MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
frequentare
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MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by frequentare » Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:49 am

hi - Ableton user since 5 and DJ with a 17in laptop now ( hate it )

its too big and with dj booths not very laptop friendly Im in the market for a Mini laptop .

whats the ATOM processors ??? on some of these PCS ???? is it strong enuff too perform with ???

i will only be DJ ing with this laptop - NO PRODUCTION - my warped files are keep and a portable harddrive .

anyone using currently ?????????

Gab
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by Gab » Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:07 am

I have read the same question on various forums, but hardly any user feedback yet. Aside from the low specs, keep in mind that the sceen resolution is quite restricted (1024x600?).

Ideally, you should try to borrow one, install a demo of Live and see if you can do what you need on it.

Otherwise: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/05/3 ... inux-tips/
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guly
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by guly » Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:14 am

i'm an artist, don't ask me why.

slirak
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by slirak » Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:34 am

I have an LG X110, which is basically the same as every other netbook - that is, Atom N270 CPU, 1 GB RAM etc.
In Win XP, L7 is basically unusable. I can only run like two tracks with a couple of effects before heavy glitching occurs and the thing is just so darned slow. And latency is horrible, Asio4All needs to be at like 2000 (!) samples to avoid glitching.

However, I've hackintoshed the machine and amazingly, in OS X I can get like 10 ms latency without glitches if I only have a few tracks. I haven't fiddled around with it much, but it seems to be actually useful.

Fun for travelling and such, but I wouldn't dare to use it for a gig.

Also, to hackintosh any PC can be tricky and sometimes just don't work very well. And the legality of it all is debatable, even if you do the right thing and purchase a copy of OS X.

There will be dual core Atom netbooks eventually. The situation may get considerably better then.

Now when is Apple gonna release a netbook???

mihai
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by mihai » Sun Apr 12, 2009 6:16 pm

maybe a macbook/13" laptop would be a much better investment.

slirak
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by slirak » Sun Apr 12, 2009 6:48 pm

mihai wrote:maybe a macbook/13" laptop would be a much better investment.
MUCH better.
More than twice the money though. But small 'real' PC's aren't all that cheap either.

epiphanius
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by epiphanius » Sun Apr 12, 2009 7:13 pm

>>maybe a macbook/13" laptop would be a much better investment.

I was looking at a netbook, and ultimately did exactly this instead. Very happy I am about it, too.

mihai
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by mihai » Sun Apr 12, 2009 9:31 pm

that's why they're called NETBOOKS, they're only good for interNET as far as their power is concerned... or fishNET, don't quote me on that though.

mrvinyl
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by mrvinyl » Sun Apr 12, 2009 9:45 pm

sounds like you need a samsung nc-10
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slirak
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by slirak » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:26 am

mrvinyl wrote:sounds like you need a samsung nc-10
The NC-10 is well-built and have great battery life, but it's just another netbook, be it an awfully nice one. Most importantly - it uses the exact same CPU (Atom N270@1.6 GHz) as the rest.

slirak
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by slirak » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:34 am

slirak wrote:I have an LG X110, which is basically the same as every other netbook - that is, Atom N270 CPU, 1 GB RAM etc.
In Win XP, L7 is basically unusable.
I really should've made clear I've only tried with the built in sound card!
With an external sound card with decent Win XP drivers, the situation may be different.

Not different enough to use a netbook as your primary DAW. But possibly enough to DJ with it.

kraymon
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by kraymon » Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:53 am

Im really interested in the possibility of running Ableton on one of these little machines (was looking at the new Dell mini 10) as I'm going travelling soon for 6 months and want to be able to sketch out some music.

If it can't do ableton (on XP) I guess the key is to use old software like Acid, designed for slower machines.

They must be getting close to being able to run stuff though...

ScarKord
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by ScarKord » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:56 am

kraymon wrote:Im really interested in the possibility of running Ableton on one of these little machines (was looking at the new Dell mini 10) as I'm going travelling soon for 6 months and want to be able to sketch out some music.

If it can't do ableton (on XP) I guess the key is to use old software like Acid, designed for slower machines.
I've got a Dell mini 9 and it can do Ableton on XP - I'm running 8.1.3 using ASIO4ALL on the internal soundcard. As long as you stick to loops and the odd drum rack / operator and don't go mad with the effects, it works great as a sketchpad. Don't bother trying any of the modeling synths though (e.g. Tension) as they are a bit too much for the Atom CPU.

Incidentally, I also run Acid Pro on mine too, which is a lot lighter on CPU and can cope with more concurrent tracks.
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Earwax69
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by Earwax69 » Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:31 pm

I did few live gig with a 13inch Acer Aspire 3935. Very light, 2.4ghz and really nice overall feeling. Cant complain as it was only 600$. That laptop was the Editor's Choice award of 2009.

Check Acer timeline laptops... all very slim and not expensive. They were the champ for battery life too not long ago.

Acer is not anymore the el cheapo company it was before.

I would not run Live on a netbook.

globalgoon
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Re: MINI LAPTOPS - any one using ???

Post by globalgoon » Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:57 pm

i have used an eeepc 901 for djing for about a year now. I use an external sound card with windows xp and live 8. works really well.

have done some production with it, but get read to do plenty of track freezing and bouncing!

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