prophetik music

lol, hope you didn't pay much for that thing edit: back on topic...

fyi - if you buy EVGA on your graphics card, they've got a "step-up" program. if you, after 90 days max, want to upgrade, they'll credit the full cost that you paid for your card towards a better one. you ship the one you've got back (with all the bells and whistles, and the box if possible), and they send you a new one. i've done it several times, it's a great deal.

laptop hard drives are notoriously slow, meaning that if you're streaming more than a few hundred MB of samples, it'll be uber-slow and take forever. in dorms isn't a big deal - you'd want to plug in there. how's the wifi for the rest of the place? lol, you're worried about performance requirements for business? you're going to be using number-crunchers...the kind of thing a netbook is generally best at when it comes to high-intensity figuring. as for the laptop you've linked, i don't know much about it (cnet reviews are your friend!), but i'd say that you should upgrade to w7 pro (13$), possibly the backlit keyboard (25$), and centrino wireless-n card (5$). there's a lot of crap they try to push on you. i can't say enough that i've been very happy with HP's laptop offerings over the years. dell's always got atrocious rankings in consumer reports, and HP's been near the top year after year. keep it in mind.

just fyi, most bigger cards (like the 9800 and up) will just BARELY fit into the 300. might want to go with something a touch bigger if you're planning on getting a better graphics card between now and then (the 9800GTX+ is only around 130 or so, and would light that 8600 you picked on fire). also, unless you're a keyboard player, go with the axiom 49. i'm not, and i've never been hampered by the size of mine. use that saved money towards a better gfx card =)

is that an axiom 49 and a behringer 6-input i see? great products with great pricetags =) i used one of those behringers for years before i got my saffire pro 40. it's worth noting that netbooks are getting quite powerful. for 400$, you can get an hp mini 311 that's got ION graphics (can play Freelancer or Torchlight pretty easily), and although the 1.6ghz processor in that looks a little paltry it's actually pretty quick. just get one with xp, not w7 =) all this is getting even cooler with the fact that dual-core netbooks are coming out within the month.

i rarely did work in undergraduate or graduate school outside the dorm that wasn't just typing or anything, but i was a music major if you're engineering or something, you'll probably have to do some advanced stuff that a netbook might not be as quick at. understood =) don't forget, though, that you could always remote-desktop into your system in your dorm, like several of my friends did. you get portability and power, works well if you've got a decent web connection. if your wireless is terrible, you're sunk, though. i don't know much about specific types of laptops, but i can offer this advice. always go with a 7200rpm hard drive that's way bigger than you think you'll need. 5400rpm drives are just soooo slow =( if you know a bit about computers, and your system comes with a "recovery" disc to reinstall windows (or you know how to clone a drive), buy the drive yourself and save the cash (and the extra drive) for a rainy day. externals are ok, but remember that they're not built for portability, usually. get one for your desk, turn it on when you need to back something up onto it (or watch a movie, or something), and then shut it off again. cavalry sells a 1tb external for about 70$ or so that's real nice. pay the 30 bucks and buy a damn chill pad. you'll double the life of your system. also, you'll double or triple the life of your battery if you remove it when you sit down for the night. charge your system, then remove it so that it's not constantly charging and discharging all night long. along those lines, don't set your system on the carpet, or somewhere where it won't have good airflow. heat kills laptops, every time. blow it out with some canned air every three or four months, too - once a semester and over the summer is what i used to do. normally, i'd say that there's not much of a difference in ram speeds, but in a laptop there's significant differences (because they're so slow to begin with). it's usually more cost-effective to buy your ram seperately, but max out your system asap. if it can take 4gb, more power to you. it's worth the extra cash for a discrete graphics card if you're planning on gaming. if your system can toggle between integrated and discrete, even better - but those systems are usually pretty expensive. the nvidia 200M is the best nvidia-based graphics out there besides the ION cards. if you see a system with ION LE, there's a simple hack to make it the full version. google it, you'll find it. get a dual-core, with the fastest combination of FSB (front side bus) and GHz that you can. not even a question =) you likely won't need a quad, since the performance expense (battery life and straight-line speed) will take a big hit for a quad. i'm assuming you'll go with either w7 or xp. xp's going to give you the best overall performance, since it takes up so little of your system resources to run (128mb of ram!). w7 needs close to a gig even after you turn off transparency, but it looks nice and is much more secure. your choice - if you're careful about your websites, even with xp you won't need an antivirus beyond a monthly scan from your favorite program, so you'll be fine there.

