is my new comp a candidate for recording?

As some of you may remember (I was MIA for a while) I've been recording with a Boss BR900CD. I enjoy it and after 4 years I'm starting to figure out how to use it a little bit. The sound quality isn't bad but I don't particularly like the way that I have to flip through the little menus and I it's just not real user friendly IMHO. I've wanted to get into a more computer based system where I can see more of what I'm doing on a screen, menus might be easier to navigate etc.
Well, my old computer was nowhere near capable of doing much recording. It was the absolute bottom of the line Dell laptop and I was told by several people that it just didn't have the horsepower for recording purposes. It was a good computer for it's original purpose, which was checking email and checking out guitar porn on the TDPRI. Can't complain about it since it wasn't purchased with the intention of recording music. It did what I purchased it to do.
Well flash forward a few years and after some problems with a Dell and having to go a few months without a computer, I got a new one last weekend. This one was also purchased with the intention of internet usage and bookkeeping type things, but I thought I would see if you guys thought it might also work for doing some recording.
Here is what I have and the specs...none of this means much to me so I'm hoping you kind folks can tell me if it's worthy....

Microprocessor 2.20 GHz AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM-82 Dual-Core Mobile Processor
Microprocessor Cache 2MB L2 Cache
Memory 4096MB
Memory Max 8192MB
Video Graphics ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics RS780M
Video Memory Up to 1918MB
Hard Drive 500GB (5400RPM)
Multimedia Drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
Display 17.0” Diagonal WXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1440 x 900)
Fax/Modem High speed 56k modem
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN
Wireless Connectivity

* 802.11b/g WLAN

Sound

* Altec Lansing with SRS Premium Sound

Keyboard 101-key compatible
Pointing Device Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical scroll Up/Down pad
PC Card Slots 1 ExpressCard/54 Slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
External Ports

* 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
* 4 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 4th port shared with eSATA
* 2 Headphone out
* 1 microphone-in
* HDMI
* 1 VGA (15-pin)
* eSATA + USB 2.0
* 1 RJ-11 (modem)
* 1 RJ -45 (LAN)
* 1 notebook expansion port 3
* 1 Consumer IR (Remote Receiver)

Depends on the type of recording your going to do. I would not recommend it for using Pro Tools . A Mac would be better suited for that. I have a small rig for home recording that works great. I have an old Dell Laptop , a Line 6 Tone Port 2 and KRK Rockit 5 monitors and a small inexpensive Alto S8 mixer ( 8 inputs ) I use it for playback and monitors. The Line 6 Tone Port 2 has 2 XLR inputs and 2 1/4 inch inputs plus two line in inputs in the back. With phantom power. With 2 analog outputs. I use Cool Edit. If you need to mic a drummer you have your limits yes. But it can be done, mic the drums into the mixer then send a two track mix to the computer. Using the two line in jacks in the back. That leaves the two XLRS and the 1/4 jacks in the front open for vocals bass and guitar or keys. Works great. Kinda long explanation but it works ,, hope it helps ya.

Thanks for the input! I wasn't really thinking Pro Tools, just something that would give me comparable quality to the Boss I'm using, but with more ease of use. I actually got a Mac first but took it back after a few weeks. Thank god for the 6 week return policy. I couldn't stand that thing, at least not for my day to day uses...didn't do any recording related things with it.

ben, that looks like a machine with good recording potential ... if it were mine, i would max out the RAM, though (simple and fairly cheap).

just remember to close all your day-to-day applications when you're recording so your system doesn't bog down. i would recommend getting an external hard drive to do your recording on — leaving the internal drive free to handle the system and application demands — but some people say they record on their system drives with no worries.

You should be able to use that laptop for recording, BUT you're going to want an audio interface -- something to plug the mics/guitars into. You can get an interface that will plug into one of your USB ports.

If it were my machine, I've probably buy an external 7200 rpm drive that connects via that eSATA port. That's where I'd store the audio data for projects.

