Ableton Live 12 Windows 11 notebook hardware recommendations

[-yt-]

Hi!
I am currently using Ableton Live 11 on a Windows 10 notebook from 2018.

I would like to update to Ableton Live 12 and buy a new Windows 11 notebook. My budget is around 2,000 EUR for the new notebook.

What are the hardware recommendations for the new notebook?
- Intel or AMD
- CPU type recommendations
- number of cores and threads
- base clock
- max clock
- minimum RAM
- How to know if the system is running quietly?

What else is important?

Thank you!

Kind regards,

Chris

[Exie]

Everything you listed totally depends on the needs, I'd say. Minimum ram is 16, but again, depends, 32 makes more sense. Same for CPU, if you need low noise, take a look at low-power ones (<65w), check the benchmarks for specific CPUs you consider. Display quality and max brightness is a thing to consider, since you cannot replace it. Make sure it has fast disk of enough size, it's unlikely it has spare space for another one

[x3000]

This topic has already been discussed many times here in the forum.

In principle, yes, you need a lot of single-core power and multiple times. You can never have enough RAM. An SSD or several of them is a must. And if you're buying new, you shouldn't skimp on storage space either.
But if you only go by this, you will fail, unless you are lucky enough to be clueless.

The 3 key words are latency, latency and latency.

Here is a website with a latency ranking: https://www.notebookcheck.net/DPC-Laten ... 376.0.html

Most of these boxes are useless junk for audio. There is a website from Schenker/XMG that lists which laptops are suitable for audio processing. I think I read that an XMG EVO is suitable.

All the power saving nonsense in the Windows area of laptops is bad for audio processing. You have to search, but you can also find. Good luck!

[miyaru]

With a budget of €2000,= I would go Apple. I'm not an Apple fanboy, but with Apple you have the best chance of getting a good enough laptop for audio.

Then on the other hand: because of the problems with Win11 anyway, and not being an Apple fanboy, I switched to an Akai Force.

[smccarthy945]

Lenovo Legion laptops work incredibly well for audio and Ableton. If you are going to go the PC/Windows route, consider buying a gaming PC because they have higher end processors, GPUs and better audio components. They work really well for audio production. I have run multiple different brands of laptops and the Lenovo Legions are the ones I have had the best luck with. Whether you go AMD or Intel doesn't matter. Just make sure you have 32 GB RAM and a good audio controller. I would also buy a Lenovo or laptop that has thunderbolt support for your USB ports so you get the best possible latency and throughput. I would get thunderbolt support and buy an audio interface that works with thunderbolt for low latency.

I use a Lenovo Legion 5 laptop with an Intel Processor and NVIDIA GPU. I use an SSL 12 for my audio interface and use a YETI USB mic for recording vocals. I have a bunch of high end pre-amps and really expensive mics (IE. Audio Technical 4040s) and high end Focusrite pre amps and the best vocal sound I get is out of my $120 Yeti mic with USB connectivity.

Most people are going to think I am crazy but the sound doesn't lie. There is something with the preamp being built into the mic using USB to record vocals right through the mic that gives you super clear vocals that sit perfectly into the mix. The Logitech software they provide to tune the mic makes the mic sound absolutely incredible. I am getting better vocals out of a $120 mic than I am with a preamp chain and mic that costs over $3000. I haven't used my Focusrite preamp or expensive Audio Technica mics in years. The Yeti does all the vocals.

You can literally buy a good gaming laptop and a good quality USB mic (Yeti, Shure, etc) and you are good to go. Use the mic as your sound interface and use it to record vocals, etc and you are in business. You can go nuts and buy an expensive mic chain but if you don't believe me, go watch all the YouTube videos where they compare the USB mics to the expensive mic chains and you can't hear the difference. They put the Yeti up against all the standard expensive mics and when they did the sound test, people couldn't tell the difference.