Quick question bout laptop

[applesmasher]

Can i put a good soundcard into a crap laptop and have it still sound good?

 

[christiaan]

define crap laptop.

but in a nutshell: yes

 

[applesmasher]

Crap laptop: A laptop with any featues deemed to be crappy including but not limited to: 5 years of age, low memory, weighs 10 pounds, water logged, no screen etc...

I might pick one up at the pawn shop or something.

 

[christiaan]

Crap laptop: A laptop with any featues deemed to be crappy including but not limited to: 5 years of age, low memory, weighs 10 pounds, water logged, no screen etc...

IMHO a 5 year old laptop will you nothing but headaches when you try to record with it.

 

[applesmasher]

But if i use it only for recording, then i can transfer the audio to my home computer for editing right? The laptop just holds the soundcard and audio?

 

[Bulls Hit]

You'd be better off using a usb interface instead of trying to upgrade the sound card on an old laptop

 

[christiaan]

But if i use it only for recording, then i can transfer the audio to my home computer for editing right? The laptop just holds the soundcard and audio?

That's right.

 

[applesmasher]

Yay im right!

 

[beezelbubba]

Can you just put any old soundcard in a laptop?Do they have pci slots?

 

[applesmasher]

I hope so!

 

[christiaan]

Can you just put any old soundcard in a laptop?Do they have pci slots?

Hell no, you'd need a docking station for that.

Think USB for the soundcard

 

[sae]

you could do pcmcia card-->firewire adaptor-->good sound card...that way you'll have something really nice (828mkII, etc) that you can use on your home pc as well.

If you have a laptop that's 5 years old, you are pushing it. I mean 5 years ago USB was a luxury to have on a laptop, so was a pII 350

And from what I have found you don't save much money on buying a used machine. Save up and get a new one. then you'll have something that won't give you all those headaches.

Just my $0.02

 

[applesmasher]

well i might get a free macintosh from my dads office. But it is like 3-4 years old at least. ill have to check if it has usb.

 

[Alchemist3k]

To be honest I can't see the use of using an old laptop just to record each track at a time and then transfer it to another PC. Won't you want to be running a sequencer on the laptop while you record so you can actually hear the other parts of the song while tracking ? An old laptop could struggle.

However, if you insist on going down the route definately get a cheap USB unit, like the M-Audio Audiophile USB so that you can at least use it on any PC or Mac you choose.