WTF is wrong with laptop industry?

red_f0x

red_f0x

Member
Dec 20, 2008
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Hi dudes,

I have been doing a research on laptop market, and what has totally pissed me off is that dominating part of manufacturers totally ignore IEEE 1394 a.k.a Firewire port. They are not in position even to leave PCMCIA card slot.
There are definitely tasty models in the market, BUT the main point is that I buy a laptop for audio production, and I don't need that fucken USB 2.0 whatsoever. Is that a problem to leave that damn port or what?
Manufacturers must have gone nuts, or people have gone nuts with fucking entertainment laptops with spinning screen and other shit.

Maybe someone can suggest a good model at up to~ $600 price range?

Thanks .
 
That's a pretty low freakin' price cap for a laptop dude, so you shouldn't be surprised that you can't find many/any with features like expansion slots (which most people have no use for) at that level. Check out Acer or HP laptops for the best bargains you're gonna find, but still, I wouldn't expect to pay less than $800! (unless you found a decent factory refurb with a warranty...)
 
red_f0x said:
Hi dudes,

I have been doing a research on laptop market, and what has totally pissed me off is that dominating part of manufacturers totally ignore IEEE 1394 a.k.a Firewire port. They are not in position even to leave PCMCIA card slot.
There are definitely tasty models in the market, BUT the main point is that I buy a laptop for audio production, and I don't need that fucken USB 2.0 whatsoever. Is that a problem to leave that damn port or what?
Manufacturers must have gone nuts, or people have gone nuts with fucking entertainment laptops with spinning screen and other shit.

Maybe someone can suggest a good model at up to~ $600 price range?

Thanks .
Click to expand...

PCMCIA has been pretty much been replaced with ExpressCard, same thing that the PS/2 connector and printerport has been overrun by USB. The problem is that majority of the normal people don't use the firewire and adding it would be just extra expenses so thats why they are usually only on the more expensive models.
 
I see, that's maybe a low price, BUT:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-Compa...ov05?hash=item27ab4e6e54&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

This is a thing that may be capable to handle my home projects, as I am not a professional engineer with 32 tracks full of plugins running all the time )

But GOD Damn, it has not firewire, no expansion slot for PCMCIA card, nothing.

Please note that I am leaving far-far away from the US, and therefore price has to be doubled if not tripled ))

I am thinking to by standart desktop PC, but fuck I would like to record ar rehearsals.

I've got enough money to buy a decent amp, but decided to postpone that, considering that I won't be able to record it.

My PC is dead after creating up to 3 tracks running the same time, so it's pretty ridiculous))
 
Oh, but definitely use an external HDD @ at least 7200 RMP, cuz almost all laptop HDD's are 5400 RPM (including the one in the above)
 
You know what? That's a pretty damn nice thing, BUT it's price is... 1,300USD in here. WTF,)) My income is $500 per Month an prices are 3 times higher then in the US. I am going to kill someone ))
 
I'm from Kyiv,Ukraine. I love my country but I hate prices. I earn more than any average student, and I own pretty nice gear, nearly impossible to get it here for fair price.
I have got my Gibby for 1000USD used, that was a good price, if you consider our currency exchange rate)) It has been 4.6 UAH for 1 USD. It is 9 UAH for 1 USD now, that means my guitar is nearly twice expensive as it has been a year ago.
Have to say about the gear) Our local distributors are fucken crazy monopolists, cuz I even don't want to check what's the price of Dual recto here)) That will just waste my mood))
 
red_f0x said:
I'm from Kyiv,Ukraine. I love my country but I hate prices. I earn more than any average student, and I own pretty nice gear, nearly impossible to get it here for fair price.
I have got my Gibby for 1000USD used, that was a good price, if you consider our currency exchange rate)) It has been 4.6 UAH for 1 USD. It is 9 UAH for 1 USD now, that means my guitar is nearly twice expensive as it has been a year ago.
Have to say about the gear) Our local distributors are fucken crazy monopolists, cuz I even don't want to check what's the price of Dual recto here)) That will just waste my mood))
Click to expand...

