Need help with a laptop

[Walter Mitty]

Hi there--because of my job, I have to get a laptop. But I want to be able to do home recordings. All I want to do is make solid recordings, nothing too professional, and am concerned with how much I can accomplish with a laptop. I am going to spend enough money on the laptop to make sure it has the latest pentium power, but am interested in finding out what soundcards one would use, etc....basically is home recording viable with a laptop. Thanks very much.

 

[nubius]

As you point out, the only possible weak link is the soundcard. Most laptops I've seen have SB compatible cards that aren't exactly great quality. (ie. ESS, Crystal Audio etc.) However, there are some out there that have good cards.

As for the rest of it, you're pretty much the same as a desktop.

(Maybe some clever people out there do PCMCIA soundcards..)

 

[ola]

I think your best bet is to search for a USB compatible soundcard. I haven't looked too closely at that market but this seems to be one such card Ego Systems WaveTerminal U2A


However, I read that although the AD/DA converters support 24bit, the supported file format is only 16bit as the bandwith of the USB port cannot cope with more.

/Ola

 

[j]

there have been a lot of new products for laptop recording in the last year or so..there are a variety of options..but it gets expensive.....what kind of work are we talking about?......if work doesn't require an excellent sound card, you could save money by buy a different system for recording music....especially if you want to burn cds...at least i think so....

 

[Spider]

i think theres a company called digigram , anyone heard of em?? they make a soundcard for notebooks , its called the VX pocket.. Its a credit card soundcard , looks quite good , i think it retails for around 500 pounds , dont know what that is US... so maybe check them out , see if their on the net .. let us know if your going through with it .. i honestly think it could get very expensive .. probly better is an adat , ive seen some mackie recorders out there , sit in a rack.. but i spose unless your close to power it wouldnt really work.. Just thought you might need a super pc for that ... but i spose a pc like the one u normally use for audio .. eg , p3 ....
anyway good luck
cheers
spider