which laptop still has t.i. chipset ?

I would check some of the linux forums.
I know, it seems strange, but with linux you have to know the chipset of your hardware in order to install the correct drivers, so they generally have lists available.
It's been a while since I put anything other than ubuntu on a laptop, but gentoo (linux) in particular is a build-it-yourself OS and their forums, newsgroups, etc. were an excellent source of info for this type of thing.

Start here, and go from there...
Unless, of course, someone chimes in with a particular model.
It's probably easier to pick one or two that you like and ask/search specifically about those, instead of just "laptop." There are hundreds of PC laptops.

Good luck,
- zevo

absolutely NONE !

ouch!!!

don't ask me about the FSB, I've been looking at "standard" laptops with 2,0 or 2,4GHz dual processors.. don't know what FSB they are running at..
the last two Toshibas we had an eye on had Ricoh-chipsets as Toshibas-tech-support told me, so those are known for issues as well..
hm.. what a pita,.. I told the guy to buy that fw-audiointerface and now I can't find a proper laptop for him..
ouch, ouch, ouch..

we already have bought a FA-66 audiointerface

Can't you go back and swap it for a UA-1010?

ORIGINAL: jcschild

absolutely NONE !

at least none that are the Montevina platform (1066 FSB).

if you can find an older Samsung, Toshiba santa Rosa platform (800 FSB) they had TI firewire

Scott, what does that add up to choice wise?

I'm currently considering the purchase of a Sound Devices 744T recorder and the firewire only connection seems a bad choice at this point in time. I want it for portable work and that means I want it to work great with my laptop du jour. Any thoughts?

FWIW, I'm all firewire at the moment... video and audio... I'm wondering if this the sign at the end of the road?

my current laptop HATES it's PCMCIA slot... I use it for a compact flash reader and it takes all the resources. I have several T.I. firewire PCMCIA cards but just use a VIA on board chip because it actually seems to have worked for 4 years now while the PCMCIA cards never seemed happy.

I have never tried to track down and edit IRQs etc because I assumed the bios was tweaked for the laptop already and that my particular PCMCIA was the hidden compromise on an otherwise robust system. Maybe I could have made it work better.

I'm about ready for a fresh notebook and starting to realize that robust firewire has become less likely to be available for portable use. At this point I'd dislike having to rely on a PCMCIA card.

best regards,
mike

ok without trying to sound like i am selling something.
bear with me.

many laptops dont even have firewire now and if they do its NOT TI.

basically the only reason we are able to sell ANY Montevina is by using the Express slot to firewire.
anyone who has read my laptop posts over the yrs has seen me post that MOST of the time this will not work.

we have been able to find a few that will and even they have caveats. no Vista and still 1-2 interfaces are no go here and there.
cant change the bios...
1 (the Sonica we sell) has onboard firewire which will actually work with a few interfaces but not most.
another we sell has to have EVERYTHING turned off to get a low DPC.

1 small change can make one of these poop the bed.

so we have taken the research out of it for you.
we know how to tweak it to work.

so you may be able to do the same thing, it may take you 15 laptops before you find one..
a simple bios change from joe blows laptop who works to the one you buy (Same model) could change all that.

in a nut shell its the worst mine field i have seen to date.
even my big dog 17" which has TI firewire (desktop quad core processor) its replacement is being released in 30-45 days
will NOT have TI firewire.
it will have Core i7 inside...

at this point i dont know if it will even work for audio until i test it.
if not i will have a $3000 boat anchor as i cant send them back.

i have come very close to giving up on laptops the cost of testing and validating has become absurd. if i dint sell so many of them i would have last go round.

many laptops dont even have firewire now and if they do its NOT TI.

basically the only reason we are able to sell ANY Montevina is by using the Express slot to firewire.
anyone who has read my laptop posts over the yrs has seen me post that MOST of the time this will not work.

That's annoying, that PCMCIA/Express is out. Will also have to nail me the fastest/latest one with it on the mobo itself, and just see how long that lasts me.

FWIW, I'm all firewire at the moment... video and audio... I'm wondering if this the sign at the end of the road?

One comment I didn't want to read, while checking the situation with Netbooks and FW:

anyone who does video work will tell you that firewire just eats USB for video editing

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/12/dell-e-series-netbooks-to-include-10-incher-today-we-hope-to-fi/

@jschild

You'd think a whole market segment (audio) should be able to change someone's mind....

BTW didn't Sony prefer TI? This one is pretty cool, and coming down fast in price, ATM:

http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/174120/sony-vaio-vgn-tz31xn-b.html

If I were going to record a live show I'd want an Alesis HD recorder for reliability as one hiccup on a laptop and you're hosed

+1 to that.

