laptops

Macs and PCs are compatible.

I am sure a laptop exists with toslink other the mac, but I am not aware of any off the top of my head.

Mac is the way forward.

I have been experimenting with the little hiface usb/spdif, that just plugs into a USB port and it lets you play everything up to 24/192 would that help?

Soulsearcher - I believe Asus were offering laptops with optical out on a couple of models which did not have HDMI. When I last looked Toshiba had optical on some of their Satellite and Qosmio ranges. Others may be available too, but I can only comment on ones I have come across recently.

That said, I would also reinforce Garyi's point that PC and Mac and not incompatible. I happen to use a PC and a Macbook, and rip all of my cds on the PC using EAC. The files then sit on a shared folder and I send a copy to a separate HD connected to my headless Mac Mini using my Macbook. It may seem a bit cumbersome but there are sound reasons for my having to have this set up and the point is it works without a hitch.

Hi Soul,

Like any investment it's worth making the right one.

My suggestion would be to buy a laptop that supports SPDIF, ExpressCard 54/34mm and Firewire (IEEE 1394). Ideally with Windows 7, solid-state hard drive, using the latest Intel Core 7i processor. However, all that would set you back some £2k in the shape of a games machine like the Novatech X90GTX.

If you drop the Firewire (ExpressCard device if required) and quite a bit of performance, you could configure a Novatech X16HD for around £1k including a solid-state hard drive, plus some extra's.

Alternatively, the Toshiba QOSMIO F50-12W would be a good choice as mentioned by CW.

Peter

thank you for your suggestions.novatech looked promising but after googling their name they dont seem to have very postive feedback.started looking at a macbook as suggested,but why is mac the way to go allso conecting it ,is macbook audio out-3.5mm convertor-toslink-dac(dont need to be wifi)thanks for any help

All macs have mini toslink inside the analogue speaker ports both in and out you just need a convertor at about 99p.

The mac is the way to go because its an excellent machine, made from a solid piece of aluminium with secure rock solid software.

I don't understand people that spend many thousands of pounds on hifi and as we are on the cusp of this distributed audio think that spending 250 quid on the shitest laptop they can find is the as good as it needs to be.

But hey ho, ymmv

What garyi said.

Toshiba Satellite series laptops typically have S/PDIF outputs. I get an excellent result running as I mentioned HERE.

Geoff

Are the last Apple Mac not superior for downloadingn CD's?

No reason to think so.

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
All macs have mini toslink inside the analogue speaker ports both in and out you just need a convertor at about 99p.

The mac is the way to go because its an excellent machine, made from a solid piece of aluminium with secure rock solid software.

I don't understand people that spend many thousands of pounds on hifi and as we are on the cusp of this distributed audio think that spending 250 quid on the shitest laptop they can find is the as good as it needs to be.

But hey ho, ymmv

I think most buy latops primarily for other uses and some business and specialty uses don't always jive with MAC. I have a PC due to some programs my wife needs that aren't available on MAC and also due to being on that path for a while because of it. Hated Vista and never went there. XP is fine but dated. 7 has been great, intuitive and non buggy. Also seemed to have a way to bypass the OS mixer completely with WASAPI which should be optimum for audio so the sound bridge between formats should have closed or perhaps maybe even favor 7. I do understand about the quality of construction vs price issue. It's why I bought a thinkpad with metal frame and cage construction before MAC had it's current and VG unibodies.
PC MAC
Both great. Not much cheaper than a MAC even on sale but that's choice. It's not like there aren't well constructed PCs available to those that want them. I think it comes down to whatever is preferred and familiar. That all choose Windows due to price is a pretty narrow view. I want to be clear here. I don't think one is better than the other.

My thoughts on this are that:

1. All PCs are built to hit a general market, no matter how well they are made they are not built with music in mind;
2. All operating systems are likewise designed to hit a general market.

I would not expect any PC, be it WinTel or MAC to be especially musically biased.

I WOULD expect the MAC to major on usability and graphics.


I am amazed by the sound quality I am getting from a bog standard Dell laptop using the MTech HiFace.

I do intend to compare it with a MAC Mini in due course.

I do like the way that a community has built up stripping non-audio components out of XP; and am mildly disappointed that OSX hasn't been similarly stripped down by some MAC users.

My next step is to rebuild my old Dell using Linux & the HiFace Linux drivers, when the are made available.

In the meanwhile I have a stunning transport for tuppence ha'penny.

M

It's not the community. The MAC code is pretty closed but it also seems VG. Helps with viruses etc. but not as easy for work arounds.

Hi js,

Thx for interesting posts this year.

Have a good one.

M

And a good New Year to you too.

