Shopping for Laptop - HD speeds...?

J

Josh83

New member
I am shopping for a laptop and, while audio won't be the PRIMARY use, I plan on using it for audio eventually.

However, I don't want to get into always needing an external hard-drive to record.

So, my question is: recording at 24/96, how many tracks of playback will likely be my limit with a 5400 hard drive vs. a 7200?

I am between a few PCs and an Apple Powerbook, and I don't know what to get. In either case, Tracktion will be my software, and in either case I will have 2G RAM.

Josh
 
im not so sure that the harddrive speed will effect the playback as much as the RAM will...though i could be wrong. You definatly have plenty of ram. A slower harddrive would concern me more when recording a high number of tracks at once rather than for playback. Its actually best to have 2 harddrives for recording. Its more efficient to have your recording software on one drive and store your .wavs to another. This way your computer reads from one drive and writes to the other instead of reading and writing to the same drive.
 
Well, I may very well get an exernal drive, but the point of my question is that I don't want to depend on it.

Basically, I want to be able to have a song on my computer's own HD and to be able to playback a substantial amount of tracks without having to worry about jitters, etc.

Josh
 
Do you have any recommendations for such a laptop?

I guess an even more important question would be, and what I am trying to get at:

If I was to get a laptop with only a 5400 HD, how many 24/96 tracks would I likely be limited to with 2G of RAM? I am just asking for a guesstimate from someone with some experience with a similar setup. :confused:

:)
Josh
 
If all you can find is a 5400 rpm model, this shouldn't make a huge difference. The RAM, and processor are going to be a bigger factor. The hard drive speed will only come into play if the drive has to seek quite often, and your info is stored all over the disk in random order. If you can get the faster spinning one, do it, but a lot of laptops are going to come with a 5400 rpm drive. The bottleneck will still be in getting the stuff through the RAM, motherboard and program interface. Look at what has the fastest bus speed. You seem to be looking at some pretty good computers, so shouldn't have any real trouble.
 
Thanks for the help. One of the computers I am looking at is the new Dell 9300, which does have a 7200 HD with an 8MB cache (just checked).

However, I am leaning towards the Mac, just because I really love OSX. The Powermac only comes with a 5400 HD. I have no idea about the bus speed on the Powerbook. Do you have any idea?


Josh
 
The bus speed on the powerbooks are 167mhz.

If you can wait a couple of months (or so they say) You can spend your money on a shiney new G5 powerbook. But like i say, it probably wont be a couple of months, having a few heat issues :)

Good luck!
 
Yeah, I have heard a lot of speculation about the G5 powerbooks, but it seems like it will be at least a year, if not more, till they put one out. A few weeks ago, Jobs said that they wouldn't be out in the near-future.

Heck, I found an article from this time LAST year, speculating that they would be out last summer. Haha. :p

Unfortunately, I need a laptop within the next three months.

Josh
 
To add a thought:

One nice feature on the new 17" powerbooks is that their audio-in port supports 24/96. Will the sound be good? I dunno.

Josh
 
Tifstorey said:
The bus speed on the powerbooks are 167mhz.

If you can wait a couple of months (or so they say) You can spend your money on a shiney new G5 powerbook. But like i say, it probably wont be a couple of months, having a few heat issues :)

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Yeah, like THAT'S gonna happen anytime soon...

Didn't you see the news about G5 iMacs overheating? I think Apple is going to have to start over and rethink all their cooling decisions so far, especially if they plan on throwing some kind of G5 variant in a notebook.
 
Josh83 said:
I am shopping for a laptop and, while audio won't be the PRIMARY use, I plan on using it for audio eventually.

However, I don't want to get into always needing an external hard-drive to record.

So, my question is: recording at 24/96, how many tracks of playback will likely be my limit with a 5400 hard drive vs. a 7200?

I am between a few PCs and an Apple Powerbook, and I don't know what to get. In either case, Tracktion will be my software, and in either case I will have 2G RAM.

Josh
Click to expand...
I'm currently looking at getting a laptop myself Josh. When I first started my first choice was Toshiba. Toshiba really makes some top of the line laptops, they are light, and they do not over heat. However, I'm thinking of going with Alienware. I still have to look at reviews for Alienware, but I really liked what I saw at their website.

To me the fact that Alienware will sell you the laptop with a 410 Firewire and Sonar 4 or Cubase means that they have tested these components and you will not have any issues. In addition, you have the option of choosing a 7200 rpm HD (internal) and an additional HD (7200 if you desire). The only drawback to Alienware is $$$. Dell's are pretty inexpensive laptops and good enough for the price.