FWIW, a few years ago I bought the cheapest laptop on the planet, just to read in bed. Once I hooked up a good audio interface, it became my mobile recording rig... and it works just fine.

P.S. In my opinion and experience, mixing the internet and recording is asking for grief. A lot of people do it, but you're always running the risk of malware and viruses making your music work inaccessible. If you can afford it, dedicated computers are definitely the way to go... and the one that goes on the internet shouldn't have ANYTHING you care about on it... especially financial stuff.

Looks better than the machine I'm recording with at home. I only do one or two tracks at a time, so it doesn't cause too many problems. I can run a decent number of plugins too.

Heck, that's not too far removed from the machine that I record 24 tracks onto at work. The only issue there is getting the tracks in, and laptops aren't always too friendly toward the higher-end interfaces. USB is the way to go for a couple of tracks. The express card slot is the way to go for more, and in that case there's some debate over what kinds of latency one can expect with the various chipsets out there.

There may be some limitation with the 5400RPM hard drive. I haven't run into any issues with mine, but again, that's one or two tracks at a time, and a handful more on playback. I don't do serious work with my home machine.

I think it will be fine. Like Ben said the drive speed may affect it to a small degree. I've never recorded or done anything real time with a remote drive at home. You may get a NAS type drive to record to. You can at least mirror the drives that way. Processor and memory look just fine but remember, any laptop will be shade lighter in performance than a similarly configured desktop. You probably won't se emuch difference unless you're recording 16-24 tracks in at once and maybe not even then. Go for it.

I had trouble recording to a 5400 rpm drive on my old desktop computer a few years back, more than two or three tracks and it would start bogging down. However, I was using nTrack Studio, a notoriously buggy program (which is too bad, as I loved the features and the workflow!). Changing to a 7200 rpm drive took care of the bogging down, switching to Reaper took care of the buggy-ness!

Tim

Ok guys...I sold my BR900CD today. A buddy had borrowed a mic for a gig and when he came to drop it off he said that if I ever wanted to part with the BR to just let him know. I said that I had been considering it since I got the new comp but I just wasn't sure. He offered me $300 for it, which is what I had figured I would ask anyway...and I figured I would get haggled down from that number so I took his offer.
So what all do I need to go with the computer to make recordings happen? I need some type of interface...any recommendations? I need Reaper or some comparable program. I have a mic I like, a usable preamp...all the stuff from the old setup except for the BR itself.
Point me in the right direction here. I don't need high end professional recordings. I'd like to get good "bang-for-the-buck" type stuff.
Didn't know if this was worthy of a new thread or not so I thought I'd try here first.

Depending on how many tracks you need to record at once becomes the issue here. At home as I mentioned above I use a Line 6 Tone Port 2. Very inexpensive around $150.00. Great mic pre amps , lots of guitar effects, amp sims. I use it with Cool Edit and get good results. I can run two XLR inputs and two 1/4 inch inputs in the front. It has two line in inputs ( 1/4 inch ) in the back. Pretty versatile little box. I have had mine for three years now without any problems. And it gets used a lot.

The newest problem I've run into is finding an interface with a line in. I like to record with the line out of my MiniMass. Any suggestions? It doesn't appear the Tone Port has a line in or maybe I'm just not finding the correct ones.

maybe i don't understand what a line in is.. sometimes i record direct with a roland microcube.. i've plugged that thing into a small mixer and then to my audio interface.. and now that i have a motu interface, i dont even use the mixer anymore. i would think a tone port would work the same way.

the machine looks great to me. its a lot more powerful than what i use for recording. i run reaper.

the eSATA drive could be of great use to you.. awhile back i purchased an external drive that does mirroring.. 500 GB of mirrored disk via 1394 (firewire)

the eSATA is an even better alternative to firewire.. a very fast connection... i think you'll be ok with the internal 54000 rpm drive for getting started..but down the road it would be worth investing in an external drive connected via that eSATA

cool machine.. congrats.

maybe i don't understand what a line in is..

in functional terms, it means an input that bypasses the preamp.