Powerful Laptop deal under $1000 (audio production)

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  wukachuka on 28/12/2016 - 10:12

  Audio production most definitely does use hyperthreading.
  The only daw i know that doesn't is Ableton Live.

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    ac17 on 28/12/2016 - 11:26

    I was thinking about moving to Linux and getting a cheaper laptop (lower spec) because it doesn't require as much processing power. I would then use Bitwig (Daw made by ex-ableton crew). But I think I'd still need windows for certain applications, and then having a lower spec in that environment would drive me nuts.

    As probably would having to re-learn a DAW.

    Any comments re my link above?

    I saw some quad core i5s on Grays Online (i5-6300HQ - no hyperthreading), but all are refurbished, none have warranty, and with all of their fees, postage, and the mob mentality that goes with auctions (which leads to inflated prices, not bargains) the prices are only 300 cheaper than a slightly newer model laptops by the same manufacturer which by comparison are brand new and with a full warranty (I just don't get it…)

    Jbhifi has $3500 Alienware, or crap $450 AMD quad cores. Everything else is dual core,and probably not as powerful as my previous laptop.

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  wukachuka on 28/12/2016 - 11:46

  I don't know a whole lot about laptops , i've been using a desktop for 20 years.
  Having said that, the entire process of choosing would be down to what exactly you are going to be doing production-wise really.
  Having mentioned bitwig, i am guessing electronic music?
  In which case, the one you have narrowed it down to seems very likely to be up to the task and then some!

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  [Deactivated] on 28/12/2016 - 11:53

  For under 1k you're not going to get m2 slots usually, most likely Sata 6gbps

  You have to make sacrifices or buy the last gen of the same model laptop

  For music production you do not need a hugely insane cpu / processor, it depends if you are making electronic music or recording actual music into the pc via an interface, this will dictate the minimum specs you need, I ran FLStudio with 32 tracks fine on a basic i3 machine which did the job through asio4all

  Full HD is certainly a benefit and you'll want that for DAW window space

  http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/411447/NOTEBOOKS_15/MSI/CX62_6QD… would be the laptop I choose as well mate,

  GTX940 will take load off the CPU when using a DAW
  CPU is alright for what you will be doing electronically, its a HQ model so its got more grunt than most others
  8gb ram ddr4 is pretty good too, so its future proof

  Essentially a decent gaming laptop too, but should do fine for audio production, the screen also does 94% of the colour gamut which is great for video editing if you go down that road

  I would lay the cash down for it asap

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  ac17 on 28/12/2016 - 14:06

  Thanks - Why ASAP? - it's the same price as before Xmas, and the 7th gen laptops are coming out with 1050gtx cards, and CES is in a few days.

  I'm impressed you ran all those tracks through FL studio.

  OK - on my last laptop (2nd gen quad core i7, 2630QM and 8gb ram) I generally was hitting 35% cpu usage for projects with fairly intense synth and automation.

  Multitasking at the same time (eg watching YouTube tutorials or videos on vlc) in the background wasn't a problem.

  But I've read that my cpu was as good as 6th gen and 7th gen dual cores.

  Damn shame about the motherboard failing but it was 4yrs old.

  I do realize that many people write on pissy little Mac books as well, but that involves alot of freezing and flattening tracks to cut back on cpu usage.

  I reckon I could probably get by with an i5-6300HQ but the cost savings are not substantially cheaper.

  It would be lovely to know whether a modern dual core can handle my stuff. - there are so many more dual cores on the market atm. Maybe I'll try borrowing someones.

  But when I read a CPU benchmark comparing my previous CPU (2630QM) to a 6th or 7th gen dual core, it doesn't really seem to be a massive difference between the two.