Changing from desktop to laptop

E

elementary

New member
I'm getting a laptop soon for mobile recording and I would like it to perform better than my current desktop setup.

My desktop pc has 1gb of ram and a 3ghz pentium 4.

What core 2 duo processor would I need to be more powerful than this machine?

Is there anything to specifically avoid with music laptops?

Is it easy to fit a firewire card into a laptop if the laptop does not have a built in firewire port?

Thanks very much.
 
I would have thought that any Core 2 Duo would be suitable.

As for fitting a firewire card, there is little to no chance. However finding a laptop that doesn't have a firewire port is pretty difficult.

1GB of RAM, an SATA disk and a machine that isn't full of spyware/adware crap that some manufacturers bundle will do you fine.

I have a Toshiba Tecra M5 here which I use for recording in conjunction with an EMU 0202 USB box and it's absolutely smashing.
 
Do a Google search for pcmcia firewire card.

There are plenty out there and they are cheap.

Carl
 
You can ad a firewire card to a laptop. If you already have an interface make sure there are no reported conflicts with the processor or mother board on the new laptop. Also make sure if you do get a firewire card that there are no conflicts with it as well.
I don't know off the top of my head what the issues are but I remember reading about certain cards/interfaces having problems with certain processors.

Another thing to consider is if the new machine will have Windows Vista. Some hardware companies have yet to release drivers for compatibility with Vista.
I know Presonus has yet to release a driver for the Firestudio to work with Vista although they have some in Beta right now.
 
You will also want to add an external firewire drive to record to.

(Internal laptop drives are SLOW to take less battery power. And you ALWAYS want to record to a secondary drive on any system so that the recording stream will be uninterrupted when the OS does housekeeping on the boot drive.)

I've been using a Gateway XP laptop with a Motu828mkII and Glyph firewire drive for audio work (and a Seagate USB2/Firewire drive for video editing) with ZERO problems.

RE: Firewire card. Sound interface manufacturers universally demand TexasInstruments or Lucent firewire chips to work properly. Don't cheap out and get a $10 card or you'll have nothing but problems.
 
Tim, good point about the external drive. I use a usb drive that spins at 7200 rpm. I think my internal is only like 4500 rpm or something like that. I heard that using a firewire interface with a firewire drive can cause problems. I guess that isn't entirely true if you are having no problems.
 
Using a firewire drive with a firewire interface does not necessarily mean you will have problems. It depends on various factors, which include the drivers for the interface, and the interface itself sometimes.

You should really consider getting a laptop with a firewire port built in. There are PCMCIA cards that will allow you to add a firewire port, but you are *asking* for compatibility problems by going that direction. No reason to do that since you are buying the laptop fresh with audio in mind.
 
If its a new laptop, get one with eSATA so you can hook up an external eSATA drive. Much much better performance than firewire or usb2. Or get TI Firewire onboard and add an eSATA Express card.
 
I have desktop and laptop use for recording but I prefer laptop since I do tracking and recording in the same room so fan noise is my problem. So here's my laptop setup:
3 year old Sony
1 Gb of ram
1.7 Ghz Athlon
Built-in firewire port
USB external 5400 HDD

After playing around using laptop to get the best result here are some tips:
1. Don't install any other software except your DAW.
2. Use autoruns software to disable running software during startup.
3. Use external or separate HDD for your DAW data.
4. Don't use PCMCIA for firewire port (I have one), get a laptop with builtin FW port

With the above setup I can record 4 tracks simultaneously without problem even at 1ms latency. :)
 
If by chance your laptop does not have a Firewire port, a Firewire PCMCIA card is no big deal if you do your homework. Decide what Audio interface you want, call the manufacturer's Tech Support and ask them to recommend a PCMCIA card.
I am glad I did this. I have a laptop without a Firewire slot and had to add a card. I chose to go with the Firebox and called their Tech Support. They told me that PCMCIA cards with a TI chipset works with no issues.
I purchased what they suggested and my Laptop is a real pleasure to use. I've never had any recording, playback, etc. issues at all.
 
Thanks a lot for all the info guys, its gradually becoming clearer.

The only problem is that my desk uses a 6 pin firewire cable and all the laptops i see seem to have 4 pin firewire ports. Can i just stick some kind of converter on the cable?
 
elementary said:
Thanks a lot for all the info guys, its gradually becoming clearer.

The only problem is that my desk uses a 6 pin firewire cable and all the laptops i see seem to have 4 pin firewire ports. Can i just stick some kind of converter on the cable?
Click to expand...

My laptop uses a 4 pin. It is the mini type firewire jack. They make 6 pin to 4 pin cables. The only problem is if you plan to power your interface via firewire. A 4 pin won't do it. You will need a unit with it's own power supply.
 
I was going to start my own thread, but this is almost exactly the same as what I was going to ask. The only difference is that I'm thinking about switching from a PC (3.0ghz 1GB ram etc.) to a mac! I have been using Sonar, so I'm looking for something similar. I've heard really good things about Logic Express...?
 
If youre used to Sonar, check out MOTU Digital Performer. I hop between those two programs and find them pretty similar for a platform jump.
 
My two cents - I was just thinking about posting something like this. I have a brand new Dell Latitude D820 laptop that I use for everything - home, work, mobile recording, studio recording, mixing - and I had to mess around with which hard drives worked best. I toyed around with the internal (just for the heck of it, to see), a USB 2.0 Western Digital Passport, and a couple of external Firewire drives. My experience:
Internal ALWAYS sucks. Forget using it on a PC for actual audio.
USB 2.0 mobile - this is great for on-the-go mixing and LIGHT recording (4 tracks or less, probably) unless your computer is seriously slimmed down - you might be able to get 12 to 14 out of it recording if it's a very lean PC (or a separate lean OS on its own partition). However, best performance of the three is by FAR the firewire drive. I could barely get my USB 2.0 to record 14 tracks simultaneously for any length of time, and it dropped out often that way. Hooked up a firewire drive (the Dell has a built-in firewire port, and I'm recording with an RME HDSP Cardbus PCMCIA card), and BAM - 24 tracks solid for 3 hours with zero problems. (It didn't drop out; I stopped it.) For those of you who haven't found any really solid comparisons, that's mine, FWIW.
 
I'd pick the Toshiba over the Asus. Asus laptops dont seem towork well for pro audio. Ive tested quite a few and they have never passed for me.
 
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