Best laptop for Ableton Live - on stage performance

[8O]

I thought this was pretty funny, however I do use a Mac for Audio work.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10059911-76.html

All the hardware in the computing center uses off-the-shelf components, and the servers run a customized version of Red Hat Linux.

Edit: actually, to be fair, the *control room* does use Windows 2000... was the best Windows version that I've used..

[gusc]

Dell XPS M1330 4 years old, DVD died, battery died + Echo Audiofire 4 and bunch of MIDI controllers still rocking! F.. YEAH!

[skatr2]

I will say this...I had numerous windows laptops between 2004 and 2009 (about 3 if I remember correct). All were off the shelf and with little thought into needs or really capabilities...mostly design/looks/size oriented since my home PC I always built. It was rare those laptops lasted a year without me getting frustrated with some issue. When I bought my MBP 13" base model in '09, it has served me well and the only things I changed was add a 7200rpm drive and max out the ram when I started using it for music production. It still runs like a work horse and there's been nothing (aside from better specs) that makes me want a new laptop in 3 years.

What it comes down to is necessity. Is this a system I would run a ton of VSTs and ableton at the same time in a live set environment? Not likely. My VSTi usage tops out at around 8 for productions with a few effects here and there which causes about a 22% strain on my CPU. I would likely take those VST midi clips down to audio stems and use live in that fashion. Others may require more. Also price can be an issue...can I get a better windows laptop for the same price? Likely. But my experience so far with quality and specifically longevity makes me think that the extra money is kind of worth it.

[joshspoon]

I have a Lenovo w520, 4gig ram, 160 SSD, Q27xx (intel chip). I love it. But I used to have an old Vaio that was at best good for playing .wavs. I would have gotten a mac but I wanted more resolution cause I'm plan to work w/ out a second monitor and Live can't use one. Also it has up to 3 HD bays so I can get a second HD and put trillian, Komplete and whatever else on there and I don't need to remember to grap my external drive. Also has more usb ports. That's what I wanted. If a mac had that I would have gotten it. It doesn't matter what you get as long as it suits your needs and it doesn't crash. Cause when you play live no one will be saying, "MAN THIS SONG ROCKS BECAUSE HE'S USING A _________" Excuse typos, I'm lazy and in a hurry to type this.

[Machinesworking]

I thought this was pretty funny, however I do use a Mac for Audio work.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10059911-76.html

All the hardware in the computing center uses off-the-shelf components, and the servers run a customized version of Red Hat Linux.

Edit: actually, to be fair, the *control room* does use Windows 2000... was the best Windows version that I've used..

I'm gonna run all three OS so I can fight with myself!

[filter_7]

Thanks guys, OP here. Stop pc vs mac opinions please!

The word best in the title does not mean what machine is the best ever, but what is the one you're happy with, considering price/quality too. For it's pretty sure a 3000$ machine would be pretty nice....
The best one is not necessarily the most priced.

[Machinesworking]

Thanks guys, OP here. Stop pc vs mac opinions please!

The word best in the title does not mean what machine is the best ever, but what is the one you're happy with, considering price/quality too. For it's pretty sure a 3000$ machine would be pretty nice....
The best one is not necessarily the most priced.

Sorry, but mostly with laptops, the more you spend the better laptop you get. There are exceptions of course, CPU isn't an issue on macbook Air's, or Panasonic Toughbooks, those are nitch devices though. Mostly if you spend 2K on a laptop without it being some odd size like 20 inches etc. but if you spend 2K on a PC or Mac 15" laptop more than likely you won't have anything to worry about. I wouldn't expect anything under $1500 to be a good workhorse, sure it might do, but it's not going to be the rule but rather the exception. Seriously, the things all cost $800 and up, and you can't do much with them besides replace the hard drive with an SSD three years from now for a little performance boost, but who's to know if SSD's at that point will be backwards compatible? Get the best laptop you can afford, I like OSX, but if Windows is what you know and like listen to the PC guys here!

Oh, and shop around when it comes to hard drives and RAM, it's sometimes best not to get what you want with the laptop, but to upgrade later, especially with Macs.

[grunzlaut]

Hi, I`m planning to get a laptop for live performance, too. I`m curious what the PC laptop users around here had to do with their systems to achieve a low dpc-latency. Since I´d like to not use it for audio purposes only, I don´t want to be forced to switch off the network- or wireless- cards, etc.

So if you can reccomend your PC laptop, please post, if you had to make any modifications and what you did.

