Switching to Windows?

A

A7X

New member
I'm sick of the mac, I'm not here to bash mac users but It's a me thing, I can't use it anymore!

So I'm going to windows!(Yes Viruses)

I need some suggestions on a sound card, I'm going to get a laptop for easy transport. And I'm willing to spend up to $1500 (Canadian, for the whole laptop). I'm using a presonus firepod, and in my mac I used a Firewire 400 port. So should I stick the Firewire? or what do you think!?
 
Firewire works on PeeCees. Most laptop onboard FW ports are the small 4-pin kind that cameras use and they don't pass power- so if you need a full 6-pin firewire port for the firepod then either get a lappy that has one or but a PC card firewire adapter for it. If you plug the firepod into the wall then the 4-pin firewire will work and you just need a 6-4 cable.
 
just make sure that your laptop has the TI chipset firewire, a core 2 duo processor, and 2gb's of ram and you should be good to go. I'm running a mobile system right now off of a gateway tablet pc that I got refurbished with a 1.66Ghz core 2 duo and 2gb's of ram, the tascam fw-1804, and its running perfectly, even with vista.
 
surfmaster said:
just make sure that your laptop has the TI chipset firewire, a core 2 duo processor, and 2gb's of ram and you should be good to go. I'm running a mobile system right now off of a gateway tablet pc that I got refurbished with a 1.66Ghz core 2 duo and 2gb's of ram, the tascam fw-1804, and its running perfectly, even with vista.
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Whatever. You don't NEED the TI chipset, core 2 duo, and 2gb of ram. That's bunk. I got my fw card at Best Buy and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have the TI chipset. I certainly don't have a core 2 duo. I happen to have 2gb of ram, but I'm sure I could take 1gb out and be fine. And I'm running an RME FF800.
 
Well I'm not passing the $1500 mark. So whatever that gets me gets me, ill look into the firewire.
 
look into dell's refurbished vostro line of laptops, i've heard great things about them and you can get a very well spec'd computer for under $800.
 
Myriad_Rocker said:
Whatever. You don't NEED the TI chipset, core 2 duo, and 2gb of ram. That's bunk. I got my fw card at Best Buy and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have the TI chipset. I certainly don't have a core 2 duo. I happen to have 2gb of ram, but I'm sure I could take 1gb out and be fine. And I'm running an RME FF800.
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a lot of people have had problems with the nec or other firewire chipsets when paired with a multitracking interface. just saying it may be your safe bet to go with one.
 
Myriad_Rocker said:
Whatever. You don't NEED the TI chipset, core 2 duo, and 2gb of ram. That's bunk. I got my fw card at Best Buy and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have the TI chipset. I certainly don't have a core 2 duo. I happen to have 2gb of ram, but I'm sure I could take 1gb out and be fine. And I'm running an RME FF800.
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Good luck - you'll need it if you aren't using the TI chipset...

This coming from someone who ran into countless issues with the onboard VIA controller on my laptop and then had no issues whatsoever with the Adaptec PC-Card Firewire interface which actually had the TI chipset.

Also, I would consider a Core2Duo w/ 2Gigs of RAM a good investment. Anything less, and you'll be short changing your investment and will not be happy with Vista performance. Of course it would be a completely different story if you still had the option to use XP. That is another issue entirely though...
 
Why in the hell would you want to run Vista? The same computer will perform so much better on XP. If your laptop/computer comes with Vista and you can't afford XP then that is another issue.

1,500 in Canadian is about $1,522 USD. Not much of a difference. It should be plenty to get a great computer and then some.

With laptops, FireWire is the way to go in my opinion. I can't recommend one of the interfaces though as I've never used a FireWire interface. I personally prefer PCI (or PCI Express if I had a modern computer) over anything. But that won't be an option with a laptop.

Dell makes great laptops for affordable prices and good warranty plans. Despite what a lot of people say about their desktops, a lot of them work well for audio recording also, but I always recommend a DIY custom build for a PC.
 
if you know how to tweak it, vista works beautifully. at least for me its been running great, no pops, extremely low latency, and its on a laptop.
 
I would go with an XP based system as its more mature driver-wise etc.
YMMV though - so go for Vista if you like the cut of its gib.
I can heartily recommend the MOTU UltraLite if you're looking for a new firewire interface. i may be suffering from the glee of just getting one - but it really is a nice piece of kit.

The Firewire chipset really does matter with MOTU stuff though - there are some recommended chipsets on the website in 'tech notes'.
 
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