Best Laptops for Pro Tools LE

[hilliard]

Oh BTW, has anyone seen these:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....&skuId=6784571


Shuttle XPC Desktop with Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.0GHz
Model: G 5690

This ultracompact aluminum cube is remarkable, but what's inside has everyone talking — a whopping 256MB ATI graphics card, DVD/CD burner and oodles of ports.

* Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 3.0GHz with Hyper-Threading Technology for improved multitasking performance; 800MHz frontside bus

* 512MB PC3200 DDR memory for multitasking power, expandable to 2.0GB

* 8x DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with a typical burn time of just 8 min.

$1049 at BestBuy

looks alot like the MusicXPC cubes. Wonder if they are as good for PTLE.

Maybe another hat to throw into the pile, eh?

[RBaker]

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).

Unless things have totally changed, what best buy told you was 100% bull. You never have to buy the service plan. (maybe they have a package deal that includes the service plan...which is something I've never seen before) I worked at best buy right when I got out of high school...they'll do what it takes to sell you the service plan. ex: best buy would run an ad for a certain computer on sale, and lets say there was 5 of them in the store...we'd always know all 5 would be gone in the first 2 hours, so some salesmen used to just say "we're sold out" if they didn't want the service plan and save the computers for people that were buying it. (I never did that and I eventually left because of crap like that, but somepeople are greasy---what can you do?)

Send it back to the factory? not unless it's damaged, and they'd still rather sell it then send it back. I know sometimes when I was negotiating a markdown price on an open box (you have to get mgr clearance) the mgr would ask if the person was buying a plan...which makes him more willing to give you the deal. So if that is the case:

Just go in there, buy it with the service plan, and then come back later and return the service plan...just say that you checked out warranty options and emachines has a better extended warranty program--I think they offer one. (unless you want it, in that case keep it) If you're afraid of offending them when you return the plan, just go to a diff best buy when you return it.

[Tuur]

hi Allen,

i'm on the point ordering this dell laptop 8600 with 1gig ram, 7200rpm, dvd burner, maybe second harddrive (?) firewire, usb 2

is this smart to do, is it not getting noisy or hot?
Which external harddrive do u recomend for back up and/or recording (96khzsessions?) ? 7200rpm...

please help

I live in Europe

Thanx
Tuur

[tdtd]

hi there,

i am going to buy a dell too..probably tommorrow. but realized a couple of things:

1. what are the advantages/disadvantages between a 600m vs. 8600 vs 9100 in terms of processor type, speed and effectiveness..

which processer is better for mbox the 9100 HT processors or the 725/755 processors?

the numbering makes it hard to compare..which one would work best for an mbox?

i know the 8600/9100 have a 60 7200rpm hard drive and 600m doesn't--but will the 8600/9100 be too noisy? and the digidesign website mentions that 600m is a good model but alongside other outdated models.??

makes things difficult to buy.

2. i was going to buy a notebook but they all have xp service pak 2..and there is a notice that you shouldn't use xp service 2...so what the heck...?


3. dell is running an amazing promotion.


Dell Home has new discounts on PCs. Free shipping after rebate. Exp 10/20 - Tax in CA, FL, ID, IL, KY, MI, MN, MS, MO, NV, NJ, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, TN, TX, WA, VA, WI.

$750 off select online Inspiron Notebook purchases $1500+ Coupon Code:
ZD5$P0NS954P16 Exp Wed 10/20 5:59am CT
The last super coupon was terminated early, so order as early in the day as possible. Try to hit $1500 exactly to maximize the discount.

May not be combinable with Outrageous Deals, dollars off, percentage off and select other promotions. Only one coupon may be applied per cart at checkout. Only one coupon may be applied per cart at checkout.




todd

[markus44uk]

Amazon.com seems to have emachines M6811 on sale for $1,295. My friend just ordered one and has a delivery date.

[Chucky61]

i check dells site today they no longer have the 9100 listed they are about to release the 9200. which is a 17 in.

[hilliard]

Well.....I got the emachines m6810 at BestBuy. Bought it on the last day of the $250 rebate offer, I guess...so that's good. I'm pretty sure it was the last one in Michigan and Ohio! I called a bunch of the different locations, and the sales rep at a couple of them also checked the other stores' inventories and floor models, etc.

It had the $250 rebate (from $1400 start), and then they took off another $75, for being out-of-box. I got the 3 year coverage, even though it was not actually required, as originally stated. Since a different dude in the GeekSquad rung me up, the salesman never actually forced the coverage plan. I still have the 2 weeks to decide if I want to return the policy....but I think I'm gonna keep it....just in case.

So, in the end it totals $1400 - 250 - 75 = $1075. I'm happy with that.

It did have SP2 installed on it, but I tried PT on it anyway.....not good....blue screen when PT is launched. I know that most folks around here say not to use SP2, but a few have had success, so I gave it a shot. Mainly cuz I wasn't sure if SP1 was hidden under the SP2 stuff....not really up on XP, yet. I didn't want to have to go back to the original release, and then pay $10 for the SP1 on CD , so I tried SP2.

Once that didn't work, I did unistall (sorta) QuickTime, as the manual states that can be a problem. I don't need QT on this machine. That still didn't work, so I went for the Add/Remove Programs for SP2. After it was unistalled, PT worked...no need for an uninstall/reinstall of PT (which I read that a few folks did).

I tried the demo from PT, and it works like a charm. I only did the tweaks that Digi spec's in the manual (smooth fonts, force DMA, etc), and disabled some/most of the processes that I don't need (won't use) on this PC (network cards, Norton, Messenger, etc). I think the highest CPU load I saw during the demo was maybe 12%....guess that's good. I don't plan on using a ton of virtual stuff - mainly just recording track by track with an external seq/workstation, and live synth overdubs, and vocals. Of course, I'll be using some FX plugins, but I don't imagine much more than a couple simple FX....we'll see how much I get hooked. I do kinda have my eyes on the Arturia Moog Modular V....as my old Moog collection is a fave part of my rig, and I never have had the chance to work on of their modulars.....how much CPU do you think that would chew up? Probably depends, right?

I'll be trying some actual recording this weekend, just to make sure that all is cool, as I only have 2 weeks for a return (no restocking fee....nice), if things don't work out for me.

Oh well, I'll be checking back, for sure, but so far so good. Thanks to all on the opinions and experience with the laptop selection. I might still regret not getting the PowerBook G4, since my partners mainly use G4's, but hopefully the "force mac/pc compatability" works well. From what ya'll say, the AMD 64's should outperform the G4 anyway, so I think I made the right choice.

Thanks so much for the info, guys.

[Alex T.]

Has anyone tried running PTLE on a laptop with a supported chipset, but has MCE2004 on it? I can't see it being a problem as it is just a superset on top of XP Pro, which is a supported OS. Let me know if anyone has tried it and if you ran into any problems.

[Ralph K]

Guys what do u think about the DELL 510M? and is the 5200rpm hard disk enough for running pt and and the 0S? i will have a 7200rpm external for laying tracks.

[lambchops]

Hey...I am thinking about diving into an EMachine 6810 myself sometime soon. I have a Digi002. What has your expereince been so far with the 6810? I have seen esle where on the site where Allen recommends the 6809 and 6811. Can anyone tell me what the differences between these three laptops? Lastly, is it a general consenses that the EMachines are just as effective as Desktop models running ProTools and the Digi002? Any different recommendations?

Thanks.