Laptop + FW Expresscard + FW audio interface?

[jcschild]

most montevina laptops do not have firewire of those that do NONE have TI.

0, nada, none, zip, dont exist.

was there some part of

there is NO NEW laptops with TI you didnt understand?
i tried to save you the leg work.

i actually called Texas Intruments.
their answer they have NO pending orders from any laptop ODM.

this is after i did my extensive search.

3 options
find a older used one
buy USB interface
buy a laptop from a daw builder who has known working laptops... (there is only 3 who do)


Scott
ADK

[dacaumodo]

most montevina laptops do not have firewire of those that do NONE have TI.

0, nada, none, zip, dont exist.

was there some part of

there is NO NEW laptops with TI you didnt understand?
i tried to save you the leg work.

i actually called Texas Intruments.
their answer they have NO pending orders from any laptop ODM.

this is after i did my extensive search.

3 options
find a older used one
buy USB interface
buy a laptop from a daw builder who has known working laptops... (there is only 3 who do)


Scott
ADK

Hey Scott

no indeed I hadn't understood you meant all of them this would have saved me a whole afternoon of searching! Well thanks for trying anyway. Will teach me to read your posts better.

Well seeing as I don't want to risk buying second hand without some sort of guarantee, and that the search for a TI FW laptop would be even harder on the second hand market than in the shops...a usb interface it will be.

[usernamesarepoop]

I have two thoughts:

One, maybe that's why Apple started shipping MacBooks and Pros without firewire - because it sucks!
Rude way of putting it I know, and it's flat-out awesome for hard drives, but FW400 definitely sucks royally every time it's between my MOTU Ultralite and my Asus notebook (non-TI, but I did try the TI cardbus "solution" to no avail). I've been doing a lot of forum research on this subject lately and this particular thread has been fascinating and helpful.
Anyway, I'm thinking Apple is trying to phase out firewire because it flat out stinks for interfaces and they've realized it - just like we're all sort of cottoning to it now - and they're trying to do it quietly because they're the ones who created it in the first place. And really, hear me when I say my point isn't to criticize here - I mean, who wants to take a bunch of flak for trying out something that could have been great but didn't quite work when you can just try and ween everyone off it to a new and hopefully better standard? My theory for the moment, anyway.

The other thing is that there's an option that I haven't heard too much about, which I'm about to start doing a lot of research into right away: cardbus interfaces such as the RME Multiface with the cardbus connector. It's way better in terms of latency and throughput than firewire or USB2. Is it also a workaround for all this other raging BS? I hope to find out soon.

[dacaumodo]

I have two thoughts:

One, maybe that's why Apple started shipping MacBooks and Pros without firewire - because it sucks!
Rude way of putting it I know, and it's flat-out awesome for hard drives, but FW400 definitely sucks royally every time it's between my MOTU Ultralite and my Asus notebook (non-TI, but I did try the TI cardbus "solution" to no avail). I've been doing a lot of forum research on this subject lately and this particular thread has been fascinating and helpful.
Anyway, I'm thinking Apple is trying to phase out firewire because it flat out stinks for interfaces and they've realized it - just like we're all sort of cottoning to it now - and they're trying to do it quietly because they're the ones who created it in the first place. And really, hear me when I say my point isn't to criticize here - I mean, who wants to take a bunch of flak for trying out something that could have been great but didn't quite work when you can just try and ween everyone off it to a new and hopefully better standard? My theory for the moment, anyway.

The other thing is that there's an option that I haven't heard too much about, which I'm about to start doing a lot of research into right away: cardbus interfaces such as the RME Multiface with the cardbus connector. It's way better in terms of latency and throughput than firewire or USB2. Is it also a workaround for all this other raging BS? I hope to find out soon.

Cardbus seems good, Echo has some nice ones if you only need stereo in and out, otherwise you need to go for the RME ones as you said and they're pretty expensive. Don't know if there are any stability issues, would love to know and also if there is data on how the performances compare with USB2.

[jcschild]

I have two thoughts:

One, maybe that's why Apple started shipping MacBooks and Pros without firewire - because it sucks!
Rude way of putting it I know, and it's flat-out awesome for hard drives, but FW400 definitely sucks royally every time it's between my MOTU Ultralite and my Asus notebook (non-TI, but I did try the TI cardbus "solution" to no avail). I've been doing a lot of forum research on this subject lately and this particular thread has been fascinating and helpful.
Anyway, I'm thinking Apple is trying to phase out firewire because it flat out stinks for interfaces and they've realized it - just like we're all sort of cottoning to it now - and they're trying to do it quietly because they're the ones who created it in the first place. And really, hear me when I say my point isn't to criticize here - I mean, who wants to take a bunch of flak for trying out something that could have been great but didn't quite work when you can just try and ween everyone off it to a new and hopefully better standard? My theory for the moment, anyway.

