Topic: Mini Laptops

[airbladder]

Just looking into a laptop that would be good in the field.  Sony and toshiba both make a little guy.  Any other minis out there worth looking at?  Pros/cons of the sony or toshiba?  The toshiba is smaller that may be good for the filed but suck for at home.  The internal battery in the sony looks like it would work for a normal show, don't know if the toshiba would.  Seems stupid to have such a small computer and need a big ass enternal battery to run the thing.  Any info would be great?
Ed

[nic]

fujitsu makes some good units as well.
the lifebook p1120 is verrry small transmeta 800 w/ 256ram and 30gb hd. starts around $1200
pair it up with a usb based interface, you can record up to 24/48.
for firewire, you would need to add a pcmcia firewire card.
dont know how long the extended battery runs it, but our salespeople use these units all day long on the standard battery, then again, they arent working the machine the way audio recording would.

[Dr.FOB]

I love the Vaio U3
The 'big' battery lasts for an hour.  I use a 6.8Ah lithium pack with a Targus converter for >4hrs record time.
I only run 24/48 with the VX440 pocket.... but if I want 24/96 I'll use the HP and the Traveller

[chase]

http://www.dynamism.com/index.shtml

they import the uber mini laptops that aren't available here in the US.  looks expensive but very cool.

[johnw]

What about the OQO?

http://www.oqo.com/

[hzgone]

i think the fujitsu's have the best battery for their laptops.  I can easily run 6-7hours with my fujitsu.  It's about 2 more hours more than my sony picturebook

[jmerin]

i think the fujitsu's have the best battery for their laptops.  I can easily run 6-7hours with my fujitsu.  It's about 2 more hours more than my sony picturebook

i agree, i can run 6-7.  plus i have another set, so that give me 14.

jon

[kindms]

IMHO I would not go lappy. Unless you have another reason to own a laptop. If it is just for taping i would hold off and see how the new M-Audio fast traker thing plays out or even consider a SD 722.

A brand new mini laptop is gonna cost the same amount or close to the cost of the SD 722 the MSRP of the M-Audio just got posted at roughly $399.00. i have used a laptop for field recording for almost 3 years now and since day 1 I wished that my footprint was smaller and that i didnt have to deal with OS issues and etc. Just much easier to setup and press record.

Now having said this 2/3 years ago there were not many other ways to do 24Bit recording without the use of a laptop but now I would take the wait and see approach.

I run a full sized laptop however so keep that in mind. basically a desktop replacement that i can run in the field

[tim in jersey]

What about the OQO?

http://www.oqo.com/

Neat toy. I've seen one in person. But, the lack of a PCMCIA slot will limit your choices as far as soundcards are concerned.

[johnw]

I was thinking more along the lines of firewire or usb input since it has both. Either the MiniMe, UA5, or 410 would work with this I think.  Best bet would probably be the 410 if you wanted 24/96, but eh UA5 might work.

[rustoleum]

Sony C1VNs with all the accessories can be had on ebay for 500 - 600 dollars... probably cheaper if you look really hard.  I've been running one for close to two years.  It needs to have it's own OS to be tweaked for recording, so if you're not comfortable shutting off services you should go for a newer lappy, but if you know your way around the OS you'll be using it's a great deal and will work great.

[BC]

IMHO I would not go lappy. Unless you have another reason to own a laptop. If it is just for taping i would hold off and see how the new M-Audio fast traker thing plays out or even consider a SD 722.

I agree. Unless mulltitrack field recording capability is needed I would not jump into taping with a laptop at this point in time.