Buying a new laptop

Im getting a new laptop but i want to keep my music setup exactly the same if possible. Is windows XP 32 bit fine on all new laptops?

It's fine insofar as it should run no problem, but don't bother getting more than 4 gigs of ram for any system if you're going to run a 32 bit OS as it can only see up to 4 gigs of ram (actually it subtracts however much memory is on the video card and THAT is limited to what your system can use with a 32 bit OS).

You may want to bite the bullet at some point and transition to using a 64 bit OS for this reason and because many music app makers either don't support XP anymore or will not be supporting it any longer in the very near future.

No that's cool about the RAM, i was aware. I'm sticking with cubase sx 3 for the time being so no issues there. Thanks for the help.

On the video card thing, im not sure i fully understand you. You are saying that the memory that comes with the video card cuts into the 4GB of RAM that can be seen by the OS?

Check drivers first... some laptops dont even have 32bit driver support. Ran into a few Sony's at work with this issue.

Why would you want to keep XP? Windows 7 is a perfectly fine operating system and I imagine at this point much better than XP unless you have some extremely specific desires that only XP can satisfy. I bet you will also run into lots of weird issues running an old 32bit OS on all this new hardware that is designed for 64bit not to mention the software compatibility issues.

Also, get an ASUS laptop they are the best windows laptops. I have two. One I have had for 6 years or so now and it runs like the first day I got it. I did have to replace the hard drive at one point, but most hard drives are pieces of crap anyway. It was likely caused from me moving it improperly when it was turned on too often. The other one is about 2 years old and I've never had any issues with it. If you are trying not to spend a lot of money then get a small solid state (128gb) and a large (500gb) 5000-7500RPM for storing all your data. You can make a $500 laptop run like a $1000 by simply using an SSD.

If you need a lot of GPU power you are going to have to spend more money. A lot of the lower priced laptops ($350-700) don't have much in the GPU department but they can get by. I've seen people run Starcraft II on a <$500 dollar Toshiba.

You don't really need more than 4gb of RAM anyway unless you are using crazy amounts of tracks in a DAW, running tons of software simultaneously, or playing Crysis or Skyrim on Ultra High.

What he is saying is that the software/hardware is probably capable of using a system total of 4gb of memory which would mean any memory that your card is using will subtract from the total memory the rest of your machine can utilize.

You should be able to use most old software with the new OS so the only real reason to keep XP would be for outdated hardware that you want to continue to use.

im using cubase sx 3 on windows xp 32 bit. The main thing i am concerned about is software not working if i switch from that setup. VST's in particular. I cant afford not being able to have old songs working as usual. I need everything im using now to work on my new setup, that's basically the issue.

You're stuck in the past Rambo. It's time to move on. The world has changed.

My advice would be to finish your tracks and then step into the future. Even if you have to subtract the Cubase upgrade from your total cost for a laptop.

what about this "xp mode" thing on windows 7?

  On 1/3/2013 at 5:42 PM, Rambo said:

what about this "xp mode" thing on windows 7?

that runs apps in emulation, won't be good for latencies.

  On 1/3/2013 at 6:02 PM, oscillik said:

  On 1/3/2013 at 5:42 PM, Rambo said:

what about this "xp mode" thing on windows 7?

that runs apps in emulation, won't be good for latencies.

 

Yeah i'd have been shocked if that would have worked. Getting desperate now. lol

  On 1/3/2013 at 12:05 AM, AdieuErsatzEnnui said:

Why would you want to keep XP? Windows 7 is a perfectly fine operating system and I imagine at this point much better than XP unless you have some extremely specific desires that only XP can satisfy. I bet you will also run into lots of weird issues running an old 32bit OS on all this new hardware that is designed for 64bit not to mention the software compatibility issues.

