RE: Looping with a PC laptop... which one?

["Jonathan" <ssrndpty@hotmail.com>]

>We've been over this ground before.  The last time I suggested a 
>rackmounted desktop PC on this list as an alternative to a laptop I
>got no love from anyone.

I think the big problem with rack mounts is not the bulk and weight more
than anything else. If you're going to lug about a 30 lb pc, why not do
it with off the shelf components - ie strap down a desktop to a rack. 

Also, rackmounts aren't built for quiet operation - most are too loud
for even moderately intimate gigs, unless you are willing to switch out
the power supply. This is solved by strapping in pcs.

Some manufacturers custom build audio pcs, but they get to be about the
price of a laptop, and, as discussed here before, you have to do your
homework since the systems they configure aren't necessarily designed
for optimal value or performance.

>It's true that if you move a desktop PC around shit inside it comes
>loose. Nothing in it is really going to *break*, unless you drop 
>it, 

(For the record, I am dragging 2 Dell workstations around in a 16 space
shock rack all over the place, and taking it for rides in the back of a
pickup about once a month for my day job. Neither unit has had any
hardware issues at all.)

Actually, plenty can break - I'm more afraid of vibration damage myself,
than dropping it. The hard drives are the most vulnerable to this, but
motherboards and solders are brittle. The problems your going to get
from this kind of use will be the 'now it works, now it doesn't' - the
most frustrating, to track down problems. Then again, I haven't
experienced any of this so far myself, so I'm probably being paranoid.

>but it will come loose just enough so that shit doesn't work, or 
>works intermittently, which is no good for something you rely on in >a
live setting.  However, I think if you have the time beforehand 
>to open the PC up and re-seat, or just give a checking over to all >the
cards, power connectors, IDE cables, RAM, etc. it might be 
>viable.

I don't think I'm too excited about the idea of adding this to my
preflight checklist. Performance artist, I'm not :> However, if you have
done a good job of building your machine, I'll argue it shouldn't be
necessary. You have to get into serious vibration to knock loose screws
and IDE cables - at that point I'd be more worried that my hard drives
still worked at all.


bIz