Can anyone help me find a suitable notebook?

[hugz]

Hi all

I'm looking to buy a notebook computer. My price range is $2000-2500. preferably on the lower side of the scale.

It's for an artist who works largely in sound, with also some video work. He needs to be able to run a few audio production programs symaltaneously, without any dropouts. I assume therefore that it will need to be decently fast (though it wont be doing anything hardcore like video generating, so it doesn't need to be crazy fast)

It needs at least 3 USB and 1 firewire

It needs probably around 1 gig of ram (although less is fine if it's upgradeable)

It needs a dvd burner

It doesn't need anything particuarely special as far as audio goes. just an input and output is fine. (the rest can be added later externally)

it needs at least 40gig harddrive

Size and weight is pretty unimportant. Durability is.

It only needs a semi okay video. good enough to play DVDs and the such, but it wont be taking on any computer games anytime soon

15inch+ screen would be nice but isn't nessesary

The biggest requirements are being able to handle a few audio programs at once, RAM, durability, USB and firewire, price

Sorry for such a demanding post. i just wanted it to clearly explain the requirements so you're not left guessing

Thankyou!

[barfman]

If you're serious about the ruggedness aspect then you might want to consider one of these:

http://www.twinhead.com.au/products/notebook15D.asp

[hugz]

Originally Posted by barfman

If you're serious about the ruggedness aspect then you might want to consider one of these:

http://www.twinhead.com.au/products/notebook15D.asp

that's actually been the one i've been looking at

my only concern is the cpu. i dont know much about laptops really, but is that fast enough? He uses windows, and i've had problems with windows being quite slow when diong a bunch of things at once.

[beeker]

Considering it is a Centrino, I would have thought that it should be OK. I'd warrant that if you are doing several things at once, it would be the result on the lack of RAM or RAM speed more than anything else. I could be wrong though

[barfman]

It should be possible to order that model from a dealer and request any speed cpu you like. Bear in mind however that the highest end Intel chips usually represent poor value for money, try to pick a happy medium.

A bigger concern IMO would be the speed of the hard drive. See if you can find a dealer who is willing to customize and provide you with a 7200rpm model?

[beeker]

Originally Posted by barfman

A bigger concern IMO would be the speed of the hard drive. See if you can find a dealer who is willing to customize and provide you with a 7200rpm model?

Or if you are willing, get your own 5400 or 7200 RPM drive and switch it. That way you will have an external backup drive

Note that the faster the drive, the more heat it will generate and the more juice it will suck (1 reason why I left it as it was. I was going to switch with my 5400RPM drive but decided against it. For what I needed, the current HDD was fine)

[Mitch01]

What are you talking about re durability?

As in it needs to withstand drops, or just getting carried around everywhere, or you dont want it to show its age?

Twinheads are nice (infact they are used by the Australian and US Military out in the field).

Build quality is high, but so is the price for what you get.

Good notebooks, but you dont get value for money. So you pay for good build, etc.. but not for high specs.

If aging is your main concern, I'd look towards something around the 1.7-1.8Ghz Sonoma Processor range (better battery life). 60GB SATA Hard Drive (dont got for anything below 5400rpm for audio processing). The difference between a 4200rpm HDD and a 5400RPM is about 20%-30% speed increase (yes its a HUGE difference!!)..

I picked up my ASUS for a smidge under $2800 (yes I know its a little outof price range) but that was about 6-8months back, and to this date, not one problem (well apart from battery meter reading strange when I ddint charge it up).

It (like alot of other ASUS models) are made from Composite Aluminium which is meant to be scratch and dust resistant. Inside its aluminium again. None of this cheap plastic that discolours over time.

However if you are going to be chucking it around and abusing it, (like any notebook) it will break.

I'm unsure what you mean by durability so its an open book in regards to that, but re audio processing. it'd be a walk in the park for it.

[hugz]

Originally Posted by Mitch01

What are you talking about re durability?

As in it needs to withstand drops, or just getting carried around everywhere, or you dont want it to show its age?

Twinheads are nice (infact they are used by the Australian and US Military out in the field).

Build quality is high, but so is the price for what you get.

Good notebooks, but you dont get value for money. So you pay for good build, etc.. but not for high specs.

