New Laptop Needed - Expresscard Essential

GTE

Hey all,

I got my trusty Toshiba P300 stolen over the weekend. Fantastic laptop (one of the best I have ever come across). For my use, it worked great as it had an Expresscard so I could install a Texas Instruments firewire card. It also had two internal hard drives which was great for the kind of audio work I do too.

I recently upgraded the RAM to 8gb. I am generally very good with computer tech but once my old laptop started working so well with the RAM upgrade, I fell out of date in terms of upgrade specification. I had the machine for 5 years!!

What I Need:
A) Either dual HDD setup with 7200rpm discs or a USB3/Firewire/eSata port to add a high speed 2nd HDD.

Texas Instruments firewire port (in addition to the above point) or an Expresscard 34mm for a firewire card (which was my setup with the old laptop)

C) 8GB of RAM, at least.

A MacBook Pro would meet points A, B and C as the internal Firewire port is Texas Instruments or an audio friendly make. Windows based laptops nearly never have audio friendly firewire ports so they absolutely need the expresscard slot with any additional firewire port being used for a specific, firewire only piece of hardware which I would like to keep in service.

Toshiba Tecra has the Expresscard slot and some USB3/eSata ports as far as I know. Small screen, which I don't mind too much. I had a 17" but would like a 15 or maybe smaller. Not a deal breaker anyway. They seem quite expensive for what they are compared to a HP Elitebook for instance.

Dell Vostro laptops have the Expresscard and USB3. Seem okay to me but I don't know too much about them.

Dell Precision laptops are pretty heavy duty with 2+ internal HDD, internal Firewire and an Expresscard slot.
HP Elitebooks are probably the most flexible with similar specs to the Precision.
These two would be great, maybe a bit too heavy but great specs.

In all honesty, if I got the Mac, I would install Windows on it immediately as the software I need runs better on it. The only handy thing about the Mac is that there is no need for a separate Firewire card to be slotted in.

On a final point, I have a family member who is willing to give me their old laptop as they think they need a new one. Their Toshibia Satellite Pro has the plastic moulding where an expresscard slot would go but there isnt actually one on the laptop. They seem to have it in their head that they can replace the motherboard for me and then I will have expresscard but the laptop is discontinued and I would imagine it is stupid expensive to implement. Plus, all the problems they are having with it just needs a Windows reinstall :rolleyes: If this is even remotely possible, I am sure they will see tunnel vision and just do it, so can it be done?

I appreciate any help or deals you can point out to me. I sadly do not have a budget at the moment but if we decide it is worth claiming on insurance, the old laptop cost 1200 to 1400 euro new. Lets use that as a max.

Robbing feckers!!

Just to give an idea of how I used my laptop:

HDD 1 - Internal - Windows
HDD 2 - Internal - Project work drive
HDD 3 - External eSata - Backup
USB 1 - HDD 4 - Backup
USB 2 - HDD 5 - Backup
USB 3 - USB Hub - Mouse, Keyboard, 2 software licence dongles
USB 4 - eSata being used for HDD 3
FireW - Internal - Audio device
FireW - Expresscard - Audio Sound Card, must be run through Texas Instruments

Thanks all!.