RPM speed

[zeke]

Hey All,
I'm about to buy a new laptop as my old one is getting kind of ancient. I'd like to run Live 8 ( I'm currently running Sonar 8 and Reason ) and my old non-multicore CPU, low RAM laptop probably won't cut it. I've been seeing a lot of laptops at some decent prices with tons of memory and space but all with 5400 rpm drives. I could special order one with a 7200 rpm drive but is it really necessary to efficiently run Live, Sonar, Reason or the upcoming Record? Thanks.

[ecc83]

Hi Zeke,

As I understand things (pc T as S me really) you only need a fast hdd if you have shedloads of tracks to run/record. Likely on a laptop?

If you will only have a laptop for a complete home studio then so long as it has lots of ram (2G+) you can always hook up a FW external drive (SATA would be even faster I think if possible to fit).

Pop over to sos.com and talk to Martin for the full SP.

Dave.

[jim_branning]

BLIMEY ecc83 are u a mole for sos? cos every thread almost you say "Go to sos"

lol


bottom line is, if u aint recording much audio then 5400 isnt going to be a problem - as said above, ram is more important for music where the composition is mostly based in plugin instruments and samples such as with reason


budget for this lappy? get one with firewire if poss cos at least then you can bolt on a faster audio drive if required

if your budget can stand it (i'll get hammered for this but...) macbook pro 13" ?- the new one - has firewire 800.

[ecc83]

"BLIMEY ecc83 are u a mole for sos? cos every thread almost you say "Go to sos"

If you want the organ grinder, don't talk to his monkey!

SoS have been in the recording game a heck of a lot longer than this JCLtly rag! Martin Walker is, as far as I am concerned, the leading authority on pc music/pc building etc, MR just does not have that kind of expertise onboard.

Conversely, I will send bods with the more complex guitar/amp questions the other way, i.e. here.

And in any case, JOBU is FOREVER punting peeps to those colonial Behringaphobes across the Pond!

(love you really Tweak!).

Dave. (anyway, we agree on the drive q Jim!)

[jim_branning]

And in any case, JOBU is FOREVER punting peeps to those colonial Behringaphobes across the Pond!

is that the dreaded GS? i thought jules was actualy british?

[ecc83]

GS?

Sorry James, you have me at a disadvantage!

I was reffering to Studio-Central.

Dave.

[Wonks]

As ECC83 says, its dependent on track count. Software VSTs will depend more on RAM and its always worth getting as much as you can afford on a DAW. But if you are using a lot of sampled sounds, then these will be streamed off the hard disk, so a 7200rpm drive may be better in that instance. Remember that when you are playing a sampler, it's not just one sample that is streamed per note, but often several samples are streamed per note for the initial attack, hold and decay portions of the sound. And when playing sounds with long decays, those notes will still be streaming when you start playing other notes. It is quite easy to be streaming up to 80+ samples at one time for a single sample instrument.

[ecc83]

"the SOS website for Martin Walker's artices on tweaking windows for PC music use."
.....Jim...WONKS wrote that, Wonks not me!

Dave.

[Wonks]

"the SOS website for Martin Walker's artices on tweaking windows for PC music use."
.....Jim...WONKS wrote that, Wonks not me!

Dave.

I did, but on a different thread!

[JOBU]

I would never buy a laptop for musicmaking with a 5400 rpm drive if I had the money to buy 7200 rpm one. I know I would regret it sooner or later.