If aging is your main concern, I'd look towards something around the 1.7-1.8Ghz Sonoma Processor range (better battery life). 60GB SATA Hard Drive (dont got for anything below 5400rpm for audio processing). The difference between a 4200rpm HDD and a 5400RPM is about 20%-30% speed increase (yes its a HUGE difference!!)..

I picked up my ASUS for a smidge under $2800 (yes I know its a little outof price range) but that was about 6-8months back, and to this date, not one problem (well apart from battery meter reading strange when I ddint charge it up).

It (like alot of other ASUS models) are made from Composite Aluminium which is meant to be scratch and dust resistant. Inside its aluminium again. None of this cheap plastic that discolours over time.

However if you are going to be chucking it around and abusing it, (like any notebook) it will break.

I'm unsure what you mean by durability so its an open book in regards to that, but re audio processing. it'd be a walk in the park for it.

He broke his last one or 2 laptops so is now highly concerned about durability. i beleive one got liquid in it, and i dunno what else.

given that trackrecord, it seems worth investing in durability rather than just buying something that will be broken and need to be fixed.

The notes about HDD etc seem interesting. the store that i did a quick price check on the twinhead durabook has it for $2099. that leaves a few hundred extra before it goes over budget (can probably bargain the price down 10% too i imagine)

what's a more price effective way to improve performance in such a laptop: upgrading cpu or buying a better harddrive?

edit: i'm a bit of a laptop noob. you mention SATA drives... do you mean for an external drive? An external drive has been on the list of "likely future upgrades" anyway, so if an external sata will improve performance (even with the standard crappy internal drive remaining the same) then that sounds like it has potential

[beeker]

Originally Posted by hugz

edit: i'm a bit of a laptop noob. you mention SATA drives... do you mean for an external drive? An external drive has been on the list of "likely future upgrades" anyway, so if an external sata will improve performance (even with the standard crappy internal drive remaining the same) then that sounds like it has potential

You can actually get notebook SATA drives now. It should improve the performance over a normal PATA notebook drive.

[Mitch01]

Originally Posted by hugz

He broke his last one or 2 laptops so is now highly concerned about durability. i beleive one got liquid in it, and i dunno what else.

given that trackrecord, it seems worth investing in durability rather than just buying something that will be broken and need to be fixed.

The notes about HDD etc seem interesting. the store that i did a quick price check on the twinhead durabook has it for $2099. that leaves a few hundred extra before it goes over budget (can probably bargain the price down 10% too i imagine)

what's a more price effective way to improve performance in such a laptop: upgrading cpu or buying a better harddrive?

edit: i'm a bit of a laptop noob. you mention SATA drives... do you mean for an external drive? An external drive has been on the list of "likely future upgrades" anyway, so if an external sata will improve performance (even with the standard crappy internal drive remaining the same) then that sounds like it has potential

You can go all out and go a Panasonic Toughbook (which was demod to me, thrown to ground at waist height and still worked fine, but they start at about $5k.. then again they are detailed enough to include a heater for the HDD to keep it at the same temperature all year round (and any weather).

SATA Laptop HDD's around the 60-80GB+ mark are pretty expensive... certainly alot more than standard 3.5" HDD's (E.G $185 inc GST RRP for a 2MB Cache 80GB 5400RPM WD Hard Drive).

Audio Processing (I.E editing and mixing, and modifying files) will need a fair bit of grunt.. thus as I mentioned 1.7-2Ghz Sonoma Processor only. Where the Sonoma wins over the Centrino, is that it offers better power saving, DDR2 Memory (which will allow you to run alot faster than standard DDR), a higher FSB, and when an item isnt being used it doesnt power it.

Hope this helps a bit more.

[spoonjosh]

well I would suggest a Dell Inspiron 9300, as I am using one as we speak :P It's a little over the top for your specifications, but believe me, it's worth every cent. 2GHz Pentium M processor, Dualr burner, Nvidia Go 6800 Graphics Card, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, 100GB HDD, 6 USB ports, Firewire/1394 port (you will have to go PCMCIA for 1394(a) or (b)), 1 PCMCIA card slot, SD card reader, Dual-monitor port, as well as s-video port, 17" widescreen LCD... I think it would do the job nicely :P the price I paid on special was $3791 though, and I think Dell have brought this down in price, so have a look. I would seriously consider getting another GB of DDR2 RAM though, which I will be doing, but if you friend needs audio, this machine would serve him well. I use it for audio and video editing as well as gaming and uni work, and honestly since i have bought it, I dont believe there has been a single day I have left it. Seriously.