Also I heard that some laptops have a poor grounding and tend to hum, when the ac-adaptor is plugged in. I assume if you can reccomend your machine, this wont be the case, but maybe you could post infos about that, too.

Thanks in advance.

[noland]

I`m curious what the PC laptop users around here had to do with their systems to achieve a low dpc-latency.

I use an RME interface

[H20nly]

Thanks guys, OP here. Stop pc vs mac opinions please!

The word best in the title does not mean what machine is the best ever, but what is the one you're happy with, considering price/quality too. For it's pretty sure a 3000$ machine would be pretty nice....
The best one is not necessarily the most priced.

Sorry, but mostly with laptops, the more you spend the better laptop you get. There are exceptions of course, CPU isn't an issue on macbook Air's, or Panasonic Toughbooks, those are nitch devices though. Mostly if you spend 2K on a laptop without it being some odd size like 20 inches etc. but if you spend 2K on a PC or Mac 15" laptop more than likely you won't have anything to worry about. I wouldn't expect anything under $1500 to be a good workhorse, sure it might do, but it's not going to be the rule but rather the exception. Seriously, the things all cost $800 and up, and you can't do much with them besides replace the hard drive with an SSD three years from now for a little performance boost, but who's to know if SSD's at that point will be backwards compatible? Get the best laptop you can afford, I like OSX, but if Windows is what you know and like listen to the PC guys here!

Oh, and shop around when it comes to hard drives and RAM, it's sometimes best not to get what you want with the laptop, but to upgrade later, especially with Macs.

i tend to agree with everything here except the price points. those have come down. 3 years ago your post would have been all but fact. in the PC world i would change that 1500 to 1000 maybe even 900. you can get a decent mom or grandma grade PC for 500 bucks now, but with a 1000 bucks or close to it you should be able to get a "good workhorse"... having said that i totally agree that once you hit the 1500 mark (with the exception of weird niche computers) you're pretty much guaranteed to be able to do some serious computing.

[intensemojo]

I have a MacBook pro quad i7 and everything worked the day i got it.

MacBook Pro i7 2.3 quad 15" anti glare
120gbssd main 750gb data doubler
Ableton , Maschine, and Komplete have been rock solid on this platform.

[Machinesworking]

i tend to agree with everything here except the price points. those have come down. 3 years ago your post would have been all but fact. in the PC world i would change that 1500 to 1000 maybe even 900. you can get a decent mom or grandma grade PC for 500 bucks now, but with a 1000 bucks or close to it you should be able to get a "good workhorse"... having said that i totally agree that once you hit the 1500 mark (with the exception of weird niche computers) you're pretty much guaranteed to be able to do some serious computing.

I'm a firm believer that you don't want to have to buy your laptop over again until 4-5 years later. Hence my price point. I managed to score a 17" top of the line macbook pro for peanuts about five years ago, and to this day the core 2.4ghz duo is used in laptops. Right now you could get a solid Core 2 duo 2.7+ghz laptop for under $1500 PC or Mac, but I'm starting to hit the CPU hard lately and there's no way I would want to be stuck with this chip four years from now. At least if I was planning o making my laptop my workhorse. So better to spend more money on a 2.2ghz or better i7 quad chip, express card slot (for firewire/Thunderbolt/assrapespeedoflightnewthing), solid case and a reputable brand. Though occasionally on the PC side there are some great sales or discount ticket deals with Dell etc.

[Machinesworking]

After basically being tortured by Dells shit site, I found a model with a quad i7 and and express card slot. with Dell's "deal" it's still roughly $1800.

[H20nly]

I'm a firm believer that you don't want to have to buy your laptop over again until 4-5 years later. Hence my price point.

most definitely.

i think what we're doing here is agreeing that it don't matter what you buy... if you lay down the extra loot for quality you're more likely to get.... drum roll.... a quality product.

the rest is just noise.




oh and BTW that trolling YouTube link, that was like 3 seconds... is still tickling the shit out of me a week later.

[Machinesworking]

I'm a firm believer that you don't want to have to buy your laptop over again until 4-5 years later. Hence my price point.

most definitely.

i think what we're doing here is agreeing that it don't matter what you buy... if you lay down the extra loot for quality you're more likely to get.... drum roll.... a quality product.

the rest is just noise.




oh and BTW that trolling YouTube link, that was like 3 seconds... is still tickling the shit out of me a week later.

Not surprising, that chick seems to be good at internet memes. Must be weird to have a zillion kids and a few older guys know who you are? Nerd fame!


That link and this are important for internet conversation!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0