Choosing a Laptop to run Live

[mattmcook]

Hi there,

I've been running Live 7 on my desktop for a while but I've decided to get a Laptop as I'm going to uni and want a pretty good one capable to running Live for DJing and creating songs.
Can anyone recommend a good laptop? I'm willing to spend up to around £900 ($1200)

I know that its hard to list a specific laptop as the chipsets can suddenly change in the same model making it suddenly useless but if anyone has a laptop they're happy with I'd love to know!
Or a general spec I should be looking for: e.g. 4GB RAM, core i5 etc

Thanks in advance,
matt

[supamonsta]

no answers because

1) mac users afraid of saying again "Get a mac" and being called douchebags
2) PC users tired of repeating everytime the same advices

use the search engine mate, +1.000 threads about what specs a laptop needs to be good at handling live.

good luck & cheers


ps : Get a mac (13" 2,4ghz simple macbook, upgrade yourself the 4GBram and 320 7200RPM HD)

[mattmcook]

hahah, ok.
Its just that I roughly know what specs I need, just want to know what laptops people have and whether they're happy with them.
But I'll get searching now.

[supamonsta]

I use 13" macbooks since now 3 years 1/2 for composition and live shows, and am really, REALLY, happy with these lappies.
small, solid, great OS, and the shiny apple on the back that makes the chicks mad

but yes, I'm an apple fanboy.

[McQ714]

Get a Mac!!!

you're a douchebag.

oh yeah, well you're a brown-nosing cafe-drinking cum-gargling turtleneck-wearing gutter slut.

Buy a PC.. have HP make exactly what you want. or get one of those custom gaming laptops from Asus. now that's the stuff!!!

[supamonsta]

you're a douchebag.

yep, and proud of it

you're a brown-nosing cafe-drinking cum-gargling turtleneck-wearing gutter slut.

not sure I really get it, but seems fun


if you go PC, don't get a Toshiba satellite.

[HeadrickProductions]

Get a Mac!!!


oh yeah, well you're a brown-nosing cafe-drinking cum-gargling turtleneck-wearing gutter slut.

needed to laugh this morning. good luck getting a mac that you need for that price!!

[McQ714]

actually i was calling myself a douchebag..

and yes... stay away from Toshiba for this purpose!

[#1thelark]

You might wanna take the quality of the manufacturers repair service into consideration. In case your laptop is broken, you will be happy if the service is good and fast and you get your laptop repaired or replaced very soon.
From what I recall from a magazine: Apple should be good, Dell is said to be good as well...samsung is okay. The business products from HP come with a better service than the lowpriced ones...Acer and Toshiba weren't very good.

Just my 2cts.

[3dot...]

1 answer : get the strongest laptop you can afford

[agent314]

Why avoid a Toshiba?

I have an i7 Satellite and I've been pleased as punch with it.

Granted I put in a new HD with a clean install of Win7 on it, but still - it's been great for me so far. Runs Live like a dream

[supamonsta]

Why avoid a Toshiba?

because if we say that Dell, HP, Asus, Apple, This, That, and even This-One are OK, the OP won't be able to choose...

naah, saying that because I had a bad experience with a Toschiba satellite A100 a few years ago, cheap quality, wrong fan position, bugging lcd and prematurely dying CD drive with a perfectly asshole repair service...

but it was 4 years ago so perhap's do they make it better now

cheers

[epjl2000]

I've been looking to get a new laptop too..

Made a post about this earlier. Trying to figure out what configuration to get..

Roughly I know that you should get the new processors .. either core5 or core7.. opposed to core2duo.. as they've been proven to perform much better with audio producing applications.. google it yourself to see!

However, at the same time I'm not sure how much applies to live directly.. for I found another thread in the forums saying that live only uses 2 cores and maximum of 2.5 gigs of RAM.. meaning you don't have to get top of the line configurations.

Whatever you do.. check out notebookcheck.com

If you find a laptop you like..check out their DETAILED review.. most important.. sound emmisions.. especially if you're doing recordings with a mic.

There are so many new laptops with great specs out right now.. it really depends what you want from them..looks.. gaming.. protability.. you should focus on that as opposed to focussing on brand names.

laptopmag.com has some great reviews too

[McQ714]

You might wanna take the quality of the manufacturers repair service into consideration. In case your laptop is broken, you will be happy if the service is good and fast and you get your laptop repaired or replaced very soon... The business products from HP come with a better service than the lowpriced ones...
Just my 2cts.

your 2 cents aren't necessarily correct!

HP has great customer service on all products from what i've experienced. i've had numerous HP/Compaq laptops, both for personal and business use. Recently my personal HP laptop of over 2 years had the wifi card go out on it and then the mainboard just a few startups later when i was trying to figure out what went wrong. I called HP, they overnighted an empty box with a prepaid shipping label to send the laptop back to them overnight. Here's how it went.. called them monday, got the box tuesday, they got the laptop wednesday and fixed it, shipped it thursday and i got it back with a brand new mainboard and wifi card friday. that's pretty fucking amazing if you ask me. no charge to me!!!

[mattmcook]

Thanks everyone for your replies, and epjl2000 for your Live specs.

supamonsta, you run a 13" mac, I'm now considering splashing out a bit more on a mac, but do you find 13" big enough? I have no idea, just wondering!

13" Mac's use Core 2 Duo, whereas 15/17" use Core i5/i7. But as you say epjl2000 it might not matter too much for Live.