CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Nashou66]

Well Ever since XP is not supported any longer many calibration softwares, firmware upadters, and VP control programs need newer OS to run. So I need a laptop for these programs specifically. I will hardly use this for anything else but calibration, CRT control and firmware updating. Mostly to run Calman5 Business.

What is out there for under 350 that is reliable and has enough power to run a multitude of these programs together
with a second display connected from time to time.

oh: And at least a 15" screen.



Athanasios

[Curt Palme]

I was in the same boat, as a lot of the audio (and CRT control software) runs on a serial 9 pin port only. Fortunately, none of mine need any processing power to speak of, so I have an old Dell D600 that runs that stuff for me. I got 4 backups at the recycler in case mine fries, and luckily I did, as my main one crashed about 2 years ago. Pulled the HD, swapped it into another unit, and was back up and running.

You need more processing power, so I'll leave it to others to comment, but I'd make sure I had two for exactly the reason I state above.

[Curt Palme]

I was in the same boat, as a lot of the audio (and CRT control software) runs on a serial 9 pin port only. Fortunately, none of mine need any processing power to speak of, so I have an old Dell D600 that runs that stuff for me. I got 4 backups at the recycler in case mine fries, and luckily I did, as my main one crashed about 2 years ago. Pulled the HD, swapped it into another unit, and was back up and running.

You need more processing power, so I'll leave it to others to comment, but I'd make sure I had two for exactly the reason I state above.

[gjaky]

I would think any laptop with at least a core 2 duo processor will do the trick, for windows 7, 3GB ram is an absolute must, but better yet with 4GB, I would choose a Dell or HP, sometimes they still have 9pin serial port, if you need.

[Nashou66]

[Curt Palme]

Just beware that the video chips on the DV series almost all need reballing at some point in time. Typical symptom is, the unit powers up, no video, no nothing else, no bootup. Fortunately, I dealt with a good company on ebay that repaired them for $80 incl return shipping. They had a really high success rate with those Nvidia failures, like 98%.

[Curt Palme]

Just beware that the video chips on the DV series almost all need reballing at some point in time. Typical symptom is, the unit powers up, no video, no nothing else, no bootup. Fortunately, I dealt with a good company on ebay that repaired them for $80 incl return shipping. They had a really high success rate with those Nvidia failures, like 98%.

[Nashou66]

I now have the equipment to reball those chips. I have done three Onkyo receivers with success .

So is that a good deal?

nashou

[Nashou66]

Ok looking at this instead. Refurbished and more of what I want.

Free shipping as well!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Pavilion-17-E110DX-17-3-Laptop-PC-AMD-Quad-Core-A8-Refurbished/331201668077?rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D22425%26meid%3D7016397256763424709%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D9723%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D251535707498%26

[ecrabb]

Do you really need anything that elaborate, Nashou? That's way more money than I'd sink into PC to have around just to do the occasional Calman or REW session.

An old neighbor of mine has his own small business, and their core business is refurbishing computers they buy in bulk from corporate customers.

Here's an example of one of their machines:
http://desmoines.craigslist.org/syd/4460922355.html

15-inch, Win 7 Pro, and dual-core - I assume a Core 2 Duo or AMD equivalent. 3GB of RAM is a little slim, but you're just using it an hour or two here and there.

SC

[Nashou66]

Hi Steve, well Calman and Chromapure need a lot of processing, especially CalMan. And With wanting to run a second Screen while calibrating I figure a better machine is needed. Also I planed to run booth Calibration softwares together, one to monitor the center of the Screen while the other will be used to calibrate the Edges during Zone Contrast modulation. Adjusting the Zomes does alter the center. So I want to try to keep the affect at center as small as possible. If i was not measuring the center as I adjust and measure the edges I would have to move the probes back and forth and then it would change a little bit when I try to place the probes back in the same spots on the edges and canter. Running dual Cal programs and the marquee controller will allow the two probes to stay put and give me a constant read out.And some times my sessions go for 8 hours or longer.

And the amazon reviews are not good for that model you posted, also I hate Dell,

[ecrabb]

I wasn't suggesting that specific model as much as I was suggesting a cheaper model than the one you posted.

I guarantee that Calman doesn't need that much in the way of processing. Edit/ripping/compressing video? Editing large Photoshop files? 3D modeling and rendering? Running the latest 3D games? Yeah, those things need a lot of processing power. Color calibration? No.

Computers have gotten so powerful, the average 3 year old machine with a RAM upgrade and a fresh OS on it is way, way more than the average person needs.

SC

[Spanky Ham]

Well, I am running a Dell Latitude after running a couple of Dell laptops over the years. This thing is powerful, but keyboard, touchpad, pointer seem wonky. Not sure what is going on with it. Outside of that it is an excellent machine.

I would think a used laptop with a Sandy Bridge CPU would be more than powerful enough. I doubt you would need dedicated graphics, so integrated should be fine.

[epatsellis]

Nashou,

I've got an Onkyo 1007 with any all the classic HDMI symptoms. Any idea what you would charge to reflow the BGA?

[Nashou66]