Best laptop for Ableton Live - on stage performance

[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.

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

[McQ714]

HP Elitebook Workstations..
I know they're expensive but then so are macbooks and you really do get what you pay for.
My thing is, that you can get so much more for what you are paying. And if Cakewalk and Avid goes so far as to say those are their recommended PC laptops, Ableton probably wouldn't disagree that it is a quality product as well. Cakewalk chose to use HP workstation desktops and laptops at NAMM the last two years. Take that for what it's worth.

Of course, you may find that you want to tweak Windows slightly to get more out of it, but it's not necessary as some may lead you to believe. I'm still on my old AMD Turion dual core until my new HP comes in a couple of weeks and I never tweaked a thing on this. Ableton and Traktor both run just fine on most projects I've worked on.

[filter_7]

Would be nice to hear from you - as some guys did - your succesfull combination of
computer + audio interface + midi controllers

[Casual Beats]

HP Elitebook Workstations..
I know they're expensive but then so are macbooks and you really do get what you pay for.
My thing is, that you can get so much more for what you are paying. And if Cakewalk and Avid goes so far as to say those are their recommended PC laptops, Ableton probably wouldn't disagree that it is a quality product as well. Cakewalk chose to use HP workstation desktops and laptops at NAMM the last two years. Take that for what it's worth.

Of course, you may find that you want to tweak Windows slightly to get more out of it, but it's not necessary as some may lead you to believe. I'm still on my old AMD Turion dual core until my new HP comes in a couple of weeks and I never tweaked a thing on this. Ableton and Traktor both run just fine on most projects I've worked on.

+1 for HP Elitebooks. I have had an 8540p for over a year now and it is rock solid. Configured with 8GB mem and (2) 7200 rpm hard drives, I am able to run everything that I need without any problems. This includes heavy resource hitters like Omnisphere, RMX, Ivory etc. - the very same apps that brought my dual core desktop to its knees. I can easily see getting another 3 to 4 years of use out of this laptop before it's time to upgrade!

[Machinesworking]

Would be nice to hear from you - as some guys did - your succesfull combination of
computer + audio interface + midi controllers

Macbook Pro, RME Fireface for studio work, NI Rig kontrol and Kore 1 (which is exactly like the rest of their audio interfaces) for live performance audio.
Novation Remote SL keyboard controller, launchpad and a Belkin USB hub. Rig Kontrol is Audio In live and Kore 1 is Audio Out, because it's IMO less hassle or problems than an aggregate device, and Kore has four audio outputs so I can feed a drummer a click track.

IMO there aren't too many dogs anymore audio card and MIDI controller wise, it's more like possible dogs laptop wise.

[pgmjsd]

Would be nice to hear from you - as some guys did - your succesfull combination of
computer + audio interface + midi controllers

I've used both pc and Mac with Live. Currently on MBPro. With the PC (Xp, vista, W7) a USB/FireWire audio card is pretty much required. I was never able to get low latency from the built in audio on any PC I've used. The built in audio on the macs worked fine at low latency settings right out of the box. Also, my FireWire and USB interfaces work slightly better/more stable at low latency settings on the Mac. The Windows file systems tend to be a little slow as well (benchmarks for my work stuff), not sure if that's meaningfull for Live unless you are experiencing the disk warning light.


On the flip side, the Mac is much more expensive for the equivalent CPU/memory/disk set up, and PC manufacturers often have the latest CPUs available long before apple does. I think the increased hardware spec of an equivalently priced PC would make up for any driver inefficiencies... So it's a pretty close call really.


Just my observations, YMMV. I use Linux at work, so I went for a Mac because OSX allows me to do work stuff on the Mac more easily.

[Tyko]

Macbook pro ftw, i roll with the 15" .. its perfect.. could use more USB's but i just use a hub.. witch only gcauses me troubles here and there..

