PC laptop found w/ExpressCard, quad-core Ivy Bridge, and 14" display

[norbury brook]

I have a sandybridge i7 quad/16 gig ram/SSD/ 14 inch high res mat secreen HP elitebook with an express card slot.



MC

[bgribble]

Originally Posted by norbury brook

I have a sandybridge i7 quad/16 gig ram/SSD/ 14 inch high res mat secreen HP elitebook with an express card slot.

I didn't see that one ... I had checked the HP lineup, but couldn't find a way to get a quad core processor on the Elitebook through the website. The spec sheet confirms that it is offered. Thanks for the tip!

I notice that that Elitebook (8470p) also has a builtin Firewire port. Do you happen to know what chipset it is? FW 800 or 400?

[norbury brook]

or, do as I did and just buy the base model and upgrade the cpu/ram. I sold my old cpu and bought a quad i7. I took the opportunity to put Arctic silver thermal paste on the cpu and GPU which means the fan doesn't come in now until higher usage. Ram is cheap and easy to replace. Bought a optical drive bay caddy from fleabay and added a second HD.

THe elitebooks are very easy to work on,just like a desktop.

The FW controller is JMicron. It works with my Steinberg MR816 which is very picky,there is an express card slot on the elitrbook as well so you can buy a TI card if you need to use TI.


MC

[mcintalker]

I bought an ASUS 17" ROG G74sx-BBK8 with i7 2670QM 2.2 with turbo -16gb and and am now looking to see if mine is Sandy Bridge or not?! I am using Sonar X1d (soon X2PE). What are you all using? I will build another studio desktop around the turn of the year and wanted this laptop for traveling this winter and still being able to record-edit etc. So, the 2 -500gb 7200rpm drives (which are WD tho I was told they were Seagates) and 4 usb ports one is a usb3, which I am using for my external usb3 1Tb with sample libraries and audio-project backup folder. I am using a Tascam US1641 usb I/O and tho I'll upgrade the I/O, Firewire wasn't likely to be a laptop issue for me. If I go with the RME it'll go either way -usb or FW.
I am just installing and getting this machine going and am only beginning to explore X1 and still have to install most of the libraries, too. I haven't been able to upgrade or expand my studio ( normally a regular event for me)- PC wise- in 7 years and have been very impressed with HP's "progress" , especially the Z series. Laptops are a brand new area for me and so this topic is very interesting!
More Please! Michael

[rksguit]

That 6430 latitude in Oz with an i7 3520 ivy bridge 4gbRAM 750gb 7,200 rpm HDD is $1766 AUD.

In April 2011 I bought an XPS L502x for $1299[same config in US was $899!] with an i7 2630qm Sandy B. 4GB RAM[upped to 8 myself for $50]750GB,7,200rpm Seagate HDD,and its been running great since then,BUT the GT540m Nvidea GPU causes awful DPC"EDIT"!! As long as I go to the Nvidea "control Panel"-MUST BE DONE after EVERY START UP-and "Engage Defaults"I can NOW leave the GT540M Nvidea GPU "Enabled",but if I forget-Horrid DPC Spikes-very weird,but at least I DO NOT have to Disable it anymore,and DPC is 150us Average with Wi-Fi on,with it OFF,80us-120us.

This laptop runs very quiet,but I have double usb fans mounted underneath blowing air up into the slots[exhaust is on the left side]and I dont lose a usb port,as the fan has a switch,and a hub port of its own.

The other day I was showing someone the fans and turned the switch OFF,for 2 days I couldn't understand why the internal fan was going on all the time,well it was the "underneath"fan accidentally not being on,but as its ALWAYS on usually,it really has made a difference,to noise and heat,and has been like this for a year now.

I also run Sonar X1d ex.[and NOW X2],and everything is smooth,except I have noticed some small issues on the laptop,that NEVER happen with my desktop-i7 2600k OC'ed to 4.6GHz stock voltages.EDIT: X2 has cleared old X1d minor issues-very good!

One of ADK's most recent laptops have[Express Card],I believe the second least expensive model has it :ADK Pro Audio PC, Laptops, Digital Audio workstations for Nuendo, Cubase, Sonar, Samplitude

Also another forum member,a while ago,had an awful time with a "top of the line dell Precision" that he bought expressly[?] for the express card slot,it turned out,he had to give up on it,as the machine was just unsuitable for audio,even though it was $4+ K!

Instead of the possibly wonderful express card,my model has a mini display port,not very useful for audio[which seems ridiculous.as Thunderbolt-uses the Mini Display Connector at least,but odd/interesting,as almost NO other laptops have HDMI,and MDP as well.

