VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

Donna · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:30 am Post subject: Laptop or desktop?

Does it really come down to personal preference, like boxers or briefs? I'm ready to pull the trigger on a new computer for VO, but the more I read, the confuseder I get.

XP or Vista? Buy a machine from a someplace like Sweetwater, or is Best Buy good enough?

Mac or PC, for that matter?

No, wait! That last question is Just. Too. Personal. Embarrassed

So many questions, such a little brain...

Hart · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:06 am Post subject:

Depends on your needs. I'm fortunate enough to have both a laptop and a desktop. At home I always use the desktop, it's easier on my eyes. But it's nice to travel with the laptop too.

Vista vs. XP - early on very little audio hardware was compatible with Vista. May have change now, I haven't looked.

Specialized PC's vs. big box stores: how much money do you want to spend? You can most likely do just fine with something from a big box store or online with someone like Dell as long as you add a decent audio interface. You'll probably want to make sure the hard drives and fans are fairly quiet depending on how close to your mic the computer is going to be.

You can spend the big bucks on a specialized one and pretty much know it's quiet enough or you can do a little research and maybe swap out or add a few things to a standard computer. Both approaches will work.

There are a few tweaks you can do to XP (maybe vista too but I haven't researched it) to make it handle audio a bit more efficiently. Search the web and you'll find a few tutorials. Quite often for VO this isn't really necessary on newer machines but I did want to make you aware of it.

B
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louzucaro · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:28 am Post subject:

What Brian said.

Plus I'll add:

Mac vs. Windows isn't really an issue...pick whichever you're more comfortable using, as either will do a fine job. Although typically you'll get better performance for less money with a PC.

I'm not a Mac guy so I'll add some PC-specific info...

There are many more audio interfaces that work well with Vista now, and depending on what software you use currently (if any) or plan to use, that may be partly a deciding factor. See what your chosen software likes, and let that help in the process.

I doubt that you'd need to spend the money of a specialized manufacturer or retailer.

And if the computer is going to be used primarily for your audio work and won't have a bunch of other non-audio-work-software on it, you shouldn't need to tweak either XP or Vista to get it to work well.

I have a friend whose husband bought her a laptop, audio interface and some other bits for Christmas. Works just dandy with Adobe Audition 3 and she does the majority of her auditions from home as far as I know on that system.

Keep in mind that laptops generally can't be upgraded as easily as desktops. And their hard drives are almost always slower (5400 RPM vs. the normal 7200 RPM of current desktop computers with SATA drives).
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Yoda117 · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:04 am Post subject:

Lou, I'm going to have to disagree on that last point with you.

Notebook drives usually run faster then their desktop counterparts (when operating at the same RPM). I can't tell you why, but check some of the trade mags and you'll see that I'm not entirely crazy with that statement.

Also, notebook drives now come with SATA connectors, and 7200RPM drives for laptops have been around for at least 5 years. 10K are rare.

Sorry, just needed to get that out. As for the rest... totally spot on from both Lou and Hart.

If you can see yourself expanding your computer system a lot, or doing upgrades every 18 months or less, a desktop might be more for you. Save for RAM and HDD upgrades (both of which can be troublesome), laptops are a PITA when it comes to futureproofing.

Examine your needs, your budget, and then take extra-special care to spec out what's available on the market vs. what you need. Everything else is personal preference.
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ricevoice · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:07 am Post subject:

Something else to consider with laptops: make sure it has the appropriate ports for your needs... for example, the new MacBook AIR doesn't have a firewire port, so it would be useless for my Focusrite Saffire firewire audio interface.
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CarynClark · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:55 am Post subject:

I don't recommend buying your computer from Sweetwater. I did, and it was a huge mistake (if you look thru the archives in this section, you can read the details). I bought my other equipment from there, and it's fine. Don't buy your computer or monitor from there though. I've had problems with both.
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Don G. · King's Row Joined: 11 Nov 2004 Posts: 1071 Location: MA

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:14 pm Post subject:

Thank you for resisting, Don.

Lou....
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dagoldenknight86 · Guest

I perfer using a laptop for everything... But I travel a lot. With my laptop I have everything I need at all times.

I got mine at best buy and the first one didn't work but the one I'm using now works flawlessly. Just make sure you not only google the model but the model series for flaws before you make the buy.

louzucaro · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:10 pm Post subject:

Yoda you're right of course on specs, but my experience has been that, perhaps due to other aspects of the system architecture, the real-world result is that things tend to move a bit slower on laptops than on desktops.

I dunno if it's related to bus speed, cache issues with the processor or even power management as part of the OS, or what, but if you take a desktop machine and a similarly spec'd laptop, the laptop always seems to end up finishing a disk-based task (such as opening Photoshop, etc.) after the desktop.

But again, this is only my experience.

As Hart said, if you can do both and they both work, that's a great scenario. Since I haven't ever had a need (yet) to take any recording on the road, I prefer a desktop for a number of other reasons.
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Lou Zucaro
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"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

Donna · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:10 pm Post subject:

Thank you all! Well reasoned and insightful responses--that's what I love about this board!

So ... even though I want to be a cool kid with a laptop, I think I have to stay on the desk, at least for this one!

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:18 pm Post subject:

ricevoice · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:21 pm Post subject:

Also, the added bonus of a desktop: you can get a ginormous monitor for it... I just upgraded to a 22-inch LCD widescreen (man, have those come down in price!) and it really has helped my work-flow. Doing a lot of editing on a little laptop screen would drive me nuts.
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louzucaro · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:24 pm Post subject:

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:28 pm Post subject: