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[George Dougherty]

Honestly I've used Win 7 with and without Aero and noticed zero difference in performance even under heavy load. YMMV, of course.

Probably depends on the system as the majority of the aero interface is offloaded to the GPU where possible. The CPU is still involved, but the workload may or may not be effectively offloaded.  It's probably something to try and see what happens. I typically use a tool called dpc latency checker to see what kind of background load is on the system and watch for any periodic problems. It would be a good test to see just how much of a non-issue it really is.

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

Probably depends on the system as the majority of the aero interface is offloaded to the GPU where possible. The CPU is still involved, but the workload may or may not be effectively offloaded.  It's probably something to try and see what happens. I typically use a tool called dpc latency checker to see what kind of background load is on the system and watch for any periodic problems. It would be a good test to see just how much of a non-issue it really is.

I use dpcdat as well.  Pretty good tool for free.

[Jason Lucas]

I remember at my last job I ran without aero for a little while and it was actually distracting because of how the various tools we used showed up with the "classic" UI. Aero actually made it more user-friendly. And those machines weren't nearly the monster that my home PC is.

But, like I said, YMMV. You may see an improvement depending on your application.

[George Dougherty]

I use dpcdat as well.  Pretty good tool for free.

In the sac community, its indispensable if you're going the DIY route over buying turnkey.  Windows was not built with barebones real time performance in mind for the default user.  DAW's can sometimes get buy with just upping the buffer size, especially when doing just mixing. It's a whole different story when you have to set it up for trouble free performance during a live event.

[chris harwood]

Not for nothing, but your attitude is kind of silly. You're looking for a cheapo laptop and a low-end interface, but don't want to buy anything that's "out of date"? The things you're looking for are already out of date.

Take a look on ebay for standalone 24-track recorders (the rackmount ones, not the workstations). They'll likely work better than a cheapo laptop and they'll definitely have better resale value.

Firewire is going the way of the dodo and it's never been very reliable on a PC.

-Dan.

  Yeah right....  There's no resale in a HD recorder like a Tascam, etc.  A cheap laptop wouldn't need resale in mind either..  imo, that sounds kind of silly.

[Dan Costello]

  Yeah right....  There's no resale in a HD recorder like a Tascam, etc.

Compared to what they originally went for new, no, the resale isn't great.

But you wouldn't be buying it new; you'd be buying it used. Buy it for $500-700 now and when you don't need it in a couple years, turn around and re-sell it for most of what you paid for it.

Your biggest issues with the standalone recorder would be size/weight and transfer speeds. I'd suggest finding a unit that'll allow you to transfer files via ethernet.

A cheap laptop wouldn't need resale in mind either..  imo, that sounds kind of silly.

Not only would your cheap laptop not be worth much of anything in a couple years, it may only be barely adequate the day you bought it AND you'd run the risk of going through all the typical computer-audio headaches.

-Dan.

[chris harwood]

I have a PII computer at home and easily record 10 inputs at once.  Not sure why a 5 year newer laptop with an i3 would struggle just for recording tracks.  Plus I can use the laptop for other things.  The Tascam HD has one use and a $500 unit is more than what I could spend on an inexpensive laptop.  I'm experienced enough to know I don't need a blazing i7 with 16 gigs of RAM and a SSD operating drive and a 10,000 audio drive, hooked to a Lynx, RME or the like type of interface, JUST for recording tracks to be later transferred.
Any rate... Thx for the suggestions. 

[Kent Thompson]

You didn't say what type of connectivity you have. Do you have firewire available? If you do Presonus has a pretty decent offering. The FireSudio Project in the 300-400 range with 8 channels. If USB they only make 4 channel AudioBox 44VSL in the $300 range or the 18 channel AudioBox 1818VSL it being in the $500 range however it requires usb2.0.

[Jonathan Johnson]

Firewire is going the way of the dodo and it's never been very reliable on a PC.

My understanding is that the royalties for implementing Firewire are much higher than for USB. That's a natural reason for Firewire (an interface superior to USB) to fall out of favor, just like Betamax vs. VHS.

Are there any audio I/O devices out there yet using USB 3.0?

[Jason Lucas]

There's always Thunderbolt.

[ProSoundWeb Community]