Best Laptops for Pro Tools LE

[froyo]

Hello. Executivos I would tend to agree for the most part with you in a general sense in the regular business world. However my experience with Digidesign over years and years and years has been really more along the line of gtrguy4.

Two factors tilt the balance in that direction as I see it. #1, Digidesign has always been and probably will always be a Mac first, Mac centric comapny. Yes they have been saying a lot of things about parity lately, but it's mostly talk. Think of the hoopla that was created when Apple announced the G5's. Digidesign did a news announcement, etc. What happened when the AMD 64 bit chip was released? That sound you hear is deafening silence. Plug ins, Dv firewire Out, MIDI I/O, etc. Pro Tools was developed on Mac, their people are Mac, their knowledge is Mac. I am sorry, but that is just a fact.

#2 I have been to many, many, many Digidesign events over the years. AES, NAB, NAMM, product tours, etc. I would say that at the very least in half of them the users knew a whole lot more than the product 'specialist' they trot out to showcase their offering. It's a little embarassing sometimes. I remember one time a few years ago a guy was insistent that you could not do 18 in on a 001. Even though many in the audience were doing it every day and he was corrected in mid sentence. Embarassing really.

Now if you couple that with their sometimes abysmal knowledge of even basic things on the Windows side, I completely agree with gtrguy4 100%. I bet you a lot of Digidesign 'specialists' have no idea that a Centrino laptop can do 32 + 14.

[Allen Hallada]

Ummmmmmm excuse me, but that would be 32+16 on a Centrino Laptop.

Allen

[executivos]

I agree with everything that has been said, and trust me...I'd love for digidesign reps to know all or atleast more. I'm just saying you'll see that everywhere with technology today, and digidesign is no exception.

I just called compaq today for my mom who recently bought a x1000 notebook. She didn't order a burner, thinking she wouldn't use it and now wants one so I called to see what her options were (most are removable drives) The guy had no clue what I was talking about...about being able to swap drives etc. He just thought that they were one big magical box.

Keep in mind I was asking about their hardware, not how it would work with some other companies device. I'm just saying I've seen it a lot worse.

In my experience, most salesmen (w/ regards to reps at conventions etc) know more about selling something as opposed to facts and figures about their product. It sucks! But the guy that sells keeps his job and they guy that knows a lot often doesn't. I agree though...your example with 18 inputs is pretty extreme and digi should be hiring duc users to answer questions on their products.

Again like I said, we are all lucky that we have some place to ask other users for accurate, up to date, real world results.

[tele_player]

After many years in high tech, I've noticed... the people who are good enough to do support, or 'product specialist' well, move on and do something more interesting (and well paying.) Exceptions are VERY rare.

[Analogue Inc.]

How about a widescreen centrino?

Acer Aspire 2000 Series

Does this look promising to you guys?

[Allen Hallada]

How about a widescreen centrino?

Acer Aspire 2000 Series

Does this look promising to you guys?

I'm already used to the 17", so going to a 15" would be a shock to my eyes. I'd also like to see them use the newer wireless protocol. The weight and thickness are attractive. Also it says max. ram is 256MB. That isn't cool.

Allen

[gtrguy4]

I would love to get a widescreen laptop, but man... at ABS computers I can get a Zensation Z4- 1.7ghz Centrino, 1GB ram, 1meg L2 cache, 15" screen, 60gig 5400rpm drive, WinXP PRO, for $1788...

I can't find ANYthing this fast for this kind of $$$.
This looks like the deal of the century right now. The only downside is the 15" std size screen.

The body they use is that Asus "barebone"...I wonder if the screen is decent?

[Analogue Inc.]

So Allen, is there even actually a 17" Widescreen Centrino laptop existing?

[Meterbridge1]

I wouldn't blame Digi for being so finicky. They can only test what they can get a hold of. I bet all of the notebooks on their list are ones that belong to employees at Digi. Getting manufacturers to loan or donate product to a company is not always easy. And testing new notebooks every time they come out would be time consuming and costly. And it would take them away from making improvements on their product.

I don't understand why PT is SO finicky when it comes to which computer it can live on, and evidently neither does Digi. He couldn't give me any specifics as to what works better than what, and could only keep preaching that the "fastest processor" was the main thing.

[Meterbridge1]

I think a 17" Centrino-based system would be great. You could probably get it under 8 pounds which would make it a lot more mobile than the current crop.

I've seen quite a few Wide 17" Hyper-Threaded P4's. My Toshi's,of course, HP has one. There is one of those ODM/OEM boxes that is showing up under a lot of different names, not sure who the OEM is though. By the way, here is the site I use to figure out who makes what for whom in the PC industry. www.digitimes.com.

I think Allen said something about wanting the new wireless protocol (802.11g, I'm assuming). I'm not so impressed with it so far. It works like a charm if everything that will be attached to it will be using the same protocol. One of the thing that wireless marketing folks have been pushing is that it is backwards compatible with 802.11b. It is, but what they neglect to mention is that all of the 802.11g devices will slow down to a hair faster than 802.11b if a 802.11b device is connected. It's nice, but only worth it if you upgrade your entire Wi-Fi network. I have 802.11b right now and I won't upgrade until the 802.11a/g combos get cheaper. If you want to test the "real" throughput of your network, give this a try .

Enjoy

By the way, I hope I don't sound too cynical.