What kind of computer?

[phatbazz]

Hi guys,

i know i already ask this question but computers evolve so fast....
What kind of computer should I use with ProTools I need many Extra Plugins....



I was thinking about "Dell XPS 700 fuses Core 2 Duo processing"
because i have a school discount on Dells
but if you know something better in a similar price range or cheaper..

[MDog]

I'm using a 2ghz MacBook laptop that works well with Pro Tools MP for WinXP. You need to start up under Bootcamp.

You'll get a Mac in the deal too.

[dillon99999]

if you want to run a lot of plugins without issues, i would suggest the following:

1. dual core CPU (Pentium D 805 or higher).
2. SATA II hard drive(s) for audio (if you get two of them, you can run them as a Raid-0 Stripped configuration (for better throughput) -
3. Minimum of 2GB RAM (PC4200/533/DDR2)
4. an IDE hard drive can be used for your system drive

4GB of RAM is much better, but RAM is expensive right now.

also (to keep it quiet) - consider getting things like:
1. fanless power supply
2. fanless cpu heatsink (scythe ninja)
3. fanless graphics card (ati x300).

i've heard some good things about mac mini's being used for recording with Pro Tools (and i heard they are quiet too).

hope this helps.

[phatbazz]

Yes that help me a lot ....
But i'm not good to make 1...and not familiar with that..and Mac too..
What about a brand like HP, Dell and the type ..., so when i go in the store and i told them "that and that.." (mainly they try to sell something else...and i dont need it..lol)
or buy online and make sure is all correct i hate wait few day then send back then wait again and back again...it's kinda stress full..

But thx for trying to help ..if i may ask more help ..please

Peace
Thierry

[spkguitar]

If you have to buy something "off the shelf" (which it sounds like you do), and you don't want to go MAC, then go for one that is specifically built for audio applications, like one from www.terradigitalaudio.com or one of the ones from Sweetwater.

Any other "off the shelf" computer will need to be configured correctly to run Pro Tools, both hardware and software, and if you are unfamiliar/uncomfortable building them, you will have the same troubles with the configuration.

[phatbazz]

Now i'm lost...

The problem is i got many Prg in PC and MAc sounds tempting...
But i dont know OX and the new intel in Mac....

I did work with old Atari ST 1040 when i was in europ..lol

Mac kinda work like that...

But now i check the link u give me i'm lost SPKguitar...

I love that one but is a MAC?...i mean really like it..is ok with PT?

here is the info:

Apple Mac Pro Quad 2.6GHz Features:

* Two 2GHz, 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 series processors
* Intel Core microarchitecture
* 4MB shared L2 cache per processor
* 128-bit SSE3 vector engine
* 64-bit data paths and registers
* Lower power optimization
* 1.33GHz, 64-bit dual independent frontside buses
* Memory
* 667MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM) memory
* Eight FB-DIMM slots on two memory riser cards (4 slots per card) supporting up to 16GB of main memory
* Up to 256-bit wide memory architecture
* Double-wide 16-lane PCI Express graphics slot with one of the following graphics cards installed:
* NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT with 256MB of GDDR2 SDRAM, one single-link DVI port, and one dual-link DVI port
* ATI Radeon X1900 XT with 512MB of GDDR3 SDRAM and two dual-link DVI ports
* NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 with 512MB of GDDR3 SDRAM, two dual-link DVI ports, and one stereo 3D port
* Multiple graphics card configurations including two, three, or four NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT cards
* 300W for up to four PCI Express graphics cards
* Support for up to eight displays(1)
* Support for digital resolutions up to 1920 by 1200 pixels; dual-link DVI ports support up to 2560 by 600 pixels
* Support for analog resultions up to 2048 by 1536 pixels
* DVI to VGA Adapter included
* Dual-display support for extended desktop and video mirroring modes
* Four independent 3Gb/s Serial ATA cable-free, direct attach hard drive bays; four internal hard drive carriers included
* Up to 2TB of internal storage
* Hard drive bay: 4
* 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s, 7200-rpm, 8MB cache
* 16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* Writes DVD-R discs at up to 16x speed
* Writes DVD+R DL discs at up to 6x speed
* Reads DVDs at up to 16x speed
* Writes CD-R and CD-RW discs at up to 24x speed
* Reads CDs at up to 32x speed
* One open optical drive bay for optional second SuperDrive
* Three open full-length PCI Express expansion slots
* Configurable bandwidth that mechanically supports 16-lane cards
* 300W combined max for all PCI Express slots
* Two FireWire 800 ports (one on front panel, one on back panel)
* Two FireWire 400 ports (one on front panel, one on back panel)
* Five USB 2.0 ports (two on front panel, three on back panel)
* Two USB 1.1 ports on included keyboard
* Front -panel headphone minijack and speakcer
* Optical digital audio input and output Toslink ports
* Analog stereo line-level input and output minijacks
* Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger (includes Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, QuickTime, iCal, and other software)
* iLife '06 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)
* Comic Life
* Omni Outliner
* Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive, iWork '06 (30-day trial), FileMaker Pro 8.5 trial
* Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse
* DVI to VGA Adapter
* USB Keyboard Extension Cable
* Install/restore DVDs
* Printed and electronic documentation



Thanx again...

[spkguitar]

If you have to buy something "off the shelf" (which it sounds like you do), and you don't want to go MAC, then go for one that is specifically built for audio applications, like one from www.terradigitalaudio.com or one of the ones from Sweetwater.

The first link I gave you are for PC's. That was the intention, as indicated by the red text there.

The second link was to the sweetwater computer page, which includes PCs and MACs.

[phatbazz]

Yes i know but i saw the mac with (2TB (yes, that's terabytes)) wawww

so i was kinda tinking..hmm why not or why?

But yes i saw the link...

And i love sweetwater...(but my recylcing is full of the old books of them..lol)

And i say not familiar but that's good ..thx SPKguitar...

Thanx

[dillon99999]

you could save a lot of money if you do some homework and shop for parts to put your own system together.

1. motherboard and cpu combination (Pentium D 805 with ABIT motherboard)
http://www.smksuperstore.com/catalog...m.asp?ID=14717
Price = $198.99

2. video card (get one on ebay) = ATI X300 (FANLESS = NO NOISE!)
http://search.ebay.com/ati-x300_W0QQfromZR40
Price = $20.00

3. 1GB RAM = 2 X 512MB
http://search.ebay.com/1GB-PC4200
http://www.pricewatch.com/memory/
http://www.pricewatch.com/memory/pc2...-533_512mb.htm
Price = ($45.79 X 2) ~ $90-$110

4. 1 System hard drive
http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_drives/eide_80.0gb.htm
Price = $35.00

5. 2 SATA II Hard Drives
http://search.ebay.com/search/search...igital+SATA+II
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Western-Digi...QQcmdZViewItem
Price = ($38.95 X 2) ~ $100

total cost for a system (you still would need to buy an m-audio interface and pro tools software):
$198.99 - barebones system
$ 20.00 - video card
$110.00 - RAM
$ 35.00 - system hard drive
$100.00 - SATA II hard drives
------------------------------------
$463.99 - TOTAL

you can't get that price from a STORE!

also consider buying a REFURBISHED DELL (but they don't really have dual core ones - mostly P4's).

hope this helps!

[MDog]

Remember to include the price of Windows XP though. The configured pre-builds usually come with WinXP installed.