[Nick77]

Hi i am using a SB3 to stream music to my system. My Asus P-4 desktop tanked and am considering a laptop instead. Primary use is surfing, email, photos and music server.

#1 Is there any reason i shouldnt consider a laptop for my new squeezecenter based music server?
#2 What features should i look for in a new laptop considering music server
     as the primary function?
#3 I have been looking at intel laptop w/i3 chip but may spring for i5 instead for extra longevety of system, is the newer chip worth shopping for?

Thanks....

[skunark]

I'm currently using a laptop to serve music files.  One plus is that the laptops have a built-in power supply so it's easier to leave on 24x7 without the fear of a power outage causing data loss.   One negative is the drive space, I currently have a 2TB firewire drive connected to my laptop which holds all of my music, and this really makes the laptop unmovable.  Another possible negative is that you might want to use a wired connection over wireless (i prefer wired), and this again makes the laptop unmovable.   

Features for a laptop: 
Wireless - If you plan on doing wireless, I would make sure it has full frontal N.. 802.11a/b/g/n   I've noticed increased range with the N wireless NICs and routers.  You don't have to upgrade your router, but would allow you to upgrade if you had issues with bandwidth on a wireless network
Wired - I would require gigibit if you were going to stream any video.
USB ports - I would count the number of USB ports.  Most likely you will have to store you files on an external drive, so I'm guessing 2-3 USB ports would be important so you can avoid any USB hubs.  Getting a laptop with firewire is a huge score IMO as this allows you to daisy chain multiple harddrives and is faster than USB2.0.  eSATA is also a plus and even faster than FW.
Core i3 vs i5 - I would consider the i5 if you use any editing software like Adobe lightroom.  Otherwise, on a budget, I would consider a minimum of 4GB RAM, faster(7200rpm)/larger HDD or an SSD before an i5.

Bonus features:
SD slot that's built in is convenient for media
optical output is also nice, and would free up a USB port if you used a USB dac,  - quality will probably vary here.

Just my two-cents, mileage and situations will vary

[FullRangeMan]

Hi i am using a SB3 to stream music to my system. My Asus P-4 desktop tanked and am considering a laptop instead. Primary use is surfing, email, photos and music server.

#1 Is there any reason i shouldnt consider a laptop for my new squeezecenter based music server?
#2 What features should i look for in a new laptop considering music server
     as the primary function?
#3 I have been looking at intel laptop w/i3 chip but may spring for i5 instead for extra longevety of system, is the newer chip worth shopping for?

Thanks....

Hi,
Perhaps you will want quit invest money in MusicServers as some classical music labels(as Naxos) are already selling music streams in their site.

MusicServers are absolete if the custumer use this method of listening music, the user will Pay-per-Listening the music direct from the music Label Site, no more need buy expensive Terabytes of hard-drive to store huge music data files in your home.

The recording company will hapilly store the files and the musiclover will listenig it, when he want, no DRM copy, no piracy, no backup need, no MusicServers crashes etc
I think you would like to know this.
Gustavo

>Never go to a psychiatrist, adopt a cat or dog from the street. On the streets they live only two years average.

[srb]

Hi,
Perhaps you will want quit invest money in MusicServers as some classical music labels(as Naxos) are already selling music streams in their site.

Perhaps some other music streaming sites differ, and certainly in the future as internet bandwith becomes greater, full fidelity lossless streams will be available, but the Naxos site you referred to is currently streaming 128kbps files (premium service), which is hardly high fidelity.
 
Steve

[JEaton]

I would give at least some thought to having both a laptop for your computing needs like web surfing and email and also a dedicated music server to run Squeezebox Server.  I don't know about you, but one of the great advantages for me in having a laptop at home is using it wirelessly and on battery power in different parts of the house.  In the office doing work, in the bedroom late night answering email, in the listening room while listening to music, the living room while watching TV or a movie (a [bad?] habit I've gotten into is looking up actors and actresses in the middle of movies).  That's not ideal, though, for a Squeezebox Server, as you usually want the server to be always available, wired into your network (less prone to dropouts), and you're also probably going to be hanging a large external hard drive from it since you'll have limited internal disk space.

There are a lot of options for low-power computers to run Squeezebox Server, but one I like is the use of an Intel Atom based 'nettop' computer run headless with no keyboard, mouse or monitor.  Just set it up in a corner some place near your router and managed from another computer on the network.

[firedog]

I'd agree with the previous poster who suggested that the best way to run your audio system is to have a dedicated machine, which doesn't do non music server tasks like email, etc.

You can have a very modest machine for this, even a netbook will work fine. Then the main issue then is whether you can get one with enough HD space.

[Thump553]

External USB hard drives are plentiful and cheap.  I just bought a 1 TB one for $59.  A few months ago I got a 1.tTB for $90-100.  Buy extra and make backups.

The only arguments I can think of against using a laptop is they are more expensive than desktops, way harder to repair and have shorter lives, generally.  But cheap desktops seem to be becoming a thing of the past, retailers are pushing laptops now.