Home » The PARIS Forums » PARIS: Main » Can anyone give me some new laptop suggestions?
| Can anyone give me some new laptop suggestions? [message #94041] |
Wed, 26 December 2007 08:48  |
Rod Lincoln
Messages: 883
Registered: September 2005
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Senior Member |
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Hey guys (and gal). I am probably going to try to purchase a laptop before
the end of the year. While I have built several desktop audio workstations
for myself and friends, I have never owned a laptop. Sooooo.....I am asking
for some suggestions. I want to be able to run my audio apps on it (other
than Paris)
Cubase, Protools LE, abelton Reason, etc. Any thing to stay away from?
Thanks
Rod
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| Re: Can anyone give me some new laptop suggestions? [message #94043 is a reply to message #94041] |
Wed, 26 December 2007 09:24  |
TCB
Messages: 1261
Registered: July 2007
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Senior Member |
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A few things off the top of my head.
- What kind of audio interface do you want to use? Be sure it's compatible
with the laptop. A lot of laptops now are shipping with only mini-PCI cards,
not cardbus. You can still use USB or firewire but that can raise it's own
set of problems.
- It's still probably best to get a real video card, i.e. not one with shared
memory. Shared memory isn't the total performance killer it was a few years
ago, but it's still not best to be sharing that memory if you have a choice.
- Up the RAM to at least 2GB for XP or even more for Vista. I usually buy
the smallest amount of RAM and drive space possible and then get the upgrades
from somewhere else.
- When upgrading the drive in particular be sure you get the right part.
A lot of laptops are SATA these days, some are still ATA, but they're almost
never both.
- With laptops there's a tendency to have more 'application creep,' that
is, you wind up wanting to surf with it, read email, check newsgroups, etc.
A lot of us have dedicated audio machines but not a lot of us are willing
to carry two laptops around when we travel in particular. I think the best
way around this is the 'run your non audio apps in a vm' trick. VirtualBox
is the way I go.
I'm looking pretty seriously at a new laptop before year end as well. It
will be dedicated to doing Traktor Scratch work for me, so I'll be using
a USB interface. I generally buy Dell, and if I wind up with a particular
config I'll let you know here.
TCB
"Rod Lincoln" <rlincoln@nospam.kc.rr.com> wrote:
>
>Hey guys (and gal). I am probably going to try to purchase a laptop before
>the end of the year. While I have built several desktop audio workstations
>for myself and friends, I have never owned a laptop. Sooooo.....I am asking
>for some suggestions. I want to be able to run my audio apps on it (other
>than Paris)
>Cubase, Protools LE, abelton Reason, etc. Any thing to stay away from?
>Thanks
>Rod
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| Re: Can anyone give me some new laptop suggestions? [message #94045 is a reply to message #94043] |
Wed, 26 December 2007 09:55 |
Rod Lincoln
Messages: 883
Registered: September 2005
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Senior Member |
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Thanks Thad. I will probably need suggestions on an audio interface also.
That being said, I can get whatever, so the computer doesn't have to work
with any certian "already existing" audio interface. Initially I will want
to be using this on the road to do nuts and bolts stuff (edit, time correct,
autotune, etc) during down time, as well as email, ebay, forums, etc. I don't
want to take 2 laptops with me.
I also will want to use it for portable apps to take to sessions (stylus,
reason, etc) eventually.
>- It's still probably best to get a real video card, i.e. not one with shared
>memory. Shared memory isn't the total performance killer it was a few years
>ago, but it's still not best to be sharing that memory if you have a choice.
Good to know, I suppose I'll have to wait and see what I get computer wise
first, correct? any suggestions?
>- Up the RAM to at least 2GB for XP or even more for Vista. I usually buy
>the smallest amount of RAM and drive space possible and then get the upgrades
>from somewhere else.
I'm thinking I want to stay away from Vista at this point, is that correct?
Will I have to buy one with vista, then re-load xp on it, or can you still
buy new laptops with XP loaded?
>
>- With laptops there's a tendency to have more 'application creep,' that
>is, you wind up wanting to surf with it, read email, check newsgroups, etc.
