Ableton Forum

So im thinking about buying a dell,is there anybody on here running a dell with ableton??? what specification do you think i should i go for ???? Ram,processor etc....

I guess a lot of ram is always useful, while the processor will nowadays always be fast enough (correct me if I´m wrong). I run a P dual core 1.6 ghz, and I have "only" 1 GB Ram, and I can open about 10 tracks with different plugins (no large chains included), and the computer is at only 20%. Totally enough for me.

One more thing: A new dell probably comes with Vista. After running it a while I uninstalled Vista. XP is more compatible with all kinds of programs. Wavelab 5 and my soundcard-driver wouldn´t run on Vista, as well as another driver for the MS-20 controller.

Dell is a good choice if you buy the right specs...

~Fastest processor you can afford
~2gb ram (or more)
~7200rpm hard drive
~Fair to midland graphics card

~and yes... XP.

You can usually get XP through Dell if you call them personally.

Thanks lads,ya i was on the dell site and you can still get xp with alot of their processors..the dell i am looking at is a Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8200 processor (2.66GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB cache) memory 4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [4x1024] 250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst

get the biggest and baddest you can get. thats always how it is with computers.

mja wrote:Thanks lads,ya i was on the dell site and you can still get xp with alot of their processors..the dell i am looking at is a Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8200 processor (2.66GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB cache) memory 4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [4x1024] 250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst

Way more than I use... sounds like a slammin' system.

Folks, Windows XP does not recognize more than 2GB of RAM. So you might wanna get a computer with 2GB instead

Yhtomit wrote:Folks, Windows XP does not recognize more than 2GB of RAM. So you might wanna get a computer with 2GB instead

you can get 2Gb for $100, ignore the RAM, spend money on the rest, buy your own RAM.

IMO. buying a computer can be tricky. just my $0.02.

Yhtomit wrote:Folks, Windows XP does not recognize more than 2GB of RAM. So you might wanna get a computer with 2GB instead

I dont know about that man, i was on the dell web site there earlier and it gave the 4gig ram as an option with windows xp

mja wrote:

Yhtomit wrote:Folks, Windows XP does not recognize more than 2GB of RAM. So you might wanna get a computer with 2GB instead

I dont know about that man, i was on the dell web site there earlier and it gave the 4gig ram as an option with windows xp

Windows XP can be modified through an edit of the boot.ini file:

http://www.gehrytechnologies.com/catia/ ... memory.htm

You can make 3GB available for running programs and the other 1GB is used mostly for the kernel memory.

I'd also go for a second hard drive. Always good.
Check out this link-
http://www.pcmus.com/hardrive.htm

I own currently 3 Dell computers, and have owned 7 in total. 6 of them have been excellent, 1 was OK after a couple of fixes.

I run Live just fine on my 2 and a half year old Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop. I have 2 GB ram, it is fine for most of my needs.

My other Dells are a bit older and therefore I mostly use them for email, surfing and office suite stuff.

Dell are pretty good about XP. you can usually talk them into giving you XP instead of Vista, they are one of the only big box manufacturers who don't force Vista on you. In fact. they even released a couple of models with Linux.

Damon_Chambers wrote:get the biggest and baddest you can get. thats always how it is with computers.

If you have unlimited funding. Yeah.

There is a sweet spot between prestanda and cost. I agree with Grappadura - as long as you go with a non-budget processor, they're all good. 2.4 or 2.1 or even 1.83 is just nitpicking. You're much better of putting that extra money into RAM.

7200 rpm is of course faster. But at a cost of both heat, energy and money. I'd say get a 5400 internal and add an external for speed and added storage - if needed.

Don't know anything of Dells, though. I've heard both good and bad about them.

-M

Get a 7200 rpm internal and a 7200 or 10000 rpm external with at least 300 GB. Works great for me. And I run a pentium 4 desktop processor in my computer, so yes, fair point about heat, but keep it well vented and you're looking at much better performance than a 5400 internal drive.

Especially if you don't have an external drive, you're looking at about 15-20 extra tracks more of performance.

If you're just looking at something for DJing with or just running a few basic audio tracks then 5400 is OK. Start whacking in virtual instruments and plugins and more tracks and it cracks under a lot less stress than 7200.