I am new to live, but have been using reason for 4 months now. I am always on the go. So I am getting a laptop. Will the Pentium M be good enough. Is hyperthreading technology in the P4 for laptops worth it for audio?
Right now I run a p4 2.0 laptop w/400mhz fsb. It doesn't run rewire and reason very well together... It has 512megs of rams running at 166mhz. This could be the bottleneck... I can't upgrade due to system limitations.
What do you guys recommend? What do you use for reason and live?
Thanks
Laptop Recommendations.
First off budget .....
I use a H/T laptop but live 4.0.3 now auto asigns affinity to CPU 0 on start up so it's a moot point.
If I assign affinity to CPU 1 in Reason
and use VSTi's and VST effects I get great system performance myself.
In fact insanely good performance I haven't had to render any sections to audio yet (touch wood).
That said.
Battery life is it an issue - screen size and budget.
I'd go for a 1.7-2.ghz Dothan myself if battery life and portability was a priority.
My P20 is great I use mains power but keep a battery in it at all times last night I had a 15 minute power failure in the middle of a set the battery pack kicked in and the whole thing soldiered on like a trooper no glitches.
Which is a great thing to have but I'm rambling on.
So P4 Top of the line Desknote / 1.7-2.0ghz Dothan or an AMD64 notebook would be my three choices in XP land.
All pretty good choices too I might add if you get the make ,model and chip set right.
If possible avoid ENE and OzMicro Chipset controller busses for the PCMCIA port where possible is my only advice at the moment.
Plenty of other people can let you know aqbout Dothan/Centrino/AMD64 based performance here so I'll let them have their say.
I use a H/T laptop but live 4.0.3 now auto asigns affinity to CPU 0 on start up so it's a moot point.
If I assign affinity to CPU 1 in Reason
and use VSTi's and VST effects I get great system performance myself.
In fact insanely good performance I haven't had to render any sections to audio yet (touch wood).
That said.
Battery life is it an issue - screen size and budget.
I'd go for a 1.7-2.ghz Dothan myself if battery life and portability was a priority.
My P20 is great I use mains power but keep a battery in it at all times last night I had a 15 minute power failure in the middle of a set the battery pack kicked in and the whole thing soldiered on like a trooper no glitches.
Which is a great thing to have but I'm rambling on.
So P4 Top of the line Desknote / 1.7-2.0ghz Dothan or an AMD64 notebook would be my three choices in XP land.
All pretty good choices too I might add if you get the make ,model and chip set right.
If possible avoid ENE and OzMicro Chipset controller busses for the PCMCIA port where possible is my only advice at the moment.
Plenty of other people can let you know aqbout Dothan/Centrino/AMD64 based performance here so I'll let them have their say.
My aren't the wings of butterflies beautiful and do they not make wonderful perturbations.....
i'm an athlon 64 fan myself, but for your particular uses = Live 4 with Reason Rewired, i would recommend the P4 Hyperthreaded as well.
While that processor is the most power hungry of the portables in terms of battery life, the ability to assign 1 virtual processor to live and 1 to reason whilst rewiring is unique and would give you the most performance without a doubt.
specifically, i'd recommend either the Compaq R3000t or HP zv5000t because they come with 12 cell (instead of 8 cell) batteries, which will give you that added boost of battery life that you lose by going with a hyperthreaded processor. Both are around $1200 and up. www.hpshopping.com.
if you go that route, i'd recommend opting the laptop down to 256MB. Why? the stock HP/Cpq ram is PC2700 but those laptops can take PC3200. So sell the 256MB and buy your own PC3200 chips @ dealram.com and save money & gain performance in the end. same goes for HD, opt down to the lowest and put a 7200rpm hd in. you'll save $ in the end.
