need help setting up laptop

[jnorman34]

i have an IBM T40 - it is a 1.5Ghz Centrino.  however, it currently only has 128mb ram, and i think the HDD is only 4800rpm.  this machine does not have a firewire connection, but does have USB2.  i do not know what kind of sound card it has - whatever came stock in it. 

so, what do i need to do to use this to record maybe 4 tracks at a time? 

1.  is the T40 adequate for audio work?  is the internal sound card good enough?
2.  how much ram do i need?
3.  can i use the internal HDD, or do i really need an outboard HDD?
4.  what software do you recommend?  what software should i avoid?
5.  what kind of interface do you recommend? 
6.  what else do i need, or need to know?

thanks.

[nic]

the laptop should have a pccard slot, if so, you can get a firewire card or a native pccard interface like some of the RME or Digigram units.

DEFINATELY bump up the ram! if you are using Win2000, I wouldnt run less than 256, and if XP, 512 minimum. I've successfully recorded 16+ channels at 16/44 onto a internal 4800rpm drive, but you are better off using a faster drive.

[Scooter]

i have an IBM T40 - it is a 1.5Ghz Centrino.  however, it currently only has 128mb ram, and i think the HDD is only 4800rpm.  this machine does not have a firewire connection, but does have USB2.  i do not know what kind of sound card it has - whatever came stock in it. 

so, what do i need to do to use this to record maybe 4 tracks at a time? 

1.  is the T40 adequate for audio work?  is the internal sound card good enough?
2.  how much ram do i need?
3.  can i use the internal HDD, or do i really need an outboard HDD?
4.  what software do you recommend?  what software should i avoid?
5.  what kind of interface do you recommend? 
6.  what else do i need, or need to know?

thanks.

1. yes (adequate).  prolly not (internal soundcard).
2. i have a older laptop (600Mhz) w/ 320mb ram and XP and it records 4 trks @ 24/48 great.  but as stated above, 512 is a good minimum number to use.
3. I use my internal, works great.  i'd get a 5400 RPM drive though.  I personally don't see any folks that run laptops using external drives.
4. Wavelab or Soundforge(2trk), Cubase or Vegas (multitrack).  CDWave is free, it'll do 2trk.
5. Firewire or PCMCIA.  USB has some reliability issues at higher bit/sample rates for some folks.  M-Audio makes some nice firewire stuff, Digi-Gram has a nice 4trk PCMCIA interface.
6. Get a good battery system.  Valence n-charge, or a home-brew system from batterspace.com.

good luck