Hi Guys,
need a bit of help.
Laptop specs have changed so drastically since Frank helped me with my dell laptop 2 years ago.
I had 512 mb memory
3.06 GHZ processor
and my soundfont/omb arranger system was working well until it overheated. Now no longer functioning.

The new dells ( in my price range) have intel core duo processors

1.66 GHz, 2MB Cache, 667 MHz FSB
1 gig memory

If I can talk hubby into spending a tiny bit more money, what would benefit me the most with my softsynth setup

1. Upgrading to 2 gig memory
or
2. upgrading processor to
1.83 GHz, 2MB Cache, 667 MHz FSB
or
3. Upgrading harddrive
from 60 gig sata to a
60 gig sata 7200rpm

I was using soundfonts, but may swap to hypersonic 2 instead.

Would it be powerful enough to run anything along the lines of Garritons with maybe the addition of an external hard drive sometime down the track.
IF not, would I just be wasting money adding any of the above addditions.

best wishes
Rikki

Hello Rikki
Extra memory will allow you to run more instruments and load more sounds into your Laptop, so access will be quicker.
If you use a lot of Effect Instruments (Which take a lot of processing power) then a faster CPU is always beneficial.
A faster Hard Disk helps if you use instruments that use Disk Streaming of sounds, (Such as Colossus, Gigasamples, etc) however 7200 RPM drives for Laptops are still expensive, and have the disadvantage of producing a lot more noise, and reduce the length of time you can use the Laptop on Battery power. (I would also go for a minimum of 80GB Hard Disk Size)
Therefore decide what instruments you will probably use, (Consider the Future) and use the above information to choose what you need.
Go for XP Pro rather then XP Home or XP Media Centre.
Hope this helps.

Bill

Thanks Bill,
your advise is most appreciated. I've got a couple of days before the dell special deal changes again. The deal at the moment really suits with the inclusion dvd burner & 1 gig memory , at no extra cost, & $100 off.

So want to spend that $100( plus maybe a bit more )on a feature that's going to benefit me the most.
thanks again
best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by abacus:
[B]Hello Rikki