VAIO OR DELL?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 12:58 am

Hey guys... i am getting a pc laptop.... and i am kinda thinking about buying from VAIO or Dell since they are the well known one.
Guys please help me... which one shold i pick... and any suggestions for other company?
thank you very much

chris_borgia · Post by **chris_borgia** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 1:06 am

Great question.. same one i am in the middle of dissecting now....

I bought the dell inspiron8100 and like it, but after a lot of testing with different soundcards and different applications i came to the conclusion that the sony would be best. We have a sony at work and i tested it and-. she was beautiful.

What were the symptoms of the dell that were not issues with the sony?---> i'll tell ya.

The dell, when the ac plug was plugged into the wall, would emit ac noise out the 1/8 output of the soundcard.

The dell when working with it via a usb soundcard would do similar things with the ac noise out the usb soundcards out.

the dell would lose conrol over the mouse for a couple of seconds for some unknow reason.

the dell with a firewire sound card (motu 828) would cut out the audio for 2~8 seconds at random intervals.

the sony did not do this with any of the tests or any of the sound cards tested.

hope this helps.. i will inform you guys what kind of performance i get from my soon to be here sony gr390 ... fun. (this sony is different then the one i tested on.. i think the one i was testing was a fx series one)

::chris_borgia::

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 1:19 am

i'd suggest an Apple but for a PC, I've heard good things about the high end Toshibas from music people.

rayon · Post by **rayon** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 1:35 am

Hi I use a Dell laptop Ins 8000, i dont have any noise problems at all, I use audiomulch looking into Live as another option

chris_borgia · Post by **chris_borgia** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 1:47 am

the only reason why i am being allowed to return the dell 8100 is because they (Dell) are aware of this problem and they know that it is vital to my needs that it should not. I wish my dell did not have the ac noise issue with the audio out-otherwise i would keep it. But it does.

::chris_boriga::

Nicholas · Post by **Nicholas** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 10:12 am

I used sell Dell laptops and desktops.

They used to be OK. With diminishing profits they went to cheaper components (chipsets etc..) and cheap assembly. Result = Dell are average....IMHO stay away from Dell if you require stability.

I have been doing some support call-outs with Sony of late, they seem to be OK. The laptops are prone physical damage given the unique designs not being well tested in the lab.
Also Sony are following the Dell lead, maximising profits via cheap components and assembly.

4 Months ago I was in the same dilemma...I did some extensive research, and as I live in HK, there is plenty of choice.

There are not many P4 laptops on the market, sony's new one is huge and very expensive ($3000USD)

I found one made by a american/chinese venture called stamp. www.stampcomputer.com

The site is in chinese (I'm not chinese)You will see a link for the stamp 8170. All you need know is there via a datasheet for download.

It has a full intel chipset (buil-in Avance 97 audio with optical SPDIF runs @ 11ms latency)

Personally I use a RME hammerfall DSP with great results with @ 1.5ms latency.. rock solid !(the ADDA's sound awesome)

The stamp 8170 costs about $2100 USD with 512MB of ram and 30GB HDD. (in-built CD-RW/DVD also...see datasheet)

My 2 cents worth....

FORMAT · Post by **FORMAT** » Tue Apr 23, 2002 9:41 am

Nicholas wrote: I'm not chinese

.....thanx for letting us know..... :-))))

FORMAT

borg · Post by **borg** » Sun Sep 22, 2002 4:49 pm

chris,

any news on your experience?

i've been having a closer look at the vaio's and dell laptops, as well as the toshiba's. the stamp site is a mess and i couldn't get any info.

lots of people seem to be happy with their dell...

thanks,
andy

bioroid · Post by **bioroid** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 5:09 am

Tomorrow I will be getting my Sony NVR23. This is a new model and from the specs its a great deal.

AMD XP1800 processor, 256mb ram, 30gb HD, 32mb nvidia geforce4 420 video
Price: $1499

I will let you know my results soon.

bioroid

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 7:58 am

I work with a sony vaio pcg-nv 109 with 1.6 GHz, 256 DDR, 16MB ATI Rage. soundcard RME Multiface.

Absolutely no problems, 3 ms latency, no noises.

borg · Post by **borg** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 12:29 pm

bioroid,

this AMD processor, is it athlon? i've heard these are not the best option for audio purposes. it's not my own experience (i'm on mac now, looking for a pc laptop), just what people told me... Pentiums seem the way to go.

sorry for the confusion

andy

borg · Post by **borg** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 4:22 pm

and confusing it is...

going through the 'live performance test' thread, it seems Athlon is a winner.

jdg · Post by **jdg** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 5:36 pm

pentium 4s suffer from a 'denorm' bug that causes some VST plugs to eat all cpu. i'm an AMD fan. they're not as fast as the fastest P4 but but at 400bux cheaper and only 2-3% slower, its well worth it.

i'd stay away from the Dell also... they make great business machines, but ??? for pro audio.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 5:37 pm

yeah the AMD chip problems were back in the day when my grandmother was a little girl, now they cannot be beat.

borg · Post by **borg** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 6:15 pm

thanks a lot for the response! MORE PLEASE.

i don't intend to spend 2,000-2,500$/€ every 2 months.
could you please tell me what machines you're using?

greets,
andy

VAIO OR DELL?

VAIO OR DELL?

Go Dell no noise !

PC laptop

PC laptop