Music Production Laptop
So I'm looking to buy a new laptop very soon and I was hoping to get something that was powerful enough to run Ableton Live (or any DAW) perfectly. My budget is just around $1000. I'm not sure if any of these laptops have decent built in sound cards (except the Macbook) and could stop all the high latency problems I've been getting with Midi plugins recently...so I was hoping you all could help me make a decision.
Here are the Laptops:
#1
Dell Studio 14 inch-
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
NEW 2010 Intel® Core™ i5-430M 2.26GHz (2.53GHz Turbo Mode, 3M cache)
2 Year Basic Service Plan
320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
8X Slot Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Intel® HD Graphics
84 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery 6HOURS
Back-lit Keyboard
High Definition Audio 2.0
-------------------------------------------$988
#2
Sony VAIO VPC-W21FX/B 14-Inch Laptop (Black) -
Intel® Core™ i5-520M processor (2.40GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz
4GB (4GBx1) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
NVIDIA GeForce 310M 256 MB
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
320GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm)
Standard Capacity Battery (VGP-BPS13) 4HOURS
8X Slot Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Back-lit Keyboard
------------------------------------------$904.99
#3
Current MacBook
$999
I think that #2 seems like the best so far but I want some opinions from other producers who run a laptop setup. Let me know what you think.
Thanks.
Michael
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- by patrick.michael.brun
Hi Michael,
I work with a Dell Precision M4400 and have to say that although I owe an extended firewire Soundcard I never use it when working with Ableton because of the low latency (ASIO compatible) build-in soundcard (= IDT High Definition Audio). The amount of VST's you can use on a system without loss of latency mostly depends on your CPU power and has less to do with a soundcard nowadays. (Although extended gear, like the Lynx AES16 + Aurora 8 we use, can reach a latency of less than 0,79 ms as soon as you use a lot of VST's you will need a bigger buffersize and therefore get more latency)
This is why I would recommend a system with the highest CPU power. (Mine is an Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q9100 @ 4x 2.26Ghz but this is way over your budget I'm afraid..)
Grtz,
RAF
Thanks for the advice RAF. I kept looking around for good laptop processor deals and found this setup for just around my budget:
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
Memory
4GB1 Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
Hard Drive
320GB2 SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Video Card
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 1GB
Seems great to me :)
Hi Patrick,
Yeah, the new i7 is a great processor. Read very positive reviews about it.
I would go for this deal! ;)
Grtz,
RAF
Thanks for the advice Raf! Got my laptop yesterday. Great buy :D. Only thing is that my Sylenth vst is not compatible with windows 7 yet :(.
Yes it it is, i'm running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and Sylenth without a problem. Do an upgrade to the latest version. Most of my synths come from the Sylenth.
This musical electric device is really useful for me. So, I would be great full to you and I always running this device and also this is very compatible with my system.
It played audio well. So, thanks a lots.
Radio Production
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