What non Mac laptop?

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Social Exodus
Posts: 402
Joined: 19 Jan 2015
Location: Pennsyltucky

15 Jan 2018

Looking to get a new laptop to run both Reason 10 and SONAR, plus some chess programs (Fritz 15, if it matters). No, I don't want a Mac because SONAR and chess. This will replace a Sweetwater purpose built machine (CS250v2.1) that while still viable is also huge and since I'm moving and downsizing I would like to replace.

Any suggestions?
:reason: 11 Suite/12 Perpetual License :re: Too many to count :refill: A few choice items

Nektar Panorama P4
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scratchnsnifff
Posts: 1423
Joined: 21 Sep 2016

15 Jan 2018

I was looking at the msi gaming laptops but for a fraction of the stats and same price had To go with my MacBook Pro because that’s what my college clssses required :/
Mayor of plucktown :evil:

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EnochLight
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Location: Imladris

15 Jan 2018

Social Exodus wrote:
15 Jan 2018
Looking to get a new laptop to run both Reason 10 and SONAR, plus some chess programs (Fritz 15, if it matters). No, I don't want a Mac because SONAR and chess. This will replace a Sweetwater purpose built machine (CS250v2.1) that while still viable is also huge and since I'm moving and downsizing I would like to replace.

Any suggestions?
Do you seriously need it to be mobile (so that you can run off your battery in the park or wherever)? Or are you looking for speed? If the latter, then get the fastest CPU your wallet can afford. Minimum quad-core, and preferably more if you can afford it. 8 GB of RAM is the average these days; 16 GB if you plan to use large sample libraries. Most laptops these days are also shipping with an SSD for their main drive, so that should hopefully help - but many are shipping with just a 256 GB drive which fills up fast, IMHO, so perhaps opt for 512 or a 1 TB SSD if your wallet can afford it.
Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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friday
Posts: 336
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

15 Jan 2018

My Favorites:
- Surface Book 2 (15 inch)
- Dell XPS 15
- HP Spectre x360

I think CPU Performance is important, check this list: https://www.laptopmag.com/benchmarks/cpu-performance

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EnochLight
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Location: Imladris

15 Jan 2018

friday wrote:
15 Jan 2018
My Favorites:
- Surface Book 2 (15 inch)
- Dell XPS 15
- HP Spectre x360

I think CPU Performance is important, check this list: https://www.laptopmag.com/benchmarks/cpu-performance
It's frustrating for me. Two of the fastest CPU available for those machines above are the Core i7-7700HQ and the Core i7-8550U... and they are both still slower than my almost 6 year old Core i7-3770K. :( I dread the day I ever retire my desktop workstation and decide to go with a laptop.


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Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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joeyluck
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Posts: 11029
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

15 Jan 2018

EnochLight wrote:
15 Jan 2018
friday wrote:
15 Jan 2018
My Favorites:
- Surface Book 2 (15 inch)
- Dell XPS 15
- HP Spectre x360

I think CPU Performance is important, check this list: https://www.laptopmag.com/benchmarks/cpu-performance
It's frustrating for me. Two of the fastest CPU available for those machines above are the Core i7-7700HQ and the Core i7-8550U... and they are both still slower than my almost 6 year old Core i7-3770K. :( I dread the day I ever retire my desktop workstation and decide to go with a laptop.



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If you only work with Reason at home, than a laptop might not be for you. But still feasible for most I would say.

But for someone like myself and others who work almost everywhere but at home, a laptop is a necessity.

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Social Exodus
Posts: 402
Joined: 19 Jan 2015
Location: Pennsyltucky

16 Jan 2018

Thanks for all the replies. I already have a viable recording computer that I got from Sweetwater that is dead quiet and works well enough for me. The reason I am asking is a desire to consolidate down to a single portable machine that could do all the things I listed in conjunction with a move and downsizing effort. It's been a while since I really looked at laptops (I do have one, but it wouldn't do for recording) and I was curious what others were successfully using.
:reason: 11 Suite/12 Perpetual License :re: Too many to count :refill: A few choice items

Nektar Panorama P4
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ionly
Posts: 305
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

16 Jan 2018

I'm still working on a 10 yr old Samsung i3/8gb with a recent ssd upgrade. I've had to mod a fan to the underside, which I keep open, and bouncing is the norm (up to 10 project files to completion). It's hardly surprising that my patience is very very stretched, but I've managed to produce three albums - one currently ready for release - and master them all in Presonus with cpu-hungry plugs. It has also recovered from the contents of a bottle of wine and two coffees. My friends think it's hilarious - I think it's miraculous! Ironically, my creation process would be limited without limitations. I come from the good old days of four-track recorders, so having more tracks than fingers is ample. However, I'm hoping to upgrade some day, but I'm a stubborn and frugal bstd. Good luck! ;)

33db
Posts: 71
Joined: 26 Nov 2017

18 Jan 2018

My 2 bits, if it's just size then take a look at a quadcore NUC machine, they're tiny and if you're willing to pay a bit more they can be fanless (no noise = good for audio).
I bought a Thinkpad P71, previously I had a Macbook pro and never really cared for it.
I know a lot of people love Macs, for any serious audio, video or 3D type work I prefer Windows.

RANT
I took a look at the low end Macbook pro 15 inch and the price was 1999$, I got the Thinkpad 17inch fully topped out for 1800$'s and I can easily upgrade RAM, harddrives and even individual components as it's designed for the user to do that easily.
Modern Macbooks solder the ram to the board, won't take certain types of SSD's or NVME drives, my Thinkpad takes all types of drives.
I discovered while working for Apple that they underclock their CPU/GPU to keep them running cooler, this was in 2010 so maybe they no longer do that ,but you get the idea.... Macs are hype.
There used to be this idea that macs were better for artist, better for audio and graphics, that's no longer true (hasn't been for a long time) /RANT

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