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Ah, the age old dillema... I went through quite a research back in the day and you have to ask yourself several important questions:
1. Do you need laptop for portability reasons
2. Do you want laptop because you want a small footprint
3. Is it to reduce the noise
4. Will you actually travel with it?
5. Will you use it for anything else?
I was shopping for a "universal" laptop - that had to meet the following criteria:
1. Actually safe to place in my lap (don't want my boys burned of or worse yet, sterilized)
2. Had screen big enough to show me a decent sized DAW area (no 1024x768 would do)
3. Was actually light enough to travel, if needed
4. Had enough PCMCIA slots/USB2 (and Firewire - optional).
5. Had to run Windows (all my apps/plug ins) are Windows and
6. Could be used for professional work (read - connect to domain, etc).
8. Could I play games on it (e.g NO SHARED VIDEO MEMORY!)
Here's your first suggestion, under no circumstances you are allowed to buy Sony VAIO, no matter how attractive!!!! I can't possibly list all the reasons why you shouldn't but let's just say one of the main reasons - you won't be able to run OS other than sony-supplied, unless you're OK with 90% of your devices not working properly.
Don't buy TOSHIBA, unless you want to burn your balls off and get a hernia while you are at it. Besides, battery life will be just enough to power up the system and log in. Forget about taking it on a plane, as it is too big for the tray (unless you're really tiny) and even if you did, your battery won't last through the movie.
If you will travel, don't buy Dell. 1. Their case is so soft that if you press too hard while closing the lid, you'll crack the LCD screen. 2. Dell support is terrible 3. Desktop replacement systems are too expensive, too noisy, and too heavy. Same problem with battery life.
Again, if you are going to haul it around - keep in mind battery life and utility - (e.g. can it be used for anything else?)
If you plan to play games on it, you'd want at least 128MB non-shared RAM. If you want longer battery life, get Centrino-based.
Look for high-speed RAM, and HD with at least 5400 RPM. Don't buy a big and slow hard drive - if you plan to record audio. For MIDI work only - don't matter. I'd recommend getting at least 1GB of RAM or more. Be sure to buy systems that can be expanded. Look for 2 PCMCIA card slots - you will most likely need it. Also look for high number of USB ports. At least 2.
BTW, some people are confused by what Centrino is. Centrino is Intel M-based CPU (mobile) which has 2MB L2 Cache (that's good, compared to regular 512KB), and it is bundled with Intel chipset, intel wifi, intel ethernet. all features combined = power savings and better performance. The main draw back is that when you're running on battery, usually, the system will drop down to something like 600Mhz, instead of "power-on" full speed (whatever you have, 1.6, 1.7, or whatnot)..
If you do get Centrino, get 1.7 or better, as it uses a different CPU architecture and has more L2 cache.
If you can wait, Sonoma (improved CENTRINO) platform should be released soon, which will have even better management.
Don't let the speed rating fool you either, a 1.7Ghz centrino kicked ass of P4 3.2 HT CPU.
For more info on hardware, check out www.tomshardware.com.
If you are comfortable with building a DAW-based laptop and in general a "power user" or better, I'd recommend Fujitsu laptop. If you're actually not a herd animal, I'd even recommend going to AMD platform. But you get a better power management from Centrino without much sacrifice in performance.
Also, if you are buying from professional DAW company you'd also get added support of company that may know how to fix your audio-based problems, otherwise you'd be on your own. Obviously Dell will not support Cubase/Sonar.
sorry for long rant. let us know what you end up with.
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| quote: | | No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. |
--Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
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