laptop or lug around G5

[soundwarrior]

Hello everyone,

I need a portable setup to do some remote recording. I need to be able to record at least 8 tracks simultaneously and be able to mix at least 24 tracks at 96khz. I will probally purchase the fireface and cubase sx3. What would be the best laptop with the most power. Or should I just buy a G5 2ghz with 2 gig of ram and lug it around. My current setup is a Tascams msr24 w/dolby s (i can;t carry this thing around). vintech x731, fmr rnp and 2 rnc, kurweil rumour, masterlink, Adam p22 a's, soundelux ifet7, josephson c42, senheiser md21, akg d12, and 57's. I have got cables,stands, a snake and my ultimate secrect weapon my roland vs890(just kidding). I have only about 4,500 to spend. Also I can get the G5 with 2gig for $2161 my wife is a fedearal employee, . What would you get or any other setups you would recommend. I open to anything.. I recently sold my allen and heath system 8 console when I moved back to the U.S. recently, so I need to mix in the box. Thanks for any advice

[Midlandmorgan]

FWIW: For remote/location stuff I just tote a locker with an older PC, a 15" LCD flatscreen VGA, a small rack with a Firepod, and another small locker with cables, mics, adapters, etc...

Laptops are fine, great, etc...but I've read a lot of reports about people getting weird pops, clicks, and/or dropouts whenever the power supply kicked on or off...not a good thing when recording a 2.5 hour long classical number.

A Shuttle sized unit is in this year's budget (do they make those for Macs?) And with your choice of goodies/platform, you could easily run SX on a PC....if you have to take rack stuff anyway, what's one more piece?

[Henchman]

Get yourself an Emachines laptop on ebay. M6805, M6809,M6810,M6811.
For under $1k, they outperform G5's, and have been high on the list for PTLE users. ANd everyone knows how finicky PT's is with hardware.

I am doing all my audio now on my M6805 and Nuendo, and will probably never go back to a Desktop system. Especially when they start releasing Dualcore systems next year.

With the money you save, I highly recommend a used MAGMA 4-slot chasiss and some UAD-1 cards.
You can cut down on the size of the MAGMA, I did it, and could tell you how, and you'll have a very powerfull portable system for tracking AND mixing.

I am just finishing off some mixing for a client who has worked in really big studio's(Realworld etc), and he is very happy with what we're doign.

I myslef come from the Big Console days, and couldn't be more pleased.

[soundwarrior]

Henchman,

In what way would the e-machines outperform a g5.?I do not understand. The e-mahines laptop is only upgradable to 512 of ram. Sounds good if does outperform, escpecially for the price. I was thinking of a powerbook 1.67 and 1 gig of ram, but if I can save money that would be great. Thanks

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by soundwarrior

Henchman,

In what way would the e-machines outperform a g5.?I do not understand. The e-mahines laptop is only upgradable to 512 of ram. Sounds good if does outperform, escpecially for the price. I was thinking of a powerbook 1.67 and 1 gig of ram, but if I can save money that would be great. Thanks

Actually you can easily upgrade it to 1.256 gigs. If you want to got he full 2 gigs, you have to open it up to access the internal memory slot.

I currently have 1.2gigs in my Emachien laptop, and have no rpoblems doign extensive mixing on it. I also upgared top a 40 gig internal 7200rpm drive.
Doing comparisons on the Nuendo site, my M6805 (which I have overclocked to be a 3200+) perfroms better than a G5.

I woudl look at the 3400+ athlon64 model though. Ihad a $2k budget when I bought mine. I got the Magma chassis, laptop, 1gig upgrade and a 7200rpm drive. And heve no regrets, that's for sure.

[Henchman]

Also, if you want to buy one brandnew, they're now beign sold by gateway.
This is a pretty sweet deal for a screaming laptop, and if I could afford it right now, I'd buy one right away.:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1109938021195

[soundwarrior]

Henchman,

That looks like a pretty good deal. Is your laptop pretty quiet? If you had to track in the same room would you be able to get by with it. Thanks

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by soundwarrior

Henchman,

That looks like a pretty good deal. Is your laptop pretty quiet? If you had to track in the same room would you be able to get by with it. Thanks

If it was a quiet instrument, then proably no. However, if you set the CPU down to it's lower speed setting, then you could probably do it, as the fan woudl not kick in very much.

[manning1]

henchman..
ive been looking at a bunch of 64 laptops.
just curious vs desktops how long for a 3 minute 44.1 stereo audio track it takes
your laptop to process noise gate on the whole track.
a 64 user using the same software as i use reported 3 seconds for the 3 minute file using noise gate.
if you get the chance wouldnt mind knowing your noise gate stat if you get the chance to see if there are any differences. thanks.
ps...sounds like a nice system you have there.

