Best Laptops for Pro Tools LE

[lolasia]

Thanks again for the info. By the way, (excuse the tech-ignorance again!) what's all the talk about buffer settings? Is this a buffer for the hard drive or something else? Why does it seem to be so important to everyone (I mean, if it works at one setting, why is there a push to get it to work at other settings?)?

[tapani]

My experience was the same. I expected that adding an external firewire 7200rpm Hard Drive to the single internal 4200rpm would make things even better.

No difference in the DaveC, or anything else either. I am not disappointed because I use the second disk for backups. It thus seems that, with XP at least, it is no big deal to have the audio files on the same drive as the system. The strict two hard drive recommendation seems to be a carry on from systems past.

Acer 1.5 Centrino Travelmate 662 laptop
32+10 DaveC

[RBaker]

Thanks again for the info. By the way, (excuse the tech-ignorance again!) what's all the talk about buffer settings? Is this a buffer for the hard drive or something else? Why does it seem to be so important to everyone (I mean, if it works at one setting, why is there a push to get it to work at other settings?)?

The buffer basically determines how long it takes the computer to process the information and play it back. The reason it is so important is because of latency.

I'm not sure how much you know about latency so I'll try to break it down as best as I can.

Lets say you want to track some gtr overdubs. You put on headphones and you hit a chord...if you have it on a high buffer setting, there will be a delay from the time you hit the chord until the time you hear it in your headphones. This is because the larger buffer allows the computer more time to process what you're playing.

Nobody likes latency so why would there be large buffer settings? When you're tracking (and monitoring through protools) you want no latency. BUT protools won't perform as well because you're asking the computer to process everything almost instantly. On the other hand, when you're mixing it doesn't matter if it's TOTALLY real time or not....and with larger buffers/higher latency, you can generally get more plugins out of your system (which is important while mixing)

SO the most common practice is: low buffers while tracking, high buffers while mixing.

There are several ways around latency aside from buffers. Some if this will depend on what pt hardware you have. digi002 & digi 001 have something called "low latency monitoring mode" If you use that there will be virtually no latency no matter what buffer you use, but it will disable any aux inputs and it will disable plugins on any record enabled tracks. It also disables any sends on the record enabled tracks. This is especially a bummer if you want to track guitar raw and use a plugin for amp sounds---you basically have to listen to raw guitar and nobody likes to do that. It also sucks because of the aux sends---you can't route the audio to multiple locations (like giving diff musicians their own cue mix, or tracking vocals with a bit of verb) A lot of people debate the importance of that, but personally I'd like to have the ability regardless of whether I use it. I always here "bad singers don't deserve reverb" or "tell the musicians to deal with having one mix" I just don't agree with these statements. (my gripe is that if I'm in the control room I'd like to hear just a bit of click and the drummer also needs it...but wants it so loud his ears bleed. If you give him a seperate mix you can adjust your own mix to your liking)

With the mbox there is no low latency monitoring but there is a knob on it that allows you to adjust how much direct signal mixes with pre recorded signal. I've never used an mbox so I can't tell you how well it works.

The other option is if you have a console or small mixer you can do all of the monitoring through that and it allows you to get around the latency problem.

If I could get all of my systems to where I'd never need to change the bugger from 128 I'd be stoked. I can usually do this on my desktop but not on my laptop.

[Allen Hallada]

Ed,
I think we can all learn something here from your latest posts with the E-Machines 6810 setup. This reminds me of all the problems we ran into when we first started using AMD systems with PTLE and how important it was to shut off any devices that we didn't need for the recording process. Things like USB and onboard audio do suck alot of energy from the system and cause internal conflicts with PTLE. Just wanted to repost this again so others can see. Thanks and Congrats!

Allen


Posted By EDurney:

I have 2 operating systems installed in my Laptop (emachines 6810)and 3 hard drive partitions, The WinXp Home partition has everything installed, like mail programs, internet browsers, office, etc. and every device of the laptop enabled. The WinXp Pro partition has only Pro Tools and other audio programs installed (Ableton Live, Reason, soundforge,etc.). The secret to have Pro tools and the Digi002R without a hitch (In my case) with this Laptop is to have the internal firewire port with i`ts own IRQ (IRQ 10) and the onboard audio device, modem and 2 usb 2.0 ports disabled . I use just 2 usb ports (the emachines has 4 usb 2.0 ports as you can see) mouse and a usb keyboard connected to those ports.I work with very "Charged" sessions i.e 32 audio tracks, 3 or 4 sampletank instruments, 3 or 4 reason instruments and a lot of plug ins including reverbs, delays,etc. and the laptop works fine and bounces fine .

he trick to do that (work at 64 or 128) is to place your Firewire port in it's own Irq, to do that you need to Change your computer setting under the device manager to Standard Pc, you can do that right clicking on My Computer, choose properties, choose the
hardware tab, then device manager and finally click on "computer" and then
update the ACPI driver and choose Standard PC.

