Topic: renting a laptop for 24/48 test... good idea?

[kevin p]

I was going to rent a laptop to do a couple shows next week and try out 24/48 from the MMe usb. Rent-A-Center leases them out for $45 a week. And claims the battery gets a 3 hour charge. This is what I'm most worried about, I only need 2 hours of power per show, and was curious if a single battery on a dell will do that for me. Is it worth it you think? Or will I not get the amount of run time I need using a rent-a-center laptop?

[hzgone]

if it's a full size laptop i don't think you will get the run time.  I know my full size toshiba will not do 3 hours.  I could be wrong about this.  Does anyone in your area run a laptop rig or do you know someone that will lend one out to you.  +T for wanting to check out the laptop.

[Phil]

I wouldn't trust the internal battery.  Keep any eye on it and cut the recording short if you have to.  Laptop batteries need to be calibrated and taken care of to get their max life, even then they can't hold their charge over time.  It should give you a good idea of how laptop recordings work, but if your going to try and get the whole show, you'll need more/another battery solution.   Also, remember it takes a long time to save a 24/48 file.

[creekfreak]

depends on the processor, the crusoe and centrino laptops get way better battery performance than say a Pentium 4 would. The centrino laptops get great battery life. I got close to 2 hours anf 45 minutes when testing my mine doing 24/96 recording. Some of the trick is proper power management. When you have it open, run the LCD brightness as low as it can go and keep the laptop closed as much as possible since its the LCD that drains the most power. 2.75 hours was what I got with the laptop closed only checking things a few times. Also take the DVD or cd drive out, that also draws power, even when not being used.

I figured witih my 2nd modular bay battery I can get close to 5.5 hours with the 2 internal laptop bats. More than enough for a show. Also need to take good care of your battery. When running AC power, keep it out of the laptop, and inbetween uses, keep it about 1/2 charged and store it somewhere cool.