Gigging PC

[FingerFud]

Originally Posted by Neil.

The fact that you even suggested Alienware just sickens me.

It's just something that came up in my head :P

[Neil.]

they are the most unreliable pc's you can buy. Seriously, take a pile of vomit, try to make a pc out of it, and it's still more reliable than alienware.

[StandYourGround]

So I've been researching the Thinkpads and the best i can come up with is this:

http://www.onestoppcshop.co.uk/e420s.html

Which out of my budget and less powerful than the HP. Why is everyone so anti-HP? Seems you get more bang for your buck.

[Don'tPostThePear]

Originally Posted by StandYourGround

So I've been researching the Thinkpads and the best i can come up with is this:

http://www.onestoppcshop.co.uk/e420s.html

Which out of my budget and less powerful than the HP. Why is everyone so anti-HP? Seems you get more bang for your buck.

(the edge is not a "real" thinkpad, it is probably not much better than a hp)

The least difficult part of making a good notebook is buying the fancy stuff (cpu, vga, ram, hdd) from other manufacturers which looks good on spec sheets.
The actual difficult part where the real differences (which needs real costly r&d and engineers) are between different notebooks is everything else.
How hot the stuff gets in actual use? Can you see the screen with the light and stuff on stage? How strong is the wifi antenna? Can you spill your coffe on it? Can you drop your laptop without loosing data? How stable the drivers are? Can you actually type on the keyboard or it have a messed up layout? Placement of the ports? How silent the fan is? Can you service it yourself after the warranty gone? What about replacement parts etc.

The stuff i listed here will be much more important in real life use than the ability to open up your browser 1 second faster.

[Lord MFC]

Originally Posted by FingerFud

It's just something that came up in my head :P

Then why advise him if you know that the information you're giving him isn't reliable?

[StandYourGround]

Originally Posted by Don'tPostThePear

(the edge is not a "real" thinkpad, it is probably not much better than a hp)

The least difficult part of making a good notebook is buying the fancy stuff (cpu, vga, ram, hdd) from other manufacturers which looks good on spec sheets.
The actual difficult part where the real differences (which needs real costly r&d and engineers) are between different notebooks is everything else.
How hot the stuff gets in actual use? Can you see the screen with the light and stuff on stage? How strong is the wifi antenna? Can you spill your coffe on it? Can you drop your laptop without loosing data? How stable the drivers are? Can you actually type on the keyboard or it have a messed up layout? Placement of the ports? How silent the fan is? Can you service it yourself after the warranty gone? What about replacement parts etc.

The stuff i listed here will be much more important in real life use than the ability to open up your browser 1 second faster.

Right ok, I see what you're saying. What would you suggest for my budget then? Cause im really struggling to find something that will actually suit my needs.

[kev]

the consumer line of HP has really crappy build quality, maybe the pro-line is better, haven't tried myself. Same problem with most of them in that to get to a super low price point they've sacrificed things along the way and you end up with a crappy plastic thing that can barely handle a knock.

If you're wanting it for gigging you'd be wise to spend the extra on good build quality

[Lord MFC]

KEV'S BACK

Hi kev

[cheddatom]

I just think that in general, laptops are less reliable than pcs, and less easily repairable. I built a very good PC for £300 recently, and if you could get that in a rack case it'd last you for 10 years of gigging.

[Neil.]

Originally Posted by cheddatom

I just think that in general, laptops are less reliable than pcs, and less easily repairable. I built a very good PC for £300 recently, and if you could get that in a rack case it'd last you for 10 years of gigging.

this. chedda's right about what he said earlier. You'd be better off investing in a nice rackmount case and build it. with the budget you have there, you'd end up with a right beast of a machine.

[FingerFud]

Originally Posted by Jamie™

Then why advise him if you know that the information you're giving him isn't reliable?

Well, i've never used one before so i thought that because Alienware's are very popular, they must be reliable aswell.

[StandYourGround]

Right, so I'm thinking of the following setup:

Motherboard+Processor+RAM+Graphics:

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/32075187/854799601/Intel-Core-I7-2700K-3-5Ghz-8GB-DDR3-1333mhz-P8Z77-V-LX-USB-3-Motherboard-Bundle/ListingDetails.html?_$ja=tsid%3a11518%7ccat%3a3207 5187%7cprd%3a32075187

SSD Drive:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004W2JL2...SIN=B004W2JL2A

Heatsink:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006G2BEO...SIN=B006G2BEOW

Rack Case (will the motherboard fit?):

http://www.cclonline.com/product/539...-Case/CAS1397/


Have I missed anything? Not sure if that case has an on board power supply or if its powerful enough, if I need to buy one, which one should I go for?

All that comes to like £640 which is above my budget but if it'll last ten years then its worth it. I have an old Dell monitor from like 2004 that'll do for now (probably better using an older one for gigs anyhow), and I can always upgrade my graphics later. I also have a 2.5inch 500gb SATA HDD, is this case big enough to use two drives? and would this one be compatible?

I realise this has totally turned into a non-KnT thread but it is for live and studio! Thanks for the help guys.

[cheddatom]

the case doesn't specify a PSU so I doubt it'll have one. You'll need to buy one which matches the spec of the motherboard. It does say it has a shit load of drive bays, so yeh, you'll easily fit in 2 HDs, you'd probably get 5 in there easily.

your MB and PSU bundle should include a heatsink so no need to buy one. I do think you'd find a cheaper bundle from Over Clockers.

If you want to save money, just start with any old HD and save up for your solid state drive. I carry my recording system all over the place and they're all standard HDs. As long as you're backed up you're fine.

[StandYourGround]

Originally Posted by cheddatom

the case doesn't specify a PSU so I doubt it'll have one. You'll need to buy one which matches the spec of the motherboard. It does say it has a shit load of drive bays, so yeh, you'll easily fit in 2 HDs, you'd probably get 5 in there easily.

your MB and PSU bundle should include a heatsink so no need to buy one. I do think you'd find a cheaper bundle from Over Clockers.

If you want to save money, just start with any old HD and save up for your solid state drive. I carry my recording system all over the place and they're all standard HDs. As long as you're backed up you're fine.

I was going to do that but the only other hard drive I have is a 2.5 SATA drive from a laptop which obviously has a speed of 5400rpm instead of a desktops 7200rpm. This will result in slower read/write speeds which when working with a DAW is obviously a problem.