best laptop for production and performance

mech84 · Post by **mech84** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 7:43 pm

i've just order the new Rockdirect xtreme ctx pro,

http://rockdirect.com/viewNotebook.php? ... 0CTX%20PRO

But i'm still not sure if this is the best laptop i can get for my money. I want to spend £1300 on a laptop and will only use it to run ableton, so i want one with the best sound quality and performance.

So what laptops would you buy? Or what laptop do you use?

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:29 pm

Looks like some decent specs on the machines that you posted a link to. It's not really the laptop that is going to give you the audio quality though. That is more about what you are using for a sound card (wouldn't recommend using your internal). True, system limitations could affect that but any newer system is going to handle audio just fine. Do a forum search on "performance test" and look at the results. You'll get a good idea. Though I'd say it's a moot point seeing as how you already bought.

glu · Post by **glu** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:30 pm

I am about to pull the trigger (soon) for an HP laptop

check them out.

core2duo
2gb Ram
100GB 5400RPm HD
15.4"lcd

comes out like $1200 USD.

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:39 pm

That is certainly a well specced laptop, about the most powerful you can run Live on. As said above, sound quality has nothing to do with the computer

mechcon · Post by **mechcon** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:23 pm

not to be biased about one or the other, but do look seriously into pricing for a macbook pro and whatever the pc equivalent would be.

I'm actually looking at getting a new laptop next year or possibly year after, so hopefully by then she will be a core2duo macbook pro (looking at a 17" model)

tokyojoe69 · Post by **tokyojoe69** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:14 pm

Those loook really cool, just that I dont like the 17" screen, too big. Check out alienware, they got smaller size lappies configurable with the same specs, althouth I have heard some people moaning about their tech support not being the best. That HP glu is talking about also looks pretty good. The only thing pulling me toward apple is the fact that you can't find a proper firewire plug on any pc's, they're all those small little holes. It would be so nice to be able to use bus power on my audio interface and do away with the extra cable. These things matter when you consider portability. Other than that I think pc and mac are pretty much on par with each other since dual core.

brightonalex · Post by **brightonalex** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:19 pm

So far this seems to be the best I can find for the money.

http://www.m-techlaptops.com/specificat ... hd900t.htm

but their site says they don't accept credit cards for foreign delivery, which isn't much use.

Spikee · Post by **Spikee** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:44 pm

brightonalex wrote:So far this seems to be the best I can find for the money.

http://www.m-techlaptops.com/specificat ... hd900t.htm

but their site says they don't accept credit cards for foreign delivery, which isn't much use.

Careful when shopping "For the money". There's a huge spread in notebook case quality, among other things, that causes this variance. Although it's nice to save a buck and get the same thing, you don't want your monitor to fall off its hinges either.

Joshua Boden · Post by **Joshua Boden** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:54 pm

I tell ya what....and some of you may blanch at this, but I just got an Acer Aspire 5670 and the thing works like a dream. Wasnt to pricey and got a good deal on extended warrenty....

huffcw · Post by **huffcw** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:01 pm

glu wrote:I am about to pull the trigger (soon) for an HP laptop

check them out.

core2duo
2gb Ram
100GB 5400RPm HD
15.4"lcd

comes out like $1200 USD.

My experience with HP has been very bad. I had an HP laptop a while back that was complete junk (specs were great on paper but the quality and integration of components was horrible - conflicts and issues all over). Maybe they have gotten better - but after my experieince I decided never to even consider HP again.

My vote would go with the Macbook Pro (or even just the Macbook). The form factor on these machines are great (only 1" thick and very solidly built). The only downside is that there are a lot of plugins that have not been released yet for the Intel machines. Although, you always have to option of installing XP through Bootcamp - which works great.

My second suggestions would be to look into getting a Dell. I have a Dell D600 that I have been more than happy with. It is very solid, and fairly thin and light. Also, I am able to use my Creamware PCI card with my Dell laptop using the D-Dock (I am not aware of another option to use PCI cards with a laptop other than a very expensive Magma chassis - and they don't work at full stream like the D-Dock). The other advantage is that Dell offers very high resolution screens as an option - so the screen real estate is excellent on my machine. The only thing I can't say for sure is how good the latest Dell models are in comparison.

glu · Post by **glu** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:08 pm

Damn. That is good info, but bad news. I have been spending some time on the notebook forums, particularly the HP list, searching for problems. Since this notebook is so new, there haven't been that many reported problems.

Regarding a mac. I finally saw the macbook pro yesterday, when I met my neighbor who uses live. It is a sweet looking machine..however,

I have heard some shitty stories about the new macintels, from all over the place, and when you spec one out (just a macbook) 2048mhz of Ram it ends up being close to $2000. And that is with no dedicated graphics card either.

Anyone else have HP?

And what about Gateway? They have a laptop w/ the same features as my HP post, only with a 7200 RPM hard drive, around the same price.

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 6:40 pm

I have a HP NX8220 with a Pentium M 2.0 gHz. It's been working wonderfully. It's marketed as a business comp, but it does what I need and does it really well. One great feature that made me choose it (apart from being cheap) is the the possibility to connect to a docking station. Would never be without it again. Got all my keyboards and midi stuff hooked to the dock. Then just disconnect the computer for whenever I wanna to some web surfing from the couch.

I know there are new computers with dual core in the NX-series. I say go for it. I'm very pleased. It's nice and slim as well.

-Mikael

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:19 pm

I've been very happy with my Dell, but from reading these forums you can see that not everyone is. However, it is always a good idea to spec out a Dell computer and use the price as a benchmark. There is a pretty good chance that you won't find anything cheaper, not here in Europe at least. Then you can see how much more you are paying for the brand you want and if the extra cost is justified.

soulata · Post by **soulata** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:11 pm

I'm probably in the market for new lappie too. I'd need it mostly for gigging, sometimes for production.

I was looking for really portable ones (MSI 12.1 screen), which would probably be ok (even great) for stage, but not for producing (I guess I could always use my desktops's monitor).

what do you think?

k

muscleandhate · Post by **muscleandhate** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:14 pm

The smaller the PC, the generally less powerufl it's going to be. I'd say the MacBook is a nice enough size (13inch screen, 1inch thick) and by all standards is a very fast machine. You say you want to do production, so I'd suggest making sure you purchase something with some speed - but I suppose it depends on what you're intending to do.