Tiny laptop for travel recording

eugenechen · Post by **eugenechen** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 6:43 pm

Hey everybody,

I'm trying to think of ways to bring a mobile laptop with me traveling. The idea is that I try to find local musicians and if I'm lucky convince them to come record with me. This would be in Thailand and Bali.

So I'm picturing a laptop running Ableton Live. Ableton Live can work as both a recording environment and an instrument, using the computer keyboard as a controller.

Has anyone tried anything like this? Any ideas? Does anyone have recommendations for an appropriate laptop?

I'm thinking of something like Vaio, although I've heard Vaios can have unusal ports.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Vaio-PCG-432L- ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-VAIO-PCG-K33_W ... dZViewItem

Thanks for any thoughts!

Eugene

locosoundman · Post by **locosoundman** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 7:06 am

I love my 12" Powerbook G4. I use ProTools, but Ableton should work as well. I am not sure what the deal is with Apple's newer line of laptops, but you might be able to pull a sweet deal on any of the Powerbooks left in stock.

vsr600 · Post by **vsr600** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:02 am

i second the 12" Powerbook. I use mine a lot for mobile recording with a firepod. Works well and doesn't crash mid-set.

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:25 am

I would look into a completely portable system that you could fit into a backpack. For stability, the 12" Powerbook (my 15" Powerbook is small enough as well) with Max RAM (1.25GB... 2GB for 15") & Ableton Live5. If you pick up an interface, I would avoid M-Audio, as I have had issues with mine. Last thing you need is to spend money on all of this stuff, get to your destination, and then have a system that's not gellign with the interface. Check out the MOTU Ultralite. Same as the 828mkii but without the ADAT i/o. Excellent little box.

Jeff

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:26 pm

what about installing osx on that vaio?

TapeOpAndy · Post by **TapeOpAndy** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 7:06 pm

I use a Toshiba R100 laptop. It's literally HALF the weight of the lightest Mac... and even when I attach the 7-hour battery to it, it's still almost two pounds lighter than the lightest Mac.

It's the lightest laptop you can buy with a full-size keyboard (and the keyboard actually feels good).

And for real-world tasks, it's faster than my G4 PowerBook. And cheaper too.

In its PC card slot, I use an E-MU 1616M CardBus card for MIXING on the road, without the breakout box. The card runs the plugins (it's got a DSP inside) and provides headphone I/O. Unfortunately, you need the breakout box for RECORDING.

If I need a superlightweight RECORDING system, I slot in a VxPocket V2 CardBus card that lets me do 2 channels of recording WITHOUT a breakout box. The mic preamps are built-in to the card!!! You can also get a version that can record 4 channels simultaneously (VxPocket 440). The Toshiba R100 and VxPocket weigh a total of 2.5 lbs together. You can't really beat that.

I use Tracktion (mixing 32 tracks no prob), but Live runs fine on my R100 too.

I had a Sony Vaio R505 ultraportable before I bought my first Toshiba. After a year of hating it, I literally gave it away, as did three of my work colleagues who had the same laptop. Sony provides ZERO support. Their driver software is super buggy (so it doesn't matter how stable the OS is, the system still crashes). And their warranty blows. Toshiba offers a 3-year parts and labor warranty at no extra cost, and if you have a problem, turnaround time is a few days (they send a shipping box to you next-day, you send the laptop to their repair depot next-day, the laptop gets fixed in a day, and it's returned to you next-day). Contrast that to my experiences with Apple. My wife's Mac laptop recently spent three months at Apple for a simple optical-drive replacement. By the time she got her Mac back, her warranty was expired. My friend Susan was Mac-less for six weeks when she sent in her iBook for warranty repair. Yikes!

thebookofkevin · Post by **thebookofkevin** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 8:03 pm

r0ck1r0ck2 wrote:what about installing osx on that vaio?

While the new Intel Macs are capable of running instances of windows and other OSs, Mac OS X will only run on Apple hardware.

