I want to buy a laptop pc for two very specific purposes:

1 - I would like to transfer home movies to dvd (so need a firewire
port, large-ish hard disk and a DVD writer).

2 - I want to make music, mostly fairly conventional sampling &
recording of live music but I would like to be able to use built in
midi. My needs are not enormous, as long as there are a few realistic
drum kits, bass sounds and the usual keyboardy sounds I'll be happy. I
have been warned that laptop sound cards are generally poor, does
anyone use the built in sounds on a laptop soundcard? I'd like to hear
what you think of it. Also, I believe I need a line in port rather
than a microphone socket, has anyone used a mic socket to record
amplified sound?

I don't want to spend too much, so my current thinking is a Dell
Inspiron 1100 because Dell let you customise the machine to the level
that you can choose the DVD writer on a lower spec machine, I don't
know of anyone else who does this.

Also, what's the story with DVD+ and DVD-, All I want is to create
something I can play on a normal DVD player?

I'd love to hear any advice...
Syd.

Visit : www.laptop.cl is your choice.

Rgds


"Syd" <turner8@hotmail.com> escribió en el mensaje
news:98af0265.0401060405.5cb069d3@posting.google.c om...

On 6 Jan 2004 04:05:13 -0800, turner8@hotmail.com (Syd) wrote:


Is there any chance of persuading you away from a laptop? All this is
done better and cheaper on a desktop machine, which will, above all,
have a much faster hard drive.

CubaseFAQ page www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm

A laptop is not an ideal machine for either of these applications.

You need a REALLY large hard drive for video work; uncompressed video is
about 14 gigs per hour. It takes about 30 gigs to make a DVD from
uncompressed video, and that's just for the video work, not counting the
rest of the system. I use a 200 gig drive on my desktop, and I've run
out of space (ok, with 2-3 projects going at once). The largest
commonly available, reasonably priced laptop drive is 60 gig.

Speed of disk and cpu are both critical, laptops are slower than
desktops (even if the CPU speed is the same, they are slower). I've had
video encodings from uncompressed video in making a DVD run more than 10
hours. Again, you really want a desktop for this.

Laptop sound cards usually do not have "line in" jacks, and their s/n
ratios and frequency response are not that great either. You want a
really good sound card for recording sound from external analog sources.

Again, everything that you are trying to do, while physically possible
on a laptop, is better suited to a desktop.

Re: DVD, compatibility is hit-or-miss. There is no format that will
plan on every normal DVD player. DVD-R is slightly more compatible, in
fact, than DVD+R, but the difference is relatively minor, and the only
way to know if either format will play on a given machine is to actually
test it. (by the way, +R is SUPPOSED to be more compatible, in theory,
but in real world testing, -R always seems to come out on top). Very
roughly, burned DVD's will play on about 70% to 80% of DVD players, with
the -R format perhaps having a 5% edge. But some players will play
neither, more will play one or the other, most (fortunately) will play
both, but, again, any given disc will only play on about 70% to 80% of
players. Also, unrelated, -R media is cheaper than +R media, although
+R is generally faster.


Syd wrote:

Thanks for this valuable advice, I think this is going to take some
consideration. I realise that I can get a LOT more for my money with a
desktop, but I want to be able to sit in front of the tv with it on my
lap. I also want to be able to take it up to the loft to record music
in peace, so a desktop would be a lot more tricky!

If a laptop with a large hard drive (40GB or so) could do the video
part, I could see how I get on with the sound part and maybe buy an
external sound card later on if I need it. What do you think of that
idea?

Can anyone recommend a manufacturer for a good price. Toshiba
satellite machines look good but are they worth the money? Are Dell
overpriced? There are loads of machines I haven't heard of, should I
be wary of them. There is a "Time" machine that has a great spec but
it looked a bit clunky.

Syd.

Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message news:<3FFAD59D.6030500@neo.rr.com>...

"Syd" <turner8@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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time are rather crap - avoid.


--
Gareth
quote of the day
'nostradamus? -sounds like a rock group to me!'

Most people seem to be recommending machines which are a bit out of my
price range. Both the music and video can be achieved with a 5-700MHz
desktop machine, so surely I'm not being over-ambitious thinking a new
low-end laptop could do it.

I would really like the dvd writer to be internal, is the general
thinking that they will be standard issue on all machines before long,
so I don't have to get a high-range one?

The Dell site has the advantage of letting you customise your own
machine, so you can have a low-in-the-range machine with dvd rw for
under £1000. Does anyone know of another manufacturer who will let you
do the same?

I've been looking at the Toshiba Satellite Pro A30.

It's a touch under £1000, has got a Line In socket, but no DVD RW. I
could get an external DVD writer that can write in any format for not
too much over £100, so its looking promising.

I've yet to account for the video editing software and music software,
not to mention anti-virus, etc... Anyone have any advice on these (on
a tight budget!)?

The Toshiba Satellite Pro A30 looks like the one. At £899.99,
amazingly enough the cheapest supplier is Dixons!

One last question for you, Dixons is a high street store, so do you
think it is a reasonable assumption that prices & products will be
reviewed at the end of January? If so, I might just find that I save a
hundred pounds by waiting a couple of weeks.

In article <98af0265.0401120056.2fe1fe5e@posting.google.com>,
Syd <turner8@hotmail.com> wrote:
The sound device on the Toshiba Satellite is quite crappy. Good PCMCIA
sound devices are not cheap. Good USB sound devices might not exist.
Do the A30's have firewire? I can't remember.

Aside from that, one big problem with a laptop is managing the huge
volume of data that you end up with. In my case, it's not a problem, as
I have a file server on my network, so it's just a matter of copying
files. It's kind of a pain to swap drives on Toshibas, but I do it
often. I worry about the stress on the drive connector.

Good USB sound device : Extigy (by creative, I think?) Can't imagine how it
works through USB, but my friend has one, and the sound seems to be pretty
good.

Duncan.

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