laptop advice -not Mac

T

t2roc

New member
Sorry Im new at this Can I ask a ? Im also looking to go the laptop route -not Mac. for the 1,000-2,000 price range.

Im looking for a simple setup that can record min. 2 mics guitar and vocal.

Up til now Ive been thinking of avoiding a mixer by getting a audio interface with preamps like The E-MU® 1820M which comes with software to boot.
Any advice on Hareware. ie. laptops or audio interface much appreciated.
cheers Michel
 
Fastest processor you can get your hands on, at least 1024 RAM and a large harddrive. In fact, get an external harddrive for your audio tracks.
 
WHy are you avoiding Mac? With taht budget you can buy a decent second hand power book that's 100% better than any PC. I mean, Mac are designed for audio/video/graphic applications. Once you put your hand on Apple, you'llnever want to turn your head to PCs. Go to a Mac store and test one!

Er... I said the same as you a year ago.. "I just wanna record a track or two" Ha, once I started recording I want more and more... It's like a drug. You want to experiment everything... try to record a bass, maybe a keyboad, use differetn setups, go direct, double mic the amp, etc. Believe me, think big. Why go on a cheap setup when you can go for a decent but affordable gear. That's my advice.

*Mental note: Buy more RAM*
 
killthepixel said:
With taht budget you can buy a decent second hand power book that's 100% better than any PC. I mean, Mac are designed for audio/video/graphic applications. Once you put your hand on Apple, you'llnever want to turn your head to PCs. Go to a Mac store and test one!
Click to expand...

Please get off your "u need a mac" crusade, this is like the third thread you are pitching that shit. Not everyone cares for mac's and he specifically asked for advice on a non-mac. You would think there was a spell check on "taht" mac you so dearly adore. Besides he could get a Mac pro for under $2k

Now back on topic:

For the laptop: Core 2 mobile (T5xxx) or centrino duo if you want good battery life.

My brother has a Lenovo T60 and it is really nice, built like a tank thinkpad. Although, it does have the older Core Duo processor

I would also look at Dell XPS 1210 laptops (Laptop magazines editors choice). They have the the mobile core 2 duo's and support DDR2 memory and start at $1200 but configured well, they will be about $1500-1800 (i.e. more memory, 7200 rpm hard drive etc)

For the sound interface, I would look firewire. Cardbus is pretty much done (not available on XPS) so that is the only real recourse you have.

Most importantly, do your home work for the sound interface. Laptops often have issues with this or that so ask questions in all the relevant forums.
 
I got an HP dv5000z built to order (2.2 ghz Turion, 1 gig ram, 7200 rpm hd) for under $1400. It has served me flawlessly.

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I've been using a Gateway M520 P4 2.8Ghz (1.5Gb RAM, DVD burner), a Glyph GT050 external firewire drive and a Motu 828mkII interface for over a year now. ZERO problems.
 
I'm interested in this too, only around the 1G price range, hopefully cheaper than that. These days ram is easily upgradeable to at least 2gigs, and external hard drives for finished tracks come pretty cheap, so I suppose the main thing is to get a speedy powerful CPU. That and getting one with a good solid sound system.

USB2 verses Firewire
Most new PC's at Best Buy for example have multiple USB2 ports and no firewire, unless a few have an I400 connection, but they are rare. I'm wondering if USB is winning over the Iconnections...? The sales guy said that USB 2 is just about as fast as firewire and more things are compatable with USB... Informed comments are most welcome.
:cool:
 
Just in case you might be interested in a very small desktop/portable PC. After seeing this little PC DAW, I know I have been moved to go cube! It's upgradeable, max's at 8gigs of RAM, not 2, fast fsb, three HDD ports, but one is external. Interesting laptop alternative. :cool:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MusicXPCC4/
http://www.sweetwater.com/images/items/MusicXPCC4.jpg

I began looking for that basic Shuttle model from a vendor who would build a complete customized PC. So far this is what I've found.

http://store.sysbuilder.com/xpc.html
http://www.directron.com/shuttlebb.html
 
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