Hello Live users,
I am going to be buying a new PC laptop and want to put Live on it. It is a Sony laptop which uses an "AMD Athlon XP 2200+ Mobile Processor". Is this OK for live??? Also, anything I should look out for when buying a PC laptop which may make it incompatibe with Live/Audio apps???
Thanks for any help,
Rexford
PC Processor...OK?
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Guest
sony should be solid. if you don't forsee running on batteries often, you can get more bang for buck with a desktop (not mobile or centrino) processor. A graphics card with its own dedicated memory and dual monitor support is good. sonys are basically the only major pc laptop with decent internal soundcards, though in all reality, you will likely need/want a faster, more ins/outs sc. pcmcia is the fastest (RME multiface is the primo shit), then firewire, then usb (which should be avoided if at all possible). An external 7,200 RPM, 8 MB cache, 8.9 ms seek time firewire hardrive drastically increases performance, latency, and track count. Check out www.blackviper.com to tune xp and trim the uneeded ms fat--using the tips there really helped my performance and got rid of most of the uneeded crap that was in my system tray and stealing my precious RAM. Sonys and toshibas (i have a toshiba satelite 2430, xp pro, 2.4 P4, gig ram) seem to be the best pc options out there. Other than the graphics card thang and the trimming of ms bs on your system (and running in windows classic mod, not the heinous xp interface), i can't think of much that would be a problem with audio apps.
good luck,
ryan
good luck,
ryan
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Rex
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for your help and advice. I reckon I will go for the Sony machine now that I know that Live will work using the Athlon processor. Just one more little thing though...you mentioned using Windows Classic Mod for use with Live...is this difficult to set up on an XP machine or does it 'kick in' automatically???
thanks again,
rexford
Thanks for your help and advice. I reckon I will go for the Sony machine now that I know that Live will work using the Athlon processor. Just one more little thing though...you mentioned using Windows Classic Mod for use with Live...is this difficult to set up on an XP machine or does it 'kick in' automatically???
thanks again,
rexford
you should check the card bus controller on the sony if you want to use pcmcia. i've heard bad things hooking this laptop up with a magma box.Anonymous wrote:sonys are basically the only major pc laptop with decent internal soundcards, though in all reality, you will likely need/want a faster, more ins/outs sc. pcmcia is the fastest (RME multiface is the primo shit), then firewire, then usb (which should be avoided if at all possible).
ryan
ricoh controllers are not good. maybe a different story if you get the RME (they have a great compatability chart on their site).
http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... forum=3&12 has some user info.
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Guest
good point--i know my toshiba uses a texas instruments chip--works great. I guess an important caveat with any new setup would be to buy it all at once (computer, souncard, cables, etc.) with some sort of money back return period (the longer the better) so that you can make sure its a go before you stuck. I actually had my toshiba shipped to sweetwater sound (where i bought my RME mulitface) and paid somewhere under $100 for them to set it up--that way it was basically gauranteed to be good to go--probably could've done it myself, but the piece of mind and support is a good thing to have on your side. good luck,
ryan
ryan
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rex
Hello again,
well, yesterday I headed along to PC World to buy my sony. this time it was a different story... the guy serving me this time pointed out that the processor speed is actually 1.67 GHz (which he displayed in the system settings) and NOT 2.2 GHz like the first guy had made out. Dont get me wrong, 1.67 GHz is still a fast processsor and will definetly be a step up from my current machine, however, as laptops are currently shipping with 2.4 to 2.8 GHz processors I reckon its worth going for one of these.
Well, back to the drawing board!
Cheers again,
Rex
well, yesterday I headed along to PC World to buy my sony. this time it was a different story... the guy serving me this time pointed out that the processor speed is actually 1.67 GHz (which he displayed in the system settings) and NOT 2.2 GHz like the first guy had made out. Dont get me wrong, 1.67 GHz is still a fast processsor and will definetly be a step up from my current machine, however, as laptops are currently shipping with 2.4 to 2.8 GHz processors I reckon its worth going for one of these.
Well, back to the drawing board!
Cheers again,
Rex
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kobayashi
go for toshiba....
go for toshiba and u will be absolutely happy.
i sold my ti-book and buy the new toshiba satellite P20-S303 with pentium 4 desktop with 2,66 ghz, 60GB, 512mb ram and 17" display. it also has a dvd-r drive and it´s modular. that means-forget the external drives.
u can use up to 3 hard drives in this notebook, so u can pump it up to 240GB and 2GB ram!!!
it´s very,very fast(mucho faster than my mac with 867mhz g4)
and very silent, cause it has a very good cooling system. normally the books with desktop proc´s are deadly loud...
there are now also internal notebook drives available with 7200Upm.
take a look at this book, u will love it to do arrangements on the 17" display.
it also has a line in!!! and the buid in harmann/kardon soundsystem with subwoofer sounds extraordinary fat!!!
this book really is made for audio productions, it has a intel chipset and toshiba pcmcia controllers, they work with every soundcard.
greetz
i sold my ti-book and buy the new toshiba satellite P20-S303 with pentium 4 desktop with 2,66 ghz, 60GB, 512mb ram and 17" display. it also has a dvd-r drive and it´s modular. that means-forget the external drives.
