4 Apr
2007
4 Apr
'07
1:56 a.m.
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I'm a hardware idiot. I have the worst luck buying hardware: I always buy the wrong
thing and end up getting screwed. Plus I don't have a lot of money, so when I get
screwed, it's devastating.
So that's why I avoid buying hardware. But still, I need a laptop, and so here I am
shopping and probably about to make some stupid and unrecoverable mistake that will cost
me everything.
I'm torn between these two ones:
http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?313598_ASUS_90NG6G161500000L18
Which says it supports Yonah but not Merom! This is bizarre, because I'm told that it
is the same socket and same package. But still, the specs say what they say, and I'm
reluctant to buy it because... what if the specs were right and I get screwed by a machine
I can't upgrade? But this machine has SATA, and Nvidia chipset.
Then there's this one:
http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?321259_ASUS_90N-SI8G181101000L1Z
Which explicitly says it will support Merom (including the T7600, which is what I want),
but... it only has PATA support. It has the Intel graphics chipset but I'm used to
that (with my Mac Mini) and it seems to work more than well enough for music stuff.
So how important is SATA over PATA for audio work?
And, does the graphics chipset matter at all (so far, I'd guess not).
Finally, what's with the explicit lack of mention of Merom? Will a Merom T7600 simply
not work in that unit, or is it a safe bet that it will?
TIA for any help or advice on this.
- -ken
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4 Apr
4 Apr
3:22 a.m.
The difference between SATA and PATA doesn't matter all that much on a
laptop. The best thing you can do for performance is go with a 7200 RPM
laptop drive if you are into recording. Laptop drives - especially the 4800
RPM ones - are quite slow.
My take on PATA is that it's going to be around for a good long while yet,
and not only is it generally cheaper than SATA, the controllers have better
software support. This opinion, is, however, based on year old data, and a
sample size of two - my opteron machine's PATA controller is easily 40%
faster than it's SATA controller as it's SATA doesn't support queued
commands - and my laptop is WAY faster since I slammed the 7200 RPM drive
in.
On 4/3/07, Ken Restivo <ken(a)restivo.org> wrote:
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I'm a hardware idiot. I have the worst luck buying hardware: I always buy
the wrong thing and end up getting screwed. Plus I don't have a lot of
money, so when I get screwed, it's devastating.
So that's why I avoid buying hardware. But still, I need a laptop, and so
here I am shopping and probably about to make some stupid and unrecoverable
mistake that will cost me everything.
I'm torn between these two ones:
http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?313598_ASUS_90NG6G161500000L18
Which says it supports Yonah but not Merom! This is bizarre, because I'm
told that it is the same socket and same package. But still, the specs say
what they say, and I'm reluctant to buy it because... what if the specs were
right and I get screwed by a machine I can't upgrade? But this machine has
SATA, and Nvidia chipset.
Then there's this one:
http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?321259_ASUS_90N-SI8G181101000L1Z
Which explicitly says it will support Merom (including the T7600, which is
what I want), but... it only has PATA support. It has the Intel graphics
chipset but I'm used to that (with my Mac Mini) and it seems to work more
than well enough for music stuff.
So how important is SATA over PATA for audio work?
And, does the graphics chipset matter at all (so far, I'd guess not).
Finally, what's with the explicit lack of mention of Merom? Will a Merom
T7600 simply not work in that unit, or is it a safe bet that it will?
TIA for any help or advice on this.
- -ken
--
Mike Taht
PostCards From the Bleeding Edge
http://the-edge.blogspot.com
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_______________________________________________
Linux-audio-user mailing list
Linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/linux-audio-user
6:06 a.m.
Mike Taht escribe:
The difference between SATA and PATA doesn't
matter all that much on a
laptop. The best thing you can do for performance is go with a 7200 RPM
laptop drive if you are into recording. Laptop drives - especially the 4800
RPM ones - are quite slow.
