Powerbook G4 and ProTools LE

[bryanrheem]

I know there was a post regarding this before but I can't seem to find it. I have the following laptop:

12.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce FX
Go5200 (64MB DDR)
Full size keyboard
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
FireWire 400
Analog audio in/out
Mini-DVI out

Will I be able to run ProTools LE without any problems? I have an external 250GB harddrive and will run my sound through the MBOX.

THANKS!

[nasum]

I've run LE on a G3 desktop that was much slower than what you have listed there with relative ease, you should have no problems with your laptop. I'd double the ram, but I never use less than a gig of ram for a computer that is going to do anything beyond a word-processor and email machine.

just make sure that you turn off most of your extensions/widgets while running protools, also only use your external drive. DeFrag the drive before you start using protools, but DON'T DeFrag it if you plan on resuing the audiofiles. For some reason or another Protools seems to enjoy a fragmented drive.

[BIG GINGER GIT]

It'll run just fine, I use a 500mhz, 512 RAM, 20 gig HD G4 Powerbook and it works for me :dude:

[therover]

It should run OK with 512MB RAM, but I second Nasum on having at least a 1GB of ram. I actually took a Digidesign ProTools Course 101 and 102 and 1GB is what was recommeded. You will also need an external drive to store your audio files. Do not save them on your internal hardrive! Big NO NO!

[BIG GINGER GIT]

It should run OK with 512MB RAM, but I second Nasum on having at least a 1GB of ram. I actually took a Digidesign ProTools Course 101 and 102 and 1GB is what was recommeded. You will also need an external drive to store your audio files. Do not save them on your internal hardrive! Big NO NO!

Why should you not store the files on your internal drive ?

[Jo]

Why should you not store the files on your internal drive ?Same thing I was wondering. I would have thought the read/write access to the internal drive would be a lot faster than an external one.

I'd recommend a second internal hard drive for storing data or at least a separate partition on the master drive.

[Adam]

Same thing I was wondering. I would have thought the read/write access to the internal drive would be a lot faster than an external one.

I'd recommend a second internal hard drive for storing data or at least a separate partition on the master drive.


An external drive of some sort is imperitive for any kind of recording project for back-up purposes alone, If not for actually tracking to the external drive. I speak from experience.

[Jo]

An external drive of some sort is imperitive for any kind of recording project for back-up purposes alone, If not for actually tracking to the external drive. I speak from experience.Having an external for a backup is a given, and even a backup of your backup (says me who's got about 4 ext HD's watching me). But that doesn't explain why saving them to your internal hard drive is a big "NO NO".

I just had a 200gig ext Western Digital HD go bye bye's on me a couple weeks ago. :(
At least I had a backup of my backup. :)

[bryanrheem]

thanks so much for all your feedback. I do have an external 250gb drive .... my internal is only 80gig.

How big are the files? I mean, I'm used to Digital Video files that are some 15Gb for an hour of recording.

[Chiba]

Digidesign recommends storing the audio files on a different hard drive than the program files are on. It helps with access - if PT needs to access both the program files and the sound files at the same time, it can cause latency or worse, a crash of some kind.

You *CAN* use the same hard drive for both things with (generally) little difficulty, though sometimes the latency can screw things up for you. However, you won't be able to utilize more than (in my experience) 8 or 10 audio tracks if you're only using 1 hard drive.

Using a 2nd hdd for the audio files gets rid of this, allowing you to use all the tracks LE can offer - I can't recall if it's 24 or 32 now.

File size will vary. In general, in my experince, a rhythm guitar track for a 3- or 4-minute song will be somewhere between 35 and 45 MB.

--chiba

[Jo]

Aaah that makes sense. Thanks for the info Chiba.