Well, having recently returned my Mac Mini to the Apple store after 1 year of very light use, I'm now even more convinced of returning to PC for music. They apparently have issues with their incorporated wireless/Bluetooth card and board. Also, following on from their fairly dubious upgrades, one being a screen resolutions upgrade leaving 32" HD/LCD owners having to go back to VGA from DVI/HDMI for correct screen scaling, I'm pretty convince the superb marketing means you end-up with an overated product. To me, PC has always been best. MAC is a nice to own product whilst it's working.

Firstly my feeling is a laptop should never be used as a source of music, it goes against the very grain of what it is all about. A laptop is a portable device and should always remain so. I get aggy when I have to hook up the power let along pissing around with SPDIF leads and all the rest of it. Mac minis can be had for 500 quid and will do everything any other laptop can do, but it will be the right form factor and crucially volume.

Secondly. There is not a better made laptop on the market. Its apple right now. The unibody design is something else, there is nothing coming close. Yes you pay a little extra for it.

JSs picture seems to be quite an old generation of mac unless I am not seeing it right.

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
All macs have mini toslink inside the analogue speaker ports both in and out you just need a convertor at about 99p.

The mac is the way to go because its an excellent machine, made from a solid piece of aluminium with secure rock solid software.

I don't understand people that spend many thousands of pounds on hifi and as we are on the cusp of this distributed audio think that spending 250 quid on the shitest laptop they can find is the as good as it needs to be.

But hey ho, ymmv

ive spent a lot of experimenting with laptops, new pcs top spec, if fact lots. then listen and compare with cd.

tried flac and wav.

then i tried ripnas for ripping . decided on flac.

at last i found the quality that iwanted. problem yes the ripnas takes 4 minutes and after ripping 1800 and 300 to do, im fed up. the quality is excellent and even more so with the naim dac , using sonus for a while till something comes along at a reasonable cost. only want a unit with digital output

backup twice just in case. its been time consuming checking playback etc but the result is excellent have fun and enjoy the next few days allan

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
Firstly my feeling is a laptop should never be used as a source of music, it goes against the very grain of what it is all about. A laptop is a portable device and should always remain so. I get aggy when I have to hook up the power let along pissing around with SPDIF leads and all the rest of it. Mac minis can be had for 500 quid and will do everything any other laptop can do, but it will be the right form factor and crucially volume.

Secondly. There is not a better made laptop on the market. Its apple right now. The unibody design is something else, there is nothing coming close. Yes you pay a little extra for it.

JSs picture seems to be quite an old generation of mac unless I am not seeing it right.

That's a unibody and I don't see a thing wrong with it other than the pic being a bit over simplified in terms of everything there and which side we see. The outer case is the frame for mounting componenets as in unibody or monocoque if you prefer. Here's another pic. Very cool but nothing to jump up and down about.

This is great for a company that makes lots almost exactly the same way. It will actually cut material costs and construction time but lessens the options. That's neither good or bad. It just is. I do think the new construction will probably stop any reports of aluminium cracking due to the integral reinforcement.

Hi JS, Your links are old, the picture above is from a G4 macbook and has nothing what so ever to do with the unibody which is below.

The unibody is unique and rather special, it involves the whole top part of the mac so incorperates the keyboard area:



The picture you have linked to above is from a G4 because the drive section is on the front. The unibody has in general single or two piece slice of aluminium on the bottom then the central part including the keyboard holes is a single piece of aluminium.

It is an amazing bit of kit and there is nothing else on the market that comes close.

Of course this does not mean that it sounds any better than say a sony, but it is better made and that goes without saying.

If you can prevent yourself form being sick here is an infomercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QvbKSg1EqQ

First pic could be that with keyboard and pad attached to underside of top plate and bottom with battery sitting on top. It really doesn't matter. It's a cool monocoque construction but it's far from the only well built laptop. I also don't like the cheapies with flexable keyboards etc. but there are quality choices to be had in both formats. No crappy ones in MAC but the price is commensurate.

quote:

Originally posted by js:
It will actually cut material costs and construction time but lessens the options. That's neither good or bad. It just is. I do think the new construction will probably stop any reports of aluminium cracking due to the integral reinforcement.

I'm not sure I can agree with the "lessons the options". Given that each unibody is milled from solid, changes can be done on a per-sample basis. Compare that with trying to change out plastic formers, for example, where you really will need to do a run of each one before a change.

JS is its the best built laptop bar none, point me at a current model one of any manufacturer that is better built?

Your first picture is also not a unibody.

i was thinking more of buying a macbook(white) more than the mac pro(silver) not because of price but because i pref the look of the white to the silver(fit in better with decor) any comment thank you

The new unibody white should do you just fine. But seriously a mac mini and ipod touch is a much better proposition.