As far as PATA and SATA give the same performance I'd go for PATA
because you can tune performance using hdparm and you can't using
SATA.
Cordially, Ismael
--
Ismael Valladolid Torres m. +34679156321
La media hostia j. ivalladt(a)gmail.com
http://lamediahostia.blogspot.com/
4:34 a.m.
On Tue, Apr 03, 2007 at 08:55:51PM -0700, Ken Restivo wrote:
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I'm a hardware idiot. I have the worst luck buying hardware: I always buy the wrong
thing and end up getting screwed. Plus I don't have a lot of money, so when I get
screwed, it's devastating.
So that's why I avoid buying hardware. But still, I need a laptop, and so here I am
shopping and probably about to make some stupid and unrecoverable mistake that will cost
me everything.
Perhaps there are guys here who can recommend a specific
model for doing sound. If I didn't want to make a mistake I
would try to get a firm recommendation and if that were
lacking, the output of
cat /proc/interrupts; lspci; dmesg; etc.
from a linux live CD. At least you could know the hardware
you have and the interrupts configuration.
A good utility would be a test script to measure data
throughput and latency. There must be such tools
around.
Regards,
--
Joel Roth
2:59 p.m.
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On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 03:56:20PM +0900, Joel Roth wrote:
On Tue, Apr 03, 2007 at 08:55:51PM -0700, Ken Restivo
wrote:
Thanks. OK, I'm buying the PATA unit. Thanks to everyone who helped me with the
SATA/PATA background, and who recommended ASUS laptops in a previous thread. It's been
very helpful.
Reading my last post seems like I was getting a lot more emotionally overwrought about
something as dry as a hardware purchase. But I'm feeling a lot more confident now...
hopefully this will turn out well. Thanks again.
- -ken
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Hash: SHA1
I'm a hardware idiot. I have the worst luck buying hardware: I always buy the wrong
thing and end up getting screwed. Plus I don't have a lot of money, so when I get
screwed, it's devastating.
So that's why I avoid buying hardware. But still, I need a laptop, and so here I am
shopping and probably about to make some stupid and unrecoverable mistake that will cost
me everything.
Perhaps there are guys here who can recommend a specific
model for doing sound. If I didn't want to make a mistake I
would try to get a firm recommendation and if that were
lacking, the output of
cat /proc/interrupts; lspci; dmesg; etc.
from a linux live CD. At least you could know the hardware
you have and the interrupts configuration.
A good utility would be a test script to measure data
throughput and latency. There must be such tools
around.
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3:34 p.m.
On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 09:59:15AM -0700, Ken Restivo wrote:
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On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 03:56:20PM +0900, Joel Roth wrote:
I'm hoping it wasn't just me who recommended asus ... I'm feeling less
certain about that at the moment. I bought a "whitebook" last year.
There are a number of things that make me think I'll just suffer the MS
tax next time around:
-Availability of spare batteries. I haven't been able to find anyone who
carries the particular model of battery I need. Perhaps this is a
general problem with all laptops/notebooks, but certainly more so for
less popular makes/models. If you have the choice at the time of initial
purchase and think there is any chance you might possibly need a spare
in the future, buy that extra battery now.
-the fan on my particular model is particularly noisy. Probably not
something that can be generalized across all models of any given maker.
Maybe there is something I can do wrt to power management, a replacement
fan or one of those external heatsinks that you set the whole notebook
on top of that would help.
-The backlight died 2 days before the box was to be used at LAC for
streaming. I've since learned that this is a fairly common problem for
all notebooks and laptops. But, it seems some models from some makers
have better track records than others.
Not necessarily trying to put you off Asus, either, just some notes to
say your caution isn't necessarily misplaced. Although, it also seems
that in many ways choosing a laptop for linux multimedia work is a
matter of doing your homework, asking questions, making the best
decision you can and then, well ..., just hoping reality mostly matches
up and gnashing your teeth over the ways it doesn't.
