laptop setup

[DiscoStu]

hi there everyone.... i'm about to buy a laptop for composing/sequencing at home and performing on stage, but money is a bit tight. i'm looking for advice on what kind of specs my laptop will need and what packages are recommended for what i want to do, but keeping the price down. i do mostly hiphop/ambient/electro stuff.
by laptop specs, i mean like: is any OS preferable to others, what soundcards are good and cheap with decent midi operations, processor speed, RAM, HD space etc. you get the idea......
anyway, any suggestions you might have are greatly appreciated. thanks in advance

 

[PopD]

aloha

skippity-boo-boppa-yada-yada. . .
by laptop specs, i mean like: is any OS preferable to others

you may get some fooz spoutn W2K or Ade may come atcha with XP, but 98 SE is solid, tested, debugged. . .stay away from ME

what soundcards are good and cheap with decent midi operations

not sure if you have much of a choice with sound cards in a laptop. Go with one with preferably two stereo channels out (line and headphones) and a digital out (S/PDIF) if you can find

processor speed

I run a P500 with no complaints,

RAM, HD

as much RAM as your rig can handle, and at least 20 gigs on the HD. If you're gonna collect mpchreez, you might want more.

As far as midi you have two options: 1) you can get an adaptor that'll run via your joystick port if you got one; 2) a USB / MIDI interface, I use a midi-sport 2 X 2 ~70 bonez.

I recommend the Dell Inspiron 8000, but I think it is over 3 geez. It has a 'port replicator' and S/PDIF out, cuppla USB's, maybe a firewire, amongst other sh;t. It is a good gamer, video, and audio rig. . .IMO-tep

 

[ade]

pop btw the i use win2k as i do sh*tthat requires stability.

for a laptop stick with win98 otherwise u'll encounter driver problems

u can get some decent usb interfaces that will offer high quality audio, u might want to look at some www.midiman.com products

i think all of the soundcards come with logic audio for free now so its worth looking into