Help Me Configure My Laptop!

djmjd · Post by **djmjd** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:19 am

I'm planning on getting an alienware to use for Live, and I am stumped on a few things.

http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_P ... KU-DEFAULT

Now, under Digital Audio Hardware, I'm not sure what I'll need, as I'd like to use it for a live show, but I have no experience in that arena.

Also not sure what kind of Processor/Memory I need, and does that graphics card matter at all?

As for hard drive I was planning on the 7200rpm hitachi 2x60gb

Thanks!

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:06 pm

I was looking at an Alienware laptop until I found out that there are about 15+ companies which use the EXACT same parts for half the price.

All laptop computers come from one of four companies in Taiwan which manufacture notebook cases. Alienware gets theirs from a comany called Clevo. www.clevo.com

Take a look at the D900T case. Notice any similarity to the Alienware?

VooDoo also gets the same case from Clevo.

Go check out the Alienware site, and build an Area-51m 7700 laptop. Take note of the price.

Then goto www.mtechlaptops.com and build a laptop. Pay attention, because you'll see that the boxes are identical.

The only thing Alienware does is spraypaint the case. Then they charge twice as much.

djmjd · Post by **djmjd** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:16 am

Wow, thanks, my other friend was just telling me that if I financed the laptop like I was planning on I'd end up paying about $6000 in the end... Thanks for the help!

Edit:

Hi again, now I'm configuring my laptop at mtech (

) and I was just wondering if there were any essentials for running Live smoothly. Do I need the 3.8ghz processor? The 2048mb ram? I assume I should go for the 7200rpm hd...

I ask because on my current desktop pc, if Live runs for a while, the music starts to "skip" at a very steady pace... closing it and opening it fixes it, but I don't want to need to do that

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 10:33 pm

Well... what is your budget?

I am going to get an M-Tech, most likely, within a month. I'm just waiting to see if the new Intel dual core CPUs make it into the upcoming laptops.
I don't know if there are any new laptops to come out within the next month, but since I'm not in a hurry to get a laptop until the end of July... I decided to be patient.

I'm going to call them this week, and figure out their lead time for building. I'll also see if they can tip their cards enough to figure out if I should hang on before ordering for a few more weeks.

Anyway... price of the laptop is not my primary concern. Getting something that functions well now, and for years to come is. So here are the specs I would get if buying today:

Pentium 4 3.6 GHz 64-bit processor with 2 MB cache
2 GB RAM
RAID 0 config (2 x 60 GB hard drives @ 7200 rpm)

The 3.6 GHz processor is slower than the 3.8 GHz one they offer.... but it's the fastest of the 64-bit ready CPUs they offer... and it has 2 MB cache instead of just 1 MB

2 GB RAM is the most they sell at M-Tech.... although that Clevo case they use can actually hold up to 4 GB.

Raid 0 config is very fast. 7200 rpm drives will perform better than 5400 rpm. Faster save & access times means more stability in Live to run lots of tracks at once.

Don't get Raid 1. That is mirroring, which is for data backup. It makes both drives identical in case you lose one. This is not appropriate for a music dedicated laptop. If you need to backup your music, get an external HD for that.

Have you tried using the RAM button in the Warp menu? It loads your clips into RAM for faster access than on a harddrive. On my current desktop computer, I have to use the RAM load if I'm running more than 2 tracks at once. But with it on, I'm fine. I have 1 GB RAM on the desktop. It seems sufficient, but with RAM too much is not a bad thing.