Laptop specifications.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Ive been pondering getting a laptop, no money, so it would be on credit, but thats not the point here

It would mainly be for doing uni work on, but it'd be great to have one which would be able to run Cubase SX well.

What sort of specs should I look at?

Would be using my Presonus Firepod and Cubase SX 3. (I know there are the recommended specs, but you can never be sure if they will work well with them).

Cheers guys

 

[saxnbass]

I'd say a MacBook at 2.0GHz with 2GB RAM. That's what I've got and love it, no problems at all. Since you're a student, use your student discount. Do it soon and you'll still get the free iPod Nano with it.

If you're looking at a PC, I usually steer towards HP, though haven't used a PC in a little over a year now. The HP 6200 series is pretty solid, but I would say a Mac is the best bet for you.

 

[bullshark]

Yep, I'm a PC users but for laptop used for recording I'd get a MacBook pro. Most PC laptop(like Dell) comes with Ricoh Firewire chip and they give nothing but trouble when trying to interface with low latency audio multichannel device.

Unless you can find a PC laptop with integrated Texas Instrument Firewire, but those usually cost more than a MacBook pro. If you are set on a Window machine thought, have a look there: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I was thinking while at work, everyone will reply saying to get a mac.

I was really aiming to get an XP (or Vista, 6 and half a dozen eh!) laptop. I just want to stick to what I know, i've never been a huge mac fan im afraid.

Cheers for the link, but ADK are a US based company (they are also way too expensive for what im looking at).

 

[bullshark]

Window based laptop are extremely problematic right now, very few work decently enough for audio work (meaning getting latency of 256 sample or smaller with no audio drop-out in the stream). I've looked fruitlessly for 4-5 months myself, even bought a few but brought them back.

So I'd recommend (apart from the obvious Texas Instrument Firewire chipset), whatever you get, to buy one from a place with a liberal return policy in case it were not to work for the purpose of audio recording/mixing.

FWIW, a Mac laptop can run Window XP as well as OS X...

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

The Macs are just really really expensive

 

[saxnbass]

But a PC to do recording is going to be just as much, if not more.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Muchos gayness!

How do i find out how much of a discount i get for being a student? I had a look on the mac website and it didnt say anything about it, but i quite probably missed it.

 

[saxnbass]

Go to the store, then scroll down and where you select the country select "USA Education" for your country.

 

[bluestarbass]

I run a sony vaio fine, dont listen to these people. Im not a big mac fan either, and if your going to be using it alot for school it may slow you down on day to day tasks if your not used to them. Running windows on a Mac ive heard slows it down anyway. I picked up a laptop that had the EXACT same specs as a mac book pro I was looking at. It was $350 less. The mac book pros are still having problems after almost 2 years of being released. Unless you have to run Logic or a really sick apogee setup stick with a PC if thats what you want. At least a gig of ram is a good idea, and watch the manufacturers posting specs. Digidesign posts every single processor and chipset that works with pro tools, and you better use one of those cuz if not your in for a headache. Im not sure if steinberg does the same thing.

 

[hunta]

I run a sony vaio fine, dont listen to these people.

Uhm.. Just because YOUR laptop works fine, doesn't mean you have ANY clue what you're talking about... A decent number of Vaio's have TI firewire chips and work with no problems. If you're not using a firewire interface, then you wouldn't be having problems anyway. Don't go around implying you can just get a PC laptop and have no worries. These days like 99% of PC laptops have garbage firewire in them and it will NOT work unless you use a USB interface, which isn't adequate for most recording work.

AFAIK most of the Mac issues have been resolved, I know Apple released a firewire update a while back that fixed most (if not all) problems. I was looking at Macbooks when I was laptop shopping, I've used (not for audio) the high end Macbook (the +$200 black version lol) and Macbook Pros at work, and they seem very nice. It was very tempting, especially after the Dell Vostro I bought didn't work out (Ricoh firewire, bleh) and I had to send it back. I ultimately ordered an ADK (the 1Q SR model), although I don't have my hands on it yet. Comparatively, the ADK came out a little cheaper than an equivalent Mac even with the discount I get through Apple at work.

If you get a PC here's what would be on my shopping list:
1) TI firewire. This is a dealbreaker.
2) Windows XP. I don't have enough expletives in my vocabulary to describe Vista. Vista is a resource hog, has lower audio performance, lots of audio interfaces and software are not compatible, not to mention all the built in DRM and bogus UAC security "improvements." Most laptop vendors don't even give you an option to choose XP anymore (or only on certain models) so watch out. Buying a Vista only laptop and trying to get XP on it can be a tricky proposition, I managed to do it with the Dell Vostro but it took quite a bit of research and digging to find compatible drivers. IT is my day job, if you're not extremely computer savvy I wouldn't recommend it.
3) Intel Core2Duo at least 2.0GHz, this is the lowest speed which gives you the 4 meg L2 cache. AMD isn't a terrible choice either (my last several desktops and my standard use laptop are AMD), but I'd recommend Intel at the moment.
4) At least 2 gigs of memory. I think 2 gigs is usually the "bang for buck" sweetspot with most vendors.

