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Cheap laptops worth it? (pg. 2)
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| Lunar Phase 7 |
Maybe depends on cost!
Know and good ones for cheap?
USB the way forward? |
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| TranceLover007 |
Guys on this forum will definitely suggest some good card but my problem is that USB and Firewire need to be power externally and specifically Firewire my have some compatibility problem with different chip-sets. If I can suggest, buy laptop with TI chip-set (Texas Instrument) for Firewire soundcard - you going to save yourself a lot of grief.
As far as external soundcard - that's all depends on $$$$ how much you going/willing to spend.
Cheers |
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| DigiNut |
I hear this "firewire compatibility" talk every other week, usually with the same recommendation ("use a TI chip").
I've never seen any hard evidence to support it.
I think there may have been problems years ago. Say, 3 or 4 years ago. If you're buying a new computer or a new audio device, I would be very surprised if you run into firewire compatibility issues. All of the compatibility talk seems to revolve around a small handful of anecdotes published online some years ago.
USB is another story. The protocol really isn't very well-suited to the bandwidth and latency requirements of production. Among other things, you're sharing the same bus with your mouse, camera, printer, and any other junk you happen to have attached. If you're going to go portable, use firewire, not USB. At least until USB 3.0 is out and widely supported. |
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| DJ RANN |
You don't necessarily need bus power with FW or USB interfaces, but some FW interefaces, in certain circumstances will fry themselves or the FW bridge if yanked out when bus poering the device.
I've also seen it with USB but it's far far rarer.
I can heartily recommend Echo interfaces and am the extremely pleased owner of the Audiofire 4. All the echo cards, with exception to the AF2, do not seem to suffer from the FW frying issue when only buss powered.
Motu are good (and suffer far less FW issues) even if they are a little overpriced for the quality but do offer good connectivity and stability.
Forget M-audio as you might a well stick with onbaord sound these days. EMU are just as and I've seen one EMU PCI card actually catch fire in a PC. Edirol are a bit crap too.
RME however are outstanding if you've got the coin.
If you're on a budget, then go Echo, otherwise pony up and get a motu or RME.
USB 3 should be a good option but everyone is taking their sweet time implementing it. |
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| TranceLover007 |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
I hear this "firewire compatibility" talk every other week, usually with the same recommendation ("use a TI chip").
I've never seen any hard evidence to support it.
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Me and my 2 years old HP laptop. Tried few different Firewire card and got 50/50 chance of properly boot system to work. Finlay end up to buy PCM card with IT chip-set which fixed my problem completely.
@DJ RANN --> great suggestions for sound cards.
Cheers |
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| Kris G |
| 'Cheap' and Sony... hmm. I'd suggest just go with a Dell dude. |
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| Storyteller |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
I hear this "firewire compatibility" talk every other week, usually with the same recommendation ("use a TI chip").
I've never seen any hard evidence to support it.
I think there may have been problems years ago. Say, 3 or 4 years ago. If you're buying a new computer or a new audio device, I would be very surprised if you run into firewire compatibility issues. All of the compatibility talk seems to revolve around a small handful of anecdotes published online some years ago.
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I had it about a year ago when I bought a Focusrite Liquid Mix (price drop of the pound made it worth it hehe). I had to buy a firewire card because I only have one firewire connection on my motherboard which was already in use. It didn't work on the first (Belkin) firewire interface I bought but it did on the second which had the TI chipset (can't be bothered to open pc and look which brand it is now).
Also, on Windows 7 you might need to downgrade the firewire drivers back to the legacy ones in order for some gear to work properly (i.e. the Liquid Mix). |
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| kitphillips |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lunar Phase 7
It's a dual core, it lacks the turbo boost the i5's and i7's have, but I'm sure it still supports hyper threading.
That processor also outspecs the core 2 duos used in the mac books and low end macbook pros too (before the new line came out)
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Its an ok solution as a CPU, but the problem with your idea is that it's also handling the graphics, meaning that the RAM is going to get stolen by graphics processes. This has implications for RAM access times as well. Also, the L3 cache is a bit small...
HD is miniscule as well, if your planning on DJing with it, I'd be looking at more like a 500gig HD, or your music collection sucks.
Buy one of these instead, its not that much more expensive and it'll actually do the job right.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16834220702
PS
Your a knob if you don't use external sound.
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RANN
You don't necessarily need bus power with FW or USB interfaces, but some FW interefaces, in certain circumstances will fry themselves or the FW bridge if yanked out when bus poering the device.
I've also seen it with USB but it's far far rarer.
I can heartily recommend Echo interfaces and am the extremely pleased owner of the Audiofire 4. All the echo cards, with exception to the AF2, do not seem to suffer from the FW frying issue when only buss powered.
Motu are good (and suffer far less FW issues) even if they are a little overpriced for the quality but do offer good connectivity and stability.
Forget M-audio as you might a well stick with onbaord sound these days. EMU are just as and I've seen one EMU PCI card actually catch fire in a PC. Edirol are a bit crap too.
RME however are outstanding if you've got the coin.
If you're on a budget, then go Echo, otherwise pony up and get a motu or RME.
USB 3 should be a good option but everyone is taking their sweet time implementing it. |
+1000
Although RME is a big step up from a MOTU. |
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| user19503 |
13" Macbook Pro
Echo Audiofire 4
Logic or Ableton
all u need right there (thats my setup atm). |
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| Lunar Phase 7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by user19503
13" Macbook Pro
Echo Audiofire 4
Logic or Ableton
all u need right there (thats my setup atm). |
Fantastic if is had 1500 to blow. But I don't.
Thanks for feedback so far guys.
I thought this sony would be good since the processor out performs pretty much all core 2 duos and the RAM isn't bad.
I am getting by on 80 gig hard drive for the past 5 years so 320 would be a mountain for me.
The big worry for me is the graphics now.
Not that I'll ever game on it, just worried how much will be eaten into processor and ram with basic graphics.
Additionally I assumed albeit perhaps wrongly that a cheap sony would be a better build and engineered product than cheap hp/acer, etc.
Plus that keyboard and touch pad look really nice to work on. |
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| Kevy Kev |
| Build a hackintosh. Quite a few laptops will take OSX with minimal work these days as long as the hardware is compatible (Intel) |
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| meriter |
| you people are nuts, I'm still making tracks on my G4 from 10 years ago. |
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