While that processor is the most power hungry of the portables in terms of battery life, the ability to assign 1 virtual processor to live and 1 to reason whilst rewiring is unique and would give you the most performance without a doubt.
specifically, i'd recommend either the Compaq R3000t or HP zv5000t because they come with 12 cell (instead of 8 cell) batteries, which will give you that added boost of battery life that you lose by going with a hyperthreaded processor. Both are around $1200 and up. www.hpshopping.com.
if you go that route, i'd recommend opting the laptop down to 256MB. Why? the stock HP/Cpq ram is PC2700 but those laptops can take PC3200. So sell the 256MB and buy your own PC3200 chips @ dealram.com and save money & gain performance in the end. same goes for HD, opt down to the lowest and put a 7200rpm hd in. you'll save $ in the end.
hmm...
I am on a budget for sure... How about dells machines? I have financing through them...
I was thinking about the 600m, the 9100 is way to big for my tastes and its a bit uncomfortable for me with a dual monitor setup, and a widescreen. I like more of the traditional screens. Also the size of most p4 systems really bothers me. I would rather make a p4 desktop afterwards if I need more CPU power for vstis... Basically my main concern is, will the PM hold my songs together? With reason and live using vsts?
I was thinking about getting a Pentium M with 512 ram. It should last me through my learning days with live and reason. I was looking at your performance tests (another post) and it didn't seem I lost a whole lot with with the Pentium M. I also noticed that you mostly used analog sample for you test. Will there be a really huge difference if I used vstis.. Surely there will be due to the fact that vsts takes up cpu power.
How many vst instruments are typical in a song? and how many would my 600m be able to handle?
I really like live because its not a resourse hog.. like cubase and such.. I also like the layout of live.
I hope I'm not annoying you with these redundant questions. I have been doing research for the last coiple of days. I have been through a lot of posts and such.. Lots of info. But wanted to see what actual users think..
Thx guys...
I am on a budget for sure... How about dells machines? I have financing through them...
I was thinking about the 600m, the 9100 is way to big for my tastes and its a bit uncomfortable for me with a dual monitor setup, and a widescreen. I like more of the traditional screens. Also the size of most p4 systems really bothers me. I would rather make a p4 desktop afterwards if I need more CPU power for vstis... Basically my main concern is, will the PM hold my songs together? With reason and live using vsts?
I was thinking about getting a Pentium M with 512 ram. It should last me through my learning days with live and reason. I was looking at your performance tests (another post) and it didn't seem I lost a whole lot with with the Pentium M. I also noticed that you mostly used analog sample for you test. Will there be a really huge difference if I used vstis.. Surely there will be due to the fact that vsts takes up cpu power.
How many vst instruments are typical in a song? and how many would my 600m be able to handle?
I really like live because its not a resourse hog.. like cubase and such.. I also like the layout of live.
I hope I'm not annoying you with these redundant questions. I have been doing research for the last coiple of days. I have been through a lot of posts and such.. Lots of info. But wanted to see what actual users think..
Thx guys...
well that really depends on what vsti's you use , and how you use them.
but if you plan on using reason via rewire, a P4 HT would give you the most performance, hands down.
i don't know what vsti's you use or how you use them, so i can't say that the Pentium M will be the best for you. But just knowing you use reason simultaneously means you'll get the best performance with a P4 HT thanks to processor assigning.
some people only need an Athlon 1ghz to make great tracks, some need a P4 3.4ghz, every one is different.
but if you plan on using reason via rewire, a P4 HT would give you the most performance, hands down.
i don't know what vsti's you use or how you use them, so i can't say that the Pentium M will be the best for you. But just knowing you use reason simultaneously means you'll get the best performance with a P4 HT thanks to processor assigning.
some people only need an Athlon 1ghz to make great tracks, some need a P4 3.4ghz, every one is different.
Adam I have to thank you personally for the tests results you compiled:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12375
I read through the whole lot, I think I am going to go with the 600m. I am going to ask Dell. If they use the Dothan. Which I think they do.
I hope I can get everything to work out right.
I know you recommended the ht technology laptop. But you also said it yourslef, that there is a performance drop with ht technology... It could be true that w/ reason it might compensate....
Dothan it is... agreed?