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by manning1

henchman..
ive been looking at a bunch of 64 laptops.
just curious vs desktops how long for a 3 minute 44.1 stereo audio track it takes
your laptop to process noise gate on the whole track.
a 64 user using the same software as i use reported 3 seconds for the 3 minute file using noise gate.
if you get the chance wouldnt mind knowing your noise gate stat if you get the chance to see if there are any differences. thanks.
ps...sounds like a nice system you have there.

I tried it in Nuendo. 3 sec.

[o---]

I second the A64 proposal.

I have a 3400+ nF3 with 1GB DDR440 memory and it screams. I am suprised to see how much a 3000+ can do with audio! That is impressive.

I am so suprized because a 3000+ CPU sells for about $100 less than a 3400+. 3000+ is one of the lower models of Athlon64's. Whatever you do don't buy nF4 or PCIe (PCI-express motherboards or anything with PCI express for audio [YET].)

[vikingdude]

Henchman, what kind of battery life are you getting on the emachine?

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by vikingdude

Henchman, what kind of battery life are you getting on the emachine?

Running fullspeed, 1 hour. Running at 800mhz, 3 hours.
I'm always plugged in though.

[manning1]

thanks henchman.
so same as desktop.
anytime you get the chance. no rush - wouldnt mind knowing for same file
which dsp takes the longest to process. exciter for example or reverb or echo or eq or any other that takes the longest.
hmm...i wonder if dual opterons would shave any time off that 3 sec figure ?
i'm not sure , because of other factors like busses/drives etc.

[Henchman]

Well, when saving a mix. A 3 1/2 min song with around 50 tracks, 4-5 subgroups, 8 fx tracks and a whole bunch of plug-ins on in dividual channels takes about 2-3 minutes to bounce.

[soundwarrior]

Henchman,

I have decided to go with that Gateway amd 64 3700. Which hardrive brand to recommend. Would you go with seagate? Also any type of tweaking you would advise for auido. I will be running cubas sx3 on it. I plan on buying magma 4 slot with a uad card. Thanks for your help

[o---]

Seagate makes one of the best 7200 RPM 2.5" hard drives at the moment.

About dual Opterons, if you go that route you'd most likely go with the Tyan K8WE, probably, and that has multiple bus' going to each processor, plus 2 PCI bus'. They aren't regular PCI bus' either... they're newer PCI-X and have more bandwidth than the single shared PCI bus that have been mentioned in this thread..

So I would guess it's much faster...

[manning1]

hench. thanks.
o---...i wonder how much dual opts would reduce that 3 second noise gate figure ?

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by Henchman

Get yourself an Emachines laptop on ebay. M6805, M6809,M6810,M6811.
For under $1k, they outperform G5's, and have been high on the list for PTLE users. ANd everyone knows how finicky PT's is with hardware...

You know, I'm a Windows guy. I've been using PC's since 1985, and I've built a couple, including my desktop. My laptop is a Dell.I don't own a Mac. Unless I should get into pre-press graphics, it's highly unlikely I'll ever seek out a Mac.


But I am extremely doubtful that one can, under normal circumstances buy an eMachines laptop for under $1000 on eBay that will outperform a G5 desktop.

Extremely doubtful.

[o---]

Originally Posted by manning1

hench. thanks.
o---...i wonder how much dual opts would reduce that 3 second noise gate figure ?

Yeah... man.... I just don't know. I know of a guy on another forum who has one with a RME 2496 that you could ask, but don't tell him I have anything to do with it. I've debated him a couple times, but he has his computer in his signature...

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by theblue1

You know, I'm a Windows guy. I've been using PC's since 1985, and I've built a couple, including my desktop. My laptop is a Dell.I don't own a Mac. Unless I should get into pre-press graphics, it's highly unlikely I'll ever seek out a Mac.


But I am extremely doubtful that one can, under normal circumstances buy an eMachines laptop for under $1000 on eBay that will outperform a G5 desktop.

Extremely doubtful.

Doubt all you want. There was a benchmark test on the Nuendo website. I submitted my results, and one of the Mac guys responded that my Laptop outperformed his G5.

[manning1]

o---.
nothing changes. my dad used to tell me about the 40's when guys would hot rod cars and debate who had the hottest, and race each other.

mostly all that concerns me is shaving long dsp times because its a pain waiting for tracks to be effected. i want to lay a track down, bam - do effect and go on so the creativity isnt lost.

[o---]

Manning1,
Certainly! Although the parameters are always changing, hopefully! Unless we're sitting around waiting...

