How many of you have gone to a laptop-only studio?

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:44 am

I wonder,
How many of you have totally replaced your workstations with laptops? How are you finding the transition? Do you think it benefits your workflow? Do you think nowadays laptops can really compete with workstations in terms of performance?

Questions...

Andy Daniell · Post by **Andy Daniell** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:37 am

I used to run on a mac G4,

I have just recently switched over to a powerbook G4, 1.67Ghz, 1Gb Ram, and am running logic 7.1, Pro-tools LE, through a mbox 02 and ableton 5.

I did this because of how often i have to travel and i've never looked back. i'm sure there are some compromises but i haven't found em yet!

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:53 am

I'm finding myself more and more working on my laptop despite the fact that I have quite a decent workstation, specifically "tuned" for audio. I dare to say too, that I can live with the limitations so far...

Processor speed doesn't seem to be the biggest problem nowadays, and with faster external drives, the speed of I/O is closer and closer to our needs.

That's why I asked, because I'm seriously thinking of selling my main workstation and getting another laptop.

Patch · Post by **Patch** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 12:09 pm

My laptop at the moment has the hard drive partioned, one DAW partition and one Internet/office partition. The only reason I don't use it for my main studio machine is that I do not have an audio interface with multiple ins and outs for the lappy.

I have my DAW partition optimised for audio, so it works as well, if not better than my desktop.

I really should invest in a decent audio interface for the lappy. But funds are tight - if I knew I could use a cheap usb 5.1 adapter (I only need 3 outs and 1 in) I would buy one and use that.

Does anybody know if ASIO4ALL will work with ins/outs that are connected by USB? My desktop has a 5.1 card that works very well with ASIO4ALL - I just need to know if I can reproduce the same setup on my laptop.

arctic ranger · Post by **arctic ranger** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 12:16 pm

Ive gone from samplers to computer, and now lappy. I have not seen a difference of performance between my old workstation and my newer slimmed down version. Laptops are where its at. Now that I have one I dont think i can live without it.

spiderprod · Post by **spiderprod** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:00 pm

i went all laptop for a while , but the lack of power & options on laptops made me move back to pc in the studio .
even when i need to move the pc , it's become easier now .
soundcard ,dsp processor ,spare ports ,extra drives ,cables , all this comes in a single box with a pc for half the price of running the same setup on a laptop .
i still use my laptops mainly to run huge fx chains or vsti .

Anubis · Post by **Anubis** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:10 pm

I wouldn't say that you can completely trade one for the other. I got a laptop for music production. I found the centrino to be just as powerful as my P4 desktop but the main thing that has me going back to my desktop is the fact that I've grown accustomed to dual monitors. That 15.4" display just doesn't cut it when you really gotta get busy. But I like the portability.

studio615 · Post by **studio615** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:51 pm

Powerbook g4 1.67, running Live5, and I'm not looking back.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:53 pm

I have. I used to love desktops, but I grew tired of the noise, maintainance, electricity, and space consumption. It's funny... I think of how geeked out I used to be back in college, and now, I've gotten rid of everything except for my powerbook.

I do sometimes miss the performance, the flexibility (god, it's soooo nice to have an in-house webserver sometimes), but I definitely don't miss having to haul all that crap around every time I move. A friend of mine is sending me her old PC laptop which would put my total computer count up to 2. In the future, I hope I can just stick with one laptop to dual-boot windows and macosx. I think the biggest problem with desktops (even if you just have one) is all the crap and peripherals you have to have to accompany it. I'm willing to sacrifice the performance now for the portability and minimalism of laptops.

Less is more.

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:02 pm

As for the double monitor, I guess that's not really an issue, since most laptops nowadays have a second VGA out, so it would be just a thing of getting a second monitor and that's it, wouldn't it?

spiderprod wrote:triple xeon pentium 6 9.2 ghz 4096gigb ram 7000gb hd 1200fsb ,ableton live9stpro ,apple G9 tarzan

With that setup, i guess there's no laptop on earth that would be up to the task! What are you running, google search and NASA command on that single machine? Talk about workstation

sqook wrote:I have. I used to love desktops, but I grew tired of the noise, maintainance, electricity, and space consumption.

I completely agree with you. In modern apartment-life space is a *big* issue. Not to talk about how difficult it is to get a workstation quiet enough.

sqook wrote:I'm willing to sacrifice the performance now for the portability and minimalism of laptops.

Amen to that my friend. And I would say that I haven't found a situation yet where I would have said "I hate this shitty small computer, i want my uber powerful desktop back"...nope

detroitechno · Post by **detroitechno** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:10 pm

I have a DAW desktop because protools TDM doesn't have any connection options besides a magma expansion chassis for notebooks. The TDM cards are PCI and PCIe. I do run protools m-powered on the laptop making it a nice small daw on the road, but anything serious is done on a desktop still.

also, the dual 500GB raid inside the desktop is a nice addition that would be way to bulky to lug around with a laptop!

conny · Post by **conny** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:21 pm

Since getting Live in -04, laptop has been my only workplace.
// C

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:33 pm

"G5 tower for sale! Get your G5 tower here! Get it while it's hot, before all 4 fans kick in and it screams like a Harley!"

Okay, it's not for sale yet, but it will be.

I'm using my PowerBook more and more, and it's just a warm-up for what's to come.

I'm thinking of picking up a duo core in January of 2007, but I must admit, that date seems awfully far away. For once in my life I'm in serious doubt of my will power!

It's going to be sweet. My desktop area will still be there. My roommate's Event 20/20bas, the panel display, all of our outboard in the racks, etc. Just come home, pull the lappy from the shoulder bag and away you go. I already warned my studiomate that by this time next year she'll have to have her own computer. She'll probably end up buying my PB.

I like these threads. Tom's mind is pretty much made up, he just needed a little encouragement. A lot of us are thinking about this set-up. I'm with you.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:40 pm

I've got three video capture cards, 10,000 RPM drives, and a high-spec video card in my G5. I like working on two big monitors, too. I can't see laptops having that sort of power in the near future.

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:55 pm

hambone, your setup is massive. But sincerely, how many of us REALLY need that kind of horse power? A really small minority, at best.