Help Building Labtop Studio

[BluPHI!!!]

Hey guys,



Im Looking to build a labtop to produce music on and do vocals all while on a budget.



IN YOUR OPINION:

1) How much Ram do I need?

2) What type of processor?

3) Whats a decent soundcard that sounds great?

4) What are some things that i might be missing that I should need to build a functioning labtop production unit?

My Big Brother JoeBurn Em shared some of his wisdom on this issue and I'd like to hear from the rest of the Illmuzik fam!!!!

ANY INFO WOULD BE A BLESSING.......

PS: THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE RESPONSES YOU GAVE ME ON MY LAST POST, "WHATS THE FUSS WITH AKAI MPC 2000XL"

 

[classic]

MAB hit me up on msn, ill give u the info classic5beats@yahoo.com

clas...

 

[ghostmusic]

No such thing as enough RAM, but bare min 512K, also MAC or PC?

 

[BluPHI!!!]

No such thing as enough RAM, but bare min 512K, also MAC or PC?

Im looking at copping anything but a MAC. Even though Macs are known to be better with this type of thing, i'd prefer anything but (Im on a budget you know).

Plus, does anyone know any company or site online where a recent college grad can get a deal on building a labtop set up for a good price.

 

[Evil Scientist]

www.ecost.com

 

[Formant024]

Pentium only; 1Gb Ram minimum and a EMU 1616m

 

[Equality 7-2521]

ayo Class, any specific reason why you dont want to post the info here in this thread so everyone can see it?

one thing to watch out for (especially when your on a budget) is that the laptop doesnt get interference in the audio signal by being plugged into mains power. this can be a problem with cheaper laptops and it forces you to run it on battery.

honestly man, unless you really need the the portability of the laptop, id get a desktop. way more bang for ya buck.

 

[Honesty]

... If you're on a budget... then why get a laptop? You're going to pay AT LEAST 2x what you'd pay for a tower. I was pricing everything I'd need to put into a laptop... and then just looked at what I have now in my Tower P4 2.4Ghz, 512Ram, 80GB, 5 in 1 Media Reader... which is alright, but I'll probably get more RAM eventually, but for now it's cool... I paid $800... a laptop w/ the same stuff would cost $2k+... and I know it's a bitch... I'm in college so moving a tower + monitor...etc. is a bitch... and fitting it in a room is like playing Tetris sometimes, but to save a buck?... may be worth it...

just a thought

 

[TachyonFresh]

Pentium only; 1Gb Ram minimum and a EMU 1616m

no amd? i heard it was the best for audio

btw, bluphi......recently i was looking to get a laptop DAW , and i did much research.....i think ur best bet is to wait until dual-core mobile processors come out bro

 

[BluPHI!!!]

no amd? i heard it was the best for audio

btw, bluphi......recently i was looking to get a laptop DAW , and i did much research.....i think ur best bet is to wait until dual-core mobile processors come out bro

"dual-core mobile processors"
Please excuse me for my computer -illiterateness but---WHAT THE HELL IS THAT AND WHAT DOES IT DO???????

This is one of the hardest things for me to understand---USING PC/LABTOPS AND SOFTWARE COMBO'S TO CREATE MUSIC.

Thats why part of me wants to cop a Roland MV 8000 and call it a day. But I know thAt I can go so much further with software than I can with hardware.

Please help out the gear -researching newbie

 

[classic]

Thats why part of me wants to cop a Roland MV 8000 and call it a day. But I know thAt I can go so much further with software than I can with hardware.

Umm why do u say that??? are u sure??? u should trust ur instinct instead of getting something u think is gonna be better

class...

 

[kojo]

well i have a laptop and i do music on it. i really love the portability of it all, plus i still have a cheap desktop at home that i can use if needed. i have a compaq presario 1.5 GHz centrino laptop with 512 MB of ram, and it runs reason, sonar, and FL real smoothly. if you get a laptop, i suggest you get one with a firewire port, several usb ports, and a cd-rw or dvd-rw drive so you can make backups of your projects easily. the one i got has all of that plus built in wireless among other things. i really like centrinos because they dont run as hot as pentium 4s and are pretty much just as powerful.

i got it from best buy and they had a special on it, it came out to just over 1100 bucks after the rebates. youll definitely want a pro soundcard to use with a laptop, ditto if you get a desktop instead. firewire or card-based is the way to go if you ask me. like formant suggested the new emu 1616 cards are nice, theres also m-audio cards which are cool if you want protools like myself. or you can buy midi controllers that have soundcards built in them. it really comes down to your needs.

as for the mv8000, thats a very nice piece right there. basically an all in one solution. really they both will accomplish the same thing at the end of the day, its just the workflow thats different. best thing to do is download the demos to software sequencers like FL, reason, ableton live, project 5, etc and see how you like em and then go to a guitar center and try out the mv8000, the guys there can show you how to use it. if you do get one, mvnation.com is a good place to buy sounds for it and to learn the thing inside out.