My recommendation is go with the most memory and the fastest processor you can. Then if you can afford the 7200 rpm HD go for that. However, 90% of your performance will come from your processor & memory. I know Professional Studios with computers that have 1GB of RAM, 2.8GHz and 5400 rpm hard drives. They have no clipping, no issues, no latency. Granted this is with a home built. Still recording 24 tracks at one time (granted at 48K - otherwise he has problems) without issues.

IMHO the processor & RAM will give you problems way before the HD will ever give you problems.

See, think of your hard drive as the engine of your car. Say your car engine can go at 1,000 MPH but your injectors and your fuel pump can't handle the rate of fuel consumption by your engine at the higher speeds. Then what's the point in having an engine that can do 1,000? Your injectors and your fuel pump are you RAM & your processor. The faster the RAM & Processor the better you'll do with a 7200 or 10,000rpm HD.

Anyway, hope all that helped. :)
 
Dracon,

Hmm...more to think about.

In a lot of ways, I want to get an Apple, only because I love the OSX so much. However, I have only experienced it on a VERY, VERY outdated system. So, I can't test the number of tracks I could get going on OSX. Not to mention that it is even hard to find people on message boards with the specs I am looking at on a Powerbook to give me some insight.

As far as Alienware, I would look into it a bit more. Try www.notebookforums.com. I have been reading a lot in the forums there -- they have individual forums for most major manufacturers -- and it seems that Alienware has SERIOUS customer service issues. Also, because they use pipe cooling systems, they feel they can put in some serious processors in their systems. Which is fine, unless the pipe system doesn't do its job...which it seems has been the case for many people and they have had system failures due to heat with Alienware systems.

That being said, Alienware still looks like it makes some damn fine looking computers. :D

Jsoh
 
Josh83 said:
Try www.notebookforums.com. I have been reading a lot in the forums there -- they have individual forums for most major manufacturers -- and it seems that Alienware has SERIOUS customer service issues.
That being said, Alienware still looks like it makes some damn fine looking computers. :D

Jsoh
Click to expand...
I've read some reviews on Sager, Toshiba, and Alienware.
Alienware (7700) do run hot, but people purchase a laptop cooler ($20 - $30) which brings the heat down (processor).

Sager (4750) also runs hot in the same place as the Alienware same issue with heat dissipation.

Customer Support complaint came for Dell, Toshiba, and Alienware - You name it each one had the issue.

I'm still considering the Alienware - didn't like the processing speeds for the Toshiba so it's Alienware vs. Sager or Dell.
 
Just found out a couple of minutes ago that Sager and Alienware are the same laptops (Alienware has a different shell).

If anyone is considering Alienware but $$$ is an issue get a Sager or get a beefear Laptop as a Sager, unless you want the Alienware looks.
 
Josh83 said:
Thanks for the help. One of the computers I am looking at is the new Dell 9300, which does have a 7200 HD with an 8MB cache (just checked).
Josh
Click to expand...
Josh,

After quite a bit of research I just ordered a Dell 9300. I got the largest hard drive they have running at 7200rpm/8 MB cache, which is a 60 GB drive. Beware that they also fit slower 60 GB drives in the 9300, so you would need to specify when you order. BTW, Dell did not charge me extra for requesting the faster drive.

I personally found the 9300 to be the best value (non-Mac) laptop for general use/audio. It has some of the best specs out there. You could argue that there are better laptops dedicated specifically to audio, but those are at least 25% more expensive. And getting Dell replacement parts should never be an issue.

As to 5400 vs 7200rpm, I'm told the difference in track count shouldn't be that great, but the whole audio chain is only as good as its weakest link IMO, so why take a chance on limiting track count if you don't have to...

In any case, I would get the fastest pocessor you can afford. 2G RAM should be ample. I will also be getting an external firewire 800 hard drive for audio data. Even though not absolutely necessary, it's something I would recommend.

Good luck!
 
Dracon,

I'm not saying you should rule out Alienware, just passing along what I have read.

Sager books look fantastic--even though they have heat issues, too. The 9860 is just an AWESOME machine. From what I hear pctorque.com has great support, too.

If you are willing to go the laptop cooler route, I think you are definitely right to think about them.

I don't want to get into coolers, so I think I am limited to Centrino processors or the new AMD Turion processors, assuming that some companies start using them and they go on the market in the next 2.5 months.

Josh
 
Pennylink,

Thanks for the reply. I still may go with the 9300 -- it's a frontrunner. I wish that Dell offered the integrated HD sound in it, though. Of course, I think the only inputs I would trust on a laptop are the optical 24/96 inputs on the new powerbooks. So, for any PC I plan on getting the Echo Indigo card.

Let me know what your 9300 is like when you get it. If you can, I would love to see some photos!

:)
Josh
 
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