PC suggestions for REN?

http://www.blackviper.com/2009/10/01/bl ... er-tweaks/

SSD to avoid moving parts yes. That a magnetic platter can't perform, no.

http://www.blackviper.com/2009/10/01/bl ... er-tweaks/

All my magnetic drive computers here boot to desktop (no spinning "wait" icon, no lag on loading system items), in 26 seconds from a cold start.

I don't touch 5400RPM drives for system drives though, ever, even on a laptop.

Lamp, some days I wanna just get a copy of nLite, and just make a net-less XP install that uses 30MB at start up, just for old time's sake.

BTW- OP, the i3/i5's are really good too. An i5 might be a nice sweet spot between good clock speed, decent speed step values (CPU takes clock cycles from idle cores and revs the used cores at a higher gHz frequency), and heat consumption.

The i7's can get pretty hot overall in a mobile computer. i5's are a bit cooler running.

Huh,

So the hard drive is not ideal?
5400 rpm? why is that? What is the solution?

Perrin&Tonic wrote:Huh,

So the hard drive is not ideal?
5400 rpm? why is that? What is the solution?

95% of laptops have 5400RPM drives. Sometimes you luck out and find one with a 7200RPM HD. (I have an off the shelf HP laptop with one, it's 17.3 inches and has a bay for a second HD, but it's a huge laptop).

You can get by on a 5400RPM system drive for your apps, but if you use a 2nd HD for samples you really want that one to be 7200RPM.

Problem is all the mainstream manufacturers (Seagate, WD, etc.) have all mostly gone to 5400RPM externals, even worse about 5 years ago they all stopped listing the RPM on the box or spec sheets.

If you step up to brands like Buffalo. Lacie or Glyph you can still find 7200RPM ones. They aren't that much more expensive than the mainstream brands really. Usually a bit more reliable and have better warranties especially regarding data loss. (But all data should be duplicated 2 or 3 times no matter what, even if it's burning backups 2x to DVD's once a year).

A vendor like Newegg will always list the RPM if they have that info.

So maybe a smaller SSD HD for the system drive and then an external 7200RPM magnetic platter HD for samples and recording projects. That way you get maximum performance and faster loading of your apps and maximum track counts by recording to a 7200RPM.

SSD's are still a little pricey to go 2 SSD's and not give up a major amount of GB's in overall capacity.

Leaving all your samples and projects off the system drive also helps in the event of a corrupted system drive or OS re-installs when needed. Just keep the letter of the external drive constant when using Windows.

Word.

SO then this one would probably be the best:

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4151 ... -_Aluminum

7200 rpm HD.
i5 processor
and 8GB ram.

I have 2 weeks to return it, if the processor is slow, or the RAM isn't enough.

thx again for all the knowledge.
very very helpful.

otherwise,

If I understand correctly,
If I want, I can get an SSD card
pop it in, and install the MPC program on that?

That's a really nice configuration, especially for the price. I looked it up, when that CPU can speed step it goes up to 3.2gHz.

Those i5's are far superior to last two generations of dual core CPU's and mostly match the performance of the first few generations of i7 quads. Way less heat issues compared to i7's too, always a plus on any laptop but even more so in hotter environments like playing out live with the laptop.

It also can slot up to 32GB of RAM, really nice for any laptop let alone a $600 one.

The 8GB should be enough, but having that option to up it when you see a sale on RAM or whatever is awesome.

The 7200RPM system drive will be desktop level performance no question. What you might want to do long term, is image your system drive and swap in an SSD (although it would likely be smaller than that extra healthy 750GB).

Then take the original system drive and get a cheap USB external enclosure and use that as your sample data drive.

But yeah, the SSD swapped in for the stock magnetic 750GB would have your OS and all your apps. The imaging of the original drive is the only part that's a bit of work. Mostly it's easiest to do using an external USB enclosure, or if you or a friend have a desktop with multiple HD bays, temporarily put the HD in there to do the copy of the HD image from the laptop to the new SSD.

People here can help, or at the very least point you toward really good walk through stuff on the web. None of this stuff is really that hard, you just have to make sure you cover all the bases before attempting the steps.