After doing that all your notebook drivers will be installed again. then
disabled the onboard audio of your computer (the onboard audio device (realtek) shares the same IRQ with your Digi 002R, IRQ 10)


Eduardo Durney
emachines 6810
Digi002R
32+18 at 128 ....yes at 128!!

[rseely]

Hello
My window was broken out of my truck and my eMachines M6811 was taken.
I just ordered through a freind that works at HP the notebook bellow.
I already own a Maxter 7200 Fire Wire 250G drive and will pick up 1 G of SDRAM to add to this setup. So has anyone used this system? Does anyone see any problems with this system for M-Box? ray

1 HP Pavilion zv5000z series customizable Notebook PC
- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Professional with SP2
- AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3700+ (2.40 GHz)
- 15.4" WVA WUXGA (1920x1200)
- 64MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(TM) 4 440 Go +1394 & 5-in-1
- 256MB DDR SDRAM (1x256MB)
- 40 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
- 4X DVD +/- RW/R & CD-RW Combo
- 54g(TM) Integ. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth
- Microsoft(R) Office 2003 SBE
- 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- hpshopping in-box envelope EPP_HP_DP523AV $1,692.24 $1,692.24


1 Norton Anti-Virus Software 2004 PD865A $34.99 $34.99



subtotal $1,727.23


shipping FREE

tax $0.00



grand total $1,727.23

[dizzyzuma]

I don't know what problems Digi has with not supporting SP2 so that would be my first concern. Otherwise you're just going to have to load it all up and give it a shot! The hardware on your laptop SOUNDS good on paper though.

Good Luck.

[hilliard]

Well, well, well....shame on me!

So I go to BestBuy to check the emachines m6811 price the other day.....the lowest I've seen it yet...$1350 (1600 - 250 rebates)....sweet!

I'm just about ready to get one....paying off that old credit card, ya'know?

So I ask the saleman about the rebates...does he think it will get any better than it is, etc.

He mumbles something about "clearance", goes to check on it, comes back and tells me that they are all sold out. He checks a few other locations, and tells me that nobody has any left. Dicontinued, sold out, N/A!!!!!

So I get home and check their website....the link is no longer there for the m6811....damn!

Looks like I waited too long for this one. Anybody know a good place to look (besides ebay) for this puppy? I have skimmed thru buy.com, froogle, etc....no luck...every link says discontinued, out-of-stock.

The guys at BestBuy tell me that the new model will most likely be there soon, but what will it be? How much? What will be new/different? Will it be compatible with mBox/LE?

Anybody else running into the empty stock on m6811's?

Any word on the m6812 (or whatever it might be named)?

BTW, it has me so frustrated, that I've spent the whole afternnon at the apple website, and looking around at Powerbook G4's!

So in a weird turnaround...what do ya'll think about the emachines m6811 vs a Powerbook G4 (not sure which version I'd get, as they're so damn pricey!...I guess I'd try to keep it close spec-wise to the 6811, but also keep an eye on the price)?

AAAAARGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

[rseely]

You can start calling pawn shops around the Houston area. You may find my 2 month old eMachine and it will already have the Protools Bundle loaded. It will also have the Waves Gold bundle loaded. Last week was not good for me! ray

Well, well, well....shame on me!

So I go to BestBuy to check the emachines m6811 price the other day.....the lowest I've seen it yet...$1350 (1600 - 250 rebates)....sweet!

I'm just about ready to get one....paying off that old credit card, ya'know?

So I ask the saleman about the rebates...does he think it will get any better than it is, etc.

He mumbles something about "clearance", goes to check on it, comes back and tells me that they are all sold out. He checks a few other locations, and tells me that nobody has any left. Dicontinued, sold out, N/A!!!!!

So I get home and check their website....the link is no longer there for the m6811....damn!

Looks like I waited too long for this one. Anybody know a good place to look (besides ebay) for this puppy? I have skimmed thru buy.com, froogle, etc....no luck...every link says discontinued, out-of-stock.

The guys at BestBuy tell me that the new model will most likely be there soon, but what will it be? How much? What will be new/different? Will it be compatible with mBox/LE?

Anybody else running into the empty stock on m6811's?

Any word on the m6812 (or whatever it might be named)?

BTW, it has me so frustrated, that I've spent the whole afternnon at the apple website, and looking around at Powerbook G4's!

