this laptop good for recording?

[ireidt]

okay, thinking of picking up a laptop in general in April for school and some other projects I am working on, and I was wondering if I could record with this computer
Here
That is probably the max I can spend on a computer, and even if I can only record bass on it it would be a better start than what I have right now ( which is going across the house to record in my dads room)

Thanks!
~IR~

[Shredsled87]

Acer's are decent laptops. You would most likely would want to upgrade the RAM in there to the max (most likely 2gb). I personally would save for a while longer, and get an Apple. You can probably find an older Macbook Pro, or even a Powerbook. I found a Powerbook G4 for $800 about a year ago.

**also, you are going to want to factor in the price of recording software as well. Unless, you can get it some other way.

[Messiah25]

On this laptop you probably could get something like 6 audio track with fx in them.
If this is the max you can spend, i would suggest to look around a bit more.
But if you in a rush or the inspiration is kicking in, get it.
Don't forget you'll need a descent audio card for it as the built in cards are bad for recording. Too much latency... And a software...

Good Luck

[hunta]

I would give a thumbs down on that laptop. The product description brags about the "up to 896MB of shared video memory" like it's a good thing. 5400 RPM HD is a negative. It also has vista, and with the specs on that I think it'll have a hard enough time keeping that hog of an OS going, forget about audio. As an added bonus, it has Ricoh firewire which won't work for most firewire interfaces.

I would suggest another model, but to be honest, you're much better off looking at a desktop if you don't have a hefty budget. I paid about $1700 for my audio laptop, and I really doubt I could have gotten anything else suitable for much less. There are so many problems with PC laptops right now, mainly crappy built-in firewire and vista. For around $600-$700 you could build a pretty serious audio desktop though. I can spec one out if you want.

[msquared]

Regardless of what laptop you go with (and that one is fine as long as you max the memory), you should plan on an external firewire drive instead of using the laptop drive. CPU only matters when you start stacking a ton of plugins.

[DZello]

A 7200 rpm hard drive is a must for recording but for a non professional project and with a bit of patience, this laptop will do the job. The only thing missing will be an ASIO compatible USB audio interface.

[hunta]

You could get a laptop like this with a cheap USB interface and record 1 track if you want, but that's a seriously bad investment if you ever plan on doing more than that. You'd most likely need to upgrade the ram anyway since it's shared, so add another $100 for that. Add another $100 for a USB interface. Add another $100 for XP. Now you've got ~$800 sunk into a system that you can't upgrade. The firewire will never work properly, you also can't get an expansion firewire card because the express card slot is also Ricoh.

If you want to upgrade and be able to record more tracks at some point, you NEED a firewire interface. Which means you'll need a new laptop. Which kinda sucks...

Do you specifically need a laptop for some reason? Because if not, getting a desktop will save you a lot of trouble. With the kind of budget you're on, a desktop would be a much better investment.

[ireidt]

I know a Desktop would be better for recording ( I did spec out a better desktop at 474 on new egg) But I also want something for college to take notes and what not. I am not going to be recording bands or anything.

Already have the software, most likely not gonna use the firewire card in it (toneport ) and yes I need to upgrade the ram, it goes up to 4 gigs of ram, which I can get for 78 dollars at new egg.

Not looking for a fancy computer, just something to record ideas so I don't forget what I did at practice/jamming and to type notes up in class. I also do some web design but the laptop is fine with that.

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

[msquared]

Originally Posted by hunta

YIf you want to upgrade and be able to record more tracks at some point, you NEED a firewire interface. Which means you'll need a new laptop. Which kinda sucks...

Actually that's kinda incorrect. You can get a firewire card for any laptop that has a PC Card slot.

[Valerus]

acer's are not what you want to buy. trust me.

[hunta]

Originally Posted by msquared

Actually that's kinda incorrect. You can get a firewire card for any laptop that has a PC Card slot.

Actually it's completely correct FYI, the Acer laptop referenced does not have a PC Card slot, and PC Card slots are being rapidly phased out of new computers. Express Card slots are the "new thing," and yes you can get an Express Card with firewire ports (although very few are available yet).

The problem on this laptop (and other Ricoh laptops) is that the Express Card controller, AND the Firewire controller, AND Memory Card slots, are all controlled by the same cruddy chip! So you can go buy a FW Express Card and it still won't work right.

[ireidt]

I'll keep looking but its mainly for my own use anyway, the most recording I am planning on doing is to just remember a riff or so for my band.

[msquared]

Originally Posted by ireidt

I'll keep looking but its mainly for my own use anyway, the most recording I am planning on doing is to just remember a riff or so for my band.

Get a Zoom H2 or similar, then. You don't need a laptop for what you're talking about.

[ireidt]

Originally Posted by msquared

Get a Zoom H2 or similar, then. You don't need a laptop for what you're talking about.

lol I already got a Boss Loop station

[msquared]

You do realize that the Boss loop station and the Zoom H2 do totally different things, right?

[ireidt]

yes I do, but I can save exact loops up to ten or eleven

oh, Merry Christmas guys!