I would like to offer a third vote for the Powerbook Gr 12", which is what I use, but given Andy's description of his Toshiba, that may be more like what you're after.

If you're smart about using the internet on that computer (i.e. not using it unless you have to, not downloading stupid shit), a Windows machine might be satisfactory for your goals, especially that Toshiba if weight is a prime concern.

FWIW, Apple's Customer Service and Repairs have been more positive in my experiences than Andy's wife and friend's. The boss for the company that I worked for this summer had to send in her 17" Powerbook and it was back within a week or two, but it wasn't the first time she's had to send it in.

Also, the powerbooks have a 1/4" stereo line in if you want to do a 2 channel recording, and you won't need a card or breakout box, but maybe an adapter. The built in mic doesn't sound like complete ass either.

The Toshiba might be less appealing to thieves though. Good luck!

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:01 am

My boss has the R100, and given how much he's on the road, it has held up well.

If Dell works for you, you may consider the Inspiron 710m. There's a sale right now (Mon 4/10/06)
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product ... l=en&s=dhs

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:13 pm

thebookofkevin wrote:
r0ck1r0ck2 wrote:what about installing osx on that vaio?
While the new Intel Macs are capable of running instances of windows and other OSs, Mac OS X will only run on Apple hardware.!

well there's this little tidbit

http://www.osx86project.org/

justinf · Post by **justinf** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 11:42 am

I just got an ibook for remote 2 track recording (using an Apogee Mini-Me and Cubase). Maxed out the RAM and I'm loving it. Sound similar to what you might be doing.

lancebug · Post by **lancebug** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:22 pm

I love the 12" powerbook for recording and coincidently love LIVE for recording multitrack. If you are working with a group that is working loosely or improving it is easy to start new tracks in LIVE without leaving gaps and it keeps everything organized. When the musicians take a break you can play back any take they did at the click of a mouse.

thebookofkevin · Post by **thebookofkevin** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 7:44 pm

r0ck1r0ck2 wrote:
thebookofkevin wrote:
r0ck1r0ck2 wrote:what about installing osx on that vaio?
While the new Intel Macs are capable of running instances of windows and other OSs, Mac OS X will only run on Apple hardware.!
well there's this little tidbit

http://www.osx86project.org/

which talks about various software for Intel Mac computers that will allow you to install Windows and other OSs either from a reboot or virtual standpoint.

None of the recent blog entries mention any software that will facilitate installing OS X on a computer without Apple's name on it.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 2:42 pm

TapeOpAndy wrote:I use a Toshiba R100 laptop. It's literally HALF the weight of the lightest Mac... and even when I attach the 7-hour battery to it, it's still almost two pounds lighter than the lightest Mac.

Yo Hong!! This is really appealing to me. I checked eBay...there are a few of these on there for around 600-700 dollars. I need (OK, not need, want) a dedicated small laptop for running softsynths, sequencers, and a sampler, both live and in the studio (I probably won't use it for tracking). I have this ancient Dell that I've erased everything else from and it's just too slow. What should I be looking for if I get an R100? Are refurbs available anywhere? Would 1ghz/512MB be sufficient? What do you think?

eugenechen · Post by **eugenechen** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 4:34 pm

Hey thanks for all the ideas so far.

Yeah, a PC was more what I had in mind. I'm picturing some rough travel and I have to see this thing as potentially disposable--I'm not trying to pick the best system going forward. That would be true I think even if I came back and started using this for gigs. I would only use this computer to do one thing--run ableton live and plugins, perhaps reason.

Wow, that Toshiba is 1.1 lbs! Nice. Yes, about $600 on eBay. I'll look into it.

eugene

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 5:02 pm

No CD/DVD drive though...a bit of a PITA. I was kind of hoping for my little laptop to double as a portable DVD player.

Message Board

Tiny laptop for travel recording

Tiny laptop for travel recording

Toshiba R100 laptop

Who is online