Dell Inspiron 6400 unusable as DAW? - RETURNED

I copied this from my post at dell in case anyone is interested, please note it is not directed to anyone here :)



Hi All,

Just thought I'd share my Dell experience with anyone interested.

I received my Inspiron 6400 7 days ago, hoping to use it to record audio with Sonar and an external FireWire PreSonus Firebox. Today I have called Dell and confirmed I would like to return it after 6 days of .

From day 1 the Firewire Firebox connected through the internal 4pin laptop port was suffering audio drop outs every 6-8 seconds. After trying every single fix recommended by people here and on other forums I have come to the conclusion that this issuse cannot be resolved. And before anyone says:
1. What about turning of WIFI? DONE
2. What about Reinstalling XP fresh? DONE
3. What about chipset update? DONE
4. What about lowering video latency? DONE
5. What about every other tweak known to man? DONE

One thing I would like to say is this. To the people encouraging people to switch the ACPI to 'Standard PC' Should research before making rash recommendations. I did this myself and corrupted XP twice! maybe because mine is dual core x2? I even tried to reinstall XP in 'Standard PC' mode which also corrupted XP.

The problem is that other Laptops cannot get get close to the Dell Specs at the same price, which is a shame. I guess my mobile DAW dream is over. To be honest with you I am kinda pleased I don't have to deal with Dell anymore as it has been one nightmare after another but I don't want to go into that. Maybe one day when I hear using Dells for recording audio is ok I will return.


Good Luck to you all, I understand your struggle!


Sam.