Looking for NP8662 audio via fireware (DAW) expriences (+HDD recs).

Hi,

I'm pretty close to picking the NP8662 (Clevo M860TU) as my next laptop. I have one remaining concern, which is the Firewire interface which, as I understand it, is based on the JMicron chipset. I've read in various forums that this chipset does not perfrom very well with external audio cards via the firewire interface (ie, the M-Audio ProFire 610 which I have).

Does anyone out there have some real world experience using this laptop to run a firewire based audio card?

Extra Q: which HDD should I pick? The 320GB 7200.4 Momentus or the WD Scorpio Black? I want maximum speed with minimum heat (and is it true that the 500 gig drives, although faster, are a lot hotter?).

Regards,
Casper

 

if you do not like the JMicron chipset... a number of people have just gotten a ExpressCard with TI chipset firewire... very inexpensive.

 

As Gophn says something like the Lacie Firewire 800 ExpressCard 34 will be fine. The 860TU has an Expresscard slot that is compatible with 54/34 modules. It won't be quite as good as having native TI Firewire on board but will improve things. There is quite a lot of negative feedback regarding non TI Firewire controllers but in the real world it's hard to measure the difference. Though some manufacturers do recommend TI controllers (I think Digidesign do for example, not sure about M-Audio) it originally came about because the cheaper controllers like JMicron simply weren't as good to start with, but they have improved over the last couple of years.

Just on a slight side note, the Expresscard runs of the same chip as the on board Firewire so you won't gain the same advantage as using a PCI Firewire card in a desktop. Luckily my Delta 1010 is PCI 25 pin connected but I still sometimes direct monitor when recording as that cuts out all latency so that's a very easy fix if latency is/becomes an issue.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I was aware of the option of using an external FW card and also that this would still sit on top of the JMicron chipset. How annoying; I really like the 860TU (specs anyhow). Neil, as a DAW user, would you recommend choosing and different laptop which does have the TI chipset? And of so, which of the high end 15" laptops have it?

 

I have two M-Audio external sounds cards...
- FW1814
- Transit

used them both on my notebook and others... no huge issue with different firewire chipsets with the FW1814.

and the Transit is USB and pretty good for an inexpensive pro audio card.

 

Thanks... thats comforting to know (although doesn't the D900 have a TI chipset?)

 

It does.

But I was talking about using those M-Audio cards on my friends' systems as well... that do not have TI chipsets

 

How would the X-Fi Titanium Champion perform as an external audio card compared to the other audio pro tools mentioned in this thread?
I could connect it to my laptop through a PCIe to Express card adapter.

EDIT: I am interested only for playback