WARNING: when you buy this beast of a laptop, your short-sighted vision WILL begin to deteriorate, as you will be so attracted to it it will be used every day! :P

spoonjosh

[Digitone]

you could always get a Dell and Pay extra for there Extened warranty

Cover Drops, Coffee or Beer spillage and power surges.

Mine got replaced last week as I was carrying it in from the outside deck and triped and it went down a flight of concrete stairs.

[Mitch01]

Guys Guys Guys .. his budget is $2000-$2500 with a preferable amount around $2000.

If he was asking for a sub $3000-$4000 notebook he'd have said so.

[spoonjosh]

Sorry - my bad. I got carried away :P

Some questions I would like answered first:


<quote>It's for an artist who works largely in sound, with also some video work</quote>

So what video work are we talking about exactly? A few more specifics would help, because I'm think we could customise the laptop to an extent to what your friend needs. Audio production quite rightly needs some serious power, not as much as visual, but you need it be able to do what you want it to, so I would be look at a 2 GHz processor.

USB - no problems, as all laptops come with this.

Firewire - are we talking 1394, 1394(a) or 1394(b), and would he like the option of using it instead of a crossover cable for transferring data between his laptop and his desktop (if he has one), as it is faster than a wireless connection or other cables, to the best of my knowledge. If its not 1394 you are looking for, it would have to be external or PCMCIA card, so the laptop would have to contain one free slot.

1 GB Ram - easy! But have you considered DDR or DDR2?

Dvd burner - are we talking specifics: + or -, R/RW or both? Dual-Layer?

40 GB is standard, but you might get more

And ahndlinga few audio programs at once - any in mind? I do a little audio and video production myself, and am running 1 GB DDR2 RAM, but clearly need to upgrade to another GB as Audio AND Video, or either for that matter (depending on how much you are running simultaneously). But for laptops that can be pretty expensive, so expect to pay a little more.

With that in mind - do you need bluetooth? Have you factored in the other little things like a mouse/mousepad, LCD screen cleaner (believe me you will want one - dont use ammonia based products like my brother did on LCD screens - u can seriously ruin them), battery life, soundcard/speakers, xp Home?

I had a quick look at http://umart.net and they had this:

http://umart.net/au/product_info.php?products_id=102639

With more features here:

http://au.lge.com/md/product/prodcat...Id=1100000668#

but note to customise your system, they are not the people to go to for notebooks.

But this one from the links comes in at $2,700 - just off, but an unbelievably amazing price for such a system, and it will do what your friend needs. I would really reccommend Umart - their service is fast and efficient, and do some amazing deal, although Dell every now and then have a decent deal of the week.

I built you one on the Dell website using the Inspiron 6000 that came in at $2,888 but started of around the $2097 mark. I would suggest to your friend to save up an extra $300-$400 if they can, and they can get a system that will do what they want and more, but if you want protection, that is the extra you are paying for (3 years warranty) so I would seriously consider opting for a little extra cash for more protection. It's completely up to you.

Another site to look at is Techbuy.com.au - they helped me out sometimes. Cheers, hope this helps,

spoonjosh

[nikkon]

Originally Posted by spoonjosh

well I would suggest a Dell Inspiron 9300, as I am using one as we speak :P It's a little over the top for your specifications, but believe me, it's worth every cent. 2GHz Pentium M processor, Dualr burner, Nvidia Go 6800 Graphics Card, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, 100GB HDD, 6 USB ports, Firewire/1394 port (you will have to go PCMCIA for 1394(a) or (b)), 1 PCMCIA card slot, SD card reader, Dual-monitor port, as well as s-video port, 17" widescreen LCD... I think it would do the job nicely :P the price I paid on special was $3791 though, and I think Dell have brought this down in price, so have a look. I would seriously consider getting another GB of DDR2 RAM though, which I will be doing, but if you friend needs audio, this machine would serve him well. I use it for audio and video editing as well as gaming and uni work, and honestly since i have bought it, I dont believe there has been a single day I have left it. Seriously.

WARNING: when you buy this beast of a laptop, your short-sighted vision WILL begin to deteriorate, as you will be so attracted to it it will be used every day! :P

spoonjosh

If you are considering i9300 i would wait till 29th of sep when 7800 Go are released with the M170 / i9400.