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Help choosing a DAW laptop

Hello, experts eschange.

I'm in the market for a new laptop, and I'm just looking for a little advice.  I'm a sound designer and composer, and will be using it for editing, sequencing, all sorts of audio work with plugins and virtual synths that use up a lot of resources.  I'll also be using for some photoshop and CAD work.

I've done extensive research, and I've narrowed my options to an Alienware m17, or a Sager NP9262.  I was looking at the Alienware m17x for awhile too, but I've read that it's built on processors that are aging already and aren't very updatable.  And I'm not looking for top of the line video processing.  I don't do much gaming, but I will need enough to smoothly work with photoshop, vectorworks, and Sonar.

I've been reading a lot of good and bad comments about both Alienware and Sager., but on paper the comparison is very close.  So here is a list of questions that I've been asking forums all over the place but getting very few answers:

1) Alot of people say Alienware is bad, but why? I'm looking at either an Alienware m17 or a Sager NP9262, and on paper the comparison is very close.

2) Both have Quad processors, but the Sager has 3GHz and 1333FSB compared to the m17's 2.53GHz and 1066 FSB. How much faster is that really as it relates to audio and multitasking?

3) Both have 4-8 DDR3 RAM, but the m17 is 1066MHz vs the NP9296 800MHz. What does that do for me?

4) How is Sager's customer service? I've had a Dell XPS1710 for three years now, and I've been VERY fond of Dell's customer service and on-site warranty coverage, how does Sager's compare?

5) How important is the Texas Instrument firewire chipset found on the Sager? I've never had a problem with any of my firewire audio interfaces or firewire hard drives, but I've never been able to use my ExpressCard slot for firewire expresscards. Does the TI set fix that?

6)  I've heard that the Sager is legendary for it's cooling power and low noise when the fans kick on (very important for audio work), how loud is the m17?

7) I know it's better to have more than one physical drive, but what does a RAID configuration do for me than two/three non-RAID drives?  Is it strictly a matter of backup?  Do they read/write faster with RAID?

8) I know more RAM is better for multitasking, but doesn't audio work rely more on the front side bus than anything else?

9)  What does a 64-bit system do for me that 32 bits won't do? I'd go for it, because 8Gigs of RAM sounds REALLY tasty, but I'm afraid that alot of my plugins and VSTs haven't been configured for 64 bit yet. Is it possible to get a 32-bit OS and then upgrade later? Is it even worth it for the extra four gigs of RAM? If I get a Vista system now, and Windows 7 actually makes things better, will I be able to upgrade, or will I be stuck until I buy my next replacement?

10)  What are the advantages/disadvantages to a solid state drive vs the standard spinning one?

That's all I can think of at the moment.  I know sleekness and style should be low on the list of reasons to buy a laptop, but I'm such a sucker for things like backlit keyboards (I do alot of work in dark theatres and it would be nice to not have to rely on USB lights so much).

Thanks in advance!

Matt
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Callandor
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You don't need an ultra powerful pc for sound studio work - you do need a quality sound card and peripherals that plug into it.  Take a look at this other question: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24165406/Desktop-for-music-creation.html
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I will try to answer as many of your points as I can.

1) Alot of people say Alienware is bad, but why?
     Alienware isn't bad it is just overpriced. It is an XPS Laptop marked up 25% just because of the stupid alien.

I will answer 2 and 3 the best I know

2) Both have Quad processors, but the Sager has 3GHz and 1333FSB compared to the m17's 2.53GHz and 1066 FSB. How much faster is that really as it relates to audio and multitasking?

3) Both have 4-8 DDR3 RAM, but the m17 is 1066MHz vs the NP9296 800MHz. What does that do for me?

A 1066 CPU with 1066 RAM = Good
a 1333 CPU with 800 RAM = WASTE!

7) I know it's better to have more than one physical drive, but what does a RAID configuration do for me than two/three non-RAID drives?  Is it strictly a matter of backup?  Do they read/write faster with RAID?

RAID 0 is faster for writing mainly.
RAID 1 is slower read and slower write.
Non RAID is best for your useage.

9)  What does a 64-bit system do for me that 32 bits won't do?
LOTS! First your RAM limit on a 32 Bit system is effectively 3.5 GB 64-bit increases that to 2TB
Aside from that even at 3.5GB 64-bit preforms better/faster even with 32-bit apps.

10)  What are the advantages/disadvantages to a solid state drive vs the standard spinning one?
Advantages, umm depends on the SSD some have amazing Read/Writes some have average.
Disadvantages are easier to list as they are consistant to all of them. If you go SSD the first 3-5 months will be "faster" than a mechanical drive, but after that it will start to fall off and it will never compete again. SSD have a more definable lifespan, a limited amount of read/write cycles. While you can have a mechanical drive in play for 5-10 years easily it would be a miracle to see a 10 yr old SSD that was used more than once.



I don't have the answers to all your questions but maybe I helped a tiny bit.
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ASKER

Very helpful, thank you very much!  A couple of questions about your answers:

So the amount (speed?) of GHz of RAM that is available is directly proportionate to GHz of CPU?

Wait, so 32 bit apps will operate on a 64 bit OS?

Thanks, you've been very helpful.  Anybody else know any of the other questions?
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