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Should i upgrade or just buy a new computer


Atari Tech

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I currently have a 3 year old laptop working perfectly with a AMD2800+ 512 Megs of Ram and a 60 gig harddrive running FL Studio, Reason, Foundation, Intakt, CS80V and FM8. I'm not hitting any real performance issues with the cpu (I work in sort of an odd way in whcih i usually just create small sequences with my synths and treat them as samples in Intakt or Reason so the biggest hit on my cpu is CS80V running at 4xmulti doing sustained detuned chords with a pad that gets up to 50% but then i just render it and put it into a sampler.) My other problem with getting a new laptop is Vista: i have only one program that will work out of the box would be Reason, the others need to be updated (FM8,CS80V,FL Studio) or will never be updated (Intakt and Foundation) and i really use Intakt a lot. so would i be better of just getting more RAM (up to 1 gig) as that's what i really get hit on, or should i jsut bite the bullet and get a new laptop?

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I would say that if the machine is running good for what you do, then just upgrade the easy components (hard drive, ram) and you should still be functional. The downside to Vista is the compatibility; Vista utilizes ram better than Windows XP does but then the programs you run will most likely be incompatible. Unless of course you buy a new laptop and load Windows XP on it - but still, upgrading your ram won't cost that much compared to the cost of a new computer. If everything else runs pretty smooth that should boost it.

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Get more RAM. It's cheap and easy to upgrade. Nowadays, I think 1GB is a minimum, unless you're just surfing the web.

 

I'd wait a while to get a new laptop and get Vista. It's going to be a while until all the bugs are worked out. And what will a new laptop give you that you don't already have?

 

Lately I've been trying to avoid GAS by questioning any new gear purchase (including computers). I'll ask myself, "Am I taking full advantage of what I have now? Will buying something new make me any more productive at making music? Etc." I'm sure you're current computer has a lot more life in; when you start hitting some limitations, then it's time to upgrade.

 

And when you do buy a new computer, but a Mac! :) I'm a recent convert and will never go back to Windows. Even when I have to run Windows, I run it on my Mac.

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If you buy a new computer, I would definitely not have Windows Vista installed on it at this time unless you were absolutely positive that all of your music applications and audio interface hardware are already supported.

 

As an example, many musicians upgraded to Intel Macs almost a year ago, and some products still aren't compatible (e.g. some Native Instruments applications and Spectrasonics applications come to mind). Some of these people have suffered for months because they assumed MacIntel support would come quickly.

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