Sony Vaio Z1 Compatibility

[Sorahiko]

Just a simple question... Will GPO run perfectly on a SONY VAIO Z1 series laptop? They feature Pentium M processors and (Centrino Technology) the Intel 855PM Chipset. The only sound information I can gather is:

Audio input None
Audio output Sound card
Compliant standards Microsoft WSS 1.0/2.

Maybe somebody here uses one or somehow knows? This information would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[KevinKauai]

In my opinion, the main thing you need with GPO (and associated sequencer, presumably) is a good speed P-4 processor (2 gHz or better) and as much RAM (at least 1 gig) as you can muster up. Regardless of the builtin soundcard, you may want to consider an outboard device (my M-Audio FireWire 410 box is about as big as a laptop, but it runs on Firewire and provides you with MIDI IN/OUT, Audio L/R in, S/PDIF optical IN/OUT and up to 8 analog outputs, for monitoring your eventual surround mixes).

My other personal reservation about running GPO and/or sequencer (or scoring software such as Overture which comes with the GPO package) is screen \"real estate\". I\'m now running my music setup on TWO 18-inch monitors (and wishing for 4). Perhaps that\'s just me.

i hope this helps ... kev /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Sorahiko]

Thanks for your suggestion! However, I really don\'t have any choice but to use a Pentium M processor, as the Centrino Technology offers amazing battery times and I like to compose in inspiring locations. (Much like the guy on the beach in the GPO banner ad /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

For some additional information, I have seen GPO on a Pentium M with Intel 855 Chipsets and AC97 Soundblaster Pro and it worked great. Maybe from this information someone could tell me if running it on a Sony Vaio Z1 would essentially be the same thing. I know it runs on that particular processor and chipset, but I\'m not sure about the sound hardware stuff.

I\'m concerned about GPO being picky about its hardware, as I tried running it on my P4 computer and it didn\'t work. (No problem though, I planned on using a laptop anyway) Although the requirements listed on the site are pretty loose, such as \"Windows-compatible MIDI hardware\", that P4 incident made me wary of what GPO will/won\'t work on. That incompatibility could have been the chipsets of that computer or the sound hardware (I know it wasn\'t the processor), but I don\'t want to encounter those problems with my soon-to-be new notebook.

[Sorahiko]

Right now I\'m having a surprisingly hard time figuring out what the Z1 notebooks\' soundcards are and/or whether it supports DirectSound. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I hope there\'s someone out there that runs/has tried to run GPO on a Vaio Z1 or perhaps Gary can tell me whether it should work or not.

[Sorahiko]

I guess I\'ll just buy the notebook and keep my fingers crossed! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif