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  #1  
Old 08-04-2008, 01:00 PM
gogogoch gogogoch is offline
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Default Which PCMCIA card to choose?

Hi

I have searched extensively throughout this forum and can't find any recommendations for a PCMCIA card. I see that (unless I'v missed it somewhere) there don't seem to be any qualified/supported by Digidesign.

I bought my Mbox 2 and PTLE up in London under the recommendation of a guy at Turnkey who talked me out of buying the full version of Cubase instead.

At the time I had no idea about Digidesign's hard drive recommendations, etc. and figured I'd get the gear home and be recording that afternoon, so (as a newby) this is a bit of a learning curve!. Anyways, the point I'm getting at is I have a laptop with no firewire connection, so I need to get a PCMCIA card in order to connect one of the drives that Digidesign recommends. I've read quite a few posts where people mention problems with certain PCMCIA cards.

Can anyone recommend a PCMCIA card that works with Windows XP and PTLE 7.4?

I was considering this one (as it's one I can pick up locally) http://www.belkin.com/uk/support/pro...3vea1&scid=257


I can provide info on my laptop if it's necessary. Or here's a link to info http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-.../ref=de_a_smtd

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm a bit stuck as what to do next.

Cheers!
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Old 08-04-2008, 01:24 PM
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spkguitar spkguitar is offline
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Honestly, you are in deeper than you think and I think you are fooling yourself and just heading for more frustration (and money wasted) if you think you are going to get that laptop working.

From the Pro Tools 7.4 Windows Laptop compatibility page:

Quote:
Not Supported — Known Incompatibility
ACER Dual Core Laptops are Incompatible with Digidesign FireWire & USB Peripherals
ACER dual core laptops — all models
Very seriously and sadly, your computer is just not compatible with Pro Tools.


That said, I've had luck running Pro Tools MPowered and an external firewire drive using a version of that Belkin card. I'm not exactly sure what revision it was that I used, and with the way that manufacturers tend to change their products frequently without changing the model number (like the Adaptec cards that were once compatible and now are not), it might work or it might not.

However, I seriously doubt it will do you any good with that particular laptop.
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Old 08-05-2008, 05:52 AM
gogogoch gogogoch is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spkguitar View Post
Very seriously and sadly, your computer is just not compatible with Pro Tools.
Thanks for your reply. That is seriously bad news and I'm pretty furious with the advice that I was given as I could've just come home with Cubase and been recording a couple of months ago. At no point did the 'salesman' ask me what kind of laptop I was using. I just trusted the advice that I was given.

I simply don't have the money to buy a new laptop at the moment. If I was to consider it though - roughly how much am I looking at for the cheapest (and more importantly compatible laptop?). I know there's links here for recommended laptops, but I'll be honest, I feel sick as a dog at the thought of trawling through the info. to find something I haven't got the money for anyway. Gutted!
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Old 08-05-2008, 07:30 AM
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spkguitar spkguitar is offline
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Unfortunately cheapest and compatible usually are not synonymous.

There is a list of compatible laptops right on the compatibility page I linked you to; no "trawling" necessary, just a single click.

The real problem with recommending a compatible PC/Windows based laptop is that Digidesign's testing cycle is much longer than most laptop company's development cycle. By the time Digidesign gets finished testing and qualifying a laptop, new models are out and the one they tested and qualified is no longer available.

This is the reason why I have been recommending Macbooks to run Pro Tools, even if you prefer Windows as an operating system. The Macbooks will now run Windows, and Pro Tools works very well on them. Yes, setting them up to run Windows is an extra step and expense (you have to buy windows), but IMHO, it's worth it and you have the best of both worlds; Mac and PC.

Another model that many PT users claims works very well is the HP nc8430.
If you look around on the web, you might find it cheaper, but understand that it is a discontinued model, and getting support for it might eventually become difficult.
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Old 08-05-2008, 11:03 AM
tbkbt tbkbt is offline
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i aswell as many others have had acer dual cores working, it was initially due to the turion chipset which XP didnt like, vista however does like it. plus your acer is a core2duo which are compatible. digi said a while back that this list was out of date and will be updated after there next round of testing.
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Old 08-06-2008, 01:26 AM
gogogoch gogogoch is offline
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Thanks your replies guys.

So, before I start looking at other laptops (or desktops - it's for recording at home), is it worth contacting Digidesign Tech Support to see if I can actually use the Acer I've got? I'm not a particularly computer-minded technical kind of person and I'm on a limited budget and don't want to buy a firewire drive & PCMCIA card unnecessarily if what I really need to do is get a whole new computer.

What do you think? Any thoughts on what my next step should be?

Cheers!
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