VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Yoda117 · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:45 pm Post subject:

Audition 2 will work under Vista... but it's not for the timid.

Though things may have changed with all the updates to Vista in the past 6 months.
_________________
Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

Craig · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 9:12 am Post subject:

In all my wanderings to laptop retailers of late, I've yet to see ONE with anything other than Vista.

I've seen a few online, and the custom shops have 'em, but good luck finding one at a retailer.

Craig
_________________
Craig Park
www.parkvoiceovers.com

TheVoiceOfBob · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 10:16 am Post subject:

Go to Dell's refurbished page and pick up a good Latitude with XP. We have hundreds of them on campus. My more favorite models are the D620 and D630. A nice balance between size and power. The D830 is a luggable.
_________________
Try to imagine a world where there is no such thing as hypothetical situations.

The Voice of Bob

Jon Morss · Guest

The reason you have a hard time finding a new system with Windows XP is that Microsoft forces the PC vendors to ship with the latest OS installed. The PC companies really have no choice without facing damaging their relationship with Microsoft. One thing to note about Windows XP is that it is coming up to its end of Main Stream support life. By the Microsoft Life Cycle model, this should have already taken place, but the noise folks are making seems to have made an impact and MS has extended the support.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx

As far as favorite Laptops are concerned, I really have had the best luck with my daughters Fujitsu Laptop. She runs the heck out of the system and it has never crashed or been in for service in the two years she has had it. Others I have had are Sony and Toshiba.

HP seems to get good press with their DV 9000 series laptops, but for me they are a bit too heavy unless you plan to keep it in place and not pack it in a back-pack on a daily basis. Then again, their Business series 6510 is light, well built has has a very long battery life. It does me great for the old day job.

But, in the end, if Apple would see the light and drop the price of their 17" MacBook Pro, I would snatch one up in a heart beat. They offer more options for their size and weight and have a great rep.

louzucaro · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 11:55 am Post subject:

Dell's Vostro laptops can be purchased new with XP, but through them directly, not at retail.
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

georgethetech · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 7:42 am Post subject:

Chiming in late on this one (just got back from Italy), but I've had good luck purchasing several refurbs and referring others to http://www.eritech.com
They also offer a cheap 3rd party service plan for under $100 with 3 years repair coverage. Many laptops on there still have XP, which is a huge plus.
I will continue to endorse the use of XP (to anyone stuck with using non-Mac supported a Hobo Tounge

s) long after Microsoft ends "support" for it, until they completely revamp Vista or Windows 7 proves to be a vast improvement.
By the way, if you aren't concerned with running Vista, and you have the bread, the Macbook Pro was tested as the best Vista laptop last year!
Google it...
_________________
If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
VOBS.TV Co-host
TheProAudioSuite.com Co-host
TriBooth.com Co-founder

ccpetersen · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 9:21 am Post subject:

I have a Toshiba Satellite that I bought in 2004 and it has literally been around the world with me. Pretty rugged; I bought the 17" version, which just fits in my kensington saddlebag; having the extra screen real estate is nice.

About the XP issue, can one still buy XP itself from software vendors? That might be one way around the deranged Vista problem.

I just ordered a new desk system from Dell and they are ending XP availability on June 18. I bought the system that allows me a free "seamless" upgrade (hah!) to Vista at my leisure, but for now I'll be running XP since several programs I use for specialty projects aren't available to run on Vista yet.
_________________
Charter Member: Threadjackers Local 420

SomeAudioGuy · Contributor III Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 75 Location: LA

Yeah I'm late to this party too, but if you haven't purchased yet, maybe another perspective can help (or help confuse you lol)?

I'm a HUGE thinkpad fan. I love IBM/Lenovo. Build quality is exceptional. They are very durable, and they tend to have very reasonable warranties and tech support.
$1100 gets you a VERY well spec'ed T61 with Windows XP Pro. The thing is made out of Titanium with an injection molded magnesium skeleton. It's about as durable as you can get before going up to a military spec toughbook...

That's my .02 anywho...
_________________
Hey! Whaddaya hear?
http://someaudioguy.blogspot.com

JTVG · Backstage Pass Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 433

Personally, I'm not a fan of Dell laptops. Their desktops seem rock solid, but a laptop we purchased early last year is doing funky things. One of the things I'm noticing is that it will just shut down with no warning. The screen also blinks intermittently from time to time. Changing from one login to the other will cause frustration. Just my opinion based on one laptop.
_________________
Joe Szymanski
http://www.joethevoiceguy.com

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

I recently discovered the secret to good recordings on my HP Pavilion laptop. Shut the freakin' touch pad off while recording (there's a little button to do so just above it). Difference? 96k/24bit with decent latency becomes no problem and it sounds great...otherwise, 44/16 can get squirrelly and the sound isn't as smooooooooooove.

It's always something right in front of you, innit? Smile

_________________
Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject:

thanks for that nugget, lance. wicket pissuh.
_________________
sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!

www.d3voiceworks.com