I'm a Cubase user myself. Going to be running a Focusrite Saffire Pro/26 as soon as I get my new laptop delivered

Good luck!

 

[bluestarbass]

All I was saying, and maybe in the wrong terminology is, Im tired of people pushing mac on everyone when he stated HE DOENST WANT A MAC. Your right just becuase my situation works doesnt mean itll work for everyone, but I have a PC that works and its stupid to say PC's wont work for recording. I have my degree in recording so i have a little inkling of what what systems will work and what wont. For every problem ive had on a PC, I've had equally if not more problems on a MAC, and it was not becuase of user error.

Reading the specs on steinbergs website will help things. I know digidesign approves alot of dells, so that may be someplace to start.

 

[kevinmoore73]

I run a sony vaio fine, dont listen to these people. Im not a big mac fan either, and if your going to be using it alot for school it may slow you down on day to day tasks if your not used to them.

Well, once you get used to it that issue disappears.

Running windows on a Mac ive heard slows it down anyway.

The person that told you that doesn't know what they're talking about. At the end of the day, a current Apple machine will run Windows just as well as a similarly-equipped non-Apple machine.

I picked up a laptop that had the EXACT same specs as a mac book pro I was looking at. It was $350 less.

When you're talking about a $3,000 machine, I'd rather pay the extra $350 for the Mac. Not that I have a Mac, but I wouldn't let that $350 be the deal-breaker.

The mac book pros are still having problems after almost 2 years of being released.

I'll bite. What problems are those?

 

[bluestarbass]

Apple has acknowledged problems with its Intel-based portables that buyers have been banging on about for some time. In two support documents, the company informs suffering users to contact its AppleCare customer service team.

That's it - just contact AppleCare. No solution is offered for the "high-pitched buzzing sound" affecting some MacBook Pros or the "discolouration" seen "on the top case [of a MacBook] after some use".

You can find the MacBook Pro document here and the MacBook one here.

MacBook Pro users have complained about numerous noises emanating from their machines since the Intel-based notebooks began shipping in February this year. Audible irritations reported by machine owners include whining sounds coming from the screen, from the body of the notebook, and from the area below the screen hinge when the laptop's running on batteries and both cores of the Core Duo CPU are enabled. This reporter can certainly confirm the latter - it's doing it now on my own MacBook Pro.

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This may or may not still be an issue, I heard a few monthes ago they were still recalling macbook pros. This isnt supposed to an apple vs. PC debate. The guy just asked for recomended specs, and stated that he DIDNT WANT A MAC. I dont have a big problem with mac computers, but you apprently love them any will use nothing else. Im just saying recording can be done on both equally well. Its like the debate between an otari and ampex. All a computer does it capture the media, in the end it shouldnt make all that much difference, your recording program, and your front end will play a waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay bigger difference in how your recordings come out than if you use a mac or a PC.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Cheers for all the info guys

Sony is one of the laptop vendors i was looking at, had a good laptop from them before (tis a bit dated now), im not a huge dell fan as two of my friends have dells which have caused nothing but problems.

Is there any easy way to know what kind of firewire chipset the laptop has?

Also, could a cheap firewire chipset be the cause of my current recording issues with my PC? (I've been using the onboard firewire with my MSI motherboard, and when using my recording interface its a bit tempramental).

Cheers for all the replies, and try not to argue guys, this is TB

I may look into mac's, but they still seem outrageously priced in comparison to come laptop specs ive seen.

Also thanks for the headsup on the problems with installing XP on a Vista computer, i thought seeing Vista is essentially the same as XP it would have been a simple format and install of XP!

(either way, thankfully presonus has (apparently) pretty good vista drivers)

 

[kevinmoore73]

This may or may not still be an issue, I heard a few monthes ago they were still recalling macbook pros. This isnt supposed to an apple vs. PC debate. The guy just asked for recomended specs, and stated that he DIDNT WANT A MAC. I dont have a big problem with mac computers, but you apprently love them any will use nothing else.

He didn't originally say that he didn't want a Mac. Also, as I said above, I do not have a Mac. I will likely buy one the next time I need a computer, but I've been a PC guy since before the Mac existed.

I only had to post because I hate it when people answer questions when they have no idea what they're talking about. Things like, "I heard from my sister's friend's brother that talked to a guy that works at Best Buy that Windows runs slow on Mac hardware" is inaccurate and helps no one.