Best Laptops for Pro Tools LE

[HBass]

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.

Good to hear this. My Dell 6000 (1,73GHz, 1 GB, 60GB7200rpm, radeon X300, 915GM/GMS/PM)) only works with the MBox with the ASIO driver(as standalone)installed. At least I can continue my work in Cubase SX, but I haven't been able to use PTLE 6.4...

[David P]

Hello!!!!!!

Today I'm happy happy!!!!

I can make davec test with 18 aux at 128

Digi Hardware: Digi002rack
PTLE Version: 6.9
Laptop Name and Model #: Gateway 7422gx
Athlon 64 3400+
Win XP Professional(standard pc mode)
Ram type and Amt.: 1G ram
Hard Drive Config.: 80 gb 4200 internal
Firewire Card or Connection (Name and Model#):belkin cable with internal 1394
Davec Test Results: 32 trax, 18 aux at 128/85% cpu
this is enough for my

i set bios to default..... and now fly!!!

Bye David Puentes B.-

[Oz-boy]

Hi Allen & All

I'm looking for a laptop but don't know what to go for.

No eMachines or Gateway in Australia!
Dell 8600 discontinued and no 9200 - there is a 9300 but it's pricey! (other Dell success stories?)
No Acer Aspire 1524 - there is a 1690 Pentium M 730 for $2500! (not sure what chipset)
What about this: Pioneer AMD 64 3400 with VIA K8T800?

Any other thoughts or things to be aware of.
TIA,

Stew

[EDurney]

Bien compadre!!!

Well done.

La BIOS did the trick!!!

[WKG]

Hi Allen & All

I'm looking for a laptop but don't know what to go for.

No eMachines or Gateway in Australia!
Dell 8600 discontinued and no 9200 - there is a 9300 but it's pricey! (other Dell success stories?)
No Acer Aspire 1524 - there is a 1690 Pentium M 730 for $2500! (not sure what chipset)
What about this: Pioneer AMD 64 3400 with VIA K8T800?

Any other thoughts or things to be aware of.
TIA,

Stew

The specs are a little hard to read on the PDF sheet but look very similar to the E-Machines/Gateway laptops.

[Oz-boy]

Thanks WKG I was hoping that might be the case.
The top of the machines looks like the eMachine laptops too ... I was hoping this might just be a rebranding of the same guts Is it Arima who makes the eMachines?

One other question: as far as the internal drive goes how important is the speed. There are options for standard (probably 4200) 5400 or 7200RPM ... if the 7200 is not needed (particularly with an external FW drive) then I can put the extra cash to a faster processor ... maybe the 3700

Thanks ... and if anyone else wants to check out this machine & give me their thoughts I'd really appreciate it. Pioneer AMD 64 3400 (K8T800)

Stew

[WKG]

Thanks WKG I was hoping that might be the case.
The top of the machines looks like the eMachine laptops too ... I was hoping this might just be a rebranding of the same guts Is it Arima who makes the eMachines?

One other question: as far as the internal drive goes how important is the speed. There are options for standard (probably 4200) 5400 or 7200RPM ... if the 7200 is not needed (particularly with an external FW drive) then I can put the extra cash to a faster processor ... maybe the 3700

Thanks ... and if anyone else wants to check out this machine & give me their thoughts I'd really appreciate it. Pioneer AMD 64 3400 (K8T800)

Stew

I was also wondering if it was an Arima re-brand, they do make the E-Machines/Gateway laptops. As far as the HD speed mine came with a 5400. I didn't really have any problems but I was also recording to an external 7200. I ended up changing it out to 7200 HD internal anyways, it only set me back about US$150.00 and I still have the 5400 to use as a backup. FWIW I wouldn't go back to the 5400, the laptop performance overall is noticeably better. Of course I also increased the RAM to 1.25GB. If it were me I would probably go with the 3700 CPU and do the upgrades myself.

Good luck!

[Oz-boy]

Thanks mate ... we'll see how it goes.
I've got about a month to work it all out before I jump in.
Might even try asking them if it's an Arima?

Would be nice if it does the job ... a good option for us Aussies without Gateway & eMachines.

Stew

[krofa]

Hi All,

I am writing partly out of curiosity, partly out of interest and enthusiasm. Now, I do not own this machine but I have been inquiring about it and talking to HP sales as well and wanted to share my findings by far...

You can equip this guy with up to A64 4000+. Yes you heard that right. This means that what we've got here is the newest 90nm Socket 939 'San Diego' core 1MB L2 Cache CPU @ 2.4GHz with the added power of the SSE3 instruction set, lower default voltage and lower power consumption: A desktop CPU easily integrated into a notebook.

The chipset on this guy is ATI Radeon Xpress 200M. HP is the first and only company to offer this chipset on a configurable notebook series: http://apps.ati.com/ir/PressReleaseT...easeID=702456. A detailed comparison of the desktop version of this chipset to other current A64 chipsets can be seen here: http://www.techreport.com/reviews/20.../index.x?pg=1. I am waiting for an answer on the ID of the IEEE1394 chip that is tucked on to the mobo of this guy... The chipset though may turn out to be the weakest link here for us PTLE users since probably no one here has tried this chipset with PTLE yet... Allen, any information?

The notebook is a little on the heavy side since it is a DTR: 8.35lbs. I would guess that the CPU fans could be noisy and may be annoying at 2.4GHz too. But you'd have to see for yourself...

The real catch though is the pricing. If you go with the A64 4000+ CPU and with 512MB RAM, you can configure it for $1250. Very nice. If you max it out on pretty much everything including 2GB of RAM, you land on $1675. HP is kidding us - I mean this in two ways:

1. For $1675 you get a fully loaded notebook with by far the best single core A64 CPU excluding only the A64 FX-55 - no need to mention any P4's here. If you max out the Inspiron 9300 with a 2GHz Pentium M and 2GB of RAM you land on $2550!!!
2. If you look for the HP version of the same configuration (Pavillion zv6000) you land on $2175!!! Probably a stupid and weird branding issue here...

I really am excited to see people try this guy out... I will not have a chance to test this myself since I am short of dough at the moment.

What is your take on this Allen? Anybody?

Cheers.

[Allen Hallada]

You just get it with a good return policy is all.

Allen