>A lot of us have dedicated audio machines but not a lot of us are willing
>to carry two laptops around when we travel in particular. I think the best
>way around this is the 'run your non audio apps in a vm' trick. VirtualBox
>is the way I go.
I was wonering about that.
>I'm looking pretty seriously at a new laptop before year end as well. It
>will be dedicated to doing Traktor Scratch work for me, so I'll be using
>a USB interface. I generally buy Dell, and if I wind up with a particular
>config I'll let you know here.
Thanks
Rod
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| Re: Can anyone give me some new laptop suggestions? [message #94047 is a reply to message #94045] |
Wed, 26 December 2007 11:53 |
TCB
Messages: 1261
Registered: July 2007
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Senior Member |
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"Rod Lincoln" <rlincoln@nospam.kc.rr.com> wrote:
>
>
>Thanks Thad. I will probably need suggestions on an audio interface also.
>That being said, I can get whatever, so the computer doesn't have to work
>with any certian "already existing" audio interface. Initially I will want
>to be using this on the road to do nuts and bolts stuff (edit, time correct,
>autotune, etc) during down time, as well as email, ebay, forums, etc. I
don't
>want to take 2 laptops with me.
>I also will want to use it for portable apps to take to sessions (stylus,
>reason, etc) eventually.
>
>
>>- It's still probably best to get a real video card, i.e. not one with
shared
>>memory. Shared memory isn't the total performance killer it was a few years
>>ago, but it's still not best to be sharing that memory if you have a choice.
>
>Good to know, I suppose I'll have to wait and see what I get computer wise
>first, correct? any suggestions?
Yeah, you (almost always) can't a laptop video card after the fact. Just
look at the specs and see if there is a card listed that isn't 'integratred'
or that doesn't share memory.
>>- Up the RAM to at least 2GB for XP or even more for Vista. I usually buy
>>the smallest amount of RAM and drive space possible and then get the upgrades
>>from somewhere else.
>
>I'm thinking I want to stay away from Vista at this point, is that correct?
>Will I have to buy one with vista, then re-load xp on it, or can you still
>buy new laptops with XP loaded?
Some vendors will sell laptops with XP, but usually only on some models.
That's the case with Dell. SO FAR I have yet to see a Vista machine that
I can't shoehorn XP onto, but I can't say for sure that will remain true
in the future. M$oft is pushing hard on getting their OEMs to only support
Vista.
>>
>>- With laptops there's a tendency to have more 'application creep,' that
>>is, you wind up wanting to surf with it, read email, check newsgroups,
etc.
>>A lot of us have dedicated audio machines but not a lot of us are willing
>>to carry two laptops around when we travel in particular. I think the best
>>way around this is the 'run your non audio apps in a vm' trick. VirtualBox
>>is the way I go.
>I was wonering about that.
>>I'm looking pretty seriously at a new laptop before year end as well. It
>>will be dedicated to doing Traktor Scratch work for me, so I'll be using
>>a USB interface. I generally buy Dell, and if I wind up with a particular
>>config I'll let you know here.
>
>Thanks
>Rod
TCB
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| Re: Can anyone give me some new laptop suggestions? [message #94103 is a reply to message #94076] |
Thu, 27 December 2007 21:59 |
Neil
Messages: 1645
Registered: April 2006
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Senior Member |
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"TCB" <nobody@ishere.com> wrote:
>
>First, I _would_ like to see some data on this. Bob Katz isn't in the 'circle
>your speaker with a green magic marker' crew, but he is prone to what I
might
>call esoterica.
I disagree - to me he seems like a practical guy with a
penchant for high quality... I can relate to that.
Go to his website (http://www.digido.com ) and look at his
mastering room... looks like a living room listening suite with
minimal acoustic treatment... hardly what i'd call esoteric.
>Second, this is only an issue if you actually use the laptop
>for recording audio going in and out of the laptop. That is, if one is composing
>and editing on it and the projects are transferred to another machine for
>final playback this is a zero problem.
True, but in that scenario you don't need a soundcard at all.
Well, just a cursory one to listen back on.
