Toshiba vs Mixing?

[usdm]

Search for the model and you should be able to come across a list of parts used in the model. From there you can look for reviews and see if they are good.

Not always. Quite a few of the parts offered on gear is nondescript; This is not to say you cant find info, but its not easy. Sure, you easily could research about the processors and sound cards, but things like memory sticks, type of ethernet cards, even motherboards or cpu cooling fans, arent always readily available and require serious digging to learn about. And when time is an issue, you dont always have the luxury to sit at the computer all day and just look over specs. Im lucky that I have a part of the weekend to figure out what laptop to get with what I need, but its not at all a simple process cause even as I write this, Im still looking.

Just as an aside:

I have a X-Fi Elite pro that I currently use for my vinyl rips as well as when I need to do some mic work. Although the X-Fi family has decent analog to digital chips (cirrus logic and Burr brrown I believe), the Elite Pro has the most robust chip; AKM AK5394. Now, one would think that the akm would be used on all the models, but turs out that is not the case; and it took me darn near a week to find out after sifting thru countless reviews that didnt offer much useful info.

[Xonetacular]

This is strange, I haven't heard of this before but it seems very odd that certain PC components would cause issues. Unless it is USB bus related what is there to go wrong? You have your software running in windows like normal with a USB soundcard, the only potential for problems I see is if the USB interface has issues.

I remember reading that the third USB port of macbook pros caused problems so it oculd be something similar.

[Michielygil]

I dj on a toshiba (portege m800) and to be fair, it works really well! I've had a Toshiba before this one too and had no problems with it either.

I recently had a 4,5 hour set live with vci 100 and audio 8 dj pulling power from the USB. Also recorded it internally and never had one hick up. Did turn off the wireless of course

[MiL0]

the main problems with laptop brands are the firewire chipsets they use and earth/ground loop problems. I believe that Toshiba also had problems with the particular chipset they use in their laptop motherboards. As always, if you're choosing a laptop for anything where you're gonna be playing out live, stick with something that you KNOW will work properly! (read the reviews, ask other people with the laptop you're interested in, etc)

[djlokifl]

I saw one of those Q models that appealed to me, but I kept getting the whole "dont buy Toshiba" jazz. I couldnt get a proper answer, but Im still a lil paranoid about all the crap Ill have to address.

Do you think the Satellite is a better solution to the Q models?

I am not a fan of the Q models. Too much extra stuff on them to break. I do have to admit I did have 2 problems with my Toshiba, but both are easily fixed. First I was getting hiccups in Traktor (I'm still using 3 so I have no clue about Pro). This turned out to be that Power Management was adjusting the speed of the processor to give me just enough processor for what I needed at the moment. I turned all the power management off and I get all of my 2.1 dual core all the time. Problem 1 fixed. Problem 2 is that due to the way the the vent for the cooling for the processor is placed, it makes it prone to overheating. Thats easily fixed by either using a stand, or being careful that I only put it on a flat solid surface...No tablecloths, etc. I did a 2 hour set with it with no glitches and it was sitting on the stand and was barely warm.