what is the best computer to use?

thinking of changing my set-up. i have a dell, intel chip, 3.0 processor, HT technology, but it's 5 years old.
have an onyx 1620 board. was thinking of getting new computer. can someone recommend a computer.
something under $2,000. thank you,

can anyone else add to this?

i think i am ready to pull the trigger and upgrade to a better computer than what i have (dell / 3.0 HT / 160 Gig HD / blah blah blah).....

having a hard time making up my mind....
ok... what is the quietest?
and which company is the best in support and customer service?

or

which company has the least problems - best made computers?


any one..........?

by the way.... thanks for the reply Phrauge

so far.... it's
NO to Vista. XP pro definately. going for a quad core Intel chip. and now trying
to decided between studio cat, adkpro, liquiddaw, (and leaning away from
store bought PC's..... even though i have an old dell that served me well....
hopefully no one talks me into a dell again cause my head is spinning around
and i need to settle this mess....... new computer.... now... not next month, or next week....now)

ORIGINAL: Phrauge

IIWY, I'd contact either Jim @ Studio Cat, Scott @ ADK Pro Audio or Scott @ Liquid DAW. In that price range you can get a very reliable DAW with excellent Customer Service/Tech Support.

HTH.

thanks,
adk looks good,
gona call them thursday,
right now it's in between adk, studio cat, and rain.
anyone have any thoughts about rain?

ORIGINAL: jacktheexcynic

i got a laptop DAW from ADK and am very pleased with it. based on what i've read in this forum, you really can't go wrong with any of the vendors phrauge. in general you want to stay away from name-brands (dell, HP, sony). that's not to say you can't make music with one, but trust me, i've done that and you don't know what you are missing until you get a purpose-built DAW.

You can spend 40 hours researching parts, and 5 hours building it, or you can contact the folks mentioned above.

Since I already built our first one, and am building one for home, my research time is already baked in.

Here is the gist of it:

1. Use XP not Vista
2. You need two hard drives, one for programs and one for recording. You may even get an External USB for backup storage
3. Intel Conroe chip is the only way to go right now. Budget would be the only concern for how much chip you get.
4. Memory. Start with 2 gig. 800mhz is ok, but 1066 is at the same price point now. Depending on how many vst's etc you run you may need more, but 2 gig works for me.
5. Video card. Get one that is fanless. If you are running two monitors, get one with Dual DVI output.
6. Case. My personal choice is an Antec Sonata III. Almost silent!
7. A drive for installing programs - I prefer combo drives that do DVD / CD etc, etc. your choice
8. A monitor. Right now Staples has a 19" Wide Screen by Acer on sale for $149. That is a steal.

You don't need a floppy (who really does anymore).

Once you get it all, build it. Then install windows, and run all of the updates. Once you have that done you should tweak it and turn off a host of non-essential "stuff" like System Restore, etc. Depending on the graphics card you get , you may want to set graphic to "Best Performance" instead of stock.

Then start installing your sound board / card (I use a TASCAM FW-1884), and any other cards etc you will use.

It will take you a solid day to go through all this, plus the research time to get the parts. So the question becomes, what is your time worth? And do you have the patience to do this? For most people the answer is no, so spend a few hundred more and have one of the folks mentioned above build it for you.

don't know why i missed this post before.... but ....
what don't you like about rain?
right now i'm between studiocat and rain (and possibly adk).
but please tell me what irks you about rain (as this will help me make
a good decision). thanx

ORIGINAL: LixiSoft

Stay away from RAIN, they are not on par with ADK or Studio Cat. I have dealt with both Scott @ ADK and Jim @ Studio Cat, you can't go wrong with either one. I just bought a Laptop DAW from ADK, after much research ADK was a better fit for my Laptop DAW needs. Give them both a call and talk to them, you won't be sorry.

system restore does run in the background, so it is more than just disk space, although by itself i doubt it makes too much of a difference in a DAW environment. in my opinion though, if you are serious about your data, you will get a real backup system, at which point system restore is just extra baggage.

ORIGINAL: jacktheexcynic ~ system restore does run in the background, so it is more than just disk space ...

Jack is correct. The service constantly monitors at low impact but 'fires' when system is in the idle state.

There is no substitute for a drive image but rarely are they up to the minute up to date. Therefore, in my case at least, they always wind up having more impact on the sysytem. If I'm downloading a file, installing a new app, doing a windows update, experimenting with the unknown or just operating in a smooth glitch free mode that I want to archive I can create a restore point in 15 seconds.

