notebook non-recommendation for audio applications

[Rainer Straschill <moinsound@googlemail.com>]

This is to inform you that (specific models of) the Dell Studio series
are practically unusable for the stuff we do.

The reason are huge DPC latency spikes - on my test system (Studio
1737) in the >3000us range every 5 seconds, which (in the example of
Ableton Live) will have audio drop out every five seconds for latency
settings below the 25ms (single way) range.

The problem has been reported independently of me by RME tech support:
http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3873 (they found
>8000us spikes on a Studio 1535). They suspected it might be fixable
with a BIOS revision, but didn't get any reply whatsoever from Dell
support.

So basically keep your hands off this series - apart from that, the
1737 is a really beautiful laptop which can be had for a very
competitive price currently (until 16th of June) directly from Dell.
Buggers they fucked that up.


So....any recommendations for a notebook in that tech range?
Something like:
    * Intel P8600 or comparable CPU
    * 17 inch display
    * GB LAN and Draft-N WLAN
    * nice to haves:
       * onboard TI IEEE 1394
       * two harddiscs
       * card reader fir SDHC and xD

            Rainer

ps: just for comparison - my eight-year-old Toshiba has a DPC latency
in the 300us range - my current desktop system, although at no time
optimized specifically for that, clocks in at 20us. That's more than
two orders of magnitude...