Music laptop go/no go purchase advice?

  • Thread starter Thread starter clark
  • Start date Start date
C

clark

New member
I'm selecting components for a basic portable recording/editing setup. The stuff listed below is the current contender (influenced mightily by the Dell discounts running through the middle of next week).
I'd appreciate any comments anyone has on these components in combination: XXX does not work well with YYY, YYY doesn't support ZZZ, I have exactly what you have and it works great, whatever. I'm also writing various vendors for their advice, but the more informed opinions, the better.
Give me some support for either a Go or a No-Go decision on the laptop in the next few days while the discount lasts (of course, with Dell, wait a few weeks and there'll be another discount, but time's a-wasting). I'm only listing the stuff that directly affects the laptop, so don't worry about preamps or mikes. Money not spent on the laptop probably goes into a better mike, but that's worth a different thread.

I already have the following:
External Hard Drive with both USB2 and Firewire plugs, dedicated for audio
M-Audio Firewire Audiophile

I'll probably get Sonar [ whether 4 or 5 is to be determined]

The big $$$ item:
Dell Inspiron 9300 [lots of USB, a Firewire, a PC-Card slot]
with
M 750 processor (1.86 GHz)
XP Home [does XP Media Center make a difference?]
512 MB RAM [might go to 1G or max out at 2G]
ATI Mobility RADEON X300 [cheap choice of 64 or 128 MB]
internal HD, anywhere from 60G/5400RPM to 100+G/7200 for $$
Intel wireless LAN [but I might disable that when I tweak XP]
(unspecified model) 8x DVD/CD R/RW drive

This laptop will be for music use, only: recording, arranging, editing, getting things shipshape to hand off to a pro for mastering. And the lowest-end 9300 (plus a few oughta-have options) is $1100 from now to 1/26/06.

Good points? Bad points? Suggestions? All appreciated!
 
I currently am running all my audio apps from a laptop, the asus Z70va, I did lots of research, and this laptop kicks ass, even got a good graphic card for casual gaming (half-life 2, doom 3, etc).

It has firewire and kicks ass, I had an Acer laptop before (pentium M 1.6hz and it sucked compared to the asus) I have 2gb ram and 2ghz processor with 7200rpm harddrive, it just kicks ass...

I suggest you go for the highest processor you can affort, it will make a world difference and get external harddrives, because internal are very expensive.
 
I use a Dell Inspiron 8600 in tandem with a Presonus Firepod and it works great, (Pentium M 2.0Ghz) If you intend to do anything else with the laptop (ie: internet, gaming, etc...) seriously look into either dual booting or setting up hardware profiles to keep services that you don't need from running in the background while you are recording.

Also, from what I've read, just get Home or Pro (for audio, not really any differences), I've heard that Media Center can be trouble, but I don't have any personal experience.
 
User reviews on www.cnet.com claim the display on the 9300 is not nearly as good as the one on the older 9100 series and has a alot of "light leaking" at the bottom of the screen.

I bought a Gateway M7515 at BestBuy in December for $1200. They just came out with the M7525 which basically adds Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 for the same price:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...CategoryId=pcmcat39100050016&id=1130986342926

I'd take the Athlon-64 over the Pentium-M 7xx anyday. Plus the Gateway comes standard with 1Gb RAM and ATI's X600 mobile video chipset.
 
I don't know it I would recommend a Dell Laptop. There quality doesn't seem to be as great as a IBM thinkpad or something like that. They are cheaper though so if money is a problem maybe a dell is for you. Take a look at IBMs though
 
I have a roommate who has a dell, and it's ruff as a brick. SHe takes it everywhere, and it is very reliable and compatible with the firepod. Dell make great stuff (If you clean up all the shit software they put in there)
 
Thanks for advice!

Thank you, everyone who gave input. I wound up ordering a Gateway S-7700 rather than the Inspiron 9300. The major point of distinction was the video: the Inspiron's Radeon X300 uses shared video memory, which apparently is likely to be a significant system speed brake, and the Gateway's X700 does not.

Gateway also gave me the option of filling only one of the two RAM slots, while Dell insisted on filling both: with 2 256M if I wanted a 512M machine, 2 512s if I wanted 1GB, etc. If I find I need more memory eventually, I hate the thought of being forced to throw away good RAM to free up one or both slots for higher-capacity SODIMMs. I went with 1GB in one slot.

I suppose I'll post once more in a few weeks, after it's arrived and I've had a chance to see how well everything works together. Thanks, folks.
 
Get XP. There are not alot of software manufacturers on the audio side that are compatable with Media Center.

I'd get a faster processor and upgrade the RAM and Video Card.

6
 
Clark:


GOOD MAN! GOOD MAN! At least you bought from a pro-America company!! Gateway doesn't outsource tech support like the rest of the big names and we all as consumers need to weigh in how many jobs are being shipped off by these companies. I just read today that Dell is outsourcing even more jobs overseas...so very good call on the Gateway!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top