Best Laptops for Pro Tools LE

[PhilHall]

Hi dobryden22. Here's the story:

I originally tested a dv8000 with media center, and it happened to work. After reading on the forums that a LOT of people had real trouble with media center, I went ahead and bought XP PRO on my new dv9000t. Knowing that it was a previously untested laptop, I made sure to buy it somewhere with a 30 day full refund return policy.

So, I'd love to help you out. First thing to do is create your backup disks. Then get hold of an XP Pro installation disk. (You can find OEM versions online for around $100 if you look carefully enough.) Then get Acronis True Image Workstation (available at Acronis' website for $79 download... the trail will get you started if you can't pay yet.) Then send me an email at [email protected] with your full specs for further instructions.

Be forewarned: Mine works with my digi002rack (I don't know about MBox). While I don't know that what I did is the only way to make the dv9000 work, if you chose to use my method you should know that it is a lengthy and involved process (took me almost two days). If you are uncomfortable with things like editing your registry, you may want to consider looking into your retailer's return policy.

Best of wishes, my friend.

Phil Hall

[dobryden]

hiya mate. Ive got a hp with media centre. do you think if i took the media centre off , it might work?? i installed le 7 before i knew of compato issues and it wasnt happening. in one of the threads a guy called phil is using a notebook just like mine and its working fine...
what do ya reckon??
regards
steve

[dobryden]

thanx alot Phil...
its all pretty complex it seems. Im in europe now and bought the computer in the U.S , so in regards to returns im stuffed. I was just gonna use cubase which is why i bought this computer in the first place, but my good friend in nz whos flatmate is doing SAE said " noone uses cubase , you gotta use the new m box, its rad etc etc." i liked the sound of it with the pack inc DVD and some tech support available etc. It is known as an easier programme to nut out - easier than cubase anyway. I went for it. i didnt get any warning about the hassles you can have with PTLE, not by the retailers or my friends. now im here in the forum and it is clear that chip sets and blah blah are an issue.
Today i got xp pro installers in case this could work out , but im not confident doing that stuff you mentioned. ill end up wrecking this thing.
I have one question though Phil. Whats the deal with registry? i have registered my m box, is it registered to this computer that im gonna sell? if so can i use it on another you think??
shoulda stuck with analog aye!!!
but naa seriously i wanna work this out. hopefully pt will be cool and let me use the m box on a new computer.
thanx alot for your help.
i now need to think bout what to do. i think a mac is the safest option although the most expensive and ill have to lease it...
ive asked around a bit on the forum and maybe some more answers will come...

[PhilHall]

K friend, first off, multiple posts drive people nuts. We'll help ya out, just calm down a bit, eh? I'm attempting to say that nicely before someone else gets grumpy.

The registry is a windows component that is pretty intense. Being that you don't know what it is, I recommend you don't touch it. No offense. Since you do have the Pro install disk, lets see if fresh XP Pro gets you where you need to be.

Go HERE to download the trail of True Image Workstation. This will allow you to back up your system so anything you break can be undone. Once you have the program, email me ([email protected]) and we'll get started. Lets work on it the two of us and let the rest of the forum do their thing. K?

Phil

[haydini]

I am planning on buying a new laptop in the next couple of weeks. I've been reading threads about core 2 duo and I'm hopeful by some of the success stories that I will have a successful configuration. I looking at getting an ASUS W3J which has a Core 2 Duo T7200 2GHz processor, 2GB of 667Mhz DDR-2 RAM, a 7200RPM 100GB drive with a 2nd 7200RPM drive that can modularly replace the DVD drive. It has great build quality and has a powerful core. I'm expecting it to do quite well performance wise as long as there are no compatibility problems. I will actually be running it with PT M-Powered v.7.1 with an M-audio Firewire 1814 and a USB Fastrack Pro soundcard depending on where I am physically located. I'll keep you posted but if any of you have recommendations before I purchase...I'd like to here them now. Another laptop I've been interested in is the Sony Vaio SZ-360P. Any comments on this would be appreciated as well

[Allen Hallada]

I am planning on buying a new laptop in the next couple of weeks. I've been reading threads about core 2 duo and I'm hopeful by some of the success stories that I will have a successful configuration. I looking at getting an ASUS W3J which has a Core 2 Duo T7200 2GHz processor, 2GB of 667Mhz DDR-2 RAM, a 7200RPM 100GB drive with a 2nd 7200RPM drive that can modularly replace the DVD drive. It has great build quality and has a powerful core. I'm expecting it to do quite well performance wise as long as there are no compatibility problems. I will actually be running it with PT M-Powered v.7.1 with an M-audio Firewire 1814 and a USB Fastrack Pro soundcard depending on where I am physically located. I'll keep you posted but if any of you have recommendations before I purchase...I'd like to here them now. Another laptop I've been interested in is the Sony Vaio SZ-360P. Any comments on this would be appreciated as well

I like both the new MacBook and MacBook Pro at this time and will give you more bang for your buck since it runs on both OSX and XP. Its like having two laptops in one with plenty of duo core Intel power as well. If you have ever gone through compatibility issues with a laptop, you will appreciate the dual platform ability here.

