Laptop Recommendations

[russrags]

Any ideas what laptop to buy??? WINDOWS Only
The only thing I'm going to use it for is to run BFD2, so I'll need something with a multi-core processor, plenty of RAM. I'll run an external hard drive of course, so I'll need Firewire.

I've always built my own computers, but I'm in need of a laptop this time. I probably want to stay away from Dell, HP, Accer and such ... what's left???

Russ
Nashville

[TimOBrien]

adkproaudio sells firewire music laptops.

but you do know that MacBooks run Windows too??? (I'm running MacOS, Windows7 and Ubuntu Linux..... simultaneously...) ;-)

[Phil O'Keefe]

Hey Russ, how have you been doing?

It's getting harder to find non-Mac laptops with Firewire ports on them. As Tim suggested, ADK sells a couple of models that have firewire ports.

http://adkproaudio.com/laptop3.asp

There's also the potential for firewire chipset compatibility issues with some interfaces. Beware, and be careful!

You might be able to go with eSATA for your external drive. I'm seeing a lot more laptops that have eSATA ports. Or you could chance it on USB 2.0 / 3.0. I've never tried it with 3.0, but 2.0 has always left me less than satisfied insofar as recording to, or streaming from an external HDD.

Any idea on what you'll be using for the audio interface?

[russrags]

Hey Phil,

This laptop really isn't for me, but I network with another Studio, where most of the programming gets done. We're both Pro Tools, we're going to trigger BFD2 Drums, he brings a hard drive to me for editing/mixing at my studio. I'm so used to a desktop computer and Firewire External drives, but maybe USB drive will work fine with a laptop and BFD??? He doesn't really even like computers all that well, so having to learn a Mac isn't going to go over well, and I need to be available to walk him through things over the phone once in a while, so a PC laptop will work best. The last laptop I bought for my wife was an Acer, I'll never do that again !@#$%

I'd be curious what others are using???
I guess everybody ought to be going 64 Bit at this time too???

Russ
Nashville

[Phil O'Keefe]

If it's for Pro Tools, I'd try to go the extra mile to make sure there are no chipset compatibility issues. If the motherboard chipset and especially the firewire chipset aren't compatible, you'll definitely have issues.

Unfortunately, I use a PC for my main system, and a Mac for my laptop, so I'm not up to date on what all the current issues are when it comes to PT compatible laptops, but the folks on the DUC usually are. There's a long-running thread over there regarding the best laptops. http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=76139 I'd recommend checking out the last three or four pages of that thread, and asking for recommendations there regarding currently available laptop models that will do what you need.

The current version of Pro Tools is 10. It will be the last 32 bit version from what I can tell - PT11 will most likely be 64 bit, so that's an important consideration for the future. However, all the current plugins will cease working in PT11 - they're going to be discontinuing the old TDM and RTAS plugins and going to AAX. I suspect that will also apply to BFD, so FXpansion will need to do a AAX version of BFD before either of you will be able to upgrade to PT11. PT10 supports both the older formats (RTAS / TDM) and AAX.

Whatever laptop you guys get, I'd recommend making sure it has a lot of RAM in it. Right after I got my new MacBook Pro a few months ago, I immediately went out and bought 16GB of RAM for it. It makes a big difference in the performance - especially for things like virtual instruments. If he's only running one instance of BFD and not using a ton of other plugins, he probably won't need 16GB; 4GB (what I'd consider to be the "working minimum" these days) might be enough, but if the machine will accept 8GB, max it out! Especially as things move into the 64 bit world, RAM will be more important.

[TimOBrien]

^Phil knows.

PC laptops are a minefield.

Whatever you get, make SURE you have a good warranty and an easy return policy if it doesn't work.
Run it hard the first 30 days and check EVERYTHING out.

I highly suggest you look at spending a bit more and getting something from a specialized music pc retailer.
They KNOW what works and what wont have their customers coming back at them with pitchforks.
Their business and livelihood depend on their products not upchucking on their customers.

[CME]

And just so it doesn't get overlooked, you can run windows on a MacBook. I'm pretty sure you can even set it up to boot into windows by default. Something to consider if you want to use FW and are having trouble finding a compatible pc. And IMO MacBooks are pretty solid machines. My almost 6 year old MacBook Pro is still going strong. Just my .02.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I'm loving my new MacBook, and with two of my essential PC apps - Sound Forge and Har-Bal now available for the Mac, I am less tempted to run a dual boot setup so I can run Windows and OSX apps on the same machine - but it's still nice to know that I could if I ever felt the need. True, it wasn't inexpensive, but I got a refurb (looks like NOS) 15" MBP right after they announced the new (retina) models, so I got a great deal. 2.2GHz quad core i7, and I bumped the RAM to 16GB. It has one Firewire 800 port, plus two USB 2.0 ports, and one Thunderbolt port. No USB 3.0, although I suspect that's less of a concern for you Russ.

I'm not anti-PC at all - I still love my PTHD PC rig. I just haven't seen a ton of PC laptops lately with Firewire ports on them. ADK has a couple, and I've heard good reports about their products, but even the least expensive one isn't much less than the MBP was. Plus, take note of their chipset cautions. Not all of their laptops are using TI chipsets on the Firewire port.