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| quote: | Originally posted by kitphillips
Sorry to say I can't help you much in terms of SSD versus traditional HDs, since I don't have much experience. I guess I'd recommend you stay away for maybe another year or two because the technology is still slightly untested, but thats all I could really say. A 5400 RPM disk will work fine for most production in my opinion, if you need more power you can always grab an external and hook it up via firewire for those huge sample libraries, but its only really an issue with libraries like the vienna symphonic orchestra, Kontakt library (running several instances of the biggest instruments) and stuff like that. If your only doing 4 tracks of sampling you'll be just fine.
With the size thing, you should know that 13" is almost useless for all production, you just can't see anything. If you are going that small, check the maximum resolution you can display. I have a 13" laptop (as well as my main 17") and it won't output the full 1024x whatever resolution, so its really too small for anything but 6 track live sets (I'm using ableton). 17" is OK, but realistically, your not ever going to be producing on the train, you can't get the focus in a public place like that, I've tried. Your battery will also run out after about half an hour as well, and remember you'll be lugging your power adapter if this happens. So just go with something you'll be happy with in the studio, 17" is fine, and then if you come to doing stuff live, you'll be able to lug it easier than a desktop, but not so easily you'll be able to produce in transit. |
My understanding, and recent experience, is that using external drives is pretty much crap as it relates to performance. I noticed somewhere in the neighborhood of a 33% improvement when I was using samples stored on the internal drive vs. an external connected via firewire (after taking some suggestions from people here). I'm gauging that based off the performance meters. A 5400 is probably fine, but I'd recommend a 7200 if the option is available - there will be a difference. On the other deal, I've recently started producing on the road much more. It's just a hobby for me, but an addictive one and I've started taking advantage of my time on the plane and in hotels much more lately. Using a new MacBook Pro, my battery runs for well over 3 hours, close to 4 (Bluetooth and AirPort turned off). I don't know what the average is on other computers, but a second battery is always an option, too.
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But its so heavy you'd only carry it if you had to...