 

[BluPHI!!!]

well i have a laptop and i do music on it. i really love the portability of it all, plus i still have a cheap desktop at home that i can use if needed. i have a compaq presario 1.5 GHz centrino laptop with 512 MB of ram, and it runs reason, sonar, and FL real smoothly. if you get a laptop, i suggest you get one with a firewire port, several usb ports, and a cd-rw or dvd-rw drive so you can make backups of your projects easily. the one i got has all of that plus built in wireless among other things. i really like centrinos because they dont run as hot as pentium 4s and are pretty much just as powerful.

i got it from best buy and they had a special on it, it came out to just over 1100 bucks after the rebates. youll definitely want a pro soundcard to use with a laptop, ditto if you get a desktop instead. firewire or card-based is the way to go if you ask me. like formant suggested the new emu 1616 cards are nice, theres also m-audio cards which are cool if you want protools like myself. or you can buy midi controllers that have soundcards built in them. it really comes down to your needs.

as for the mv8000, thats a very nice piece right there. basically an all in one solution. really they both will accomplish the same thing at the end of the day, its just the workflow thats different. best thing to do is download the demos to software sequencers like FL, reason, ableton live, project 5, etc and see how you like em and then go to a guitar center and try out the mv8000, the guys there can show you how to use it. if you do get one, mvnation.com is a good place to buy sounds for it and to learn the thing inside out.

Hey Kojo,

Where can I buy a labtop at with those same features without some store robbing me blind due to my lack of pc notebook awareness?
How did you get your Firewire and multiple usb inputs put in it? Did you order it like that?

I need help with that, could you please tell me where you got your at?? Or where I can cop one at just like it without paying over $1,000.

 

[kojo]

Hey Kojo,

Where can I buy a laptop at with those same features without some store robbing me blind due to my lack of pc notebook awareness?
How did you get your Firewire and multiple usb inputs put in it? Did you order it like that?

I need help with that, could you please tell me where you got your at?? Or where I can cop one at just like it without paying over $1,000.

i got mine from best buy. the salesmen there were really good, just mention your budget and that youre looking for a centrino laptop and they can help you find it. all those features were already on the laptop in the store, i took it literally off the shelf after i messed with the display model. the exact presario model with the specs that i bought, best buy doesnt carry now because computers get more powerful and replaced over time. but this one from gateway is almost exactly like mine except this one has 1.6 Ghz and mine has 1.5 Ghz. it only costs $1200, i know its just a lil over the 1000 youre trying to pay but i think its worth it. may want to try compusa or circuit city as well, just stay away from celeron processor laptops, those are typically sold for under a 1000.

but yeah the laptop i was referring to, which i thought was dope is right here
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat01174&id=1109233829591

 

[BluPHI!!!]

i got mine from best buy. the salesmen there were really good, just mention your budget and that youre looking for a centrino laptop and they can help you find it. all those features were already on the laptop in the store, i took it literally off the shelf after i messed with the display model. the exact presario model with the specs that i bought, best buy doesnt carry now because computers get more powerful and replaced over time. but this one from gateway is almost exactly like mine except this one has 1.6 Ghz and mine has 1.5 Ghz. it only costs $1200, i know its just a lil over the 1000 youre trying to pay but i think its worth it. may want to try compusa or circuit city as well, just stay away from celeron processor laptops, those are typically sold for under a 1000.

but yeah the laptop i was referring to, which i thought was dope is right here
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat01174&id=1109233829591

THANX SOOO MUCH FOR YOUR RESPONSE MAN...

THAT REALLY TOOK A LOAD OF MY MIND

I WAS STRESSED OUT TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF WHAT I SHOULD GET...

BY THE WAY,

COULD YOU POSSIBLY EXPLAIN WHY I NEED FIREWIRE INSTALLED IN IT???

AND WHY IS IT BEST (AT LEAST I HEARD IT IS) TO HAVE FIREWIRE INPUTS EXTERNALLY VS. INTERNALLY??

IM THOUROUGHLY CONFUSED, BUT GETTING THERE................SLOWLY

THANX FOR ANY ADVICE

-BLUPHI!!!

 

[kojo]

firewire is an input standard, like usb or serial. firewire accessories (mice, soundcards, etc) are becoming more and more common place because they transfer data faster and are "typically" more stable than usb. its basically plug-in-play. in a few years, firewire is going to be even more popular so having a port for it now is a good idea.

about external vs internal, im assuming youre talking about the firewire cards thats plugged into the laptop via the cardbus (the laptop i showed you has a cardbus, as do most if not all new ones on the market). yeah those are good because it has a 6 pin firewire port so it can power your firewire device if its 6 pin. the internal one like on my laptop is 4 pin, so my laptop wont power it by itself, but if its a 4-pin device than its ok. from what i hear, some of those external ones dont always work, they arent expensive tho, some are as low as $30. im probably going to have to buy an external one myself since i want an maudio soundcard and those im pretty sure are 6-pin.