 hard drives?" but I guess I will save them for another day!
Really though, any thoughts and advice on where to go would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance