[microsound] OT: laptop for permanent sound installation - suggestions?

[Trond Lossius]

> Just a little over a month ago I have witnessed a mac mini failure
> (the night before the opening of the exhibition).  Video playback was
> involved (does that qualify as "processing"?).  The new mac mini that
> was purchased as a replacement did make it through the month, however.
> 
> I will restate my point again: consumer grade equipment (regardless of
> manufacturer) carries a high risk of failure in the context of
> permanent exhibition.  YMMV.

I agree. If you need to have an installation running for long periods of time, I would suggest looking towards server-grade solutions, as performance under strain for pro-longed periods of time, stability and redundancy is key to servers. I'm not sure that the minimac server qualifies as belonging to that league. Mirrored disks would probably be a good idea. I would also consider setting up remote administration and monitoring, and some kind of watchdog solution.

Cheers,
Trond