Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems minimum specs for laptop pc

What's the minimum I need in a laptop PC to run MConfig.? Any idea where to get one very cheap as I have no use for a PC otherwise.

Thanks.

Any machine you buy really needs to have Windows 2000 or you will waste hours on comms failures and partial firmware uploads leading to frequent crashes. I can run the old Meridian set up programme on a Windows 98 laptop without a hitch, but Mconfig (when I had the G goodies) just didn't want to play at all. Used my wife's w2k machine and all was well. You'd be hard pressed in this day and age to even find a machine who's hardware isn't capable (ie processor and RAM) of running the programme.

Cheers

George

Good to know, I've had problems connecting w/my wife's work laptop which has Windows XP. It was fine w/my old 568.2 but rarely works w/the G68.

You can get brand new laptops for as little as $500.00 tha run XP.

Most major brands offer refurbs but often the prices are outdated so be careful.

Otherwise check eBay.

Not many new laptops around that offer serial ports any longer.

USB to Serial adapters are available, however I don't know how reliable they are.

The HP nc6xxx series are some of the rare few left with serial ports.

cheers,

John

I have a cable set up w/a USB to Serial adapter that has worked w/a couple of laptops. Am looking for something used, cheap as possible that runs Window 2000. Just can't get myself to spend $500 for a computer I'll only use to config. the G.

It sucks that M doesn't have onscreen setup like my old Lex. or Proceed or almost anything else out there. Makes setting and resetting a chore.

USB Adapters work fine. I use one from I-Concepts that is the size of a large connector. Only complaint is that the COM port changes periodically if I play with my bluetooth COM ports or something.

I like the way Meridian does things. You can completly reset the machine and persist it's state in your computer. On Lexicon you have to write it down and play with the remote for a while. With Meridian I just re-download it. You have way more control over room correction. You can also send your configuration to Meridian or other owners to diagnose config problems. It's a way more powerful solution.

Lexicon used to make any tweak you made permanent, it drove me nuts and discouraged me from tweaking. With Meridian I tweak all the time because I know it's not gonna stick (unless I want it too). I know Lexicon way going to introduce multiple presets shortly after I moved over to Meridian to address this, not exacty sure what they came up with. But Meridian did it right a long time ago.

There is a zillion cheap laptops on eBay.

http://cgi.eBay.com/IBM-ThinkPad-R3...1715QQcategoryZ31554QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It's a shame you're in the US. I have just bought a replacement laptop to run more intensive applications and have my old Toshiba (with Serial & USB) to get rid of.

It quite happilly runs Win 98 and MConfig and does a great job at processing Room Correction calculations.

Anyone else in the UK interested? Let me know and I'll post more specs, but from memory it's a Toshiba SP4290 Intel Celeron.

"....I have no use for a PC otherwise."

How do you access this board then?

No, seriously I thought being a computer geek was compulsory for Meridian fans.

Cliff

By PC I meant Windows-running machines. I've been a Mac guy for twenty years. Too bad that Toshiba is overseas. The IBM listed on eBay runs XP which I had problems w/on my wife's Thinkpad. Don't know if it was XP or something w/the machine, but I think I'll go for Windows 98 or 2000.

If you can save presets now w/the Lex., that'd solve the write down problem. v3 could not do this. Still liked that system better though as I'm not a frequent tweaker. If it has to be a trade-off which I'm not sure it does, I'll take a touch less flexibility for added convenience and ease of use.

Set up a sub and new surrounds this weekend using the front panel on the G68 and it wasn't so bad, but was still wishing for an OSD.

I'd stay away from 98, far far away.

And I'd only do 2000 if it has a real serial port.

USB devices are a headache on 2000.

Personally I'd go with XP, much more friendly w.r.t. to device configuration.

ThinkPads in general are very good.

If you get stuff that's too dated you have other headaches.

George --

So I take it XP works for you -- thanks.

-- Bob