Laptop DAW- $1500 budget.

autumnleaves · Post by **autumnleaves** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:05 am

Hi everyone,

Would like to get a PC laptop for music, can anyone please make any recommendations of what to get that would fit into a budget of about $1500? (Not really used to Mac's, so would like to stick with PC). I'd probably need a Core2Duo or AMD equivalent right? 2 GIG ram?

Also, who here uses a laptop as their main DAW and who uses a desktop? Would also appreciate any recommendations for desktops, but perhaps in a lower price range, under $1000.

Cheers

ATP · Post by **ATP** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:21 am

I got me a Dell Inspiron not long ago and haven't had a problem yet. But having said that although cheaper, if you're going to use firewire, the interface is rubbish!!!

SpinVector · Post by **SpinVector** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:14 pm

I'm looking at a toshiba as my performance laptop. Going to keep my desktop for writing beats. I want to spend about 1.5k too.

If you havn't got an audio interface I recommend buying one with the lappy. Laptop sound cards are generally not up to the biznez. Dell and Hp have had troubles with their firewire chips not being compatible with certain AI's. (like the motu brand)

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:15 pm

Best to get a Texas Instruments FireWire card if possible.

konk · Post by **konk** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:41 pm

does this include soundcard?

Go on ebay they have c2d 7200's goin for 1500 all the time. Even lower

spiral · Post by **spiral** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:58 pm

I use 17" powerbook never had any trouble with it.
Drop into Outpost and have a look at what people are running, there is a good mix of mac and pc and mac's with windows

resist · Post by **resist** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:23 pm

Plenty of people are using Macbooks. Personally I find Mac than PC for audio, and I don't seem to be alone, according 99% of live shows I see.

Its 100 bucks over your budget though, for the cheapest model... and if I was using it for a DAW I would grab some extra ram for it. Might end up being too much $$$...

autumnleaves · Post by **autumnleaves** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:49 pm

Thanks all. I have indeed heard about problems with certain firewire cards, I was actually thinking of either buying a Presonus Firepod or a MOTU 8pre audio interface(both have 8 preamps, which I might need eventually if I wanted to mic up some drums), and I've heard, as Direktor said, that TI cards are the best. So the onboard sound card isn't really a factor, but the firewire is..

Spinvector: is there a specific reason you're keeping the two separate (ie. not using the lappy for writing beats aswell)? I'm just curious to see if there is any disadvantage to using a lappy as main DAW.

Spiral: What is outpost?

Resist: Yeah you're right, alot of people I know and have seen play use Mac's, but I've read that PC's can be just as good. I wouldn't be completely adverse to getting a Mac, but just not very familiar with them and probably out of my $ bracket (stretching it as it is with good audio interface and a new computer)

spiral · Post by **spiral** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:23 pm

autumnleaves wrote:T

Spiral: What is outpost?

outpost is a monthly live laptop jam at horse bazaar
http://shareoutpost.org/

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:24 pm

if you aregoing with presonus, make sure your firewire interface isnt shareing its IRQ with lots of other things, like graphics card for exmaple.

Post by **huge** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 2:27 pm

this looks good.

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/duet.php

Lephrenic · Post by **Lephrenic** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 6:37 pm

huge wrote:this looks good.

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/duet.php

Oh lordy. That looks great! Apogee make the best stuff.

Post by **JAMESSSS** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:19 am

So pretty!

SoulWhiteMan · Post by **SoulWhiteMan** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:38 pm

Special Hegg wrote:
huge wrote:this looks good.

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/duet.php
Oh lordy. That looks great! Apogee make the best stuff.

damn straight!!!!