About to buy recording lap top

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glagola1

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So, I've got my eye on an HP notebook with these specs:

AMD 64 2.0ghz processor
512 ddr ram
100gb HD (4200rpm)

The only thing is that I'm concerned with the hard drive speed. I won't be recording more than 16 tracks @ 24/44.1 at a time. I'm using my old ass Dell desk top right now and it's got 512 ram and a .9ghz processor. It's not bad but it does get loaded down when I get up around 40 tracks... and forget using any kind of processor intensive plug ins. I

I'm mainly looking for portability and perhaps a bit of a performance improvement although I don't mind working as I do now. I've discovered that the space instruments are recorded in is very, very important and I'd like to take my gear out of my basement.

Is a 7200rpm hard drive neccessary and will 4200rpm suck?

Thanks, Matt
 
I think a 4200 HD might give you problems, given that its almost half the speed of standard ones, which equates to almost double the read/write speeds.

If i were you i might be tempted to go for a SFF Pc rather than a laptop, a far more versitile and upgradable option.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. What's an SFF PC? Remember, I'm looking for portability.
 
'SFF' is geek speak for 'Small Form Factor'.

I strongly recommend that you do NOT purchase a laptop unless you simply cannot, in any way, shape, or form, make due with a desktop. Here's why.

Laptops are, first and foremost, fragile. The LCDs are very easy to break (I've broke two), so top notch no-fault warranty service is an absolute must. The performance of laptops lags far behind desktop performance. The HDD are slower, the processors are slower, the keyboards suck, the mouse bites, etc. etc. etc., and for all of this you pay a substantial premium.
Not all laptops come with integrated Wi-Fi, and few last on batteries much longer than four hours, usually much less. Yes, they are sexy, and yes, it's pretty cool to own, but unless that puppy is going to make you mucho money because you absolutely have to haul it to your customer site for your business, I strongly recommend going with a desktop.

Luck.
 
Thank for the advice. I guess I'm also trying to figure out if it's worth the extra cash. I mean, I could always just pack up my desktop. You know, with these LCD screens it's a lot less mass to move.
 
Like the dude said, laptops are only to be bought if you're the kinda person who's moving round constantly. Otherwise they just arnt worth the money. Buying a laptop to use at home is a contradiction in terms. IMO anyway, but i think most will agree.
 
had i know before I...

chamelious said:
Like the dude said, laptops are only to be bought if you're the kinda person who's moving round constantly. Otherwise they just arnt worth the money. Buying a laptop to use at home is a contradiction in terms. IMO anyway, but i think most will agree.
Click to expand...

this may take you to another path but, ever heard of TRIGEM's KLOSS KL I915a. It's "The first with is a Pentium 4 550 with 3.6 GHz, which gives off an awful lot of heat" but you should see how its designed, not typical. Its a bare shell practically with loads off goodies...then add what YOU need and with the money your saved, re- not spent on stuff u don't need, get a sound device 722 and have options that you won't have to udgrade down the line.

YaYa but my laptop - Averatec has a dvd burner/60 gig/wireless and costs about a grand. And yes, I do travel alot. Love wireless, free net in the bigger cities, :) AND IS PORTABLE....
 
I shopped for a recording laptop for a year. I primarily do mobile recording and love the flexibility of recording whenever wherever I want. Check out the laptops at www.adkproaudio.com. They've got some mean machines. I settled on a Dell 9300 when I confirmed it had the correct chipset to allow a PCI-e graphics card to work with no glitches. The specs are as follows:

Pentium M 1.73 ghz, 533 mhz FSB- The guys at ADK ProAudio thoroughly test laptops for audio production. The PM with the Sonoma chipset was found to have the best performance barring a dual processor system. Don't take my word for it! Go check it out for yourself
1gb DDR2, 533mhz RAM
60GB 7200 rpm HD
17" WXGA
256mb nVidia 6800
Firewire & 6 USB

I use an M-audio 1814 coupled with a Behringer ADA8000 and an extra 160gb 7200 rpm HD. I'll be selling the 1814 and the ADA to get two Firepods in the next month or so.

I waited for a 40% off coupon to show up at www.notebookforums.com and snagged this baby for $1500 before tax. :cool: I absolutely love it. I've used to record 16 tracks of audio for a 2.5 hr show with no hiccups or glitches. I'll probably be adding another interface to push it to 24 tracks at some point, but don't need to right now. It can also handle plenty of plugs and since I generally only work with 16 to 30 tracks, I haven't maxed out my track count yet.

Anyway, it's been freakin' rock solid and I also got it with the 3 yr unconditional warranty with accidental damage protection. Sweet!

Take it FWIW.
 
Wow, those guys seem really freaking cool... and I like the SFF box very much. :)

Thanks for the link!
 
If you get a laptop make sure you get a 'mobile' chip like the Pentium M above. Regular cpus run too hot and require a lot of cooling, which means fan noise. Also make sure it's got a firewire port.

Also don't worry about a 4200rpm drive. Yes a 5400 or 7200rpm unti will be better but I've successfully recorded a 2-hour 8 track jam @ 24/48 on my 4200rpm laptop.

I track on my laptop exclusively now because it's so much quieter than the desktop. Then I move the tracks over to the desktop for adding plugs etc due to the extra grunt available.

One of the best things abou the laptop for me is being able to take it on the road so I can still edit/mix my projects in a motel room instead of being bored out of my mind trying to find something decent to watch on TV
 
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