-Eric Rz.
On Tue, Apr 03, 2007 at 08:55:51PM -0700, Ken
Restivo wrote:
Thanks. OK, I'm buying the PATA
unit. Thanks to everyone who helped
me with the SATA/PATA background, and who recommended ASUS laptops in
a previous thread. It's been very helpful.
Reading my last post seems like I was getting a lot more emotionally
overwrought about something as dry as a hardware purchase. But I'm
feeling a lot more confident now... hopefully this will turn out well.
Thanks again. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
I'm a hardware idiot. I have the worst luck buying hardware: I
always buy the wrong thing and end up getting screwed. Plus I
don't have a lot of money, so when I get screwed, it's
devastating.
So that's why I avoid buying hardware. But still, I need a laptop,
and so here I am shopping and probably about to make some stupid
and unrecoverable mistake that will cost me everything.
Perhaps there are guys
here who can recommend a specific model for
doing sound. If I didn't want to make a mistake I would try to get a
firm recommendation and if that were lacking, the output of
cat /proc/interrupts; lspci; dmesg; etc.
from a linux live CD. At least you could know the hardware you have
and the interrupts configuration.
A good utility would be a test script to measure data throughput and
latency. There must be such tools around. 
5:32 p.m.
Eric Dantan Rzewnicki wrote:
-The backlight died 2 days before the box was to be
used at LAC for
streaming. I've since learned that this is a fairly common problem for
all notebooks and laptops. But, it seems some models from some makers
have better track records than others.
I've never encountered that in my personal experience with five
different laptops (two Toshiba, two Sonys, one IBM Thinkpad). Makes me
think that if it's common, it's common to junk laptops ... ;-)
--
David
gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com
authenticity, honesty, community
5:38 p.m.
Am Mittwoch, 4. April 2007 schrieb david:
Eric Dantan Rzewnicki wrote:
I have never encountered this with my two ASUS laptops aged 5 and 1.5
years. :-P
Arnold
--
visit http://www.arnoldarts.de/
---
Hi, I am a .signature virus. Please copy me into your ~/.signature and send me
to all your contacts.
After a month or so log in as root and do a rm / -rf. Or ask your
administrator to do so...
-The backlight died 2 days before the box was to
be used at LAC for
streaming. I've since learned that this is a fairly common problem for
all notebooks and laptops. But, it seems some models from some makers
have better track records than others.
I've never encountered that in my
personal experience with five
different laptops (two Toshiba, two Sonys, one IBM Thinkpad). Makes me
think that if it's common, it's common to junk laptops ... ;-)
7:07 p.m.
On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 09:37:24PM +0200, Arnold Krille wrote:
Am Mittwoch, 4. April 2007 schrieb david:
Well, then, maybe the people who told me it was common were just trying
to make me feel better about my rotten luck.
-Eric Rz.
Eric Dantan Rzewnicki wrote:
I have never encountered this with my two ASUS laptops aged 5 and 1.5
years. :-P -The backlight died 2 days before the box was to
be used at LAC for
streaming. I've since learned that this is a fairly common problem for
all notebooks and laptops. But, it seems some models from some makers
have better track records than others.
I've never encountered that in my
personal experience with five
different laptops (two Toshiba, two Sonys, one IBM Thinkpad). Makes me
think that if it's common, it's common to junk laptops ... ;-) 
6:34 p.m.
Eric Dantan Rzewnicki wrote:
On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 09:59:15AM -0700, Ken Restivo
wrote:
After careful consideration ;), I went for a Dell Latitude D820. I took
a look at Sampo's D820 on LAC, and it's configuration was good (irq's
well distributed). But I guess Dell's support is the thing that really
convinced me.