I totally feel for you man, it's a similar problem here in Venezuela, buying music gear, computers, ipods and all that stuff is just a fucking steal here, because of currency restrictions made by the government I will not talk about as I have already freaked out at it in other boards lol.
I'm in the same situation, I have (and will be) recording using a borrowed pc, I have mixed stuff here in my laptop but it's a pain in the ass, I have to be freezing track fx all the time to be able to listen to a song while mixing, and it still freezes up often. I will now be mixing in other pcs also, I have a good friend and guitarrist with a space pc after he bought his laptop, we will be conditioning for recordings
 
I feel for you guys. That blows big time. It's pretty bad over here in Oz, but probably nowhere near as bad as for you guys.

But yeah, I don't touch portable computers with a 12 yard stick. I hate them at the best of times.
 
Dude I don't know if you consider any Apple stuff too but I can tell you the new MacBook is great.

Sometimes you can find them really chap in online stores.
I got the new white one a month ago. It's really awesome for recording.
I paid EUR 699,00 and this is a steal.
 
@Airborne : care to post a link ? € 699 seems like a steal indeed for a Mac.
 
I am using a Sony Vaio right now for my recording. It came with vista but I put xp64 on it and I like it so far. It crashed on me one time, but otherwise its been a solid computer. I bought it because it was one of the only models that came with firewire.
 
Also have a MacBook which I purchased about a year ago, an early 2008 model. 2,4 GHz core 2 duo, 2GB RAM (which I upgraded to 4GB, takes 5 minutes and like 20 bucks) and a FireWire port. It was 800-900 euros, something in between. Pretty good considering that they started making shittier MacBooks some time after those.

I'd also say look for good deals on Macs. They last more than a year or two, and the OS works still as fresh as it did a year ago. Even if those cheaper laptops would look good on paper, trust me you never know if they'll work for audio production or not. There's a shitload of different problems that can occur. If you're serious about doing music on a laptop then you should get a Mac, or maybe Lenovo business laptop or such.

edit: Also remember that Acers are always full of shit.
 
sopulurn said:
I'd also say look for good deals on Macs. They last more than a year or two, and the OS works still as fresh as it did a year ago. Even if those cheaper laptops would look good on paper, trust me you never know if they'll work for audio production or not. There's a shitload of different problems that can occur. If you're serious about doing music on a laptop then you should get a Mac, or maybe Lenovo business laptop or such.

edit: Also remember that Acers are always full of shit.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but what's your source for these claims? And what exactly are some of the shitload of different problems that can occur using those computers for audio production? (besides incompatible FW chipset, the significance of which is nullified by the presence of an expresscard slot). I don't even currently use one of those cheap laptops for production, for the record, but I have in the past with no problems, and I've heard lots of great things about Acer's value
 
Metaltastic said:
Sorry, but what's your source for these claims? And what exactly are some of the shitload of different problems that can occur using those computers for audio production? (besides incompatible FW chipset, the significance of which is nullified by the presence of an expresscard slot). I don't even currently use one of those cheap laptops for production, for the record, but I have in the past with no problems, and I've heard lots of great things about Acer's value
Click to expand...

Problems with USB-interfaces are also fairly common I understand. Ones that can't be fixed with adding latency or optimizing Windows.

Bought an Acer a year back, and trying to use an M-Audio Fast Track Pro with it didn't really work out, there were crackles and pops whatever I did. Not even a guy that worked for M-Audio could help me at their support forum, and there are lots of problems on other brands of laptops too with some interfaces. Some of them don't have any problems at all. In fact, there's a list of "DAW-compatible laptops" somewhere in the internet.

And of course, the regular reasons; incompatible FW-chipset as you pointed out, bad quality hardware and Vista... (Win7 seems good though, can't argue there, but I don't know if they sell laptops with Win7 yet)

What you said about Acer is interesting, because I've always heard nothing but bad things about Acer, things I had to prove true for myself to believe. The Windows in it is already pretty messed up even though I don't use that thing much.

I want my 500€ back :cry:
 
sopulurn said:
Problems with USB-interfaces are also fairly common I understand.
Click to expand...

Well my response to this is - who cares? Fuck USB interfaces :lol: (as long as the Presonus Firebox or any other firewire interface is around for such a good price!) Andv for compatibility/stability, XP Professional >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any version of Vista IMO (dunno about W7)
 
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