18 posts
I'm thinking it's time for a new laptop. This time it won't be for work use, just home. Is there any reason to pay the big upcharge for Vista Business and or XP Pro, or should I just get more computer and get Vista Home? And, I notice there's Home Basic, and Home Premium. Reasons to get one or the other?
Any other tips? Don't want to spend a lot but it doesn't seem you have too these days.
If you want compatibility get xp pro, then upgrade to win 7 when it comes out. I don't think there is an upcharge for win xp. I always get laptops off tigerdirect. Good laptops in the $600 range there.
thanks! That's about what I want to spend. Any brands to prefer or avoid?
I saw Sony Vaio(sp) at best buy for $600 and change. My wife has one with Vista home Premium and it's a pretty damn nice machine. She paid a grand for hers. :(
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9153113&type=product&id=1218037743520
Look at their site. They have one for $499 too.
I am biased towards Sony VAIOs because they ALWAYS include a firewire port. No matter what I have, it needs to have firewire. Lots of other brands have it, but nobody else includes it on every laptop (netbooks not included). I avoid Vist and Vista 64 like the fucking plague that they are. Any laptop you buy now is going to let you upgrade to Win7 for free, so that's a bonus.
ok, but now.... some come with 64 bit Windows 7.... should I buy one that is 64 bit? (It appears to me that they are 64 bit ONLY, is why I'm asking)
Figure out whether the stuff you need is supported in 64-bit. For me, too much is not.
that's what I was afraid of... laptop will be for personal use, email, surfing, hopefully starting to work in some recording programs, etc.
DreamTheaterRules — Oct 27, 2009ok, but now.... some come with 64 bit Windows 7.... should I buy one that is 64 bit? (It appears to me that they are 64 bit ONLY, is why I'm asking)
since you dont ever record, id say go for the 64 bit. ;D i just upgraded my desktop from vista 64 to 7 64 and i still cant get my tascam us144 to work.. same clicking and popping shit! after much digging it appears the us144 isnt compatible with the NVIDIA hardware on my motherboard. DOH!!
Charger, I got it. Windows 7, 3 gigs of ram, 320 gig hard drive, etc.
One question: Should I use windows live mail? or just add Outlook Express that I'm used too?
Man, I've never seen Windows 7 so I couldn't tell ya. If you want to move your old outlook over, I'm sure you can move it to the new thing. If you like the live mail app, use it. Personally I use Outlook at work and it's always worked well for me.
yeah, that's the thing. Outlook and Outlook Express is all I've ever used. I'm using the Windows Live Mail now. We''ll see...
So far, the new laptop is very nice. Dual Core Pentium, 3 gigs of ram. 320 Gig hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium.... I like it.
ok, more questions. While setting up my new laptop, it said that I would not need an antivirus program now because it was built into Windows 7.
Do I need an antivirus program? Do I need the other things (Ad-Aware, Windows Defender, Spybot, etc.) that I used to use? I'm not going to surf any porn until I get a good answer. ;D
It's probably safe to put on as much crap as makes you feel safe.
BTW, I ran my wife's new laptop, a VAIO that came with win7-64, with Pro Tools M-Powered the other night and it worked flawlessly. So I am thinking that if 64-bit works with that on win7, it's likely to work with many other non-win7, non-64-bit apps.
PT 6.4 won't even install... so the "recording to the laptop saga continues. LOL
No problem installing the free Reaper though.
NO, PT 6.4 won't install. Get a fucking new vbersion! Seriously, that version isn't going to install on anything, and even if it did, it is missing half the features that make Pro Tools so good now. Buy an upgrade!
Seriously. PT8 is great. I am really digging it.