Henchmans danger danger sticky-thread:Stay away from Dell laptops for Pro Audio

[Henchman]

I just spent 2 weeks trying to get my Dell latitude D820 to work properly with my presonus firewire interface.
No luck. And I knowmy way around PC's abit.
Further investigation showed that it is a known problem, and that Dell has no plans to do anything about it. Neither the internal firewire or the Siig 2-port firewire Expresscard (which uses the TI chipset) would work properly. Dell offers the Siig for sale on their website.
A USB VS Firewire test showed them underperforming using a HD, quite significantly too.

This simply shows me that it is badly implemented hardware via the BIOS.

I have read a ton of reports with people having the same issues form various other Dell laptop lines, and strongly suggest to stay away from them for any kind of Pro-Audio or multimedia type applicationswhere high firewire throughput is needed.

I really like the laptop, and the features it has. Especially the media bay option.
But I need this to work now. Not in a month or 2.

Maybe the mod can sticky this so no one else wastes their time like I did.


******* UPDATE*******

So, it looks like it's any Dell core 2 duo that is affected.
Other types, use at your own risk.

[XHipHop]

Time to pony up for the macbook pro, henchy.

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by XHipHop

Time to pony up for the macbook pro, henchy.

I just picked up a sweet deal on an HP nc8430 for $1300,- Core 2 Duo T7200
3 months old on Ebay form a guy here in town. 3 year on-site warranty. Excellent specs, and I already serached to make sure it will work.

I still needed a laptop with a PCMCIA slot for my magma chassis and 4 UAD-1 cards. And from what i understand bootcamp doesn't necessarily work 100% with all external hardware. So, I probably wouldn't be able to use my UAD's in bootcamp/XP.
I don't want to take that risk.

[George Necola]

Time to pony up for the macbook pro, henchy.

I have the yellowcard in my right hand xhiphop read the forumrules

[Jose Mrochek]

Originally Posted by George Necola

I have the yellowcard in my right hand xhiphop read the forumrules

Pull out a second one cause I'm about to say the same thing

[George Necola]

would you be quiet if I am kind of these referees?



would you care buying mac or pc?

[Henchman]

Well, all I'll say, is that I have to have something that will work 100% with my UAD-1 expansion chassis.
I now have a laptop that looks likeit will work. Same specs as a Macbook pro, for $1300,-.
3 months old.

Can any of you guys guarantee me 100% that the expresscard slot on a macbook pro will work flawlessly under Bootcamp/XP?

[mr. moon]

Originally Posted by Henchman

A USB VS Firewire test showed them underperforming using a HD, quite significantly too.

This simply shows me that it is badly implemented hardware via the BIOS.

I have read a ton of reports with people having the same issues form various other Dell laptop lines, and strongly suggest to stay away from them for any kind of Pro-Audio or multimedia type applicationswhere high firewire throughput is needed.

Please go into more detail regarding the technical aspects of the issue, if possible. I have a Latitude D810 that I use for remote recording with my FF800 and I regularly record 10 tracks simultaneously at 96K 24-bit without any dropouts or problems whatsoever. I have also recorded tunes at 192K, but I don't have too huge of an internal HD to try to store the huge project files they create at 192K (and most clients don't require that level of precision), so I default to 96K, which is still overkill, but easily done.

I would be interested to read the details of this "known" issue.

Thanks!

-mr moon

[johnjm22]

I have an Inspiron 6000 (Pentium M 1.86, Gig of DDR2, 7200RPM HD) and since I got rid of XP Media Center Edition, and did a clean install of XP Home it's performed quite well.

I haven't had any problems running PTLE with both an Mbox Mini, or my Digi 002.

It has easily out performed my Dual 1.25 G4.

[matucha]

my Dell latitude d505 works without problems with apogee minidac (via USB) and RME fireface400 works as well...

but I've heard that presonus interfaces have their problems...

[Jose Mrochek]

Originally Posted by George Necola

would you be quiet if I am kind of these referees?

yes, mac vs pc wars would be over for good.. but could bring a whole new set of problems

[Henchman]

You can read all about in this thread going back to last August:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=73829


It seems it's specific to Core 2 Duo laptops.

The firewire does not work properly, and niether does the Expresscard sot.
USB is fine.

[mr. moon]

Originally Posted by Henchman

You can read all about in this thread going back to last August:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=73829


It seems it's specific to Core 2 Duo laptops.

The firewire does not work properly, and niether does the Expresscard sot.
USB is fine.

I have heard that there is a FSB bottleneck on the core 2 duo laptops, but not that they were having issues with 1394 and the PCI-e. I have heard that they plan to update them later this spring to fix the issue, but I cannot remember exactly where I heard that from.

-mr moon

[FFTT]

I hope it works out for you one way or another.

I know you spent a small fortune on your UAD-1 cards and really if you ever do decide
to give Mac OSX a shot, I think you'll be much happier with a full sized Mac Pro workstation.

[mosaik]

Henchman, please let me know if your laptop is working well with your firewire interface. im looking to pick up a laptop to use with a fireface 800 or firestudio interface but have seen so many problems regarding the chipset that i was thinking bout a mac, but the price is a bit high and im not sure how well nuendo runs on it.

[FFTT]

I bought my Dual Processor G5 2.0 knowing that PCI-e was just around the corner, but at the time and still today there were many PCI-X expansion card options and just a few PCI-e. IF...... I had the extra funds, I could also benefit now from other users trying to get rid of their PCI-X UAD-1 cards.


The thing is that I waited til this well proven workhorse dropped $700.00 in price
on closeout. One week it was $2299 ( edu ) and the closeout price dropped to $1699.00 with another $100.00 edu rebate.
Just for perspective, my G5 dually cost the same as a single processor 12" 1.33 GHz G4 PowerBook at the time. Tough Choice!

I figure about the same thing is going to happen to the 2.66 GHz Mac Pro Tower
and that will be an excellent value for anyone upgrading on a tight budget AND all
your Windows stuff should run as good or better than on most pro P/C's
Even if they only drop $400.0 or so, that enough to make a big difference to some people.

It really doesn't matter which platform you choose if you go for the Xeon's you'll need high end ECC RAM and 4 GB' worth.
At least if you buy a Mac Pro on closeout, you'll cover most of the cost of that RAM.

Good man, use a laptop for your essential portable needs and get your studio into a serious workstation with the performance, connectivity and storage you need.

A Quad processor workstation for the price of a MacBook Pro.

I'm telling you that you won't be disappointed.

Go ahead and get the HP for now since you still need a laptop, and see what happens
when the 8 Core Towers debut.

[T_R_S]

You get what you pay for ...
Reliablity and good service costs.
Priceless!
There are reasons why some computers cost more than others ...

[George Necola]

There are reasons why some computers cost more than others ...

I thought that wuz because of the marketing-costs? dfegad

btw, DELL has some serious buisness-troubles these days. they fired their CEO and get the old one in.. now they announced, they have to safe a lot of money and keep the costs down.. hm, I hope they don't cut down the income of the poor chinese children-worker.fuuck that sucks..

cheers

[XHipHop]

Originally Posted by George Necola

I have the yellowcard in my right hand xhiphop read the forumrules

I did...it say ironical reponses are appreciated.

It was a JOKE (if you've ever read any of henchmen's posts, it was obvious i was ribbing him)!

Please retract the yellow card (not that i know what it means...i'm american.)

[Henchman]

The HP is working 100% right away.
No pops or click with the Firebox at all.

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by T_R_S

You get what you pay for ...
Reliablity and good service costs.
Priceless!
There are reasons why some computers cost more than others ...

Well, the HP business laptop I bought is working great so far.

$1300,- US for a 15.4" WXGA+ screen
100gig SATA HD
core 2 Duo T7200 2Ghz
8x CD/DVD burner
Accelerometer hard drive protection
Biometeric fingerprint reader
3 year full warranty

[George Necola]

Biometeric fingerprint reader

this thing is necessary for ya.. eh?

I did...it say ironical reponses are appreciated.

It was a JOKE (if you've ever read any of henchmen's posts, it was obvious i was ribbing him)!

Please retract the yellow card (not that i know what it means...i'm american.)

with the power that Jules gave me, I remove the yellowcard from my virtual hand and you got back all the respect you deserve

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by George Necola

this thing is necessary for ya.. eh?

I'm a Geek, I know.

[tnjazz]

Originally Posted by XHipHop

Please retract the yellow card (not that i know what it means...i'm american.)

George, when calling foul on us Yanks, perhaps you should rephrase it to be "throwing the yellow hanky". We'll know what that means.

[George Necola]

"throwing the yellow hanky".

outsch..

[mosaik]

Henchman, what is the exact model of your hp laptop?? What type of performance are you getting out of it ie. how many vst insturments and plugs? If it works with the firebox i guess it would work with the firestudio or firefce 800
??

[foldback]

I'm glad to read something good about the HP laptops. Friends of mine that have tried to use them for pro apps in the past have been very disappointed with uncompatible motherboards and cheezy construction.

My brother is a diehard Dell user, he never even looks at anything else. This past year he reinstalled his OS three times and has been down HARD twice while his latest Dell lappytop made a roundtrip to a repair center. All of these woes have not toned down his love for Michael Dells products tho, he just arranged for his wife to buy a Dell laptop with a 19" screen.... that thing is really a HOG. The computer is pretty big too :-)

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by Soma

Henchman, what is the exact model of your hp laptop?? What type of performance are you getting out of it ie. how many vst insturments and plugs? If it works with the firebox i guess it would work with the firestudio or firefce 800
??

It's an NC8430.
I'll give you the lowdown on plug-ins etc. later this evening.

[Roger Starr]

I have a Dell Latitude D620 with 2GBRAM (667mhz) and a 80 GB 7200rpm. I have Cubase SX3.1 and I have a Motu 828 mkII. Didn't install it yet (I need to get firewire card since the D620 hasn't one built in like the D820 does has (best is Technical Instruments I've been told?)), but this won't work, or will it? Goal, composing using plugs and adding some audio channels for recording on location...

Regards,

Roger

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by Roger Starr

I have a Dell Latitude D620 with 2GBRAM (667mhz) and a 80 GB 7200rpm. I have Cubase SX3.1 and I have a Motu 828 mkII. Didn't install it yet (I need to get firewire card since the D620 hasn't one built in like the D820 does has (best is Technical Instruments I've been told?)), but this won't work, or will it? Goal, composing using plugs and adding some audio channels for recording on location...

Regards,

Roger

If the D620 only has a Expresscard slot, chances are, you're out of luck.
I can send you my Siig Expresscard interace if you want to try it out.
It's of no use to me anyway now.