What's the best computer to get for

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Hard Work

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Recording, Producing, and Mastering

also which is better to get a Laptop or Regular Comp
 
There is no one answer. Or I should say there are many answers. Basically, you should get one with plenty of memory, large and fast disks, and the fastest processor you can afford. It doesn't have to be on the bleeding edge.

Do not depend on a laptop for your primary workstation.
 
I'm not going to recommend any particular model. PCs are commodities nowadays, as are the parts they're built from. What makes one different from another is more a matter of what features they have and what software they come bundled with than what they're made of.

In addition to the recommendations I made above, you should get one with a floppy drive (some don't have 'em!), several slots of different kinds, room for additional hard drives, USB ports... in other words, options for expansion and improvement.
 
If you're just wanting to buy one set up and ready to go...look at the Creation Stations by Sweetwater or Carillon (sp) PC's.

If you feel like building from their specs, you can save some cash.


6
 
Let's see if we can't get you a little bit closer to answering your question than Mr. Philosophical. :D

There are serious constraints with laptops. The processors are slower, less memory, smaller hard drives, and the expansion options are non-existant. Plus, they are very fragile. And for all of this you pay a premium. Only buy if (a) you absolutely need one to make money or, (b) you don't give a damn about throwing money around. Purchase only from stable companies with no-fault extended warranty repair.

Broadly speaking, a desktop is a desktop is a desktop. It doesn't matter if HP, Dell, IBM, or your local Mom & Pop sell it to you, though I would stay away from Sweetwater or other vendors who market a "audio tuned computer!", you're paying for marketing bullshit. You can also, with relative ease roll your own. You will find a lot of people who will say, "Well, I made one, anyone can do it.". You, however, just may lack the comfort level or the dexterity and paitence to throw one together.

Kind of a neat middle-of-the-road option is to go with a vendor that will let you pick the parts you want and then throw it together for you. For example, MultiWave (www.mwave.com) sells to system integrators but will also build your's for you for, last I checked, about $75. You pick out the zoomy case, etc., and sit back for it to show up. They also have a good RMA policy.

The components that you will need if you roll your own or have it custom assembled (by whoever) is to have a handle on just what pieces go into making a PC. So, for those who care, here you go...
  • First, choose your budget. If you can't spend $1K, I highly recommend stopping here and checking out Dell.
  • Second, choose your processor. You need to do some research here, and I don't mean asking your friends. Does your audio software like AMD? Do you have a hard-on for Intel? Check out www.anandtech.com and www.tomshardware.com for invective and opinion.
  • Now, find a motherboard that supports your processor and has the features that you want. Now is the time to make sure you are going to be able to support those snazzy hard drives, multiple video cards, and latest and greatest Firewire or USB devices. You DO NOT want to have to stick an expansion card in because you forgot to get a board that supports Firewire, or decide that you need 4GB of RAM and find that your board only allows you 1GB. This is also an area where you do not want to get cheap. Stick with top brand motherboards and stay far far away from the crap ones. Note that this does NOT mean that inexpensive motherboards are bad. A MSI motherboard is a top brand, regardless of whether it costs $75 or $200... and the $75 motherboard may do exactly what you want.
  • Throw on the memory you want. Lots of people get religious with memory, say, for example, that only Kingston or some other brand will do. Horseshit. I have always gone with generic and never been sorry. Still, it's your money.
  • Your motherboard will support a certain type of video card (it may even have built in video, which is kind of nice). Do NOT buy the latest and greatest. You pay blood through the nose. Do some research, and buy one or two levels below the cutting edge. There are two families... nVidia and ATI.... six of one, half a dozen of the other.
  • Get your hard drives. I favor Maxtor, but only because I am familiar with their utilities. Hard drive controllers are always integrated in the motherboard. There is a market for expansion HDD controllers, but you most likely will never need one... cheaper to replace the mobo.
  • Pop in a couple of DVD-RWs or DVD/CD-RWs. I recommend you stick with good brands here as these tend to be high failure rate items. I've replaced optical drives more than any other component (other than keyboards and mice).
  • Now, hopefully, you will have an idea of how big and how quiet a power supply you are going to need. Do not skimp! Start at 450 watt and seriously consider going up.
  • You are now ready to choose your case. Your mobo will have a certain form factor (AT, ATX, BTX, Mini ATX, etc.). Choose a case that will accept your form factor. Many cases accept multiple form factors.
  • I recommend that you throw in a floppy disc drive. Cheap and often useful. Occassionaly essential.
  • Get a keyboard, get a mouse.

And have fun! Lord, I sure love this shit.

P.S., Stay away from BTX... too new.

Luck.
 
Wheelma, I'll second most of that! Good advice for beginers. I'd just like to add that there's more than Nvida & ATI out there when it comes to graphics cards for your daw. MATROX do a good dual head card anything from the G450 up, here's another thing......for your daw you don't need a 256Meg 3D card. I run dual 17" TFTs from a matrox G450 and it's only a 32Meg card :eek: yup, 32Meg, not a gaming card but the matrox' do excel in 2D technology. You can save yourself a LOT of money here just by understanding that you don't need 3D quality to run a stable DAW.

Another thing is NOISE! you want your computer to be as quiet as possible. Withough going overboard on acoustic hard drive enclosures and the likes....the main things you'll wanna swap out is the stock fans. Have a look at Zallman and Acoustifan.

Antec do "almost" silent PSUs, they also make a nice rackmount case, I have the 4U one, all the drive bays are on rubber shockmounts....makes a difference.

As for motherboards "Asus" are rock solid

Hard drives, you'll want two of these. SATA if your pocket can stretch it. One for your O/S and one to record on to. Western digital gets a lot of good press on this board. Personaly I use maxtor drives and have had no problems with them in the past 8 years.

Memory: Check your motherboard website and see what brand names it's compatable with

Anything else I come up with I'll post. Anyone else have something to add?
 
I really really really did not want to get into specifics, but in one regard I feel that I would be highly remiss if I did not mention it... this is absolutely the best case for audio applications I have ever seen. You would need a fan controller to dial up and down those three huge 120mm fans, and I would highly recommend that you mount your HDDs in these removable HDD bays if you use this case.

Also, I appreciate your loyalty to Matrox, but the 'dual head' technology that Matrox pioneered (supports two displays) has been completely preempted by nVidia and ATI, and rendered totally obsolete by SLI technology.

Edit...

And you know, it just occured to me that someone may not understand why three 120mm fans powered through a fan controller are great for audio apps... they move more air quietly than the 80mm fans. Dialed down, they still keep the case cool and are virtually silent. Toss in those aluminum SATA enclosures with their dedicated 40mm fans blowing directly across the HDDs and you have one cool stable implementation. Pricey, but cool.
 
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Cases, fans, drives, motherboards, cards....Ouch, my brain hurts! As an alternative, you could also just buy a Mac G5. Just choose the processor size, pick a matching monitor, and add some RAM. Of course, you're buying your way out of a headache and you'll pay for it!
 
Wheelma do you have aim(aol screename)

so I can contact you
 
Even if your on the go a dasktop would not be such a hasle. You can just build
an eclosure that houses your PC/MAC and monitor. add some nice big wheels. I thought of building something like that. I still plan on doing it.
 
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