laptop for sac saw

[paul kostabi]

Would this be okay for SAC with multiface 16 channels and saw.?http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...#ht_3297wt_958

they don't make laptops with PCMCIA or Firewire anymore.

[Craig Allen]

It would probably be fine. I run 16 channels/3 monitor mixes with a Toshiba 1.6G Centrino and a Multiface with no problems. 12% load.

[RBIngraham]

Frankly I would look for a laptop that has a Core Duo in it. Also watchout for the laptops that use desktop CPUs. That usually means a lot of heat and hence the fans are usually always on full speed and they sound like a leaf blower running. At least that was my experience with several HP laptops that used desktop CPUs.

PCMCIA may be gone but you can get Laptops with an ExpressCard slot and get an ExpressCard for your Multiface.

[IraSeigel]

Well, I respectfully disagree with Richard.

I can't guarantee this will work, of course, but the fact that it's a single core very fast Intel chip makes it a very strong contender IMO.

I have MUCH slower Pentium M laptops, and they run SAC just fine.

I seem to be one of the few with a bad experience with Core2Duo chips, so until I can try before I buy, I'll stick with Pentium Ms.

Ira

[paul kostabi]

express cards are becoming rare too. I just bought a Lenovo think pad edge. The guy at best buy said with express card. I get home no express card. SO I kept it for internet. No firewire either.
I do believe the duocore confuses things. This lenovo has problems running Saw with 10 tracks and no plug ins. And difficult to tweak a Windows 7.

[RBIngraham]

Well, I respectfully disagree with Richard.

I can't guarantee this will work, of course, but the fact that it's a single core very fast Intel chip makes it a very strong contender IMO.

I have MUCH slower Pentium M laptops, and they run SAC just fine.

I seem to be one of the few with a bad experience with Core2Duo chips, so until I can try before I buy, I'll stick with Pentium Ms.

Ira

Well I'll bow to the experience of you laptop SAC commandos.

I was looking at it more from the prospect of buying fairly old technology. But there is obviously something to be said about compatibility as well.

[ssrsound]

they don't make laptops with PCMCIA or Firewire anymore.

?
Maybe not on the super-low-end, but most reputable manufacturers have 1394 ports and expresscard on their more powerful laptops. I'm using a new HP right now that has both of those, plus a 1920x1080 screen.

[RBIngraham]

express cards are becoming rare too. I just bought a Lenovo think pad edge. The guy at best buy said with express card. I get home no express card. SO I kept it for internet. No firewire either.
I do believe the duocore confuses things. This lenovo has problems running Saw with 10 tracks and no plug ins. And difficult to tweak a Windows 7.

That sucks. Listening to the kid at Best Buy was probably mistake #1. That's like the WalMart for electronics. If you don't want the lowest common denominator for a product (or a sales person for that matter) it's OK. But you'll likely get better service and many times save money in the long run by avoiding Best Boob. Just saying...

Having said that the Edge stuff seems to concentrate on being light and portable. Probably not the best feature set if you want a portable DAW.

It doesn't surprise me though that it's getting harder to get laptops with card slots of any kind. For the average user they just go unused, so why bother. Too bad for folks like us. But that's always been the way it goes, we end up trying to take a consumer product and then jump through hoops to make it into a professional tool. It sucks but that's the unfortunate reality.

[AntonZ]

Well, I respectfully disagree with Richard.

I can't guarantee this will work, of course, but the fact that it's a single core very fast Intel chip makes it a very strong contender IMO.

I have MUCH slower Pentium M laptops, and they run SAC just fine.

I seem to be one of the few with a bad experience with Core2Duo chips, so until I can try before I buy, I'll stick with Pentium Ms.

Ira

That is amazing. I recently purchased a used IBM T42 thinkpad, some 5 or 6 years old. My intention is to use it for remoting, among other things. It's an unexpected bonus to learn that it would also run SAC by itself. Do you think it would run my small band system? My needs are typically up to 16 channels, FOH + 2xMON and a bit of processing (dynamics, EQ, two AUX verbs for vocals and drums, dual LR on the outputs).

[IraSeigel]

That is amazing. I recently purchased a used IBM T42 thinkpad, some 5 or 6 years old. My intention is to use it for remoting, among other things. It's an unexpected bonus to learn that it would also run SAC by itself. Do you think it would run my small band system? My needs are typically up to 16 channels, FOH + 2xMON and a bit of processing (dynamics, EQ, two AUX verbs for vocals and drums, dual LR on the outputs).

I have a T42 and a T43p just dedicated to SAC FOH and monitors, respectively. Cardbus interfaces to Digifaces. Absolutely no problems, no slipped buffers, very dependable.

I also have a T500 which I'd hoped would be my SAC computer, but I couldn't get it to work properly. I have a T40 that I've used with SS Basic for awhile with no problems.

I don't own any shares of IBM or Lenovo.