PC Laptops, which brands/models should i research.

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Post Reply
faisalbaig
Posts: 90
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2004 1:46 pm

PC Laptops, which brands/models should i research.

Post by faisalbaig » Wed Nov 05, 2008 2:44 pm

hi. looking to buy a PC Laptop for Live and mobile recording.
Something as powerful as a desktop machine.
There r many brands and models, where do i start.
please suggest.
Thanks
F

Patch
Posts: 2614
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2004 8:14 pm
Location: Bristol, UK

Post by Patch » Wed Nov 05, 2008 2:46 pm

You can't go wrong at the moment. Spending between £350 & £450 will get you a shit-hot lappy. Get one with XP, and do all the XP audio tweaks, and you'll be laughing.

Khazul
Posts: 3185
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2005 5:19 pm
Location: Reading, UK

Post by Khazul » Wed Nov 05, 2008 2:52 pm

Using an Acer 7720G here - core duo @ 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, Vista 32., 1920x1200 display and cost about 900UKP a few months back - excellent for running Live 7 and Traktor 3 and Pro (just upgraded).

If you are doing very HD intensive work, then it only has 5400RPM drives, so may want to ram lock samples. It has space inside for two drive as well, so you can easily stick in a 7200RPM 2.5" drive for audio if you want.

Only other downer, but every laptop Ive looked at recently suffers this and most new motherboards - it doesnt have a TI fiurewire chips, some ricoh thing - using it with a USB audio interface anyway (NI Audio Kontrol 1).

Another much more expensive laptop we have is the Lenovo T61p - prettty much the same spec, but is physically smaller - closer to size of a 15" laptop, allthough its still a 1920x1200 display - came with 7200RPM drive - slightly faster, but TBH I dont really notice the difference. You can get a SATA2 drive caddy to replace CD/DVD drive for a second 'internal' HD if yoiu need it.

TBH - the main problem I find with laptops is power - while both can power both the audio interface and controllers I use - the PSUs on them do get very hot, so finding an uprated PSU would be useful, or use peripherals that have their own PSU.
Nothing to see here - move along!

andydes
Posts: 2917
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:53 pm
Location: Bremen

Post by andydes » Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:02 pm

Patch wrote:You can't go wrong at the moment. Spending between £350 & £450 will get you a shit-hot lappy. Get one with XP, and do all the XP audio tweaks, and you'll be laughing.
Really? Maybe I should abandon my plans for a quad core desktop. Torn between the two options.

Would like to keep using the firebox though. Are non TI chipsets really a complete no no? Someone must be getting them to work, surely? I'd rather not buy another interface.

gavscope
Posts: 90
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 6:12 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by gavscope » Thu Nov 06, 2008 9:50 pm

Thumbs up to the 7720g, I run mine with Vista and a Echo Indigo DJ with no issues. Great build quality and battery life.

faisalbaig
Posts: 90
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2004 1:46 pm

Post by faisalbaig » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:01 pm

Toshiba ?
Sony Vaio's ?

Crash
Posts: 805
Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 4:06 pm
Location: Nowhereland

Post by Crash » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:41 pm

HP Elitebooks

Post Reply