Topic: Help needed: Optimizing my new lappy for recording/XP install

[Swampy]

Hey all, so I got a new laptop, a Gateway w/ 2ghz processor, 1gig DDR ram, and a 100 gig HD. It came with Windows XP Media Center, and I'd like to put Pro on instead, seems like Media Center is a ton of useless crap... Anyhoo, I need help with the Windows install. Am I correct in thinking that a small partition to install Windows on will help it run better? Ex: I'm doing a 16 channel live recording next week and I want this thing to be running the best that it possibly can. If anyone can help that would be great! Also if anyone has any other tips to get it to run the best that it can that would be great. I'm a little nervous taking out a new computer on such short time before the show. THANKS!



A little back story if you care, the band is the Outlaw Family Band from Chicago, Jay Bennett recorded their last studio album! They are playing at the club I do sound at and I have been in the studio with the band that is opening for them. The openers are good friends with them. I was gonna record the openers to get a few tracks for the album possibly, and said hell, we might as well do the Family Band as well! So its not like I'm getting paid to do the Family Band, but I think it would be a really cool thing to pull it off...

[RebelRebel]

this site has some good tips.

www.musicxp.net

[Swampy]

Sweet. Thanks. Also while Im thinking of it, can you set up XP pro for widescreen displays? It looks a little funky...

[RebelRebel]

Yessir, should be able to in the Control Panel/Display window.

[Swampy]

Ya, I looked in there, can not find it

[CHURCH-AUDIO]

I would use XP HOME not media center and never use XP pro to many networking features slow that op system down Home is faster but if you really want to record on a laptop DO not USE a PC buy a MAC

Hey all, so I got a new laptop, a Gateway w/ 2ghz processor, 1gig DDR ram, and a 100 gig HD. It came with Windows XP Media Center, and I'd like to put Pro on instead, seems like Media Center is a ton of useless crap... Anyhoo, I need help with the Windows install. Am I correct in thinking that a small partition to install Windows on will help it run better? Ex: I'm doing a 16 channel live recording next week and I want this thing to be running the best that it possibly can. If anyone can help that would be great! Also if anyone has any other tips to get it to run the best that it can that would be great. I'm a little nervous taking out a new computer on such short time before the show. THANKS!



A little back story if you care, the band is the Outlaw Family Band from Chicago, Jay Bennett recorded their last studio album! They are playing at the club I do sound at and I have been in the studio with the band that is opening for them. The openers are good friends with them. I was gonna record the openers to get a few tracks for the album possibly, and said hell, we might as well do the Family Band as well! So its not like I'm getting paid to do the Family Band, but I think it would be a really cool thing to pull it off...

[Swampy]

Well Media Center and Pro are my only choices... The studio I worked at used macs, and even after a year I never liked working on them... Would never buy one for myself. Plus, It would be hard to find a lappy with these specs for as cheap as I got it...

[CHURCH-AUDIO]

True enough they are much more expsensive you should check out digigram as a sound card interface balanced inputs and outputs all on pcmcia card! You would still need a real preamp though as its line level balanced inputs via XLR I would use pro over 2000 it is much faster then 2000 hell windows 98 is faster then 2000

Well Media Center and Pro are my only choices... The studio I worked at used macs, and even after a year I never liked working on them... Would never buy one for myself. Plus, It would be hard to find a lappy with these specs for as cheap as I got it...

[AdamZ]

Just google for winxp audio tweaks, there's lots of stuff running in XPPro that you just have to go through and disable. The laptop will be humming fast and singletasking when you're done.
One last thing I always do now is leave the screen ON always and make the background black and get rid of all desktop icons.
Z

[hzgone]

Ya, I looked in there, can not find it

It will be in the control panel you just have to adjust the screen size up probably as high as it will go.  There are certain resolutions that work best for certain laptops.  All the small sony's we have at work are like 1280x1366 or some weird setting and they all have a wide screen

[THE NIZ BIAAAAACH!]

There is a full optimization in the archives for XP