Best Laptops for Pro Tools LE

[dubrichie]

hey all,

can anyone please give me some indication of the kind of spec i would need in a laptop to be able to simultaneously record 16 mono tracks into PTLE 6.4 @ 48KHz through a 002R and a Focusrite Octopre onto an external 7200RPM FW400 HDD?

my current machine just hasnt got the power and is suffering erratic dropouts during rcording which is seriously hampering my functionality. i dont need an absolute powerhouse as im not too worried about mixing on it because i mainly do that on my beefy desktop at home, but i would like some system headroom so i can stop losing sleep at night over whether or not i can rely on my laptop to record a full band on location for more than 3 measly minutes without dropping out.

thanks in advance,

regards,

richie.

ps: i live in ireland, so any particular makes / models you care to mention should be readily available in the EU/UK. i need a guideline spec so i can track down a suitable machine available to residents of this little island of mine.

[EDurney]

Have you done a plain ol davec yet?

Look at my signature...

[theom]

Well, first off:
My 6111 is totally rocking. Love it.

But, After about one month I have got the known cracking hinge problem.
Has anyone gone through the replacement rma thing for a emachine since gateway bought emachines?
Where do I start?
I purchased thru eagle computers, but I know they will direct me to emachine warentee service.

Thanks

theo

[jofromabove]

For those interested, my Sony Vaio A317M (1.73Ghz, 1Gb RAM 80Gb HD) runs a 915GMS chipset which didn't work with my MBOX under PT6.7 but runs flawlessly using PT6.9. I got 32+16 last night with no tweaks other than the DEP fix and the usual XP changes.

Man thats good news. I always thought the Vaios where kinda nice.

thanks for the info
j

[theom]

I did an online support chat with gateway, they are sending a box with a 5 day turn around expected.

nice support.

[uncoiled]

I need to get a laptop within the next week, and I have to get it from Circuit City because I have a generous gift card from there - I don't need a desktop replacment but I'd still like to at least do some editing and maybe just recording two or three track rough demos. I'd use my desktop and Digi001 for any real work. I'll also use this for school, so it's definitely not a dedicated machine and lighter weight/compactness is something to consider. They do have one HP Laptop with an AMD 64, but the thing is a heavy beast. Any recommendations?

My options include:
Gateway Notebook PC (6510GZ)
Sony VAIO® Notebook PC (VGN-FS640/W)
HP Pavilion Notebook PC (ZV6005US)
Averatec Tablet Notebook PC (AV3500T60)

Anyone ever try to run Pro Tools on a tablet pc?

[will the moor]

I had an hp zd7000 that I ran an 002r on, when it felt like it. it was a 3.2ghz pentium with a gig of ram and it was a total jerk when it came to PT. I would not recommend trying to use it with protools to my enemies.

that said, it ran everything else pretty splendidly - vegas video, acid, sonar, photoshop...

So there.


Will

[tonymcr37]

Post deleted by tonymcr37

[Allen Hallada]

I need to get a laptop within the next week, and I have to get it from Circuit City because I have a generous gift card from there - I don't need a desktop replacment but I'd still like to at least do some editing and maybe just recording two or three track rough demos. I'd use my desktop and Digi001 for any real work. I'll also use this for school, so it's definitely not a dedicated machine and lighter weight/compactness is something to consider. They do have one HP Laptop with an AMD 64, but the thing is a heavy beast. Any recommendations?

My options include:
Gateway Notebook PC (6510GZ)
Sony VAIO® Notebook PC (VGN-FS640/W)
HP Pavilion Notebook PC (ZV6005US)
Averatec Tablet Notebook PC (AV3500T60)

Anyone ever try to run Pro Tools on a tablet pc?

You would be better with a Mac Powerbook than to jump into unproven laptops listed above.

Allen

[Allen Hallada]

Thanks, Allen!

I was worried about the Gateway being overkill, but it sure sounded like a simple answer. And thanks for raising a point I hadn't considered--fan noise. As you guessed, I record spoken word vocals while working at my keyboard. And very occasionally, I have to produce them bare, with no music to cover ambient noise. Noise isn't much of a problem with my XPC, especially since it's under my workstation. But a laptop's a different story.

So another question:

Say I still have the same $1500 to spend I would have spent on the Gateway. I think a powerbook's out of my price range (unless you can suggest a specific model my wife won't say "No Way" to), and my understanding is that the e-machine is refurbished, and I've been warned to stay away from refurbished laptops if I have to make daily production deadlins. Given those restrictions, what laptop (or laptops) would you recommend that would be a good compromise between the computing power I need to run ProTools, and the low fan noise I need to record bare vocals within a few feet of the laptop?


Thanks again!!

Tony

Tony,
Many people are buying the E-Machines refurbs and are loving them www.macuniverse.com
The other choice would be the iBook from www.apple.com
Check out the reports on this laptop on the Mac forum.

Allen