laptop choice // the eternal question

[julienb]

hello folks,

I have to change my old (3years) Asus F3Jv.
My main use is Ableton Live, Max/MSP and of course max for live in a close future (!)

I know that it is impossible to answer to the question "which one is the best?"
of course.
I understand that.
but I checked a lot, characteristics, datasheet, informations. processor comparison chart, L3 cache, quad core or dual etc.

and I would like to know some opinions, some useful way to follow.


My only requirements are:
- 4Go ram (I don't know if I'll install 64bit os or not)
- numpad
- not mac (no debate, it is only too expensive for a poor guy like me)
- price around 1000€ could be a good thing

any ideas? good choice?
processor choice is important for live, I know it.
but quad core instead of dual? or not ?

thanks a lot in advance

[julienb]

ASUSTeK M60J-JX041V seems to be a good compromise between processor, RAM, disk (and price: 1000€)

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 720QM Quadcore : 1,6 GHz - GHz, Turbo up to 2.8 GHz2) 6M/8 threads
RAM: 4096Mo DDR3 1333Mhz
Disk: 640Go 320*2 7200 T SATA



any experiences? opinion? ideas?

[Earwax69]

Be sure if your applications and plugins support multi-threading before investing in quad/lower ghz stuff. They are faster in render because of the numerous cores but fail in most single threaded task (most of the workflow).

It would be cool if ableton release more info on the subject. Im curious about the Turbo mode of the i7 too, it must be weird to work with a relative speed.

I still believe you are better off with a duo2core 2.8ghz than a quad 1.6ghz in term of price/performance and stability.

Am I being prehistoric?

[julienb]

thanks a lot about your answer/opinion/idea.
it is exactly the question I have in my head!

[alex.the.forge]

- not mac (no debate, it is only too expensive for a poor guy like me)
- price around 1000€ could be a good thing

sorry to bite anyway! but I think you could get a Macbook for around 1000€ and you could have windows AND OSX and it wouldn't be underpowered

I did the switch about 7 months ago and I really love it to the point that I ended up deleting the Windows Boot camp partition

I have parallels, but only out of necessity

sorry to give you an answer you asked not to get! It's just that I had this decision to make about 18 months ago, and got an HP laptop, then instantly regretted it and coveted my girlfriends macbook until I finally got my own

being able to do windows/linux and osx is reason enough IMO

[julienb]

thanks alex for your answer/opinion!
answering outside the hypothesis is a quality I like


btw, macbook for 1000€?
I didn't find one like that, excepted a 13" with (only) 250Go disk, 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
for the same price, we could find biggest screen, biggest processor etc.

I don't write here I hate mac and I don't understand the pseudo-war about that..
really, I'd love to test a macbook (pro!) during a month. really.

I saw that macbookpro can be extended to 8Go RAM and I'm sure battery are really efficient too.
But it is too expensive for me, I guess

If I could test one for a month, I may say "ok, I save a bit money for several weeks and I'll buy a big one" !

[alex.the.forge]

thanks alex for your answer/opinion!
answering outside the hypothesis is a quality I like


btw, macbook for 1000€?
I didn't find one like that, excepted a 13" with (only) 250Go disk, 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
for the same price, we could find biggest screen, biggest processor etc.

I don't write here I hate mac and I don't understand the pseudo-war about that..
really, I'd love to test a macbook (pro!) during a month. really.

I saw that macbookpro can be extended to 8Go RAM and I'm sure battery are really efficient too.
But it is too expensive for me, I guess

If I could test one for a month, I may say "ok, I save a bit money for several weeks and I'll buy a big one" !

Sorry - I also meant that mine is teh 13" white one and I'm happier than I expected with it! the 13" screen is the main reason I decided against it the first time, but it hasn't actually ended up being that big a deal because OSX has zooming features and great key commands that make it less visible to me because I switch with key commands - plus fonts etc is better

there have been times I've needed a bigger screen (doing sound/music for video for eg.) but I've just used my external LCD

As for HD - mine is only 120GB!! =D

I have some other hard drives in caddies I use as external HDs - and I really need a new one, but even that is so much more than the computers of 10 years ago that I have to remind myself of the studio I used to work in where we literally had to back up the day's work EVERY DAY to make 650MB room!

I have not yet found an audio job my Macbook couldn't do

[julienb]

thanks alex for your answer/opinion!
answering outside the hypothesis is a quality I like


btw, macbook for 1000€?
I didn't find one like that, excepted a 13" with (only) 250Go disk, 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
for the same price, we could find biggest screen, biggest processor etc.

I don't write here I hate mac and I don't understand the pseudo-war about that..
really, I'd love to test a macbook (pro!) during a month. really.

I saw that macbookpro can be extended to 8Go RAM and I'm sure battery are really efficient too.
But it is too expensive for me, I guess

If I could test one for a month, I may say "ok, I save a bit money for several weeks and I'll buy a big one" !