The other thing is that there's an option that I haven't heard too much about, which I'm about to start doing a lot of research into right away: cardbus interfaces such as the RME Multiface with the cardbus connector. It's way better in terms of latency and throughput than firewire or USB2. Is it also a workaround for all this other raging BS? I hope to find out soon.

lets be perfecty clear on something Firewire does not suck
in fact i can put up a good firewire interface against a crap PCI card and get way better latency.

the issue is firewire on laptops.
Apple didnt drop firewire the manufacturer who makes apples laptops did.
Apple has now switched laptop vendors and now firewire is back..
and no Apple does NOT make laptops.

unfortunately its not Ti firewire.

SCott
ADK

[kazakore]

My research told me that the new Macs are using Agere firewire chipset. No idea how this beards up against some of the competition (can't really be worse than Ricoh or the ilk) and you probably already know but thought I'd mention it...

[Curois]

lets be perfecty clear on something Firewire does not suck

Actually, it kinda does. How good is a protocol, when the specification leaves so much room that it allows for controllers that can't communicate decently with the attached peripherals and vice versa?

[jcschild]

the same could be said for memory, esata, usb, hdd's etc etc.
thats why there is competition. each i mentioned can benchmark very differently within that category.

conversely USB sucks big time but funny looks like RME will have a very good USB interface. (have not yet tested it but am assuming based on RME Rep)

i see your point sorta.
however tell that to RME Fireface users
Scott

[Danno]

Doesn't Acer OWN TI? It would make sense that that might put there own chipset into their laptops...

[jcschild]

LOL no Acer does not own Texas Intruments.

that would have been rather big news in the tech world if Acer bought out TI.
i am reasonably sure TI is a larger company than Acer.

ok had to go digging. this is what you are refering to
"Acer purchased Texas Instruments' mobile PC (laptop) division in 1997."

and it does look like Acer is actually now larger than TI but by no means big enough to buy them...

Acer annual Sales 19 Billion, TI 14 Billion...

Acer took the lead in outselling Dell even HP in laptop sales.

Scott
ADK

[drjohnny79]

I was doing some research about laptop daws, and Ive been recommended to look for Clevo high-end notebooks (Clevo Guide), that can be found under other names too (ADK9000 <-rebranded Clevo D901C) especially:

Clevo M570ETU (aka. Sager NP5797) .... new model with Montevina, quad-core and choice of 9800M GTS/GT/GTX or Quadro 2700M

- Clevo D901C (aka. Sager NP9262) .... 17" with single/dual 9800M GTS/GT/GTX or Quadro 2700M/3700M, uses desktop quad-core CPUs, three internal HDDs, and the best notebook cooling design to date.

These are supposed to have the TI firewire chipset, but I havent bought anything myself.

Check this forum out:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=358748

Good luck,

/Johnny

Edit: Btw, Im not trying to make your business look bad, jschild. Looking at the options I still think buying a ADK9000 is a good idea if one can afford it, because of the support and system optimization for audio. Just wanted to share some info I found.

[bmot]

Ok, a lot of people are saying a lot of stuff, but i have the pretty much the setup as discussed by the OP so maybe can help the OP a bit more.

I bought a laptop from music-pc.com with no firewire port. So when I found an Edirol FA-66 for a good price I bought a FW expresscard adapter with TI chipset(man, I was annoyed at opting against a FW port at this point!) btw, in case anyone isn't clear, express cards are the newer smaller variety at 34mm wide, not the older larger 54mm cards called PC Cards. I mention this as it confused me before I looked into the topic.

The verdict? Performance is good. But it took a bit of fiddling with the settings before it was stable, in fact for a short while i thought i'd wasted my money. Since figuring out the optimum settings it has been completely stable, plus latency is good. Not sure if I chose wisely or if I was lucky.

The only issue is that the express card itself can come out of the slot quite easily so you need to be careful not to knock the card. I've used it for 5 or 6 gigs (using Ableton, soft synths, plus hardware all going through the FA-66) and didn't have any problems on any of them, except the first one where i accidentally moved the laptop and had to turn the FA-66 off and on again and reload Ableton (doh!). Luckily in between songs.

[jcschild]

its all good!
we also sell the 2nd one! we call it 8500MV.

the 3rd one you listed is discontinued, the first 2 do not have TI firewire.
basically there are NO laptops with TI firewire anymore other than

1) used
2) still sitting on a shelf old stock last gen.

Scott

[jcschild]

Chase,
2 things

1) is the laptop you are talking about a Motevina? (1066 FSB processor)
if not talking about discontinued laptops is pointless.

2) Express cards come in both 34 and 54.

3) you fix is the only fix at this point and as i have been saying wotks about 3% of the time. its not a "just do this and all is well"

if your system is a Montevina you got dang lucky.

of course my next question would be how low a buffer with a heavy project?

some of the laptops we have disqualified will work with a 2 in /out like an echo audiofire2 or firebox doing a few tracks @ 512 buffer.
try stressing it and it blows up. or try doing 24 in/out at once

Scott
ADK

[drjohnny79]

its all good!
we also sell the 2nd one! we call it 8500MV.

the 3rd one you listed is discontinued, the first 2 do not have TI firewire.
basically there are NO laptops with TI firewire anymore other than

1) used
2) still sitting on a shelf old stock last gen.

Scott

Im sorry to hear that. So what does the future for laptop daws look like?