ORIGINAL: ~ jacktheexcynic - ...in my opinion though, if you are serious about your data, you will get a real backup system, at which point system restore is just extra baggage.

I have the Win XP Backup but also Casper XP, Syncback SE and Paragon Drive Imaging providing compressed drive image archives, raw data duplicate copies and drive clones so I gotta' consider myself serious about data and yet I use the System Restore almost exclusively with success.

So in my own case it's the redundant backup apps that have become excess baggage... but of course they ain't going anywhere.

YMMV

ORIGINAL: jcschild
HI,
i gotta ask this as i am always amazed that if someone has been to our site why Rain would even be a consideration?

i know Rain has a flashy sales pitch website, but after digging around and looking at specs vs cost and warranty i have to ask
why would you consider them?

or did you not do an apples to apples.

I did. You won. Twice.



Corey

wow, that seems a bit insulting. so i am attracted to flashing lights.

what am i... a deer?

ORIGINAL: jcschild

LOL

thanks Corey..

seriously though i scratch my head and wonder. i could understand if someone saw the flashy website and didnt look elsewhere.
but after looking elsewhere i dont get it. Unless they are not comparing system spec against system spec and price for price and warranty.

i guess they grab people who dont know or understand the difference.

ORIGINAL: mwd

ORIGINAL: ~ jacktheexcynic - ...in my opinion though, if you are serious about your data, you will get a real backup system, at which point system restore is just extra baggage.

I have the Win XP Backup but also Casper XP, Syncback SE and Paragon Drive Imaging providing compressed drive image archives, raw data duplicate copies and drive clones so I gotta' consider myself serious about data and yet I use the System Restore almost exclusively with success.

that does take serious to a level i had not previously considered

for me a nightly backup using one of the above (for me either NT backup or Paragon) is serious enough, considering most people don't back up at all. i just don't get what the benefit is of all those options simultaneously. i guess there are many reasons to restore - accidentally deleted file (which i haven't done in years), hard drive failure (which has happened to me once), spyware (which i never get)... but Paragon comes with everything you need to handle all those situations, it just doesn't provide up to the minute protection.

i see where system restore can provide that extra little bit of protection but to me it's not worth it. not saying it's the wrong decision, only that i personally don't see the benefit (not much over something like Paragon) outweighing the cost (not much either).

only reason i even looked at them (rain) is because cakewalk refers you to them on their "buy a system" page under
Support -
-> DAW Labs -
-> Desktops

at this point (5/15/08) they are listed as 3rd (1/08), 7th (10/06), and 10th (4/05).

this is all under
"All models listed have been tested and approved by Cakewalk's DAW Labs"

i'm sure you know this though. i'm not saying this sarcastically. (that's why i hate
forums sometimes. words get taken out of meaning.) i humbly come here with my head
lowered only asking for advice and direction. cakewalk referred me to rain. and a few others
(before you) talked me out of it. i got the message.

it's all good.

someone at cakewalk outta put studiocat on their site though. studiocat
seems to get good reviews and yet cakewalk mentions rain which ....
well i'll leave it at that.

ORIGINAL: jcschild

HI Soul,

every person i talk with on the phone i always ask " why us, who else did you look at, etc "
i do this to see what it is we are doing right and what perhaps can be improved.


i am being dead serious when i ask this question.

there was no intent to insult you, alot of people dont know computer specs. if everyone was knowledgable then i would be out of a job...

and i wasnt saying anything negative about rain.

i seriously dont get it. AS someone who according to your comments above were considering them (seemingly more over us)
this is why i had to ask.

losing one to Jim Roseberry i can understand he is slightly less, and builds a good system and knows what he is doing.
or to Sonica, again good systems good price and knows what he is doing.

losing one to Rain or Sweetwater always makes me scratch my head.

so this is why i ask, maybe there is something that needs to be addressed on our website, maybe someone didnt answer an email etc etc.

this is in no way intended to insult you, simply get why you think what you do!

in other words i am asking your opinion.

thank you for answering!

the cakewalk Daw labs...

here is how that works, a dealer sends in a computer to cake for review. they are posted by date it was sent in not by quality or recommendation.

why Roseberry has never sent one in only he can answer.
i have not sent one in a long time.
the models that are listed under us are long gone....