New Notebook

[Coul10]

Howdy Everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a new notebook computer. My notebook that I have now kind of lags and pops when I'm trying to record. Even the click on the drummer goes out of time. Just for a second but it screws up everything. Is there an affordable notebook that anyone knows about that I can record on without these problems?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Bill Coulten

[scott]

Whatever you get Bill, make sure it has as much memory as possible.

[Coul10]

Hey Scott!

Is that the most important thing to look out for? Is there any particular
brand that is good for what we do?

[pooterpatty]

Brand isn't important, but you want to look for something that has lots of memory (RAM) and a fast CPU. You'll want at least 1GB of RAM to run Riffworks (2GB or more is preferable).

[Wedgebill]

With the speed you play at I reckon you need 2500 GB of RAM Bill

[Coul10]

Do any of you guys use a notebook now to record anything?

[Muddhole]

Howdy Everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a new notebook computer. My notebook that I have now kind of lags and pops when I'm trying to record. Even the click on the drummer goes out of time. Just for a second but it screws up everything. Is there an affordable notebook that anyone knows about that I can record on without these problems?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Bill Coulten

Gosh, when you say "affordable" then it's those types of machines that cut corners to keep costs down resulting in slower computers speed-wise. Factors to consider are; CPU speed (L1 cache), RAM speed, Bus speed, hard drive speed. I mention CPU with L1 cache because the faster the writeback speed of the L1 cache then the faster the CPU will process information. You may find PC's (notebooks) that seem to have the same CPU speed, but one may not be using L1 cache resulting in the CPU having to use the onboard RAM which is a lot slower resulting in slower speeds.

You might want to get a glance at RAM speed too. See how fast the motherboard of the notebook your looking at can handle speed wise. Hopefully it will be in the 800MHz range or some where abouts.

Bus speed is how fast the data can move between components on the motherboard. I wouldn't put to much thought into this.

Hard drive speed at most for a notebook will be 7200 RPM.

Seeing you may be on a bit of a budget, I would start with the CPU and if it has L1 cache and how much and is it writeback or writethrough technology. Hopefully it's writeback so it won't be dependent on the on board RAM. Next, do what the others have stated. Get the most RAM that notebook can handle. More is better when it comes to RAM, but you should be ok with about 2GG, but 4GB would be better. Off the top of my head I know some operating systems don't see over 4GB of RAM, I know of Server OS's seeing up to 8GB and 16GB but that doesn't concern you so.

32bit versions
Due to the limited addressing space, 32bit versions can only support up to 4GB of RAM.

64bit versions
Because of the extra 32bits, 64bit versions are able to support much more. See below;
128GB: Ultimate, Enterprise, Business SKUs
16GB: Home Premium
8GB: Home Basic

Something I grabbed on the internet real quick. Not sure how dependable the info above is though. So to be safe you can go 4GB and that should be plenty for you.

What to look for:

CPU w/ L1 Cache writeback
RAM 4GB fastest speed the mother board can handle (800MHz and up).
Hard Drive: 7200 RPM

[scott]

Hey Scott!

Is that the most important thing to look out for? Is there any particular
brand that is good for what we do?

I'd say 2Gb minimum and 4Gb if you can afford it. Oh, and apparently a fast hard drive is beneficial (7,200 rpm).

I know some guys on here advocate the DIY approach to building a machine from the best parts, i.e. no branding

Personally, I don't have the time or inclination to source bits here and there - nor do I have the 'know-how' to put it all together. Ultimately, I've always used DELL and have had no issues whatsoever. They've been rock solid.
In a previous job, I was in charge of equipping every school in an authority with computer hardware. DELL won the contract and, other than the usual DOA machine, the machines handled the abuse that the kids threw at them. That's what swayed me to go for a DELL of my own.
I've got two towers and a laptop and they all work fine. Not one issue between either of them.

I'm sure you'll get someone to disagree but I'm only giving my experience. I'm sure, whatever you go for, you'll do the research and choose what's best for you and your bank balance.

Looking forward to getting you back onboard and shredding some tunes. We never did get that Frehley track RiffLinked!

