HI!
I'm about to buy a new notebook for serious audio work (multitrack recording, live electronic processing, editing). I'm actually still evaluating if going Mac or Pc. I've read pretty good reviews about the silentness of the new MacBook Pro Core 2 Duos. Though my PC option, the HP Compaq NW8440 (or other HP options like the NC8430 or the DV Pavillion 6000t), all of them Core 2 Duos, I don't know much about regarding silentness.
Have you had experience with any of these models? Are they silent?
This is of utmost importance for me, for doing in-room recordings as well as performing in very silent sensitive situations.
Any info would be appreciated. Thanks very much!!
HP Compaq NC8430/NW8440 for music/audio - Silent?
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TnnTi Music
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:58 pm
I think you can find a laptop that runs cooler than both the HP Nc8430 and the Apple, since both of them have X1600 GPU's. For instance, the average power consumption for some HP models:
Nw9440: 38 W
Nx9420: 38 W
Nw8440: 39 W
Nc8430: 39 W
Nc6320: 12.5 W
6515b: 12.5 W
6715b: 12.5 W
You can probably figure out why the first four models belongs to the "Extreme Power" category. The biggest difference is the GPU, and while lower power consumption is no guarantee for lower noise, it would surely bring down the noise in some cases.
Or do you really need that kind of GPU? The Nw8440 is pretty much waste of money for you since it uses an expensive professional GPU, and everything else is just like the Nc8430.
If you don't need an advanced GPU then have a look at HP's midrange laptops.
I have a HP Nx9420 which is pretty much the 17" version of the Nc8430. One of the few differences is that it got two heatsinks instead of one like in Nc8430 (and it cost half as much). The GPU heatsink is hotter than the CPU heatsink most of the time. The reason for this is of course that the GPU runs hotter in idle than the CPU.
- I have undervolted the CPU in with NHC, but it's pretty much useless since it's always the GPU that triggers the fan to start.
- You can lower GPU clock speeds with NHC, but it's a bit buggy, doesn't work with Vista yet AFAIK, and it causes the temps to go very high when in idle. NHC doesn't work with all BIOS versions, be careful when flashing. NHC can also control the fan. You need extra files found here.
- You can also change fan speeds in the registry, more info here.
- I think the original Windows install could lower the GPU clock speeds, but I'm not sure. The ATI drivers from HP.com or AMD.com can't, that's for sure. I made a new install CD from my i386 folder, like this. It's useful for anyone who wants a clean Windows install CD made from their bloatware packed installs.
Nw9440: 38 W
Nx9420: 38 W
Nw8440: 39 W
Nc8430: 39 W
Nc6320: 12.5 W
6515b: 12.5 W
6715b: 12.5 W
You can probably figure out why the first four models belongs to the "Extreme Power" category. The biggest difference is the GPU, and while lower power consumption is no guarantee for lower noise, it would surely bring down the noise in some cases.
Or do you really need that kind of GPU? The Nw8440 is pretty much waste of money for you since it uses an expensive professional GPU, and everything else is just like the Nc8430.
If you don't need an advanced GPU then have a look at HP's midrange laptops.
I have a HP Nx9420 which is pretty much the 17" version of the Nc8430. One of the few differences is that it got two heatsinks instead of one like in Nc8430 (and it cost half as much). The GPU heatsink is hotter than the CPU heatsink most of the time. The reason for this is of course that the GPU runs hotter in idle than the CPU.
- I have undervolted the CPU in with NHC, but it's pretty much useless since it's always the GPU that triggers the fan to start.
- You can lower GPU clock speeds with NHC, but it's a bit buggy, doesn't work with Vista yet AFAIK, and it causes the temps to go very high when in idle. NHC doesn't work with all BIOS versions, be careful when flashing. NHC can also control the fan. You need extra files found here.
- You can also change fan speeds in the registry, more info here.
- I think the original Windows install could lower the GPU clock speeds, but I'm not sure. The ATI drivers from HP.com or AMD.com can't, that's for sure. I made a new install CD from my i386 folder, like this. It's useful for anyone who wants a clean Windows install CD made from their bloatware packed installs.
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TnnTi Music
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:58 pm
Ok! Thanks much for the valuable information! I'll take a look at those options. I had targeted the NC8430 and NW8440 as they are what I thought to be somewhat of a 15-inch top of the line within a brand that I've read in general is not the worse one as regards to silent operation. Besides someone pointed out to me that the NW8440 is within the list of digidesign's "qualified" laptops and that is a good sign of a nicely configured laptop for audio (even if you're not using digidesign DAW setups) (see http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?nav ... emid=24354)
Besides I was looking at a dedicated graphic card as a positive aspect which would let the CPU work with less load of processing duties, is this wrong?
Besides I was looking at a dedicated graphic card as a positive aspect which would let the CPU work with less load of processing duties, is this wrong?
That list is a bit strange, the Nc8430 and the Nx9420 are both qualified, but only with Core Duo, not with Core 2 Duo.TnnTi Music wrote:Besides someone pointed out to me that the NW8440 is within the list of digidesign's "qualified" laptops and that is a good sign of a nicely configured laptop for audio (even if you're not using digidesign DAW setups) (see http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?nav ... emid=24354)
That sounds like BS to me, but what do I know...DigiDesign wrote:Other Windows laptops with Intel Core 2 Duo processors have not been qualified by Digidesign, only the models listed above.
No you're right. I realize that I don't know how demanding that software is. Maybe check some other forum where users really can recommend something less expensive than the recommended list, and actually works.TnnTi Music wrote:Besides I was looking at a dedicated graphic card as a positive aspect which would let the CPU work with less load of processing duties, is this wrong?
Edit: The more I read, the more confused I get:
T64 not supported, but A64 is???? Come on!Known Issues
Pro Tools does not support RAID technology. Please do not activate this feature on any Pro Tools recording drives.
USB drives are not recommended or supported for recording
Laptops users may need to disable integrated wireless networking
Computers with motherboards containing SiS (Silicon Integrated Systems) chipsets are not supported
Computers with Intel Pentium III and older Intel processors are not supported
Computers with AMD Turion, AMD Sempron, or Intel Celeron processors are not supported
AMD K6, K6-2 or K6-III, K7 processor based computers are not supported (newer AMD Athlon XP, Athlon 64, and Athlon 64 FX processors are supported)
ATI Radeonâ„¢ Xpress 200 Series chipsets are not recommended for use with either AMD or Intel processors
Before purchasing these or any computer, please carefully go over these documents and the exact specifications of the computer to make certain that all of the compatibility guidelines have been met.
Again, check some forums where they know about this software, then come back here when you know if you really have to follow that list. Maybe digidesign's support forum can help you. I mean, I can get one Nw9440, or three Nx8420 for the same price, and the difference is the (removable) graphics card?! That's a lot of money, especially if you don't need the performance.....
Last edited by Mats on Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:16 am, edited 3 times in total.
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TnnTi Music
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:58 pm
Now, I don't know anything about this particular program, but it seems weird that a dedicated graphics card would offload any processing from the CPU, unless they are using for some kind of stream processing (are they?). In that case I guess it could be worth the extra heat/noise since that is one place tha t graphics cards excel.