 

Also, get an ASUS laptop they are the best windows laptops. I have two. One I have had for 6 years or so now and it runs like the first day I got it. I did have to replace the hard drive at one point, but most hard drives are pieces of crap anyway. It was likely caused from me moving it improperly when it was turned on too often. The other one is about 2 years old and I've never had any issues with it. If you are trying not to spend a lot of money then get a small solid state (128gb) and a large (500gb) 5000-7500RPM for storing all your data. You can make a $500 laptop run like a $1000 by simply using an SSD.

 

If you need a lot of GPU power you are going to have to spend more money. A lot of the lower priced laptops ($350-700) don't have much in the GPU department but they can get by. I've seen people run Starcraft II on a

 

You don't really need more than 4gb of RAM anyway unless you are using crazy amounts of tracks in a DAW, running tons of software simultaneously, or playing Crysis or Skyrim on Ultra High.

 

What he is saying is that the software/hardware is probably capable of using a system total of 4gb of memory which would mean any memory that your card is using will subtract from the total memory the rest of your machine can utilize.

 

You should be able to use most old software with the new OS so the only real reason to keep XP would be for outdated hardware that you want to continue to use.

Actually, what he meant regarding the RAM is most laptops have on-board video, so it uses the system RAM as video RAM - the more VRAM you consume, the lower overall amount of system RAM (OS, applications) you'll have. Laptops that have a dedicated video card (and it's own VRAM) are usually 1000+, so probably not what you're looking for.

If you go Windows 7/64-bit, then you can add as much RAM as the hardware will take, and that will mitigate the VRAM eating into the system RAM issue a bit.

Why don't you just make stems of all your old tracks now, and then you can move them around at will.

OR, just keep your old machine around to make new stems if need be.

i also think it's not worth sticking with XP and 32bit. i'm sure all your old shit work work fine anyway, don't even worry about it, just make the switch.

  On 1/3/2013 at 3:23 AM, Rambo said:

im using cubase sx 3 on windows xp 32 bit. The main thing i am concerned about is software not working if i switch from that setup. VST's in particular. I cant afford not being able to have old songs working as usual. I need everything im using now to work on my new setup, that's basically the issue.

i was in the exact same situation 2 or 3 years ago. I was running XP 32 bit with cubase sx3 on a laptop from work which was leased, when the lease ran out the laptop had to go back and I got a new one (windows 7 32 bit). I also took the opportunity to upgrade to cubase 5. Everything worked fine as far as the VSTs. I still have not made the jump to 64 bit. At this point I still have not run into any memory issues, I had a project that had 15 instances of FM8 and it was fine.

I had a few tracks I had composed in sx3 but to be honest since I had already made them, wasn't too concerned about going back. But I did save the stems and projects, but probably wont ever use them again. There are still lots of VSTs that are not 64 bit compatible, especially if you are using older obscure ones, if you upgrade to 64 bit you might find they dont work anymore. So my suggestion would be to stay 32 bit for the time being, if keeping things working is your priority.

Also might want to consider upgrading cubase to at least version 5. I can tell you from experience that it is a big improvement over sx3, not just in terms of useability, but in terms of weird glitches and crash issues that can cause you to lose work.

also ive trimmed down windows 7 so it barely runs anything except what I need it to do, so when you look in task manager there usually less than 30 processes. Cause if you just use it out of the box it's super bloated and uses all this crap you dont need.

Been experimenting on a laptop that is running win 7 64 before i go and buy anything. Looks good so far actually. Thanks for your thoughts, chaps.

  On 1/5/2013 at 6:20 PM, CharlesWatkins said:

also ive trimmed down windows 7 so it barely runs anything except what I need it to do, so when you look in task manager there usually less than 30 processes. Cause if you just use it out of the box it's super bloated and uses all this crap you dont need.

Oh nice, do you have a special installer? I'd like to read more into doing that.

try those things..

http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/mac-pc-optimization/

http://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/

and a helpful latency checker

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Bookmarked, thanks for that.

