Hi
I've been using a Siemens Celsius laptop PIII 850, 2x 30 GB HD, 756 RAM for 6 months. RME digiface with PMCIAcard. Currently remixing an album, and it's been working like a dream so far.
Make sure to use the latest version 1.5.3, as I had some really frustrating moments when I was zooming in really close and trying to "nudge" the events. They all went to zero and it drove me nuts. If you can live with a little submixing, avoid CPU heavy plugins in real time, you will definetly survive. Make sure to make a separate partition on your HD for waw.files. i've been using the PerfectDisk defragmenter, it's really worth the price. Windows defrag doesn't work very well IMHO. The Digiface is really something SPDIF/3 ADAT in/outs, 2 midi in/out, an headphone/line- and wordclock ! In a half-racksize unit...A friend of mine also uses Multiface, same thing with 8 analog inputs/1 ADAT in/out. 1,5 ms latency with no load on your CPU !
Make sure to turn of "copy file to working directory"(file/preferences-menu) when importing files into the project. Otherwise you'll end up with a crammed HD pretty fast. I use the Siemens traveller 4x USBburner for backup. One word about file names. I've been using this "formula" and it works great for me: project-songname-instr-take/part/version/-bpm ex:k-nb-git1-4bars89-120 This means: Project:Kovenant-Song:Night of the blackwinds-guitar nr.1-4 bars starting in bar 89 at 120 bpm. (Anyone with better formulas please advice). This makes it easy to locate any file using the search function in explorer-great for back up. I'm not too happy about the Nuendo EQs in the high end, wawes etc. are better -but CPU heavy... I was recently adding a track to a CD that was originally recorded on ADAT , transferred to 2" through an AMEK console. Had a hard time matching it in the low end, -held back- and let the mastering guy add the highs. These are my experiences so far. But it works, and I'm happy with it. just waiting for version 2.0 !!
BTW the manual sucks. I came from ADATS and EMU Darwin HD and it drove me nuts the the first two months. Lets hope the new one will be better.
Last thing. use external keyboard, the key commands are way better this way-mumerical pad etc.

Cheers

Numerical pad. Well.. Just wanted to say that I used the Digiface for 16 track recording and it worked great. Allow DMA in your computer, and it's up to the speed of the HD and your RAM I guess. Plug and pray...

again

First..a Compaq is a no no..Compaq's are notorious for bad components that dont bode well with certain audio interfaces..
Second...dont use your main drive for audio files..partitioning does NOT make it two physical drives...just one drive working it's ass off..get yourself an external firewire or SCSI drive for better performance.
Laptops can and will work as long as it's configured properly for audio recording and mixing...
The RME stuff is great indeed..very portable and very flexible especially for laptops..One thing to note is that the HDSP interface can not use all three lightpipe and the SPDIF all at the same time when in 96Khz S/Mux mode..but I highly doubt you will be doing that on a laptop :D
One of the better laptops are the Sony Vaio brands..extremely fast and powerful indeed.
What Bjorne said is correct..DMA and an external keyboard and a mouse for faster operations..
naming of files isnt absolutely neccessary but more for orginizational skills and archiving purposes...
So..in the long run your answer is YES! Dont be ashamed by saying a studio on a laptop..several people do it that way these days!
Opus

So Opus,

What I hear you saying is: A laptop is fine, just not my laptop. Therein lies the problem... :(

Yes..basically..talk to anyone on these forums about Compaq and they will tell you the same thing..great for internet machines and that's it...
Opus

Thanks Opus,

I understand you have a great formula for building a DAW somewhere in this DAWworld format. Where would I find that?

Peruse the Computing section up above and you'll find a ton of info there...also in the Digital Cafe as well..
I'm about to venture on the FAQ building of all the posts done here to help find things easier..this will of course take a bit o time so no projected date as of yet..
If you look in the Computing section I do have three posts on Building a DAW system..Step One thru Three...
Opus

Yopus (That's a contraction of "Yo, Opus") Now that I'm almost thru flogging the can of worms known as the main part of the 'puter, here's a Q fer U - "One thing to note is that the HDSP interface can not use all three lightpipe and the SPDIF all at the same time when in 96Khz S/Mux mode.." I got a DM-24 and need to interface it (kinky, huh?) with the dAW at 24/96, and right now it looks like the only way to do that is with the RME ADI-8DD converting 2 of the 3 TDIF's to S-mux lightpipe, into a Digiface then into the PCI card. I would like to keep the option open for a second DM-24, at which time I would add 2 more ADI-8's and one more Digiface for a total of 24 tracks @ 24/'96 or 48 tracks at 44/48k. I don't remember seeing anything about not being able to use all the ADAT conn's on the RME at once, so puhleeeze tell me that ain't true as long as you don't give squattee-poo-poo about the "Spud-If"...

Not tryin' to "harp" on this, just need to "seal" the deal, "baby"... "Ice" done "fur" now... Steve

Was right there when we discovered it...we had the three light pipe ports hooked up and tried to get clock from the SPDIF as well and nothing...we switched to the 9652 card and it worked..
I later tries it at work and whadda ya know..same ting! Yo!
So I see that the HDSP box cant do that..oh so sohhy grasshoppah :D
Unless the new version driver they have fixes that but I doubt it..the new driver fixed the Midi problems they were having..
So It's best to go with the 9652 card to be honest..ya know..have you looked at the Apogee AD-16 and DA-16 yet? I think you should Steve....

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/prod_ad16.html

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/prod_da16.html
Also...everyone should check this out......

http://www.NativeTools.com

Take a look at em...I think they'll be exactly what you need dude!
Opus

Randall
Before you buy Nuendo, call Steinberg's customer service. Time your call. Remember! that is where you will get 'authoritative' help.
Last year, I had a piece of their software that was faulty (on diskette). I was on the phone for an hour (my charge) just to get an RMA number. Everyone likes to sell software, so sales folks are reluctant to badmouth a company. However, I've yet to get a recommendation for them from any salesmen I've dealt with. Steinberg does not get my recommendation or business.
Download ProTools Free and have some fun.

Hey Opus - my question (veiled as it was in "Stev-ese) was whether you could use the 3 adats simultaneously (you can, right?) I DFC about the spdif, I will be using a Nanosync to drive everything with WC 99% of the time. This RME shit is like hot dogs and buns - you can't get the same number of each without buyin' 3 of one and 2 of another. All I want is 3 TDIF's with 96k s-mux directly into a freakin' PCI card. One for each DM-24, and yer smokin' - why is that so fucking difficult? Or expensive? You know there's gonna be a million of those boards out there soon, they're so cheap they're worth it just for the control surface, price the Logic control if you doubt it.

Thanks for the Apogee link, I think I looked already, but I'll check... Steve

Opus,

Thanks for the guidance. I will be browsing the forums that you have talked about here. I am grateful to have such an opportunity.

B.

Hey! B Randall Carter!

ProTools free is available at http://www.digidesign.com.