Music recording help

I finally bought a nice laptop for the price. 899 after MIR at Best Buy and the stats are below:

• AMD 64 3200+ 2.0Ghz
• 512 MB DDR PC2700 Expandable up to 2GB
• 80GB (4200 RPM)
• Dual Layer, Multi-Format DVD Writer
• 15.4” Brightview (glossy) Screen
• 6-in-1 Card Reader
• ATI Radeon 200m- 128MB Dedicated memory
• Lithium Ion battery
• 1.9” Thick
• 7.9 Pounds

I would like to record my own music on this baby but i know a Desktop would be the better option for this. Is there like a PCI card for a laptop I can buy so i can hook up my guitar and lay down some tracks? If so how much do you think it would be. I am having some trouble finding out about this info. As you can tell by my SN, I play mostly DMB and have urges of spreading the music around the net. Would this Lappy be capable and would it be a good idea to get a PCI card for a lappy? or would it be better just to get a unit for my desktop (BTW I travel alot with my guitar)

Oh BTW does anyone know if that graphics card is dedicated or intergrated. I checked at Best Buy and they said its dedicated but the specs on the website at Bestbuy.com state that its intergrated. Thanks

 

You can get a USB or PCMCIA sound card that should allow you to record your music. As for your video card, it is a dedicated memory card. The 6-in-1 card reader only comes with the dedicated memory video card.

Russ

HP ZV5000z
Athlon 64 3000+
768mb RAM
60gb 4200rpm HD
nVidia G0 440 64mb
DVD-RW/CD-RW
1394, 5-in-1 card reader
15.4" wide screen
802.11 b/g w/Speedbooster

 

You could get a Line 6 Guitar Port for $100. That, from what I've heard, allows you to record your guitar playing, it also acts as an amp, so you can turn your computer speakers into your amplifier speakers.

It sounds pretty cool, but I haven't used one. It looks simple enough.

By the way, aside from using expensive equipment, what is a good way of recording stuff? I have tried using a microphone. It worked, but it wasn't the best quality.

 

If you have an acoustic/electric or electric guitar, use the converter from the big end to the smaller headphone jack size and plug it in the mic jack and use a nice music editing software such as Sony Acid or Adobe Audition. I do that for very basic stuff. It works better than using a mic but not as good as a specfic card. I also found some USB devices where you can hook up an external device to get studio sounding clips. Its pretty cool.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the tips. I wouldn't have to worry about overloading my audio card at all, would I?

I'll test that out when I get home. I think I have the right adapter. Audacity should be able to do the job, and if not I may buy some software, depending on the quality.