Allen

[imdurc]

Shan -

I have the "step up" from stillwell's acer laptop....the It's the acer 5672. It has 2 gig ram preloaded, 1.66 dual core, etc....Anyway, I know there is an even faster (and cheaper) acer out now that will probably blow mine away.

I'm pretty sure I get a "few" more dverbs than stillwell's, but I never did a formal test....I just kept adding tracks, saw I got around 80 d-verbs, and quit.

The nice thing about the acer is it comes pre-loaded with XP home, (not media center), and there is almost no extranious crap pre-loaded. They don't preload ANY virus software (at least on mine), and the only big preload is a acer version of windows battery saver app, which I REALLY like. I did the hotfix (dual core) but I'm not even sure I did that right. No other tweaks, and it PROTOOLS really works well with this laptop!!

In addition, the CPU is very accessable on the base of the laptop, so as soon as prices drop, I'll upgrade processors.

Once I get my 002r back (supposedly ready to ship tomorrow from BLACK LION AUDIO...full mod) I'll update my dverb stats.

You seem to have the laptop up and running without issue. I bought this laptop for my mbox and pro tools, but there are no end of problems. The only problem I seem to have now, is a h/w buffer issue error. The "Audio is conflicting with other cpu tasks" -9129. It advises on lowering the buffer size and when I do, it just does the same thing except now says "Operating system held off interupts for too long..." -9093 and says I should try increasing the buffer size!!


Anyone here know what this is?? I'm using Pro Tools LE 6.7 with my mbox on the Acer 5672 laptop. Just did a clean reinstall of XP Pro sp2 and thought it would be better than Home edition. Btw, it didn't work on Home either. Same problem...

The mbox itself is fine as I've used it on one of my desktop machines. I heard that XP pro sp1 would be better than sp2. I would really appreciate some help on this as I was planning to use this laptop for recording purposes. If it doesn't work, I'm seriously thinking of trying to get a refund.

Thanks,
Adam.

[imdurc]

A little update on the mbox situation here.

I'm having good success recording in another piece of software which makes the pro tools problem pale a little. Just glad to have something to record into. However, I have some pro tools news.

I updated to pro tools le 7.0 and it still didn't work. But there's more... I did some searching and found some tweaks for XP to perk up the system. So, I created a new hardware profile and reloaded windows to start disabling things. Got rid of the useless items like built-in wireless, modem, built-in soundcard, etc. And I also decided to try recording on an external usb2 drive, instead of the built-in sata drive. Then I loaded up pro tools to see what it did. It kinda worked... kinda.

At 1024 buffer samples, it plays back, but can still stop with the error after 10 or so seconds. So, still not great for playback, but minor edits should be ok, I guess.
At 512 samples it records! It went for 39 seconds before I, myself, stopped it. So, I'm not sure how long it'll record for, but it's very interesting to have at that level at the moment. I'd like to try another recording to see how it goes. But of course, I wonder how it'll cope with both channels recording at the same time. I have my doubts about it working well.

BUT... I'm really looking for more tweaks here. If disabling some items in the device manager and using an external usb2 drive can work so well, surely there must be other tweaks to boost things just enough to get things running tight.

Thanks,
Adam.

[puremusic]

Just want to tell a happy story I experienced with my laptop.

Got an Acer 9500 with XP home,SP 2,Intel Pentium M, 2 ghz and 1024 ram,
100 gb/4200 rpm internal drive and one 250 gb USB2 drive.
It came loaded with a lot of stuff, I got it from my work.
PTLE 7.1.10 and 002R.

I have not been able to run lower than 512 in buffer, wich has caused me some
trouble when using Xpand, reason and recording guitar etc.

So I thought I give it a go to make a partition and make a dual boot and only
run PT and with softsynths and plugins on it.

The joy is that I´m now able to lower my buffer to 64 and still managed to play
and record several softsynths and at the same time record some audio tracks.
Wonderful! Even did a bounce with 64 and after a second try it bounced just fine.
I did a Dave C test where I managed to record 32 tracks with 35 D verbs plugged in.
(24/44 and 1024 buffer) The graphic was a little sluggish, but it worked.
I also have just 16 services going. Turned off everything I could think off and dare to.

I have been blaming Digi for bad drivers and all sort of stuff wich I have to take back
now. This is a "not supported" laptop and hard drive,but it works like a charm.

Peter

[SEBJOERG]

Hello!


I`ve just ordered my first Mac. Have worked with PC`s for over 15 years but now I`m really
curios about the Mac`s.
Here`s what I ordered:
MacBook 2Ghz 2+2Mb cache, 2g ram, dvd burner/reader.
This way I can learn how Mac`s work`s and still work with XP on the same laptop.
I`ve seen some smoki`n XP results with the 1.83Ghz MacBook too, so I can`t wait to see how the 2Gig book performs

The bad thing is that it wont be delivered untill December 15..!!
Loooooooooooooong, looooooong time
I`ll report back as soon as I`m up`n running with my 002R.


Cheers from Norway!

Svein Egil