  On 1/6/2013 at 2:32 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

  On 1/5/2013 at 6:20 PM, CharlesWatkins said:

also ive trimmed down windows 7 so it barely runs anything except what I need it to do, so when you look in task manager there usually less than 30 processes. Cause if you just use it out of the box it's super bloated and uses all this crap you dont need.

Oh nice, do you have a special installer? I'd like to read more into doing that.

no i just go into the services panel and disable all the unneeded services. here is the script i use, but chances are some of these services dont exist on your computer, also if you run this it might disble something you use that i dont.

sc stop SensrSvc

sc stop aelookupsvc

sc stop ATService

sc stop btwdins

sc stop CertPropSvc

sc stop KeyIso

sc stop SMManager

sc stop wlansvc

sc stop eaphost

sc stop keyiso

sc stop buttonsvc32

sc stop dcpsysmgrsvc

sc stop UxSms

sc stop WinHttpAutoProxySvc

sc stop Dhcp

sc stop DPS

sc stop TrkWks

sc stop wltrysvc

sc stop DWP_Proxy_Service

sc stop InoRT

sc stop InoTask

sc stop InoRPC

sc stop IKEEXT

sc stop IAANTMON

sc stop iphlpsvc

sc stop iGateway

sc stop "Net Driver HPZ12"

sc stop CscService

sc stop "Pml Driver HPZ12"

sc stop spooler

sc stop RasMan

sc stop SessionEnv

sc stop UmRdpService

sc stop termservice

sc stop SstpSvc

sc stop wscsvc

sc stop SysMain

sc stop lmhosts

sc stop TdmService

sc stop Winmgmt

sc stop W32Time

sc stop FontCache

pause

also i dont actually disable the services but just stop them, in case my boss needs my laptop or its needed at work for something, i can just reboot it and it's back the way it needs to be.

additionally there might be some leftover processes after stopping the services so i also have this script that runs after the services script

taskkill /f /im "apmsgfwd.exe"
taskkill /f /im "ApntEx.exe"
taskkill /f /im "Apoint.exe"
taskkill /f /im "BcmDeviceAndTaskStatusService.exe"
taskkill /f /im "BTTray.exe"
taskkill /f /im "DCPSysMgr.exe"
taskkill /f /im "Dell.ControlPoint.exe"
taskkill /f /im "Dell.UCM.exe"
taskkill /f /im "DTLite.exe"
taskkill /f /im "hidfind.exe"
taskkill /f /im "igfxext.exe"
taskkill /f /im "igfxpers.exe"
taskkill /f /im "igfxsvc.exe"
taskkill /f /im "jusched.exe"
taskkill /f /im "realmon.exe"
taskkill /f /im "tdmnotify.exe"
taskkill /f /im "wavxdocmgr.exe"
taskkill /f /im "wltray.exe"
taskkill /f /im "wmiprvse.exe"
taskkill /f /im "wudfhost.exe"
taskkill /f /im "wzqkpick.exe"
pause

  On 1/3/2013 at 7:32 PM, Joyrex said:

  On 1/3/2013 at 12:05 AM, AdieuErsatzEnnui said:

 

Actually, what he meant regarding the RAM is most laptops have on-board video, so it uses the system RAM as video RAM - the more VRAM you consume, the lower overall amount of system RAM (OS, applications) you'll have. Laptops that have a dedicated video card (and it's own VRAM) are usually 1000+, so probably not what you're looking for.

I'll have you know, i'm extremely wealthy, JR. Im pretty sure i've decided im getting a laptop that happens to have a dedicated video card. Its an AMD Radeon HD 7730 with 2GB RAM.

So basically my set up is going to be:

win 7 64bit

Cubase 5 32bit

I'll have 6GB RAM (assuming my 32bit cubase wont be able to utilise all of that?)

Does anyone have any comments on why i might not want this particular setup? Please speak now (or you know, anytime in the next 24 hours or so) or forever hold your peace.