So in a weird turnaround...what do ya'll think about the emachines m6811 vs a Powerbook G4 (not sure which version I'd get, as they're so damn pricey!...I guess I'd try to keep it close spec-wise to the 6811, but also keep an eye on the price)?

AAAAARGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

[Allen Hallada]

Well, well, well....shame on me!

So I go to BestBuy to check the emachines m6811 price the other day.....the lowest I've seen it yet...$1350 (1600 - 250 rebates)....sweet!

I'm just about ready to get one....paying off that old credit card, ya'know?

So I ask the saleman about the rebates...does he think it will get any better than it is, etc.

He mumbles something about "clearance", goes to check on it, comes back and tells me that they are all sold out. He checks a few other locations, and tells me that nobody has any left. Dicontinued, sold out, N/A!!!!!

So I get home and check their website....the link is no longer there for the m6811....damn!

Looks like I waited too long for this one. Anybody know a good place to look (besides ebay) for this puppy? I have skimmed thru buy.com, froogle, etc....no luck...every link says discontinued, out-of-stock.

The guys at BestBuy tell me that the new model will most likely be there soon, but what will it be? How much? What will be new/different? Will it be compatible with mBox/LE?

Anybody else running into the empty stock on m6811's?

Any word on the m6812 (or whatever it might be named)?

BTW, it has me so frustrated, that I've spent the whole afternnon at the apple website, and looking around at Powerbook G4's!

So in a weird turnaround...what do ya'll think about the emachines m6811 vs a Powerbook G4 (not sure which version I'd get, as they're so damn pricey!...I guess I'd try to keep it close spec-wise to the 6811, but also keep an eye on the price)?

AAAAARGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

If you just want something for tracking the new Powerbooks work well. They work fine for mixing small sessions but they are going to choke if you are planning on mixing large sessions with alot of plugins. Most people use the Powerbooks for tracking live performances then mix in the studio on a desktop. Interesting thing is they will record for hours at low buffer settings using the built in internal drive. Rumor has it they are integrating a dual channel AMD chip in the new Powerbooks that will run in the 2Ghz range. News should be out in the next two weeks. I wouldn't buy anything less than a 1.5 Ghz at this time. I think they are the best built laptops on the market now, but they don't compare in processing power to the PCs yet. The Athlon 64 laptops are king of the hill at this time for processing power. With PTLE the Athlon 64 3200 and higher laptops outperform even the dual G5s yet. It all depends on your purpose and what you want here.
Allen

[hilliard]

Cool, thanx for the feedback.

Well BestBuy has a floor model m6810 (which is the 3200, right?), that they will only sell if I get the 3 year service plan (they will know that down $75...so $175 for 3 years coverage). Something to do with, they are planning to ship it back to the company, since they will lose money on it otherwise....whatever.

It actually wasn't "on the floor"...it was down in a locked-up cage beneath the laptop display counter. I just happened to notice it, since there was an m6811 box down there that caught my eye (it is already purchased...waiting for customer pickup).

It's $1400 minus the $250 rebate (that ends tomorrow 10/16). So I'd get it for $1150, and then add the $175 for the 3 year protection plan.....not bad, right?

Is the only difference between the 6810 and the 6811, the 3200 vs 3400???, the 20 GB of hard drive space, and the DVD burner vs DVD reader on the drive side of things? Seems like I would end up going with an external HD at some point anyway, and maybe an external DVD burner if I found out that I really needed that functionality.

I'll search around here on the m6810, but can you comment on it, especially compared to the m6811, and again compared to a similar spec'd PowerBook G4?

The way I see it, I might have to pay $1000 more to go the PowerBook route, and maybe the emachines is still a better option for what I want to do. I plan on doing pretty basic/small recordings at home (tracking from a sequencer/modules/etc, and some vocals...dance/r&b/pop stuff). However, my partners all use the G4 (or some form of mac). I know they are compatible, as far as importing, etc (force pc/mac compatability, or whatever), but I kinda worry about how easier it might be if I do go the PowerBook route, in working with them. We hope to send stuff back and forth, adding overdubs, and sending them back to each other, since we are now living pretty far from each other, and the drive gets pretty crazy.

I got move on this tomorrow. I think they'll give me the 30 day return with no restocking fee (since it's actually not in-the-box, and it was a floor model. The salesman said he thought so...I'd have to make sure. That way, if for some reason, the PowerBook rears it's head again, or if I somehow find a 6811 in the next month, I could still return the 6810.

Am I making too much out of this decision? Is the 6810 just THE WAY I should go?

If you can give me some advice/opinion soon I'd really appreciate it. As I said, I gotta get it tomorrow, if I'm gonna do it.

Thanx.