Mine is the 15" model,that they've changed this year[and not for the better it seems,in OZ,the ONLY option for a Hard Drive,is a "BAD FOR AUDIO 5,400rpm HDD",SO stupid-NOT to have a choice!!!]and these 2011 XPS models are all marked down now,and definitely worth getting,"as long as you ONLY! get the highest spec"QUAD CORE i7 CPU" possible"!!!,they're also mostly silver,with an aluminium lid,and surprisingly usable/loud/clean JBL speakers.

I actually feel super lucky with my XPS,as I purchased it,without knowing very much at all[46 y.o,and NEVER OWNED or USED ANY COMPUTER BEFORE!],as it was my first ever foray into digital audio whatsoever,and although I had been told to get a MBP,there was just NO WAY,I could afford it at the time[or would I justify the ludicrous overpricing],and now I have a great workhorse laptop,and a super powerful desktop,for the price of 1-15MacBP with a 7,200rpm drive[but still only 4GB RAM!],Apples prices in Australia,are just insane!

I would recommend the 2011 dell XPS to anyone looking for an affordable,powerfull laptop,as long as they realise that the cheapest interface for Pro use,would likely be an RME Babyface[though I'm about to TRY a Native Instruments"Audio 6"],but even so an XPS and a Babyface,are still way cheaper,than "you know what".
RK

[mcintalker]

Thanks for that Intel cpu legend-code Paul! That is good to know about my current laptop and also in general it is very helpful. I like knowing that! Having been on hiatus financially for quite a while, it seems that catching up with computers, studio gear and instruments- guitars, baritones, basses, amps, pedals (!), and especially keyboards, has been both daunting and fun! I had collected a lot of gear for a large home studio, especially mics and guitars/pedals/amps (I was gigging a lot in classic rock, jazz, country, folk settings, plus my Sunday brunch gig on A/E nylon), and was forced to sell almost everything. Now that I am having a great time rebuilding my studio, gear and instruments, it feels like computers and my DAW (I just went from a P4 XP to Win7 64 bit and Sonar 5 to X1d) are impossible to catch up with! ...Certainly, lots of reading! I really appreciate the help and camaraderie of this forum.
So Thanks again Michael

[mcintalker]

@rskguit My G74sx has HDMI and VGA ports, though I have yet to check out whether I can run 2 monitor screens like my old P4 set up(Dell FP1703's). I don't have a VGA cable at the moment, only DVIs. So I will have to check that out after a little vacation with my wife to the Upper Pennisula.
I was looking for laptops for my wife and I, and bought a pair. I wanted cpu, 16gb DDR3, 2x500gb 7200 rpm both of which were supposed to be Seagate (hers are and mine turned out to be WD which I didn't notice, as we bought our house and got busy for 3 months impoving and moving and then recovering! HA!)I may upgrade to 750 Seagates, but for now I have many other focuses (?).
My nVidia card has done 2 red screens and I don't know what that means. SO if this G74 works fine, if not HP time. I am planning to build a
great" studio desktop in a few months, too. Like I said I am playing "catch-up" big time!
By the way, I am using Tascam us1641 (usb) I/O. I assume an express card is for Firewire.

[rksguit]

Originally Posted by mcintalker

@rskguit My G74sx has HDMI and VGA ports, though I have yet to check out whether I can run 2 monitor screens like my old P4 set up(Dell FP1703's). I don't have a VGA cable at the moment, only DVIs. So I will have to check that out after a little vacation with my wife to the Upper Pennisula.
I was looking for laptops for my wife and I, and bought a pair. I wanted cpu, 16gb DDR3, 2x500gb 7200 rpm both of which were supposed to be Seagate (hers are and mine turned out to be WD which I didn't notice, as we bought our house and got busy for 3 months impoving and moving and then recovering! HA!)I may upgrade to 750 Seagates, but for now I have many other focuses (?).
My nVidia card has done 2 red screens and I don't know what that means. SO if this G74 works fine, if not HP time. I am planning to build a
great" studio desktop in a few months, too. Like I said I am playing "catch-up" big time!
By the way, I am using Tascam us1641 (usb) I/O. I assume an express card is for Firewire.

Hi,an "Express Card as far as I understand,was an excellent way for a laptop computer to have an external interaction with the PCI/PCIe bus,and therefore,WAS[as its almost TOTALLY gone!]very good for implementing all sorts of protocols[and especially stable audio!] by way of adaptors,and an expess card can have Firewire/USB,and best of all could allow a Laptop to run MADI-64 Audio Channels,something virtually impossible with the other protocols.

The fact that "IT" has been phased out,just when CPU's have gotten so powerful is a ROYAL PITA Stupidity,on behalf of the computer manufacturers for the audio community,and quite maddening.

I'm not sure what you mean "Red Screens",as I was referring to the DPC measurement utility called "Latency Checker" Here:http://http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtmlthough it is very basic and This tool is far more informative :http://http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon and gives an idea as to how good your machine is for Audio.
RK