Sorry - I also meant that mine is teh 13" white one and I'm happier than I expected with it! the 13" screen is the main reason I decided against it the first time, but it hasn't actually ended up being that big a deal because OSX has zooming features and great key commands that make it less visible to me because I switch with key commands - plus fonts etc is better

there have been times I've needed a bigger screen (doing sound/music for video for eg.) but I've just used my external LCD

As for HD - mine is only 120GB!! =D

I have some other hard drives in caddies I use as external HDs - and I really need a new one, but even that is so much more than the computers of 10 years ago that I have to remind myself of the studio I used to work in where we literally had to back up the day's work EVERY DAY to make 650MB room!

I have not yet found an audio job my Macbook couldn't do

13" is very too little for me. even if key combination can zoom etc etc
I'd need a round 16".

the first macbookPro 15" is 1600€ (core2duo, 250Go HD, 4Go RAM... a nice beast for sure!)

too expensive for me.

[Rave]

You can connect the macbook to an external monitor which are uber cheap.

The 13" footprint is perfect for gigs too

[julienb]

You can connect the macbook to an external monitor which are uber cheap.
The 13" footprint is perfect for gigs too

I'm sure about that.
but with that, I loose the mobility feature.
it is just my feeling based on my actual use

[ze2be]

If you like quality and affordable price: Lenovo.

Ive had a mac powerbook previously, built very similar to macbook pro. They are sturdy! But my Lenovo ThinkPad x61 is actually even tougher built. On top of that, it can take some liquid spilling on the keyboard, and it comes with light for the keyboard too. I manage to wear out my powerbook: the firewire broke, the two usb ports broke, the screen broke twice, and the cdburner broke. I didnt break them instantly, they were slowly worn out! The usb outputs was on the backside, and they slowly broke on my lap. The screen broke because I opened and closed the lid so mant times, the internal cable broke. Same with the cdrom, it just wore out. And macs are ridiculously expensive to fix. Iva also had an Acer laptop. That one was just crap all the way. My dad had a HP which was quite nice, and ive herd good things about fujitsu simens, and sony seems popular around here. But the most sturdy built quality I have found so far, with a competing price tag: lenovo.

If you are a windows guy, Lenovo is best for you.

[citizenchris099]

If you like quality and affordable price: Lenovo.

Ive had a mac powerbook previously, built very similar to macbook pro. They are sturdy! But my Lenovo ThinkPad x61 is actually even tougher built. On top of that, it can take some liquid spilling on the keyboard, and it comes with light for the keyboard too. I manage to wear out my powerbook: the firewire broke, the two usb ports broke, the screen broke twice, and the cdburner broke. I didnt break them instantly, they were slowly worn out! The usb outputs was on the backside, and they slowly broke on my lap. The screen broke because I opened and closed the lid so mant times, the internal cable broke. Same with the cdrom, it just wore out. And macs are ridiculously expensive to fix. Iva also had an Acer laptop. That one was just crap all the way. My dad had a HP which was quite nice, and ive herd good things about fujitsu simens, and sony seems popular around here. But the most sturdy built quality I have found so far, with a competing price tag: lenovo.

If you are a windows guy, Lenovo is best for you.

second this. thinkpads are fantastic computers. I personally own a T500 w/XP pro....suffice to say it runs like a dream. In my experience HP laptops are just ....meh. Fujitsu are wonderful as are high end Sony.

[luzil]

afaik thinkpad r currently only offering 15,4 1680x1080 or 1920x1200 resolution without mirroring display, which i use and think its perfect for Live. Unfortunatley no LED, but u can integrate 2nd HDD/battery, trackpoint. Isnt Live only 32bit? So max 3GB RAM possible? Look for T61, T500, W500 (only ones with numpads afaik), should be some in ur price range.

I would also like to test a macbook for some months to understand the hype/religion behind it. But i must say that the marmor like keyboard and mirroring display is a no go for me. I cant do everything with mousegestures And Live runs superb on my T61, there can be no big advantages...

[Anubis]

Here is what you want. It's $1300 so should be in your price range. Please note, this laptop ships with one 500 GB 7200 rpm HDD. BUT, there is an additional internal HDD bay which accept another internal HDD to store your audio files and sample libraries. This is the mother of all Windows laptops at a reasonable price.

[citizenchris099]

Here is what you want. It's $1300 so should be in your price range. Please note, this laptop ships with one 500 GB 7200 rpm HDD. BUT, there is an additional internal HDD bay which accept another internal HDD to store your audio files and sample libraries. This is the mother of all Windows laptops at a reasonable price.

for the price you could get a far superior model from Lenovo. Call it a personal aesthetic tastes but HP laptops are just ugly to me. Though a laptop purchase should clearly be about more than appearance. In that case...still go w/the Lenovo. Something about the fact that when I pick up a Thinkpad the screen doesn't wobble at the hinge the way just about every other laptop does...especially that model HP (which I have owned a version of and promptly gave away to a family member as it was just not up to par)