But if you want it for live jams/performances, where I take only a padkontrol, FA-66 and a laptop, it would be nice.

Sony did used to have TI however they had irq issues often making them not so good for audio.

You'd think a whole market segment (audio) should be able to change someone's mind....

LOL we are less than 3% of the whole market at very best.
and even less for laptop purchasers.

Just a curiosity for Scott (seriously, don't flame me, OK?):
Do the new round of Macbook Pro's have TI?
They've had switchups periodically, and I'm a bit out of the loop.
However, if you must have TI, and they have it... well...
But then, they may not (they haven't always in the past).

- zevo

ORIGINAL: j boy

Why do so many folks insist they need a laptop?

OMG, I live out of a hotel for 3-4 months out of the year. I would be completely lost without a DAW laptop (which I currently am at this moment). Believe me I really need one.

Wow. This has got to be one of the saddest threads I've ever had to read. What a disappointment. All the ODMs are going the cheap route. It doesn't look like Scott's going to have any ODM options for intel i7 technology. I just can't believe that there isn't enough demand for quality out there.

Isn't this going to kill all of these businesses who sell Expresscard & Firewire audio interfaces: MOTU, M-Audio, RME, Apogee, Echo? They have to be freaking out...the platform that their products run on is disappearing!

Sigh, I guess we'll just have to limp along on old models until...

Scott, what does that add up to choice wise?

FWIW, It adds up to being forced to use a USB audio interface.

Ok, I've been looking for the final word on laptop pro-audio issue. The way I understand it from this and zillions of other BBs out there...and please correct me if I'm off on anything:

1. The Texas Instruments firewire controller is essential for maximum compatibility and reliability with firewire audio interfaces/Ext Hard Drives.

2. Finding out online if a system has a TI FW (Texas Instruments firewire) chipset is very hard...it's just something no one but a small 3-4% group of niche users like us cares about. However, it is as simple as asking someone who already has a particular unit to check in Device Manager under the 'IEEE 1394 bus host controllers' listing. I've been doing it all week on Ebay and have gotten back many reliable responses...most weren't the responses I wanted to hear though: Ricoh, Ricoh, Ricoh.

3. TI FW isn't the only requirement for smooth DAW operation but it is an indicator of high workstation quality which means that if TI FW is present, the other requirements are probably present also. I don't know what those other requirements are.

4. TI FW isn't just on it's way out, it is out, history, extinct. Scott fm ADK mentioned in this or some other thread that Texas Instruments has no pending orders from any of the ODM laptop manufacturers for their Firewire controller chipset. The new i7 based Clevo D900f uses the Ricoh chipset. And no one can find any new laptops being sold with TI FW.

5. BUT, a small number of people have reported some success with non-TI FW (success being anywhere from 2 track playback to recording 8+ audio tracks to 25+ track playback with tons of plug ins at reasonable latencies with minimal pops & clicks). Lucky them...no one knows why. I was one of them with my old eMachines M6805.

6. ALSO a small number of people have reported some success with non-TI FW by using a TI-based PCMCIA card or Expresscard FW adapter such as the Cables UnlimitedTM 2-Port Firewire ExpressCard 34mm. OR by using similar card based audio interface such as ECHO's Indigo series. Lucky them...no one knows why. I was one of them with my old eMachines M6805.

7. (a little foggy on this one) The reason PCMCIA/Expresscard TI FW solutions are so unreliable is because the real chipset/controller that we're concerned about isn't a firewire controller at all but the all-in-one controller that runs all laptop I/O connectivity: USB, card reader, Firewire...etc! If the all-in-one controller is junk, it doesn't matter if the expansion card is TI based or not 'cause it still has to go through the all-in-one. Jesus H. I'm gonna tear my frickin hair out!!

8. USB 3.0 is comming and may hopefully be the answer to our prayers. But Firewire and USB are already theoretically more than capable of handling just about any audio task we can conceive of but they won't even make much more than crazy digital squeaks if the chipset/controllers are junk so quality will probably still be an issue even with USB 3.0.

So here's the long and short of it:
- We cannot shop for a reliable laptop for audio unless it's being marketed as a DAW laptop.
- We will have to buy used for the time being. New off-the-shelf (Dell, Sony, IBM, HP...whoever) is out for now.
- The best way to buy used is to find someone else who has attained the same level of performance you expect to have with the same I/O equipment you use or you're gambling.

FYI TI is alive and well in the desktop market.

Someone needs to invent an ATX case that fits in your lap... and has a fold up LCD.