Buying advice: Soundcards and laptop suggestions

[999tigger]

1.Any suggestions on Laptops for £500.For internet and general work,so graphics not that important.
15.4", average batter, under 3kg, 2gig memory and 2ghz processor?

2.I am also being asked to advise on a desktop for £1000. Any suggestions? It doesnt have to be a gaming PC, but instead it needs to be able to handle music. I might suggest the person get an ordninary computer and just upgrade the soundcard and speakers.

3. Any feedback on decent entry level soundcards upto £130 that are suitable for musicians?I was thinking of Auzentech.

Thanks for your advice.

[staffsMike]

Little bit over £500 but theses are very nice.

Thinner and lighters than the vostro 1500 but a very reasonable spec

For the PC I'm guessing silence will be valued..

I would build this.
CPU
Intel Q6600 or given the budget a Q9450 - £220

RAM
4GB Geil of RAM (2x2GB is very cheap at the minute) - £70
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400C4 (2x2GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK)
(just one example)

Mobo
Abit IP-35 dark raider - &#163;70 (often found on scan today only for <&#163;65)

So thats the power out of the way, now the quiet bits.

Case
The Antec P182 .. silent.

HDD
Western Digital AAKS 500GB, In the P182 .. silent.

If graphics aren't important get a passive graphics card,
I have one of these, Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
but there are plenty around,

ATi HD2400's, HD2600's, Nvidia 8400 and 8600's are generally good cards to be run passive and therefore silent.

Samsung Optical Drives, again as quiet as they get inside a P182.

HSF
Scythe Ninja again silent in the P182.

Power supply
Corsair 520w HX Whisper ... you've guessed it, silent in the P182.

All these recommendations are based on my own silent PC which is awesome and has stunned a few people who thought I was joking about how quiet it was lol

That should be well under &#163;1000.

Not good with sounds cards though unfortunatly, the auzentech seem to be very widely accepted though.

[Webby]

What Mike said

I would also suggest a second hard drive so you can have one for windows and apps etc and another for general data storage. Even better a partition with just windows on and nothing else, should keep the system nippy

Oh and Thermalright Ultima 90 with a silent 120mm fan for CPU cooling Smaller than the Scythe Ninja with comparable if not better cooling performance but with a silent fan it will be slightly more expensive ~&#163;35.

[toolsong]

If the soundcard is for a musician and they want to record music, you have two things to consider:

a) The number of simultaneous recording inputs required
b) The type of inputs required

Say it's for an individual in their bedroom, then a usually is two (vocals & guitar) and for b they will need a high-Z instrument input and a microphone preamp with 48V phantom power.

I'd suggest an external music interface like the Mackie Onyx Satellite for &#163;120.

Note it requires a firewire input so choose the right mobo. Comes with Tracktion 2 software as well.

If you're making music, having knobs and a headphone output in front of you makes life a lot easier.

There are hundreds of these interfaces for both firewire and USB so take a look around

If this person only wants to mix samples in software, that's a different story...

[999tigger]

Staffs Mike

Thanks very much for your build.I was thinking along the same lines.
I have a few questions, though and would value your input and anyone elses.

P182 case- sold on this. £88

Motherboard The Abit Dark Raider- will it take the new 45nm chips as well? I am wondering whether to get the Asus P5K premium as I like Asus boards. It's about £35 more, but more features and I'm told a better bios and no reset bug. £114. Will also take the new cpus.

Q6600- sold on this. £154

Scythe Ninja- sold on this,although use Scythe infinity myself and comforted by the fact you say its silent within the case. £28

4GB of Corsair ram pc6400 5-5-5-12 £68 2x2gb- only stuff Scan has. £68

Samsung 203 SATA DVD-r 20x lightscribe £21

Power supply- Corsair H520X will this suffice as long as I dont SLI.Is there enough power for upgrades or should I get the HX620? £63/ £85

Graphics card will go for the 256mb Gainward 8600GT passive cooling, but will it run a 22" widescreen monitor easily?

The person concerned has a USB soundcard. Thanks for any input.

[staffsMike]

As long as you dont expect blistering gaming performance it will run a 22" screen fine

Windows and video etc.. will be perfect.

The PSU is more than enough for upgrades. As it stands the PC won't really be pushing more than 300w

The dark raider is fine for 45nm CPU's