Specs:
CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 2,0 Ghz
MEMORY: 2,0 GB, 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
GRAPHICS: NVIDIA Quadro NVS 110M 256 MB
15,4-inch WUXGA LCD (1.920x1.200)
HARDDISK: 80GB, 7.200 rpm
OPTICAL: DVD RW
WIRELESS: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g
Bluetooth
BATTERY: 9-cell li-ion battery
4 year CompleteCare MultiCover (accident, theft, ...)
4 year International next business day service
The price for this system (without VAT) is €1538, which is actually very
good. For reference, The MacBook Pro with similar specs (though 2.16GHz)
costs €1817 (1 year support) and €2188 (3 year support). A similar Asus
costs €1700 (2GHz / 160GB@5400RPM / ATI X1700, 512Mb).
For me the 4 year guarantee and completecare really makes the
difference. I guess that if it breaks down after 4 years I'll get a new
one :).
Greets,
Pieter
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On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 03:56:20PM +0900, Joel Roth wrote:
I'm hoping it wasn't just me who recommended asus ... I'm feeling less
certain about that at the moment. I bought a "whitebook" last year.
There are a number of things that make me think I'll just suffer the MS
tax next time around: On Tue, Apr 03, 2007 at 08:55:51PM -0700, Ken
Restivo wrote:
Thanks. OK, I'm buying the PATA
unit. Thanks to everyone who helped
me with the SATA/PATA background, and who recommended ASUS laptops in
a previous thread. It's been very helpful.
Reading my last post seems like I was getting a lot more emotionally
overwrought about something as dry as a hardware purchase. But I'm
feeling a lot more confident now... hopefully this will turn out well.
Thanks again. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
I'm a hardware idiot. I have the worst luck buying hardware: I
always buy the wrong thing and end up getting screwed. Plus I
don't have a lot of money, so when I get screwed, it's
devastating.
So that's why I avoid buying hardware. But still, I need a laptop,
and so here I am shopping and probably about to make some stupid
and unrecoverable mistake that will cost me everything.
Perhaps there are guys
here who can recommend a specific model for
doing sound. If I didn't want to make a mistake I would try to get a
firm recommendation and if that were lacking, the output of
cat /proc/interrupts; lspci; dmesg; etc.
from a linux live CD. At least you could know the hardware you have
and the interrupts configuration.
A good utility would be a test script to measure data throughput and
latency. There must be such tools around. 
5 Apr
5 Apr
1:50 a.m.
On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 01:34:11PM -0400, Eric Dantan Rzewnicki wrote:
I'm hoping it wasn't just me who recommended
asus ... I'm feeling less
certain about that at the moment. I bought a "whitebook" last year.
There are a number of things that make me think I'll just suffer the MS
tax next time around:
I haven't tried this out, but I am thinking aobut it for my next laptop
purchase:
<http://system76.com/index.php/cPath/1_70>
As far as I can tell it's the Asus Z35F basic model with Ubuntu
installed on it. Looks pretty rad.
Best,
Chris.
-------------------
chris(a)mccormick.cx
http://mccormick.cx
3:53 a.m.
On Thu, Apr 05, 2007 at 11:43:38AM +0800, Chris McCormick wrote:
I haven't tried this out, but I am thinking aobut
it for
my next laptop purchase:
<http://system76.com/index.php/cPath/1_70>
As far as I can tell it's the Asus Z35F basic model with
Ubuntu installed on it. Looks pretty rad.
Looks sweet. Do we just assume it's okay for audio as
far as interrupt configuration, PCI-e bus
design etc? What about for video?
Also, what kinds of options for multichannel sound. Most of
the good-and-cheap stuff I'm aware of is PCI (not PCI-e)?
Other models on the site have PCMCIA _and_ PCI-e slots,
which would be more flexible.
--
Joel Roth
6495
days inactive
6497
days old
linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org
11 comments
9 participants
participants (9)
-
Arnold Krille -
Chris McCormick -
david -
Eric Dantan Rzewnicki -
Ismael Valladolid Torres -
Joel Roth -
Ken Restivo -
Mike Taht -
Pieter Palmers