[H20nly]

@ filter_7

my laptop setup is a Windows 7 Lenovo T500 with Live 8 Suite. i have an Akai LPD8 and a Korg NanoKontrol that i connect to it.

if i'm recording with it i use a TC Electronic Konnekt6 and it's driver. i've have never had an issue. if i'm just playing with MIDI or mixing a set i use the internal sound with ASIO4All. i have also used Windows drivers and not had an issue, although the sets i typically work with are usually not much bigger than about 12 - 20 tracks. typically, when i have as many as twenty tracks at least 5 of those are muted and/or disabled (no input/output) and used to store recorded takes for chopping up etc. most of my tracks are audio (guitar, bass, vocals) while my drums and percussion tend to be 100% MIDI.

[23kon]

I've got a Thinkpad X201 that I picked up on ebay for a bargain.
It's 11 inches so small and light. It's also built like a tank!

Some of the Thinkpad series has an anti-spill keyboard which means you can literally pour drinks over the keyboard and it'll drain out underneath. Check out YouTube for videos of this and also people treating thinkpads like sh*t then booting them up A-O.K!
i.e so great for gigging!!!

I got a solid state hard drive for mine and have it fitted with 8gig of RAM.
This thing boots up in seconds and have never (touch wood) had any problems with Ableton crashing since i've had this machine! Compared to a 15" lenovo ideapad and before this a Acer and before this a Samsung laptops that just didnt like what i was throwing at them with ableton live.

[noland]

Would be nice to hear from you - as some guys did - your succesfull combination of
computer + audio interface + midi controllers

Thinkpad T500 + RME Babyface + APC40

But there might be some changes in the control room. Let's see if Texas can mess with Japan

[ze2be]

Would be nice to hear from you - as some guys did - your succesfull combination of
computer + audio interface + midi controllers

13" Lenovo Thinkpad X61 w/spill proof keyboard & work light.
3 powered usb slots; Port 1: for the soundcard; the Audio 8 DJ Native Instruments,
or the backup: Indigo DJ PCMCIA (the new Express is also very good/similare).
Or the MOTU Ultralite mk2 - 3. (if you cant afford RME) 2nd: the Akai APC 40
or BCR2000, Port 3: USB HUB with Nano Konrol and a mouse, or a Virus TI.

Rock solid. Been arround the world 2 and a half times. Takes a LOT (for now 4x) more
beating then the "Apple Pro father" G4 Power Book I had before that. But the second favorite brand,
by absolutely far; is the one and only Apple. And the Pros are at least twice as good as they used to be.


..I wouldnt even dare dream putting an SSD & 8g ram into this thing.

[bambowlett]

Hey guys. I've been looking at getting a Lenovo for the last couple of days. The dream model is the T520, but once I add a 500GB hard drive and extra RAM to this on their site it adds up to around $1,164.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... ction=init

The specs on the V570 on the right seem pretty awesome, and for a much better price ($699) But I have only seen people on here really rave about the ThinkPad series...is there something worse about the IdeaPads I'm not spotting? It doesn't have the option to upgrade to a 7200rpm drive, how much difference do you think this would make if it still has the i7 processor and 8 gig RAM? Anything would be better than the weird emachines laptop I have now, but I guess I want to know what the extra $400 would be getting me in going for a T520.

Thanks!

[H20nly]

^ my T500 has... well, shock absorbers for the hard drive and what would be considered a roll cage if it was a car.. those feature might edge the price up some. for gigging, for obvious reasons, that is a huge benefit that you don't find in too many laptops. the price you quoted is about what i paid for mine... although i did upgrade the video card in the process. based on the image in the link you provided, that laptop is a standard sleek, but not tough, enclosure. plus the ThinkPad is the higher end of their line. if it were me i'd go for the T520 and call it an investment.

[poonti]

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

Does everyone else get dyslexic and read that as "Large Hardon Collider"?

[bambowlett]

^ my T500 has... well, shock absorbers for the hard drive and what would be considered a roll cage if it was a car.. those feature might edge the price up some. for gigging, for obvious reasons, that is a huge benefit that you don't find in too many laptops. the price you quoted is about what i paid for mine... although i did upgrade the video card in the process. based on the image in the link you provided, that laptop is a standard sleek, but not tough, enclosure. plus the ThinkPad is the higher end of their line. if it were me i'd go for the T520 and call it an investment.

Thanks H2Only, unfortunately I had to go with the cheaper model, in the end I went for a Y570. Fingers crossed it will last!