Cheap laptops

[kiwigeo]

Aussie Post are having a special on HP 250 laptops. Theyre not super high spec models but at $250 they're perfect for sitting in your workshop. Ive got one I bought last year and I use it purely for tap testing and other workshop duties.

The machine comes with a 500G hard drive so plenty of room for the porn pics and other important files

[lamanoditrento]

Thanks Martin do you have a link? I have been stalling buying a windows laptop as I find it so galling to have to buy a one for the sole purpose of running VA. May be this is the push I need

[kiwigeo]

Thanks Martin do you have a link? I have been stalling buying a windows laptop as I find it so galling to have to buy a one for the sole purpose of running VA. May be this is the push I need

VA was the main reason I bought the cheap laptop....VA runs ok on a Mac via Paralleles but moving the data files around is a pain.
I cant find a link to the Aussie Post laptops..I got a flyer in my mailbox. if you go down to your local Aussiepost and ask they should be able to help you...or maybe that's me being an optimist?

[kiwigeo]

I lied....I found this. Its the same document Ive got in front of me here: http://catalogue.auspost.com.au/catalog ... e#pageNo=0

Price is $298 on the above document.......a bit higher then the $250 on my print version.

[lamanoditrento]

Why must you make this a forum of lies?

$289 is still cheap for lappy regardless. Still not sure I can bring myself to buy a lappy to run one app tho. How much of a pain is parrellels? It's about $80 plus windows for $180...

[Steve.Toscano]

Why not just use the phone/tablet app?

[kiwigeo]

Why not just use the phone/tablet app?

VA only comes in Windows flavour. I've tried a bunch of sound analysis programs but they don't compare with VA for ease of use and presentation of the data. I also run Excel on my laptop.

The bottom line is I dont think you can get much better value than $298 for a fully featured computer with a decent sized screen....a machine that can be left in your workshop.

[Steve.Toscano]

Why not just use the phone/tablet app?

VA only comes in Windows flavour. I've tried a bunch of sound analysis programs but they don't compare with VA for ease of use and presentation of the data. I also run Excel on my laptop.

Fair enough. Worthwhile mentioning: I've compared the app on my old shed phone (with built in mic) to results from VA (with my studio mic) and found the results to be identical, down to .1hz.
I have the app set up to export automatically straight into dropbox, i havent worked on this being plotted directly into csv yet (havent needed to), but i can do that on the computer from the results out of dropbox.

What i'm getting at is that with an old crappy phone (i use my old Galaxy S4 which doubles as my shed media player ), and 3 clicks my tap tests are recorded/saved/backed up in dropbox for viewing and reporting later from any computer, tablet or phone. Doesn't get much 'easier' then that.
No need for a bulky laptop or mic in the shed, clearing bench space/dust, waiting for laptop to start up, needing 3 hands to; tap / start VA / and hold mic, save reports manually, then copy them to a network to view on another computer or back them up - but hey if you guys want to go down that avenue so be it, don't let me get in the way.

[kiwigeo]

Fair enough. Worthwhile mentioning: I've compared the app on my old shed phone (with built in mic) to results from VA (with my studio mic) and found the results to be identical, down to .1hz.
I have the app set up to export automatically straight into dropbox, i havent worked on this being plotted directly into csv yet (havent needed to), but i can do that on the computer from the results out of dropbox.

What i'm getting at is that with an old crappy phone (i use my old Galaxy S4 which doubles as my shed media player ), and 3 clicks my tap tests are recorded/saved/backed up in dropbox for viewing and reporting later from any computer, tablet or phone. Doesn't get much 'easier' then that.
No need for a bulky laptop or mic in the shed, clearing bench space/dust, waiting for laptop to start up, needing 3 hands to; tap / start VA / and hold mic, save reports manually, then copy them to a network to view on another computer or back them up - but hey if you guys want to go down that avenue so be it, don't let me get in the way.

All comments taken onboard Felix. I might add that when youre using a pizeo pickup as your signal source (eg string testing jig) then I don't think the phone is an option. Tablet computers.......I hate the things.....using a screen keyboard is a pain and the iPad wasn't designed for easy on board storage of data files without using the internet.

[Allen]

Parallels is easy to use. It's Windows thats the pain in the arse.

You may also need to upgrade the RAM in your Mac, depending on how much Windows is going to want to use. I bumped mine up to 20GB because of some software I was running on Windows that was extremely memory hungry.

I run OSX on a 27" iMac and have Parallels on it running Windows 10 on a second desktop mirrored on a seperate monitor. You have access to both file systems if you set it up that way, and it's easy to open documents from either system as long as you have software that recognises the file.

Snapped a picture of it as I was writing this post.

[kiwigeo]

Parallels is a fast and stable bit of software. VA and other windows programs run pretty much just as fast over Parallels and OSX as they do on native Windows. For me it was just the inconvenience of moving data files between the Parallels directory system and the Windows directory system.

LOL that 27" iMac reminds me of the day I bought my wife one of those machines. She came and asked me what the new TV was doing on her desk

[Craig Bumgarner]

Felix, What is the name of the app you are using? I've been using the FFT app and find it very accurate and easy to use as well, to the point I have not opened VA in a long time. Saving and exporting however is cumbersome and while I don't save all my curves like I used to, the ability to save to DropBox quickly would be a big step up.

[old_picker]

yep this is a cheap laptop or notebook as they are more rightly called.
It's running an ancient processor on an end of life mainboard bundled in a substandard case. The OS it is running requires approximately 6 - 8 times the processing power and memory available . This machine is an excuse to sell another license for windows 10

You may get some value out of it by ditching windows and loading up Linux mint or another light weight Linux distro. It will certainly run like a mangey dog with windows

[kiwigeo]

yep this is a cheap laptop or notebook as they are more rightly called.
It's running an ancient processor on an end of life mainboard bundled in a substandard case. The OS it is running requires approximately 6 - 8 times the processing power and memory available . This machine is an excuse to sell another license for windows 10

You may get some value out of it by ditching windows and loading up Linux mint or another light weight Linux distro. It will certainly run like a mangey dog with windows

Ray, its a cheapie but were talking about running VA and Excel not impressing fellow travellers in the Qantas lounge or trying to mathematically model the universe. At less than $300 its the cheapest tool in my workshop.

Ive had one of these running for 12 months now and although it's covered in dust and gets a beating it still ticks away.

[old_picker]

impressing fellow travelers in the Qantas lounge or trying to mathematically model the universe.

hee hee -
just making sure you blokes know that 90% of available resources is used just to get windows on the screen - as long as what's left does the work you need its all good -

i've re-purposed many old and not so old under powered machines with a lightweight OS - amazing what work they can do without having to carry the lumbering behemoth that is windows

[dshaker]

For much of my stuff, I use Peterson's iStrobosoft tuner on an iPhone, with the Tuning Tools option and the Extended Frequency Modes option. Grand total in US dollars:

• Tuner $9.99
  Tuning tools $9.99 (includes spectrographs)
  Extended frequency modes $4.99 (includes sub-bass)

Grand total $24.97

It doesn't give me a graph I can email to other folks, but if I am tapping a board, looking for a long-mode frequency, it works fine.
It has an option for filtering out the mains frequency. Really, a great deal for the money.

[kiwigeo]

Some good input on what people are using.....thanks guys.