New laptop help

[jill223]

Hey, I've just signed up to this, sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place..

I bought Pro Tools LE about a month ago and I'm running it on a fairly crappy Toshiba laptop. When recording, it only lets me record a few tracks before it complains about not enough cpu, and it won't let me use any plug-ins for even one track. I don't mind though because I was planning on buying a new laptop anyway. This is the one I want:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...MSI+LAPTOP.htm
I like it for many reasons and I think it's pretty cheap for its specs. However, I'm worried Pro Tools still won't run amazingly on it and that I still won't be able to use guitar rig, amplitube and other plug-ins that I would love to be able to use. I would be very appreciative if someone could give their opinion.. Would this laptop run Pro Tools competently, or should I get something else?? I've used windows all my life but if it would be wiser to switch to a Mac to run Pro Tools the best, I will do it. I wouldn't mind dishing out say another £200, but I have my heart set on a laptop, not a desktop.
Sorry if I sound like an utter noob, thanks for any help!

[TCM]

The link doesn't work!

[albee1952]

The link doesn't work for me. In general, cheap laptops are crap for Pro Tools, and for several reasons. #1 is you NEED a second hard drive for recording, which means you need a firewire port(PT9 on Windows 7 does support USB2 drives). #2 is that most laptops have integrated graphics, which can cause troubles. For those on a budget, I would shop for a used Lenovo T61 with the nVidia graphics option(NOT the models with intel graphics). That model appears to work well with PT, and you can swap out the optical drive with a caddy for a second internal hard drive(add a proper 7200 rpm drive and you're good to go). Prices run in the $275 to 399 range. BTW, a USB optical drive could be used so you don't need to go swapping drives all the time(my studio machine has run with only an external optical drive for 2 years). Just one opinion

[jill223]

Sorry for the faulty link..

It's an MSI laptop
•Intel Pentium dual core T4500.
•2.3GHz processor speed.
•4GB DDR2 RAM memory.
•320GB SATA hard drive
windows 7 premium

I realised though, I don't think it has a firewire port though, and I've heard it's pretty crucial to run pro tools audio off of a firewire hard drive :/ Maybe I should just get a mac..

[TCM]

Originally Posted by jill223

Sorry for the faulty link..

It's an MSI laptop
•Intel Pentium dual core T4500.
•2.3GHz processor speed.
•4GB DDR2 RAM memory.
•320GB SATA hard drive
windows 7 premium

I realised though, I don't think it has a firewire port though, and I've heard it's pretty crucial to run pro tools audio off of a firewire hard drive :/ Maybe I should just get a mac..

Does the hard drive run @7200?
Which interface do you want to use?
You could use an Express card for an eSata hard drive!