Alienware notebooks ok for Ableton?

[h4nc0]

I am looking at getting M11X or M15X to run Ableton on. Anyone using these? Are they worth considering or should I just go get a MBP? I have a Prism Orpheus Firewire interface, so any experience with the built in FW chipset compatibility with FW audio interfaces?

[Delie]

I have a 1 month old Alienware M15x, and it runs Ableton Live 8.2.1 very nicely indeed. No complaints here.

I can't vouch for your specific firewire interface, but for me i've been very happy with the results.

[vibes]

I have had a terrible experience with Alienware notebook. Fragile equipment, very poor support, great for games but not suitable for audio applications etc...

Not recommended.

[h4nc0]

I have a 1 month old Alienware M15x, and it runs Ableton Live 8.2.1 very nicely indeed. No complaints here.

I can't vouch for your specific firewire interface, but for me i've been very happy with the results.

Are you using a FW interface?

Two opposite opinions so far.

[bupper]

overpriced piece of shite, Alienware charge nearly the same price as a macbook for a product thats not worth the quarter of it

& I'm pc

[Tagor]

I would not buy an alienware again for making music - but 4 years ago it was a good joice.
Ive got never ever a bluescreen in a livesituation.

Today - if i would choose to stay with PC - maybe an ADK PRO Audio would be my choice.
Why is that ?
Because the possibility to add upto 12 gigs ram into a notebook and equip it with an SSD.

But i chose to wait with upgrading until Live can handle 64bit-OS.
I hope this will happen in 2011.

[LeifonMars]

Because the possibility to add upto 12 gigs ram into a notebook and equip it with an SSD.
.

Out of which Live can only utilize 4.

[h4nc0]

Why not? Did you have problem with Alienware notebook? Any issue? Please share if you have one of the latest models.

[mojofunk]

I'm rockin 6 loopers with 7 sends each and a boatload of fx and drum loops etc on an elderly m5550 I got used for 250 bucks. No issues. Solid.

[Delie]

Look at it rationally - a lot of people have strong opinions, but Alienware laptops are a reasonable choice with an external sound card. They're no better or worse than any other laptop with similar components.

Regarding value, you could buy a cheaper Dell laptop (random example) and achieve similar results in terms of audio performance. So long as you've got a decent amount of memory, a decent hard drive, a good processor and your audio interface is compatible.

Comparing the market, the components in an Alienware are very good, and compared to other manufacturers the components are often newer/better. This does mean they offer reasonable value, but not all components are necessarily relevant to pro-audio work.

It kinda depends what else you will be using the laptop for. Another choice is the o/s. As I say, I've got the M15x, but I would happily buy a MBP in the future too. Your choice really

[mojofunk]

Look for the Texas Instruments firewire chipset, if your interface is firewire. It's the one most manufacturers recommend, and nearly impossible to obtain these days. The older Aliens had it, at least.

[h4nc0]

I just got a Dell Studio 1458 i7 notebook with Startech Firewire Expresscard and tried to connect Orpheus but I get distorted noise when I try to play music. I've tried buffer setting upto 5000 but nothing changes. The FW expresscard has TI chipset, so I don't know what the problem is. I've also checked DPC latency and it's all in the green. Using internal sound with ASIO4ALL works ok, but it sucks.

Any tip would be appreciated.

EDIT: I got it working after doing the tweaks at

http://presonus.zendesk.com/entries/203 ... studio-one

Prism Orpheus reports similar 30-32% load with the performance test as ASIO4ALL. Nothing close to 17% claimed by another user of the same notebook, but I am happy with a working setup.

[gosinisha]

get a toshiba satellite 17". it will cost about 1300eur. all chips are TI, usb is intel. all cards you connect will have the same performance as desktop pc - expresscard, firewire and usb. better than that can not be. dell has chinese chips installed. they build a chinese pc for 350eur and sell for 2500eur. numbers say it all.

[fx23]

personally i needed a high perf 3D laptop and went to an alienwareM17 4 years ago and was quite disapointed.
i spent lot of cash and had a 6 month head machines but it was to be called a quite noisy heavy, heaty, factory semi-portable.
the raw power was there, but it's not to be called enjoyable daily experience.
for ultra high perf you can get much cheaper by using same conponments and buiding your own using M-tech (which is what they do/did,
charging extra for usless fake disco tuning with car paint imo).
instead i would go for some porwerful asus or HP i7 now.
i agree with alienware overcharging and for the price better go apple MBP.