You really need a 7200 rpm drive вЂ“ and that isnвЂ™t standard on most computers so youвЂ™re looking $50-$100 or more (assuming youвЂ™re installing it yourself) and 4 gigs of memory or more (if not already installed вЂ“ again letвЂ™s say $50-100 depending on memory and model) вЂ“ so letвЂ™s just average $150 ($75+75) for memory and drive costs. If youвЂ™re running POD Farm 2.0 on a laptop consider this for a moment:ДЄ second generation Macbook will run you at least a grand. For that you get the same ins and outs that you got with the POD X3 вЂ“ 16 amp and cab models (apparently the modeling is built from the ground up in a completely different way than the previous pods вЂ“ hence the вЂњHDвЂќ), about 100 effects and an onboard looper that can loop audio up to 48 seconds (in 1/2 time mode вЂ“ 24 in regular speed). Even as compact as my laptop rig is вЂ“ it would still be faster to run through the HD than setting everything up on my laptop. ThereвЂ™s something about being able to plug something in and be up and running in no time at all. One thing I like about the laptop rig is being able to set things up quickly вЂ“ but as a friend of mine once quipped about another unit, вЂњвЂ¦you canвЂ™t check your e-mail on dedicated hardware вЂ“ but itвЂ™s also much less likely to break down on stage.вЂќДЄnother nice thing about dedicated hardware is the fact that itвЂ™s self contained. I have been taking a good look at the POD HD 500. Having prefaced this вЂ“ with any luck this post wonвЂ™t make you crazy. One thing that occasionally drives me crazy is trying to find out about a piece of gear вЂ“ finding a googled link вЂ“ reading through a multi page posting involving specific gearВ only to get to a final point of, вЂњOh I donвЂ™t have the unit and IвЂ™ve never tried it вЂ“ but IвЂ™ve read the specs.вЂќ

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