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12375
I read through the whole lot, I think I am going to go with the 600m. I am going to ask Dell. If they use the Dothan. Which I think they do.
I hope I can get everything to work out right.
I know you recommended the ht technology laptop. But you also said it yourslef, that there is a performance drop with ht technology... It could be true that w/ reason it might compensate....
Dothan it is... agreed?
just looked at the 600m, one bottleneck that jumps out at me is the PC2100 (266mhz DDR) Ram. Thats relatively slow for a new laptop. If you plan to use VSTi's and reason and live all simultaneously, thats going to be a strain on ram, so the faster the ram - the better!
if you are on a budget, i recommend Athlon 64 over Pentium M. you get more for your money. Unfortunately Dell doesn't carry AMD processors. But if your financing with dell means you save money in the end, Dell may be worth it.
The ram thing could bite you in the ass later on, so if you're dead set on a Dell - maybe the Inspiron 8600 would be a better buy. PC2700 ram, widescreen = higher resolution = Great for Live. and its priced very similarly to the 600m.
just my .02
if you are on a budget, i recommend Athlon 64 over Pentium M. you get more for your money. Unfortunately Dell doesn't carry AMD processors. But if your financing with dell means you save money in the end, Dell may be worth it.
The ram thing could bite you in the ass later on, so if you're dead set on a Dell - maybe the Inspiron 8600 would be a better buy. PC2700 ram, widescreen = higher resolution = Great for Live. and its priced very similarly to the 600m.
just my .02
You are right.. And here I was trapping my self again with my ram problem... I am customizing the 8600 now.. and the options are:
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WUXGA [add $150 or $5/month1]
Intel® Pentium®M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WSXGA+ [add $100 or $3/month1]
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WXGA [add $50 or $2/month1]
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 715(1.50A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WUXGA [add $100 or $3/month1]
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 715(1.50A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WSXGA+ [add $50 or $2/month1] Dell Recommended
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 715(1.50A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WXGA
The options for the 600m never had a 1.6A infront of it.. what doesn it mean? What type of screen should I look at for this?
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WUXGA [add $150 or $5/month1]
Intel® Pentium®M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WSXGA+ [add $100 or $3/month1]
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WXGA [add $50 or $2/month1]
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 715(1.50A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WUXGA [add $100 or $3/month1]
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 715(1.50A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WSXGA+ [add $50 or $2/month1] Dell Recommended
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 715(1.50A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WXGA
The options for the 600m never had a 1.6A infront of it.. what doesn it mean? What type of screen should I look at for this?
i would go with:
Intel® Pentium®M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WSXGA+
WSXGA+ is 1680x1050 resolution.
WXGA is 1280x800 resolution.
i personally have a WXGA and it gives me 15 channels plus master without scrolling in Ableton Live 4. WSXGA+ will give you 19 or 20 channels plus master without scrooling. If i could have afforded the $100 more at the time for WSXGA on my HP, i would have done it but budget was a limitation.
One of the other reasons i recommend WSXGA over WXGA is if you want to watch DVD's on it, they will look much better on the higher resolution screen.
WUXGA+ is 1920x1200 which in my opinion is almost overkill on anything smaller than 17 inches widescreen, not really worth the $50 more.
Intel® Pentium®M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WSXGA+
WSXGA+ is 1680x1050 resolution.
WXGA is 1280x800 resolution.
i personally have a WXGA and it gives me 15 channels plus master without scrolling in Ableton Live 4. WSXGA+ will give you 19 or 20 channels plus master without scrooling. If i could have afforded the $100 more at the time for WSXGA on my HP, i would have done it but budget was a limitation.
One of the other reasons i recommend WSXGA over WXGA is if you want to watch DVD's on it, they will look much better on the higher resolution screen.
WUXGA+ is 1920x1200 which in my opinion is almost overkill on anything smaller than 17 inches widescreen, not really worth the $50 more.
WideScreen
I´m sorry but I don´t think that wide screens are that good for making music. maybe they look cool, but i have far more space with my 1600 x 1200 screen from dell....
spacy
spacy