[pooterpatty]

Bill, it would help if we knew what your budget was. I know you're probably going for "as inexpensive as possible", but having a realistic figure in your head before you go shopping can keep you out of trouble later. If you can provide that number we might be able to suggest a specific machine.

[Muddhole]

You should check www.woot.com everyday. They have really good deals but sell out quick.

[atalwar]

if i might ask what is your current notebook config?
and your usual recording setup (the plugins etc)? podfarm, amplitube??revalver??
amplitube and the likes are bit high on cpu,
podfarm is high on memory and so is RW (graphic resources). Do you use any other DAW other than RW?.

with todays standards and plugins , 2g ram is the bare minimum, 4G or more recommended so that the os does not keep offloading stuff to your hard drive cache.

also a core 2 duo is highly recommended to a dual core (a celeron is a big NO).

other than that muddhole and others have put in already the essentials to look out for.

if given the choice 5400 rpm -> 7200 RPM on HDD or additional 2 GB more additional Ram for same price (considering you already got 4G.i would opt for ram and disable most of the caching in OS for realtime performance).

Dell has some decent notebooks under $1k Range (i.e if that is your budget). ASUS/lenovo/sony and others may also have similar systems specs with more bang for buck.

Sometimes they install may other features and goodies that steal CPU and power etc so keep that in mind too.

[solone1]

Do any of you guys use a notebook now to record anything?

I have 2 copies of RW - both running on Dell notebooks. Absolutely no problems whatsoever with either.

xps m1210 - core 2 duo 2.00 gig with xp pro and 3.3 gigs of memory (has 4 gigs of mem - but xp pro will never ever report the full 4 due to technical reasons). This is one awesome notebook and it extremely fast on it's feet.

http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/notebooks/xpsnb_m1210/pd.aspx?refid=xpsnb_m1210&cs=22&s=dfh

the other is an Inspiron e1405. Core 2 duo 1.6 with 4 gig of memory and xp pro.

I have the upgraded 7200 rpm drives and use Corsair fast memory in both. This helps but the stock 5400 rpm and dell memory will work fine too.

http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/notebooks/inspn_e1405/pd.aspx?refid=inspn_e1405&cs=22&s=dfh

I buy dells (only dells) and add the 3 year onsite or next biz day warranty. I can attest to the dell product line / especially the servers and notebooks.

If you're interested you can check out a scratch and dent or refurb notebook direct from Dell Outlet (a link at the main dell.com site) - HUGE savings over new or maybe get a notebook that is already upgraded to the max (IG: 256MB Video card etc.). Many corps buy their products this way since they carry the same as new warranty and can be upgraded even..

AND.... Don't buy a PC from craigslist unless you are a technical type.

All the best,

[JouniL]

I just got my new MacBook Pro with Core Duo 2.66GHz, 4 GB RAM, 500GB HD, USB 2 and FireWire 800. 15.4 inch screen.

My first Mac and by far the best computer I have ever owned. RW works fine on it. Using it with an external M-Audio Profire 610 (firewire) audio interface.

If you can afford it, by a Mac.

[Coul10]

Wow! You guys are the best! Thanks for all of your input.

[beauzeau]

Yup, get a mac if you can swing it. For ANYTHING mission critical, mac is the way to go. I'm still on a pc myself, as they're much cheaper, and you can piece them together yourself if so inclined.

Don't know what to tell you about Operating systems though. I'm still on XP, and with everything I've heard about Vista, I'm not ready to make the switch. I hear it's bloated and takes a lot of resources to run. But whatever operating system you get, you owe it to yourself to check out the Phenom CPUs. I heard they were great.

You don't need 64 bit for your applications. 32 bit is just fine.

Honestly, the biggest factor to me has always been the ASIO device. I was able to run riffworks sucessfully on an older Dell C640 laptop. It probably would have sounded like hell had I tried to use the on-board sound card though. But using the pod as the ASIO device, I've never really had much trouble running it on anything. I even went and bought a hundred dollar soundcard a year or so ago, and tried using it instead of the pod, I got lag and it sounded aweful.