Best way to make a cheap laptop good for a person with a PhD in music?

my dad is a concert organist/pianist, he's also cheap and about 15 years behind in technology (he uses a pager, and uses dial up on his 10 year old PC). he uses his computer for email, to read news, and to compose and edit music.

he is probably going to be buying this laptop this weekend: http://tinyurl.com/4uqbow

im assuming the onboard sound and speakers are going to be low quality. what solution would you guys recommend to make the audio quality (both sound card and speakers (don't need to be surround)) up to the discriminating ear of a professional musician.

 

I would suggest not letting him be so cheap. Because you're going to get a cheap laptop with cheap everything, and then try to compensate by buying an external soundcard, external speakers, and everything else is going to be low quality still. When you go cheap with a computer you almost never win, you end up spending what you would have if you'd just invested a bit more, plus you still have a sub-par product. What happens when the rest falls apart? I would suggest filling out the "What notebook should I buy?" FAQ. Stress what's important, set down a budget, and people here will suggest the best laptop that fits your requirements.

PS - I didn't actually see the laptop, your link is broken - I am merely assuming based on the other things you've said that he's getting a low quality, cheap machine.

 

If he's cheap and 15 years behind, then you probably don't want to get him a low-quality 'cheap' laptop right now. It will last 2 or 3 years, and finding spare parts will be very difficult.

Personally, for someone of the profile that keeps their computers for 5-10 years, I'd recommend a slightly older business-class laptop, bought inexpensively. $500-$800 gets you a Dell Latitude D630 or D830 these days, new or slightly used. A solid laptop, and there's a solid history of the Latitude series being well built with excellent longevity. Spare parts for Latitudes built many years ago are still readily abundant on eBay, while spares for cheap laptops are now no longer available.

I might add that speakers will almost always be problematic on laptops, because of portability and space considerations.

 

Well, even if you upgrade the laptop to something 'nice' its still going to sound like poo. I personally would go with a nice sound card from Echo, Ibasso, Corda, or something of the sort, and some nice headphones. You can get MUCH better sound quality out of headphones for the money than you can out of speakers.

 

my apologies about the link, it should work now...

youre preaching to the choir. hes old, stubborn, and doesnt know jack about technology. hes going to spend about $500 for the system, as good as the forum is theyre no miracle workers. im going to need some external solution im almost positive.

longevity is certainly something to consider but i just looked at those dells and they have effectively half the specs of the laptop i linked. even getting him to buy something used from an online retailer is reaaally pushing it. i loled at the idea of my dad figuring out how to use ebay let alone diagnose or replace broken laptop parts, that really is not going to be part of the equation. did i mention he still uses a pager?

im pretty sure an external soundcard + speakers is the solution im looking for. im just trying to get a ballpark price and some makes and models.

can you recommend any specific models for sound cards? i hadnt considered headphones before, hes not really the type i guess, but that could be a very cost effective solution for that part at least.

 

I would not get some multimedia-system which is intended for watching movies, rather a pair of studio monitors. and an external dac.

 

A system like that is nice, for watching movies. They're usually to bassy for an audiophile to use for music. And even on a system like that, you'll spend more than a set of headphones.

 

no, not at all. quite the opposite is true.

 

just to clarify, im not really looking for computer recommendations, im looking for options to work with the computer im pretty sure hes getting. assume hes already bought the computer if that helps.

 

I second the opinion that you should try to prevent your dad spends the money for the cheap
Acer laptop. You can certainly find a better deal for the money or slightly more. I will not suggest something specific because I am not from US.

You also should try to understand better what your dad's needs are in terms of the screen quality, the keyboard quality (he might hate Acer's quality), screen resolution, brightness. This is what he will have to deal with everyday for years to come.
The processor power etc is really a secondary issue for him.

Special offers from Dell outlet shop can give you much better offers in terms of money and quality than Acer.

 

I agree, it's not that I think you should spend significantly more on a better laptop, it's just that you can find better deals. But, if you insist on the Compaq then I guess it doesn't really matter. It's not a terrible laptop. Anyways, this seems like a decent, cheap solution for surround sound on a laptop. As for the speakers, you could get a Logitech G51 for some affordable 5.1 surround sound. If you want really good sound though, you could get a pair of Polk Monitor 30's or better.

 

dbl post?!?

 

Laptop audio in terms of the circuitry involved is invariably 'meh' and you're really only going to get truly passable sound in 17" + systems where there's room for half (and the emphasis is on half) decent speakers. Outboard will be key if truly decent quality is desired.

But before we get to that, the guys above are right: Personally, my experience is that the more unsophisticated the user, the more performance you should throw at the problem. And also, I would recommend a change of OS - especially for a musician.

Take my mother for example. Didn't know one end of a mouse from another but expected things to magically work while having no real idea what was going on, had a tendency to click about, ooh, a thousand times on an icon if it doesn't launch immediately, but gets confused when it doesn't behave as expected and is too proud to ask for help in a direct fashion, but will ask in the 'it's done something strange' aspect.

Sound familiar?

Your resources will undoubtedly be slightly different to what I can afford to throw at it for the parent, but the likelihood is high that the best computer for you to buy and leave him to his devices is a Mac. And I say this as a primary Windows user, an OS which I consider superior for the likes of me who actually has a clue (and not as one of those immensely irritating rabid Mac Fanbois)... but very likely not for the likes of your dad, or indeed my mum. I also consider all Mac hardware below my baseline for what I do in terms of reliability and build quality, but I can't at the same time say I have any particular qualms for recommending it to a firmly domestic user.

I refuse point blank to support any members of my family with tech problems, including my remaining parent. And a Mac is a machine with which I can effectively leave her to her own devices without constant support requests to me, and the resulting familial conflict.

A Macbook would be a good choice - especially if he lives near an Apple Store. I've test attended the training sessions they run at different stores pretending to be an idiot and they really do a generally excellent job of taking you through the true basics, and all for one annual price - through the One To One service. It's a self-paced complete course for getting up and running which no-one else offers so accessibly through the retail channel. At the more major stores they also offer media software courses and Q&A.

My mother actually likes going to the Stores to go to computer courses in effect, and that is hitherto completely unheard of. Since switching, for the first time in around the 15 years that she's been attempting to use computers, she finally has a vague idea what she's doing - and as a result has started to autonomously look for solutions to problems, rather than relying on a very limited, non-evolving skillset. The problem for many older or old-headed people is that they seem to cling onto old tech because they cannot get their heads around newer tech by themselves.

I'd say do your dad a favour - switch him.

 

There nothing wrong with Acer. I have the Acer 5315-2713 cost $399 may not be the best but, for a entry into mobile world it is not bad.

I up the memory from 1GB to 2 and the 120GB hd to 500. Memory upgrade was free Tigerdirect had a sell got it when I brought the laptop. The hd cost $99 and was a great improvement over the hd that was in it.

The only down side is battery life is 2 hours.

 

There is nothing wrong with Acer, you just get what you pay for. Don't expect that laptop to last more than a year or so.

 

My parents have a 3 year old acer that still works fine. but overall you are right

 

Most laptops last for 5 years tops. This is what a friend told me she had a dell and her hard drive controller died in her Dell like 3-4 years after she got it. She got a new Dell XPS laptop.

I know nothing about laptops so I am using this one to learn. I will get a better one down the road.

So far I am happy.