Go Back   Cockos Incorporated Forums > REAPER Forums > REAPER Compatibility

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-13-2014, 09:29 AM   #1
Chumer
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 3
Default HP Envy Touchsmart M7-J178CA Help Please & Much Thanks!

Hello everyone,

I just bought me an HP Envy Touchsmart laptop model M7-J178CA for $1199.99 at Best Buy Canada (plus taxes) and I intend to use it with Cakewalk Sonar X3 (as well as other music software such as Reaper of course). I'm still going to buy a tower-style PC (in the next month) for my home studio but I really like the idea of being able to record and edit in the box wherever I may be.

Screen Size 17.3 in
Native Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
LED Backlit Display Yes
Touchscreen Display Yes
3D Capable Display No
Processor Type Intel Core i7 4700MQ
Processor Cores 4
Processor Speed 2.4 GHz
Hard Drive Capacity 1 TB (Hybrid Hard Drive)
Hard Drive Speed 5400 rpm
SSD Function Not Applicable
id-State Hybrid Drive No
RAM Size 16 GB
RAM Type DDR3L SDRAM
RAM Slots 2
Optical Drive SuperMulti DVD Burner
Built-in Memory Card Reader Yes
Memory Card Reader - Compatible Memory Type SD Cards
Graphics Chipset NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M Graphics
Video Memory Configuration Dedicated
Dedicated Video Memory Size 2 GB
Wireless Display (WiDi) Capable Yes
Speaker Wattage Beats Audio
Integrated Microphone Yes
Microphone Input Yes
Webcam Yes
Keyboard Language Bilingual
Numeric Keypad Yes
Backlit Keyboard Yes
Type of Pointing Device Clickpad
USB 2.0 Ports 0
USB 3.0 Ports 4
VGA Output No
HDMI Output Yes
HDCP Compliant Yes
IEEE 1394 Input/Output No
eSATA Port No
ExpressCard/34 Input No
ExpressCard/54 Input No
IR Receiver No
Other Input or Output Ports HP Protectsmart Hard Drive Protection; HP Simplepass With Integrated Fingerprint Reader; 1 Supporting USB Boost; 1 Headphone-Out/Microphone-In Combo Jack
Ethernet Port 10/100/1000
Integrated Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Integrated Bluetooth Yes
Approximate Battery Life Information Not Available
Battery Type Lithium-Ion
Battery - Number of Cells 6
Battery - Capacity 2800 mAh
Energy Star Qualified Yes
Pre-loaded Operating System Windows 8.1
Operating System Language Bilingual
Loaded Software Pinger; Skype; HP Support Assistant; CyberLink PowerDirector

As indicated above, it comes with a one 1 TB hybrid drive and I figure it's going to work best with the addition of an SSD (or maybe two). I could remove the optical drive thus giving me three internal bays in total (at least I believe I can correct me if I am wrong).

My thinking is to use the existing 1 TB hybrid drive for the OS, applications & plug-ins and one SSD for sample libraries and audio projects. But perhaps I would be better off with the existing 1 TB hybrid drive plus two SSD's making a total of three drives. On the other hand some people feel a single SSD is so good now that it's best to simply use one big SSD and eschew more than one drive altogether. Check out the Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB or the new Crucial M500 1 TB below.

Drive configuration options (including the argument for a single large SSD) http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=117456

Samsung 840 EVO vs. Crucial M500 http://techreport.com/review/25763/c...ng-840-evo-1tb

Questions:

1) Will the HP model M7-J178CA do a good job?

2) What would be the best way to configure it in terms of additional internal drives?

3) I feel the HP model M7-J178CA represents really good value and so far it runs beautifully, however it's still on it's 30 day return policy so I'm not obligated to keep it, however I do not want to turn this whole ordeal into a career, especially in light of the fact that I'll still be buying a tower-style PC (in the next month) for my home studio but I really like the idea of being able to record and edit in the box wherever I may be. Thoughts?

4) It seems I may need an adapter kit for the SSD's, and the one listed following appears to be a good bet (again I am open to suggestions). However it might be that I only need the rubber rails (if even that) and not need the SATA Cable / connector, I am not sure. It depends I guess if this cable is intended to allow the SSD to connect to the internal SATA port of the laptop, or if it's intended to connect the SSD to USB so as to allow data transfer. Note that I already have a Thermalake 2.5 /3.5 HDD USB docking station, so I would not need a USB to SATA adapter for data transfer. http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index....roducts_id=542

Very much thanks for all your help!
Chumer is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 04:46 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.