Buying a new laptop....

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Rx
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Post by Rx » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:50 pm

additionally, P4's aren't meant to be in laptops, so the fans run a lot more making the laptop itself louder. Pentium Ms are designed to be able to withstand heat better, so the fans are not on as much, and you get better battery life (even with all battery-saving stuff off for maximum power).
Arp Laszlo
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Dell 6000d: 2.0ghz Pentium 760 | 1gb DDR2 ram
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robin
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Post by robin » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:52 pm

Rx wrote:additionally, P4's aren't meant to be in laptops, so the fans run a lot more making the laptop itself louder. Pentium Ms are designed to be able to withstand heat better, so the fans are not on as much, and you get better battery life (even with all battery-saving stuff off for maximum power).
the p4m was meant to be in laptop. it has power management etc so is a proper mobile part. some laptops have desktop p4s in them tho

djadonis206
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Post by djadonis206 » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:59 pm

OK so I'm looking for a

Pentium M correct?

everything else is pretty standard as far as needs go

big, fast hard drive lots of ram and viewable screen

thanks
Ableton | Elektron

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robin
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Post by robin » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:00 pm

djadonis206 wrote:OK so I'm looking for a

Pentium M correct?

everything else is pretty standard as far as needs go

big, fast hard drive lots of ram and viewable screen

thanks
yeah that's right

Rx
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Post by Rx » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:24 pm

robin wrote:
Rx wrote:additionally, P4's aren't meant to be in laptops, so the fans run a lot more making the laptop itself louder. Pentium Ms are designed to be able to withstand heat better, so the fans are not on as much, and you get better battery life (even with all battery-saving stuff off for maximum power).
the p4m was meant to be in laptop. it has power management etc so is a proper mobile part. some laptops have desktop p4s in them tho
you're right - i forgot to specify desktop cpus. avoid laptops with desktops cpus at all costs. they might be cheaper, but you'll have to clean the fans and heatsink regularly.
Arp Laszlo
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Dell 6000d: 2.0ghz Pentium 760 | 1gb DDR2 ram
Echo Indigo DJ | Korg microKONTROL | faded black t-shirt emblazoned with 'Detroit' in gothic type

kritzer
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before you buy a dell

Post by kritzer » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:17 pm


amo
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Re: before you buy a dell

Post by amo » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:22 pm

kritzer wrote:read this

http://c0x2.de/lol/lol.html
8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O

is that serious ?
Live 5.0.3 - IBM Thinkpad R51 1.5ghz Centrino - 1,5 Go RAM - 7200 RPM 2nd HDD intern - RME Multiface - Windows XP Pro SP2

Livewire
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Post by Livewire » Thu Jun 23, 2005 11:26 pm

our government is shit.

Rx
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Post by Rx » Fri Jun 24, 2005 1:27 am

i'd take it more seriously if the pictures weren't generic.
Arp Laszlo
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Dell 6000d: 2.0ghz Pentium 760 | 1gb DDR2 ram
Echo Indigo DJ | Korg microKONTROL | faded black t-shirt emblazoned with 'Detroit' in gothic type

Dennis DeSantis
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Post by Dennis DeSantis » Sun Jul 03, 2005 11:03 pm

Hi folks,

Thanks for the comments. I'm leaning now more towards an Inspiron 6000 rather than the 9300. Those 17" screens are just too damn big.

Rx - I notice you list this as your laptop in your signature, but with a 7200 rpm drive. I called Dell to see about adding this as an option and they simply wouldn't do it. They were willing to sell me an aftermarket 7200 drive but they wouldn't build a 6000 with one installed. Annoying, but what can I do? Did they install yours for you or did you add a different drive yourself?

I'm pretty close to ordering one anyway, expecting to just use an external Firewire drive for audio. But I'm trying to find someone with an RME Multiface who can confirm that it works well with this laptop, definitively.

Thanks,
Dennis DeSantis
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suburbanbather
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Post by suburbanbather » Sun Jul 03, 2005 11:10 pm

Dennis DeSantis wrote:Hi folks,


Rx - I notice you list this as your laptop in your signature, but with a 7200 rpm drive. I called Dell to see about adding this as an option and they simply wouldn't do it. They were willing to sell me an aftermarket 7200 drive but they wouldn't build a 6000 with one installed. Annoying, but what can I do? Did they install yours for you or did you add a different drive yourself?


I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 and it has a 60gig 7200rpm drive that Dell installed. I don't understand why they would say they can't put a 7200 in yours

Dennis DeSantis
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Post by Dennis DeSantis » Mon Jul 04, 2005 1:27 am

suburbanbather wrote: I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 and it has a 60gig 7200rpm drive that Dell installed. I don't understand why they would say they can't put a 7200 in yours
Yeah, it makes no sense to me either. But it wasn't an available option in the website configuration, and when I called, I was told it's simply not a buildable option. Ridiculous.

Regardless, the price/specs are decent enough that I'm willing to use an external for audio - as long as I can be absolutely certain that there are no performance issues with the Multiface. I've heard some horror stories about PCI-X video with RME stuff.
Dennis DeSantis
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suburbanbather
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Post by suburbanbather » Mon Jul 04, 2005 2:11 am

Hmmm, well maybe they were'nt making enough money from isntalling 7200's and decided to only sell them separately.

I've heard that 5400rpm drives are fine for the operating system and programs(Live) because 5400 and 7200 read at or around the same speed. 7200's just write faster. I may be wrong so.....

Adam please help!!

Dennis DeSantis
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Post by Dennis DeSantis » Mon Jul 04, 2005 2:16 am

suburbanbather wrote: I've heard that 5400rpm drives are fine for the operating system and programs(Live) because 5400 and 7200 read at or around the same speed. 7200's just write faster. I may be wrong so.....

Adam please help!!
Oh it's worse than that. The sales rep I talked to said they were only building these machines with 4200 RPM drives - little chance that will work well with Live.
It's really frustrating. In all other ways this machine seems to be ideal for my needs. Even my Inspiron 8100 from 2002 had a 5400 RPM drive, and this was more than sufficient for my Ableton work.
Dennis DeSantis
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suburbanbather
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Post by suburbanbather » Mon Jul 04, 2005 2:38 am

I think you may want to look elsewhere then. Maybe go with an HP and upgrade the ram to as much you can afford and replace hdd with a 7200.

My Dell (Inspiron 8600) is my first and last Dell machine. It runs fine, but it just feels cheap to me. I've seen other places with better cases and a clean version of Windows at either the same or even a lower price.

I don't know about DAW specialist stores. They mark the price up because they customize Windows for you, and the fact that its a music machine not a laptop and everyone knows how expensive musical instruments can get. I'll bet they don't do much more than whats on musicxp.net, but I don't know for shure i'm just bitchin about prices.

Serioulsy, I would consider saying goodbye to Dell.

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