u can use up to 3 hard drives in this notebook, so u can pump it up to 240GB and 2GB ram!!!
it´s very,very fast(mucho faster than my mac with 867mhz g4)
and very silent, cause it has a very good cooling system. normally the books with desktop proc´s are deadly loud...
there are now also internal notebook drives available with 7200Upm.
take a look at this book, u will love it to do arrangements on the 17" display.
it also has a line in!!! and the buid in harmann/kardon soundsystem with subwoofer sounds extraordinary fat!!!
this book really is made for audio productions, it has a intel chipset and toshiba pcmcia controllers, they work with every soundcard.
greetz
Rex,
I had a SONY NVR-23 which has an AMD1800 processor. the 1800 means it should be comparable to a 1.8ghz p4, so the AMD2200 should be comparable to a 2.2ghz p4. If that is the laptop you want then go for it. Nothing wrong with it.
Kobayashi,
In the USA the P20-xxx model is the same as the P25 series. I got a P25-S487 which has a 3ghz hyper-threading P4, 512mb ram (soon to be upgraded to 1gb), 60gb hd, 17" widescreen (1440x900). It is big, heavy (10lbs) but awesome as a desktop replacement.
As far as performance, it doesn't see much different than my P4 2.4ghz desktop but I havent' done in depth benchmarks yet. Maybe I need to switch it from ACPI to Standard PC mode or shut off some services/crap running in the background.
bioroid
I had a SONY NVR-23 which has an AMD1800 processor. the 1800 means it should be comparable to a 1.8ghz p4, so the AMD2200 should be comparable to a 2.2ghz p4. If that is the laptop you want then go for it. Nothing wrong with it.
Kobayashi,
In the USA the P20-xxx model is the same as the P25 series. I got a P25-S487 which has a 3ghz hyper-threading P4, 512mb ram (soon to be upgraded to 1gb), 60gb hd, 17" widescreen (1440x900). It is big, heavy (10lbs) but awesome as a desktop replacement.
As far as performance, it doesn't see much different than my P4 2.4ghz desktop but I havent' done in depth benchmarks yet. Maybe I need to switch it from ACPI to Standard PC mode or shut off some services/crap running in the background.
bioroid
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kobayashi
cant agree...
i got a desktop comp with a p4 2,2ghz and a dual g4 with 800mhz also,
but the toshiba is the fastest puter i have.
i think u got a slow harddrive in ur toshi, so the drive brakes out the system.
i use one of those new internal notebook drives with 7200rpm, and a gig ram.
and the p25 is here available also! i think u relly have to check ur config, cause it cannot be that a 2,4ghz is faster as 3,066 ghz with HT and 800mhz fsb, or??? i think u did something complEtly wrong.
did u use the original installation? i buy´d it and format it.
then i install my stuff by my way!
i will stay by my meaning, this book is the best i ever had.
(got a 15" pb g4, wit 1gb ram, 40gbdrive, 867mhz before)
it got´s good performance, nice look and ur right it´s big and heavy,
but it´s a real destop replacement.
and i really love to work with the 17" screen.
but the toshiba is the fastest puter i have.
i think u got a slow harddrive in ur toshi, so the drive brakes out the system.
i use one of those new internal notebook drives with 7200rpm, and a gig ram.
and the p25 is here available also! i think u relly have to check ur config, cause it cannot be that a 2,4ghz is faster as 3,066 ghz with HT and 800mhz fsb, or??? i think u did something complEtly wrong.
did u use the original installation? i buy´d it and format it.
then i install my stuff by my way!
i will stay by my meaning, this book is the best i ever had.
(got a 15" pb g4, wit 1gb ram, 40gbdrive, 867mhz before)
it got´s good performance, nice look and ur right it´s big and heavy,
but it´s a real destop replacement.
and i really love to work with the 17" screen.
Yes I have a 4200rpm drive in my laptop but I have an external 7200 firewire which I'll use when I need to. So far the only real issue I have is with Cubase SX. Every 30-60 seconds there is a glitch and the VST performance OVER light comes on (but the meter stays at the normal 10-20% cpu) and even my computers CPU is normal. This only happens when using the EMI 2|6 ASIO which I'm running at 10ms. It may be just a usb issue? I'm going to try the EMI 2|6 thru a PCMCIA usb card instead of the onboard usb and see if it is better. Also gonna upgrade to 1gb ram this weekend.
