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[Steve Hurt]

I think "phasing out firewire" is a bit of a stretch.
Yes, lower-end laptops are probably dropping this.

Consider getting a Mac mini (firewire+thunderbolt) if low cost is your driving force. Of course, you'll have to drag a monitor+kbd along.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

With USB 2.0 on everything and USB 3.0 due out soon for the masses, firewire will be gone from most new reasonably priced laptops soon.
The OP can probably still find one in his price range (1/2 the price of a basic mac), but the number of reasonably priced machines that have it, is dwindling fast.
Mac doesn't sell a laptop anywhere near the OP's $450 range.

[Loren Aguey]

I see what you guys are saying.  Yea, I haven't seen anything in my price range with any ports I need.  It seems like I may need to use my desktop for a while and buy a more expensive lap top.  I have a 3 1/2 year old acer 1.7GHz dual core (kind of a low end lap top) and I've mixed 40+ tracks on there with no problem...I was hoping to get another $450 laptop like that with the ports I need.

I hear 'ya man I'm in the same boat. I have a 3+ year old Dell Inspiron laptop that surprisingly still runs like goddamn gangbusters. I use the 4-pin firewire slot to multi-track live stuff from time to time and performs without a hitch and the cpu doesn't break a sweat. But if I ever want to get a new laptop I need to consider them working with my firewire interfaces. Firewire, at least on a cheap pc laptops, seems to be going the way of the dinosaur. I think the main reason they put them there was for when a lot of video camera's used 4 pin firewire, which you don't see too much any more.

I'm not really into getting a mac, but its seems like its either that or spend over a grand on a pc laptop which I'm not too keen on. My experience with firewire cards on laptops have been bad, as in totally unusable even when using the recommended chipset for the hardware. So that's not really an option for me either.

I was also hoping to get a tablet pc and that's something I'm willing to spend a bit more on but none of them have firewire that I could find. I'll have to make that decision sooner or later though.

[Jeremy Johnston]

Have you considered a cheaper tablet or laptop remotes into a heavy lifting computer that stays put?

That seems to be more and more common for many applications. There are several remote apps for iPad that might be useful for you.

Also there are some older windows tablets at can get a longer lifetime by using them as remote controls instead of for their computing power.

Just a thought.

Jeremy 

[Justice C. Bigler]

[13" Mac PRo] does have FireWire and a SDXC card slot.

Firewire 800 yes, but how is an SDXC slot going to help him connect a Digi 003R?

FWIW, I spent about $1,600 on my new Vaio, and about the same on my previous Compaq about 6 years ago. Low end laptops, of any make, model, or operating system aren't going to cut it for what we use them for.

[Loren Aguey]

[13" Mac PRo] does have FireWire and a SDXC card slot.

Firewire 800 yes, but how is an SDXC slot going to help him connect a Digi 003R?

What do you mean? He can connect via firewire. Am I missing something is there another reason he would need SDXC?

FWIW, I spent about $1,600 on my new Vaio, and about the same on my previous Compaq about 6 years ago. Low end laptops, of any make, model, or operating system aren't going to cut it for what we use them for.

I somewhat agree but what is it about what we do that requires an ass load of processing from a laptop? Perhaps you're just referring to general reliability and buying better made products and that's the part I agree with. But I have had great luck with a cheap Dell as I mentioned earlier and its been rock solid for a few years now. Usually its synced up to SM, recording a L/R feed, and playing break/walk-in tunes. If the recording part was mission critical I might consider using a dedicated laptop for that but usually its a backup of a backup or me just doing it for bands.

One could retort with, "well its rock solid until it fails on you mid gig". But you could say that about anything really. Perhaps mine is the exception and not the rule but my opinion is that computers, of any price range, are finicky. I've seen Mac book pro's fail too and they're generally considered the example of gig worthy reliability. (Absolutely NOT trying to start a Mac vs PC debate, MBP's are VERY nice machines, and much nicer hardware than my $700 Dell)

Unless one is using a SAC rig then I can't see a failing laptop being a show stopper. It would certainly suck if someone had to put the FOH console backstage and was tablet mixing the tablet failed or something along those lines. And it could stall setup process if someone tuning a rig with smaart had a laptop fail, or a dolby lake processor tablet...yada yada yada.

I'm sure somebody can come up with a situation where it would be a show stopper but regardless, my only point is that while I agree with the notion that its better to buy more quality computers, I think a lot of what we can be done just fine with mediocre laptops. Given the average new computer these days has 3-4 gigs ram (ie. PLENTY) and a decent processor like i3 or i5, even an older core 2 duo. They are quite powerful and do not cost much these days.

Not trying to be an advocate for buying cheap laptops, just my $.02 . I will more than likely spend more on my next laptop but my current one is still running so well its hard to justify.

[Brad Weber]

Firewire 800 yes, but how is an SDXC slot going to help him connect a Digi 003R?

Didn't say it was relevant, I only mentioned that the Mac had the slot since I had commented that many new laptops seem to have no card slots at all.

[ProSoundWeb Community]