> Third, my guess is that most of the
>real world has problems in their rigs that far surpass whatever 'jitter'
>is in their audio interface clocks.
Could be, but the thread is about laptops & soundcards for said
devices, not other issues not related to that topic. I posted
a reference to the question at hand.
> Last, if this _is_ a serious problem
>it's easily fixed by carrying an external clock and slaving the USB/FW interface
>to it.
Which is what Bob said in his response.
E-mail him for the data you're interested in seeing...
i wouldn't be surprised if he sends you what he has or could
cite something for you to refer to.
Neil
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| Re: Can anyone give me some new laptop suggestions? [message #94110 is a reply to message #94103] |
Fri, 28 December 2007 08:52 |
TCB
Messages: 1261
Registered: July 2007
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Senior Member |
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Hey Neil,
I'm not saying Katz is wrong, and I'm not saying he's crazy. I was only trying
to point out that saying there are problems with 'jitter' in the clock on
USB/FW interfaces is, to me, a little shaky. For example, how many USB/FW
devices did this person test to make the assertion? How many different laptops
were used? What processors, chipsets, operating systems, and drivers were
chosen? What power schemes (a huge deal with laptops) were used? Last, and
most importantly, has anyone else duplicated the results?
I know I'm not like a lot of other people about this kind of stuff. People
who really care about sound (and as much as I dig lo-fi stuff I moved mountains
to get a Chinese knockoff iPod that plays .flac files so I have lossless
portable sound) sometimes lose track of the bigger picture, I think. In the
audiophile world this results in $500 power cables and truly bizarre attempts
to reduce 'vibration' in DVD players that buffer their data in RAM. In pro
audio it's the summing bus, clock jitter, burning CDs at a certain speed,
and so on.
One funny anecdote. I've been playing with my DJ rig all week and slacking
off at work. I have two newly refurbed 1200s with brand new cartridges, a
top quality preamp built into the Traktor Scratch interface, very good cables
everywhere, $40 isolation feet to reduce that dreaded vibration, and pretty
clean power. Though it all tracks wonderfully to the ear, taking a careful
look at the timecode using an audio app reveals all kinds of problems. A
car goes by the house and the timecode gets a little sloppy. Tap your foot
lightly and the same thing happens. None of this is immediately audible,
but looking at the 1s and 0s shows it clear as day. Then I put on some of
my favorite old vinyl and, yes, it sounds amazing. So I wonder, is it the
inaccuracy of analog gear that makes it sound good?
These things I wonder about when I'm not behind my desk at work 14 hours
per day.
TCB
"Neil" <OIUOI@OI.com> wrote:
>
>"TCB" <nobody@ishere.com> wrote:
>>
>>First, I _would_ like to see some data on this. Bob Katz isn't in the 'circle
>>your speaker with a green magic marker' crew, but he is prone to what I
>might
>>call esoterica.
>
>I disagree - to me he seems like a practical guy with a
>penchant for high quality... I can relate to that.
>Go to his website (http://www.digido.com ) and look at his
>mastering room... looks like a living room listening suite with
>minimal acoustic treatment... hardly what i'd call esoteric.
>
>>Second, this is only an issue if you actually use the laptop
>>for recording audio going in and out of the laptop. That is, if one is
composing
>>and editing on it and the projects are transferred to another machine for
>>final playback this is a zero problem.
>
>True, but in that scenario you don't need a soundcard at all.
>Well, just a cursory one to listen back on.
>
>
>> Third, my guess is that most of the
>>real world has problems in their rigs that far surpass whatever 'jitter'
>>is in their audio interface clocks.
>
>Could be, but the thread is about laptops & soundcards for said
>devices, not other issues not related to that topic. I posted
>a reference to the question at hand.
>
>> Last, if this _is_ a serious problem
>>it's easily fixed by carrying an external clock and slaving the USB/FW
interface
>>to it.
>
>Which is what Bob said in his response.
>
>E-mail him for the data you're interested in seeing...
>i wouldn't be surprised if he sends you what he has or could
>cite something for you to refer to.
>
>Neil
>
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