Dual Boot for PT9 on Windows 7

[WKG]

I finally decided to make the jump to PT9. I've been running a dual boot setup on my old emachines M6805 for the last 7 years but it is starting to get a bit grumpy and I really like the new features in PT9. I've got an ASUS N71Jq Laptop Intel i7 720Q 1.6Ghz enroute and will get into setting it up in the next few days. It's on the Digi qualified list for Window laptops so I'm not expecting too much difficulty.

For a variety of reasons I have to use a single machine for everyday and recording purposes. Mostly personal use and occasional outside bands, I am not running a commercial operation. The main reason I set the M6805 up as a dual boot was to configure it as a Standard PC which worked great and it smoked, tracking 12-16 tracks at a 64 buffer setting was no problem.

Performance wise is there any real reason to go dual boot on a Windows 7 machine with PT9? If I can avoid the issue of having to reboot everytime I want to get into PT that would be great.

[cwsand]

You'll get arguments either way. Many users still have a dedicated DAW setup with no internet, nic disabled, and no additional unrelated DAW software which ensures the best PT performance and no chance of contracting a virus. If you're confident in your pc knowledge, and your pc can handle it though, you may be able to run PT in the same O/S as your everyday purposes with an internet connection and a good antivirus program. Just make sure you still go through the optimizations for Windows 7. Also, you could always disable your nic and antivirus when using PT without having to reboot which should increase performance.

Personally, I use one Windows 7 O/S for Pro Tools and other apps and I'm able to use PT that still performs at a high level. I have an internet connection and antivirus software and backups and all is well (so far).

[WKG]

That's probably the way I'll go. I was not looking forward to the process of setting up for dual boot, I can always change later if it looks like it may be a benefit.

One of the things that pushed me over the edge to upgrade was finding the ASUS laptop on the approved list and at a reasonable price. It'll be nice to have one that should work much easier. The M6805 was good but it took a lot of work to get it there.