asus are good core2 motherboards, but their i7 and i5 boards are terrible. avoid them in this instance. if you're doing tons of recording, you'll want a nice interface of some sort. i used, however, an m-audio mobilepre for years, and got excellent sound out of it. it's usb-powered, mobile for use with a laptop if needed, and costs less than 150$. i only used it when recording, though, and used integrated sound the rest of the time, and it worked pretty well. amd's processors are only good if you're an enthusiast who plans on overclocking. they consistantly perform well under what similar intel processors in the same price range can do, and they're much hotter to boot. i'd avoid them in this case, particularly since amd's top processor is way below the 860 i picked out above =) nvidia's cards are definitely more stable - ati's are so bad that there are several major third-party candidates that ati actually recognizes as being better than theirs the 5800 series is definitely better than anything else out there (price:performance ratio is way better), but like i said, i prefer evga's nvidia cards. never had one die, and they have by far the best tech support available anywhere. i'd suggest getting four gigs, honestly. with a music machine, you want all you can get. w7 takes up about a gig for background stuff. a note: if you get a graphics card with a ton of vram (the core 216 has 896mb), subtract that amount from your total ram and add about 128mb. so, if you buy 4gb, you'll have 3gb useable. that's what i use. if you buy a 2gb vram card, you'll have a little less than 2gb useable =) this is a 32-bit windows restriction, only. if you go with a 64-bit windows installation, there's no restriction.

sounds good. i'll be in my new place by then, so i'll have a worktable and everything - better than using my living room floor =)

best suggestion? college eats laptops alive, not to mention that lappies tend to die constantly. why waste all that money and have all your dreams crushed when you drop it and your hard drive wastes? do what i did - buy a desktop, and get a netbook (under 300$ for an aspire one) for classes. you can pretty much only check your email and write papers and notes on a netbook, so don't worry about focusing in class =) put tinyXP on it and you'll be set. HP makes fantastic netbooks (their mini line is possibly the best out there), and the acer aspire one is 280 for a brand new one, 200 for a refurb. 200 DOLLARS. i can buy power supplies for more than that. as for the desktop, if you don't want someone to build you one and save you a ton of money (i'm willing to bet i could build you one and keep the cost of that AND the netbook under the cost of the laptop you're looking at), acer and HP both make great customizable desktops for super cheap. laptops are poor for music, for several reasons. one, the nature of a laptop is that they generally have lower-than-normal CPU power (limiting what you can do aurally), slow memory and memory interfaces (slowing your streaming samples down and increasing latency), slower hard drives (making streaming samples slow and choppy), and poor onboard audio (as in, terrible). plus, even beyond the delicate nature of them, they attract dust like poop attracts flies, and overheat often. it's rare to have a windows-based laptopn (read: poor quality control and build quality) to last more than two years. unless you're going to technical school, that's not how long it takes to get through college.

