Re: [LAD] How well do thinkpad notebooks work for audio?

On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 12:27:12AM +0200, hollunder@email-addr-hidden wrote:

> It feels like my several year old PC will crap out soon for one reason
> or another, so I need a replacement, better sooner than later.
> This time it should be a laptop and I heard that formerly IBM and now
> Lenovo thinkpads are of good build quality, even if they only come
> with intel CPUs and cost an arm and a leg.
>
> So, do you have any experience with those for audio work?
> I'd be most interested in the T and R series and more recent models.
> Also helpful would be some data that's impossible to find on websites:
> - What chipsets are built in?
> - do the usb buses and the like share interrupts with something nasty
> like graphics?

I've been using my R51 for five years or so (and this message
is sent from it), and it has never failed to do what I wanted.
This one is from the IBM years, and it's certainly solid and
dependable. The only thing that has degraded so far is the
battery, down to more or less half its original capacity.
I don't know if Lenovo is up to the same standards. Never
used the modem, but all the rest has worked nicely. Also
never used any 3D-graphics drivers.
As for audio I've mainly used it with USB cards, either for
recording or mixing, always with -n 3 -p 256 and that worked
very well. I've used it to mix 24-track Ardour sessions.

Of course chipsets etc. change faster than you can imagine
and current machines from the same stable could and will be
entirely different. But I can't say anything bad about this
one.

Some additional info:

fons@email-addr-hidden:~> cat /proc/interrupts
           CPU0
  0: 424020 XT-PIC-XT timer
  1: 1803 XT-PIC-XT i8042
  2: 0 XT-PIC-XT cascade
  3: 129145 XT-PIC-XT uhci_hcd:usb3, ohci1394, ipw2200
  4: 2 XT-PIC-XT uhci_hcd:usb2
  7: 2 XT-PIC-XT parport0
  8: 0 XT-PIC-XT rtc0
  9: 9402 XT-PIC-XT acpi
 10: 670962 XT-PIC-XT yenta, uhci_hcd:usb1, radeon@email-addr-hidden:0000:01:00.0
 11: 2 XT-PIC-XT ehci_hcd:usb4, Intel 82801DB-ICH4, Intel 82801DB-ICH4 Modem
 12: 97569 XT-PIC-XT i8042
 14: 13348 XT-PIC-XT libata
 15: 122766 XT-PIC-XT libata
NMI: 0
LOC: 0
ERR: 0
MIS: 0

fons@email-addr-hidden:~> lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82855PM Processor to I/O Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82855PM Processor to AGP Controller (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 81)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] (rev 02)
02:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4520 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
02:00.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments Unknown device 802a (rev 01)
02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82540EP Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Mobile) (rev 03)
02:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection (rev 05)

fons@email-addr-hidden:~> lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1668:2441 Actiontec Electronics, Inc. [hex]
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Ciao,

-- 
FA
Io lo dico sempre: l'Italia è troppo stretta e lunga.
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