Feedback on laptop I'm thinking of for a dedicated home recording unit

[Sudsy100]

Hi . . .

I'm going to be buying a PC laptop to dedicate to home recording. I've been reading the posts and FAQs, and think I have it down. Need a 7200RPM HD, a Express Card slot for a TI chip firewire card, and 4+ gigs memory. As I understand, power isn't a huge factor (compared to gaming), but a decent CPU is needed.

The laptop that keeps coming up is the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 1143-AFU Notebook PC / i5 Dual Core 2.4GHz / 4GB RAM / 500GB 7200 RPM HD / Express Card Slot/34 - $699:

Buy the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 15.6 Notebook PC at TigerDirect.ca

The site above has all the specs, but I can order it locally for the same price.

If anyone have any other specific models or suggestions in mind (budget, performance, options), that would be greatly appreciated. In my searches, I found that laptops with both a 7200RPM HD and an Express Card slot aren't very common. Out of the 25 or laptops in the $500 to $749 range at tigerdirect, only two had the right specs.

The firewire cards I'm looking at are below. I bought a SIIG PCI with the TSB43AB23 chip for my tower, so if anyone has another specific model/brand of laptop firewire cards to recommend, it would be greatly appreciated

SIIG NN-EC2012-S1 FireWire 2Port ExpressCard / Chipset: Ti XIO2200. The chip is listed as being compatibile on the Presonus FAQ (for what it's worth).

FireWire 2-Port ExpressCard - ExpressCard - FireWire 400 - FireWire - IT Products

Startech EC13942 2 Port ExpressCard Laptop 1394a Firewire Adapter Card / Chipset TI XIO2200A. Also listed as compatible.

2 Port ExpressCard Laptop 1394a Firewire Adapter Card | StarTech.com Canada


Cheers!

Scott . . .

 

[newbuilding11]

It's right when you ask experience before choosing your new PC. There are many things you should know before buying one. Like how to use battery...
Good luck for you.

 

[Sudsy100]

It's right when you ask experience before choosing your new PC. There are many things you should know before buying one. Like how to use battery...
Good luck for you.

Good thought. I'll mostly be using the laptop in a single location, or if take it out I won't often be using it on battery power (in other words, I don't need to use it while traveling or on the go). I wanted it to have a dedicated machine for recording so I can more easily set up a workstation and connections apart from my tower setup. Also, I want it to take to rehearsals, etc, instead of lugging around my tower.

So, basically as a specific resource for ease of setup at home, and to more easily carry everything I need to a rehearsal or session.