I don't think my computer is that great, well not usually, until Henchman posted, since he is a professional and uses an emachines in the field.... I am just a kid who dreams of making money in this field anyway possible... But Athlon64's are impressive. Theyhadnle lots of bandwidth with very very low latency like a tractor puller...

I am willing to put money on the times being shortened with a Dual Processor Opteron system. I can say without doubt that if you have 3 grand to throw down, you would cut times by at least 30%. That would be with 2 of the new Dual Core Opterons that are now for sale, in a Tyan K8WE. If I had 3 Grand I'd buy it and not EVER have to worry about upgrading!

[pendejo]

Originally Posted by Henchman

Doubt all you want. There was a benchmark test on the Nuendo website. I submitted my results, and one of the Mac guys responded that my Laptop outperformed his G5.

Dream on...your laptop isn't even in the race with a dual G5.

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by pendejo

Dream on...your laptop isn't even in the race with a dual G5.

Hmm, now let's see if I can figure out who mentioned a Dual G5.
It certainly wasn't me.

However, when the new Dual athlons get released for laptops, we'll see how they compare. A dual G5 and a dualcore Athlon64 4000+ laptop.
That will be my nexy computer, as I am now maxing out what I can do with my current computer. I'm doing way more complicated mixes than I ever did in an analogue studio.
You know what it's like, you always want a little bit more.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by Henchman

Doubt all you want. There was a benchmark test on the Nuendo website. I submitted my results, and one of the Mac guys responded that my Laptop outperformed his G5.

Well -- don't get me wrong -- I don't doubt that a specific machine might beat another specific machine. I mean, I can almost guarantee you that my laptop will beat the average laptop out there (even many with better specs) -- at least on selected benchmarks -- because I continually weed out a lot (I almost wrote "all") of the crap that creeps in when you used a machine for general use.

[Lately I've been asking (my fellow) Windows folks to tell me how many processes they have running on their machines and a lot of folks seem to have something between 40 and 50+ running. (This is general population -- not computer recordists, mind you.) And a lot of times some of those background programs are big hogs. I have a media player that will go nameless (but it's initials are MM and it's the only host of arguably the best subscription service, the 160kbps service On Demand, so, if you do a little research you can probably make an educated guess) that takes as much as 80 or 90 MB of RAM to load [and we're talking just for playing streaming music here] and when its unloaded leaves a big background processs sucking up about 25 MB. Needless to say I strip that puppy out before I do any serious recording or video work.]


But, back on side topic -- and allowing for ridiculously good deals that would skew the comparison -- it would be my contention that the average or better than average under-$1000 eMachine laptop off eBay (IOW, a good buy but not an insane one)-- when properly optimized -- would not beat a properly optimized G5 at a range of audio production related tasks. (And, honestly, I have some serious doubt that there's any eMachine laptop that could beat a properly optimized and equipped G5 in such a comparison. But we don't really need to go there and, anyhow, I'd be more amused than anything to be proved wrong on that.)

That's what I meant to say.

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by theblue1

That's what I meant to say.

And I'm telling you that, according tot he owner of the G5, my Emachines athlon64 laptop scored better.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by Henchman

And I'm telling you that, according tot he owner of the G5, my Emachines athlon64 laptop scored better.

Yes. I thought I'd made it clear: I don't doubt that's possible and I'm certainly not arguing with your representation of that.

But what you originally posted -- and what I was commenting on -- was

Originally Posted by Henchman

Get yourself an Emachines laptop on ebay. M6805, M6809,M6810,M6811.
For under $1k, they outperform G5's, and have been high on the list for PTLE users.

...

It is not reasonable to infer from comparing your machine to one specific G5 (the condition/equipment of which we have no idea of) that your machine can beat all G5's. (There's the additional question of how representative of its class your machine is, as well.)


I had written: "But I am extremely doubtful that one can, under normal circumstances buy an eMachines laptop for under $1000 on eBay that will outperform a G5 desktop."

Let me ammend that to "a well optimized G5 desktop" -- and stipulate that such a n eMachines laptop might well outperform a very sick, trouble-plagued G5.

[adzski]

Originally Posted by theblue1

Let me ammend that to "a well optimized G5 desktop" -- and stipulate that such a n eMachines laptop might well outperform a very sick, trouble-plagued G5.

Nonsense. Why presume the said G5 owner doesnt know how to maintain a computer? He must be fairly proficient to want to participate in a test in the first place.

[Don S]

FWIW - I purchased a powerbook 1.5, a fireface and track to DP using anexternal FW drive. My gigs have been free of any problems.