Did you set your laptop to Standard PC or is it on ACPI? Mine is set at ACPI and I'm wondering if I should even bother trying to set it to Standard.
bioroid
Did you set your laptop to Standard PC or is it on ACPI? Mine is set at ACPI and I'm wondering if I should even bother trying to set it to Standard.
bioroid
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rex
hello folks,
cheers for the advice. I tried the live demo on my friends brand new toshiba - 2.4 GHz, 512 MB Ram and it worked like a dream. I added a reverb and the cpu went up by about 4%....on my current machine if i add a reverb the cpu goes up by about 40%!!! (and time physically slows down around me), so I think any of the current laptops available will blow my mind performance wise.
anyway, tonight I went to the store and purchased a toshiba 2.8 GHz 512 MB Ram (and carry case). It arrives on monday and i cant wait...gone are the days of bouncing audio to disk after adding a solo reverb to a track...and i can also fulfill my fantasy of making a track while I lie in my bed naked - little joke there
greetz
rexford galbraith
cheers for the advice. I tried the live demo on my friends brand new toshiba - 2.4 GHz, 512 MB Ram and it worked like a dream. I added a reverb and the cpu went up by about 4%....on my current machine if i add a reverb the cpu goes up by about 40%!!! (and time physically slows down around me), so I think any of the current laptops available will blow my mind performance wise.
anyway, tonight I went to the store and purchased a toshiba 2.8 GHz 512 MB Ram (and carry case). It arrives on monday and i cant wait...gone are the days of bouncing audio to disk after adding a solo reverb to a track...and i can also fulfill my fantasy of making a track while I lie in my bed naked - little joke there
greetz
rexford galbraith
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kobayashi
yeah, i love ableton...on my toshi
on my ti book i was able to run 12 tracks with handful of plugins and just 1 reverb in economy mode. cpu blows up to 65 percent and sometimes i had dropouts. tried many settings, workarounds but it ever sucks.
now with my toshi i can run three or four reverbs, 2 in hi class mode, over 20 tracks, 8 to 20 other effects an never come over 45%.
and this blows my mind!!!
here some of my workarounds from my toshi:
upgrade to 1gb ram(2 is possible but very expensive), buy a ibm/hitachi 60GB/7200rpb notebook drive and a toshi style-bay harddrive case.
i change the internal drive with the new one, and build the original internal into the case. so i can use both drives @ same time.
i did a clean install from win xp pro sp1 integrated!
also all drivers from toshiba cd, and some of the tools.
then i disabled all hardware stuff i dont need like irda, lan, modem, parallel.
fix my virtual mem to 1GB min/max
uninstall xp components like messenger and other shit
turn into windows classic mode, but leave ur backround image, i think the 64mb from the grafikengine is able to handle this nice...
then i install all my audioappz and did a image with norton ghost to the second drive. so i can rebuild my system everytime & every where in 15min off time.
Don´t play so much with ur services in xp, some of them are relly needet!
greetz
now with my toshi i can run three or four reverbs, 2 in hi class mode, over 20 tracks, 8 to 20 other effects an never come over 45%.
and this blows my mind!!!
here some of my workarounds from my toshi:
upgrade to 1gb ram(2 is possible but very expensive), buy a ibm/hitachi 60GB/7200rpb notebook drive and a toshi style-bay harddrive case.
i change the internal drive with the new one, and build the original internal into the case. so i can use both drives @ same time.
i did a clean install from win xp pro sp1 integrated!
also all drivers from toshiba cd, and some of the tools.
then i disabled all hardware stuff i dont need like irda, lan, modem, parallel.
fix my virtual mem to 1GB min/max
uninstall xp components like messenger and other shit
turn into windows classic mode, but leave ur backround image, i think the 64mb from the grafikengine is able to handle this nice...
then i install all my audioappz and did a image with norton ghost to the second drive. so i can rebuild my system everytime & every where in 15min off time.
Don´t play so much with ur services in xp, some of them are relly needet!
greetz
Kobayashi,
I got 1gb ram in there today but I'm gonna leave the 4200rpm drive in there. No probs with it really. Only prob I have now seems to be a gfx issue with Cubase. When I open/close VST instrument/fx editors the VST Performance meter OVER light goes on and the audio cuts out for a bit. Even if I don't open/close I still get the glitch around once a minute. Any idea how to fix this problem? I tried messing with the gfx accel performance and it didn't seem to do anything.
bioroid
I got 1gb ram in there today but I'm gonna leave the 4200rpm drive in there. No probs with it really. Only prob I have now seems to be a gfx issue with Cubase. When I open/close VST instrument/fx editors the VST Performance meter OVER light goes on and the audio cuts out for a bit. Even if I don't open/close I still get the glitch around once a minute. Any idea how to fix this problem? I tried messing with the gfx accel performance and it didn't seem to do anything.
bioroid
Ok update.
The problem seems to be caused by the wonderful Hyper Threading. I turned that off and the major glitching is now gone. Only thing that sucks is I won't bother switching HT on and off cause Reason has to reauthorize everytime you do a change to your system like that it seems. Or maybe its just my ram change that first did it.
Well, everything seems all good now and I am back to being happy. Sure I won't have that fabled "30%" increase in performance but it seems for audio its better not having it until apps are coded for HT.
bioroid
The problem seems to be caused by the wonderful Hyper Threading. I turned that off and the major glitching is now gone. Only thing that sucks is I won't bother switching HT on and off cause Reason has to reauthorize everytime you do a change to your system like that it seems. Or maybe its just my ram change that first did it.
Well, everything seems all good now and I am back to being happy. Sure I won't have that fabled "30%" increase in performance but it seems for audio its better not having it until apps are coded for HT.
bioroid