hah, this is where i come in! i don't know pricing in the UK, so i'll guess on stuff, and you'll let me know what's what. you've got one big choice, and it's not what you think. since you've got a decent amount of money, you want to avoid AMD processors all together, so you've gotta decide primarily on where you're spending your money - getting the best processor you can buy and a cheapo graphics card, or getting the best combination of graphics and cpu that you can afford. if you're planning on doing any gaming (read: games from the last two years, everything before that can be handled by a cheapo card on varying settings), i'd suggest the latter. everyone rants about CPU power and how it's so necessary for music, but i rarely had issues with a 3ghz dual-core cpu that costs 165$ now =) if you just want to do music and only game on a console, more power to you - go with a cheaper graphics card, like the 3650 (for ATI) or the 8xxx or 8xxx cards (like the 8400 or the 9400, for nVidia). i'll assume you want the ability to game on your computer. i'll price things based on newegg's US pricing and shipping costs...you'll have to be creative overseas. case: cooler master's cases are awesome (the elite is excellent), and the antec three hundred is small, cheap, and very well-built. let's go with the three hundred. remember to look for deals where the case ships for free, that'll knock 20$ or so off your final price. 60$. cpu: if you want the maximum power possible, go with the 1366 socket and the best cpu you can afford. i went with a mix, so i'd say that the 2.8ghz i7-860 (socket 1156, uses hyperthreading so it's basically an 8-core cpu) is excellent. honestly, if you need more than this, you're doing higher-level stuff than me. i've never gotten more than three threads out of eight maxed at any given time. 290$. motherboard: this'll change if you go 1366, obviously. i like evga, but they're a little pricey for what you're looking for. go gigabyte - the GA-P55M-UD2 (not UD2A!) is only 105$. memory: G.SKILL, no question. there's literally no real-world difference between DDR3-1333 and -1600, so just go -1333. their 2x2gb kits (tota of 4gb) is 99$. hdd: WD's drives are the best. the caviar black is the best of their consumer-level drives. a 1tb drive is 90$. video card: if you don't need anything on this front, get something cheap that's under three years old. if you want to game, i'd go with evga's GTX 216 core 216 card. all of the core 216 cards are fantastic, balancing heat and noise with excellent performance and low power consuption compared to the fermi and 57xx ATI cards. 225$. psu: corsair's CMPSI-750TX is a fantastic psu...it comes in a velvet bag, for goodness sakes. their 650w versions should be enough with the big card and all, for at least two years if not way longer. if you want modular, OCZ's ModXStream Pro 750w is around the same price, but is a little dirtier and less efficient. 85$ dvd drive: whatever's highest rated on newegg =) 25$ max. that's 975 including shipping. drop the graphics card and add it in for your birthday, and you're looking at 750 flat. if you've got a few extra bucks, go with the EVGA P55 SLI motherboard - it's another sixty bucks, but it's possibly the nicest motherboard i've ever worked with. i use it =) you can use an LGA 775 or LGA 1156 cooler with it, too - it's got cpu fan mounts for both, which is awesome. questions? the faq in my sig is a little dated, but there's LOTS of good stuff in there. probably really advanced for what you need, but the PSU section and the graphics card sections might help you.

dustin, you've gotta give me a ring. people say they don't have enough money for a computer...they don't know what they're talking about =)

beatz has it. it was supposed to be a decent game, particularly for being a movie tie-in. oh well. thanks guys.

i got a download key for a PC copy of Avatar with a system i built a week or two ago, and i don't want to subject myself to that. it's through steam. it's for free. first one to pm me back gets it.

i was just talking about other games that expanded upon CSS's gameplay.

i must be missing something. isn't this the point of CS:S? uber "realism"? all MW2 did was take that multiplayer formula and combine it with XBL and some crazy killstreak rewards.

how has no one mentioned downtempo.org yet? it's a shoutcast station that's been running continuously since 2000 or so, has a wide mix of incredible music on it. i leave it on most of the time.

DAW is also a term for the workstation where you work with digital audio itself - like, i build DAWs, and i use a DAW on my DAW. confusing? blame sound engineers.

that's nothing. i've seen a kart racing game, a tetris mod, and even an FPS one. pretty crazy.

new accounts only =( and i think they nerfed it, since now it says that buddy accounts don't work with the steam deal (even though it worked earlier today).

eve 1-month full accounts are on sale. if anyone wants to try eve for a month (on a full account) for free, i'll pay for you. i can get a free month out of it (2$ instead of 15$).

at least he posted in the right forum.

i remember the dos one - got me through several music history classes until i figured out how to game the game. lots of fun.

between those three games, you'll be wasted for months. fully exhaust mass effect 1 before moving onto 2, and you'll appreciate 2 that much more. there's 35 for ME1 and 30 for ME2. then dragon age, same deal - anywhere from 40-80 for DA:O, depending on how you play, and from 10-15 for DA:O:A. you're set, dude =) i might pick up witcher enhanced edition. i've got the disc for the original, but the patch that you have to get is 2 gigs and apparently only works about half the time. for the price... edit: coop, you'll love the new KB games. i really enjoyed the first one, and goofed around with the second one a bit. lots of fun, albeit with a terrible plot.

bahahahahaha

firewire drivers in w7 were completely changed around, which is why most people have to revert back to the xp drivers to get stuff to work. that said, presonus (and focusrite, the brand i use) both recently updated their driversets to be w7 compatible. so it works fine.