For Music recording/editing and Digital photography (RAW format)

[kelliepatzer]

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Around $2000

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in.

USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

I've heard of Asus and Sager. Want quality and dependability. This laptop WILL TRAVEL a lot.

5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?

For work running and testing aviation software on Oracle db. Hobbies are playing/recording/editing music. Usually running Cubase and Reason simultaneously in ReWire mode. I'm also an amateur photographer shooting large RAW digital photos. Editing photos with Lightroom and Photoshop.

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?

I travel Internationally for business. While at home I am also considering this laptop as a desktop replacement.

7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?

I am not a gamer.

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?

Not too important. Most of the time I'm plugged in.

9) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?

Not necessarily.

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Either XP or Vista 64 Bit.

Screen Specifics

11) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?

Yes. Widescreen.

12) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer? (more details below)

Widescreen

e. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050; Wider viewing version of SXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
f. WUXGA - 1920x1200; Wider viewing version of UXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non glossy screen? (Read below on differences)

I don't know... For photography I love rich colors. But I hate glare!

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

Function comes before Form. If it looks cool. Ok.

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?

I want the computer in my hands when I arrive back in the USA on Sept 19th.

Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 500GB?

As much harddrive space as possible and with 7200 RPM drive(s).

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?

I think i NEED to read/write to CD/DVD. I would use a Blu-Ray if I had it.

THANK YOU!

[Avid Gamer]

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Around $2000

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

I've heard of Asus and Sager. Want quality and dependability. This laptop WILL TRAVEL a lot.

5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?

For work running and testing aviation software on Oracle db. Hobbies are playing/recording/editing music. I'm also an amateur photographer shooting large RAW digital photos. Editing photos with Lightroom and Photoshop.

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?

I travel Internationally for business. While at home I am also considering this laptop as a desktop replacement.

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Either XP or Vista 64 Bit.

12) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer? (more details below)

Widescreen

e. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050; Wider viewing version of SXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
f. WUXGA - 1920x1200; Wider viewing version of UXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non glossy screen? (Read below on differences)

I don't know... For photography I love rich colors. But I hate glare!

Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 500GB?

As much harddrive space as possible and with 7200 RPM drive(s).

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?

I think i NEED to read/write to CD/DVD. I would use a Blu-Ray if I had it.

THANK YOU!

Based on what you mentioned I think the M50VM-B2 would be a good fit for you. Its a 15.4" (1680x1050) notebook that is designed as a multimedia system, and XoticPC sells the base system for $1549 ($1502 cash) at the time of this post.
http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-m50vm-p-2484.html

Asus and XoticPC have a good warranty that includes a 2-year global warranty (which might be of use during your international travels), 1 year accidental damage protection, pre-paid 2-way overnight shipping for repairs, and lifetime 24/7 technical support (excluding holidays).

The Oracle database will run on any of the systems, so that shouldn't factor into the decision. The touchpad media controls may be useful for your music editing and playback. The screen quality should match up well with your photo work. The ambient light sensor that is near the screen might help to reduce glare that you otherwise might see with a glossy screen (I can't confirm it at this time, but in about a week I should have an M50VM-B2 in my posession where I could give you an opinion on system glare ;)).

The standard OS on the M50VM is Vista 32-bit, but you can upgrade to the 64-bit option and still stay well inside your $2000 budget.

For the hard drive you'll have to make a decision as to what is more important to you size or speed (that's not saying that the default 500GB 5400 hard drive is slow - quite the contrary). I'd go with the default 500GB, and if you decide at some point that its slower than you desire you could put in a new hard drive (one of the easiest things to upgrade in a notebook), and turn the 500GB hard drive into an external hard drive that you could use to store data or backup your system at home.

[kelliepatzer]

Hey thanks Avid Gamer!

I took a look at that laptop and did some configuration scenarios. It keeps bringing me pretty close to what it would run me for the G50V-A2.

It has the 7200rpm drives I'd like (all part of my quest to get the lowest recording latency.) Having 2 separate drives seems nice for what I am doing as well.

But the question becomes how to set them up?

Raid 0 fascinates me as far as speed, but I know its a ridiculous thought to have since this is also my work laptop and I travel so much.

I wonder about Raid 1 as far as recording music. Will double writing impact latency for me? Or will the overall speed of the system and the drives offset that? I do like the thought of data redundancy.

I also keep coming back to just using the drives as is. First drive with 2 partitions: one for operating system, the other for software. Then the second harddrive non-partitioned for all data (audio recordings, photographs, databases, etc.) But then no data redundancy...

Thanks again for your input.