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i wanna get a laptop as a desktop replacement to run Pro Tools 002 rack. any suggestions? i dont really know laptops that well... :?
please help...

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iznogood Fri, 11/19/2004 - 13:17

go for the 1.5GHz powerbook 15 inch with 2 gigs of ram and an external HD

i think the 17 inch is too big for the road

but beware!! in about ten seconds this place will be crawling with PC guys telling you to buy such a "thing"

but none of them will tell you that digidesign's thing in general doesn't work that great with PC's...

Randyman... Fri, 11/19/2004 - 18:25

I'm looking into Laptops for portable recording as well (not with PT - I'll be using Nuendo 2.0 and RME's FireFace and AID-8 Pro).

I have heard that HP's and Compaq's are not recommended for pro-audio use.

I'm looking at the Toshiba P30 and A75, along with the Dell Inspiron 5160. I am still doing my research, but I plan on spending close to $2000 for what I want (2.8GHz P4 Mobile minimum, and 1Gig RAM). Sony's Vaio is another good one (I think ;) )

Anyone else have some good suggestions for audio use?

:cool:

anonymous Sat, 11/20/2004 - 14:24

If you're looking for a laptop specifically for the Digi 002 Rack, you should look at Digidesign's compatibility requirements [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.digidesi…"]here[/]="http://www.digidesi…"]here[/]. They recommend specifically the Dell Inspiron 8500 and 600m, the Gateway 400 series, the Toshiba Satellite 1900 series and the IBM A and T series, along with some more general compatibility guidelines.

-Duardo

John Stafford Sat, 11/20/2004 - 23:37

From my experience, the after sales service on a laptop should be a very high priority. I bought a Dell Latitude as it came with a three-year onsite guarantee. They had to replace the motherboard as it couldn't recognise the bluetooth card (not that I've ever used it much). My point though, is that there was practically no downtime. At least with desktop you can mess around with it when things go wrong.

BTW I use Sonar and Project5. Next purchase is Melodyne. I know laptop hard disks are slower (mine is a lowly 4500 rpm), but I've run 24 channels at 96kHz/24-bit without a problem. Don't know if things will be the same with your Digi 002 system though.

John Stafford

John Stafford Sun, 11/21/2004 - 22:09

Shazee,
While the advantages of a laptop are obvious, if you've got lots of other gear to drag around with it, your whole setup is going to be cumbersome anyway, so adding a desktop to your rig might not be so much of a disadvantage as it seems, especially if you are already carrying lots of heavy preamps, mics, and stands.

I don't know whether you should go with AMD or Intel, but you should be very careful that the various other bits of your computer are known to work well with your outboard gear -as Duardo has pointed out. These issues can be an endless source of frustration, but at least with a desktop you can rip bits out and replace them at minimal cost.

Regards,
John Stafford