Ableton Forum

I play bass and vocals in a working band. I also use Live as a sound source for an axiom pro61 keyboard controller and to preset various groups of samples and or voices for triggering by midi pedals while I have my hands full playing bass. I think I need to upgrade to a new laptop as I am constantly dealing with slight latency and occasional missed notes. I am currently using a 1.8 ghz celeron with 4 gb. ( I know 2ghz is recommended, but it's all I had). Anyway, I want to get something which will be SOLID and have the best zero latency performance. I'm guessing a mac? Can anyone recommend what laptop would be the best fit for the money? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!!

1st, The best you can afford, this for me would include the benefits of an SSD for faster sample access etc
2nd, Consider any changes of configuration imenent such as Windows 8, Ableton 64 bit (RAM etc.

The rest is down to a short list of choices then cross checking user experience for any stand out issues i.e Dell, HP, Acer.

By the way, consider using a laptop cooler, I just purchased a dirt cheap one from a high street pound store, and frankly it's the best pound I've ever spent, everything is cooler and I'm getting good stability from the laptop.

Last, I personaly find the difference between PC and MAC huge, so wouldn't even consider a MAC simply because of that fact, others would no doubt disagree and have both.

Firstly, I will leave it to others to debate Mac vs PC as I can see this thread going in that direction!! Personally I see the value of a mac, and I'll leave it at that. Do a search if you want to read some really "objective" opinions though.

The last poster had some good advice. The only thing I would add is that the sound card you use can have quite a say in terms of latency. If you are planning on using an internal laptop sound card, you are not really going to get anywhere near zero latency - well relatively speaking. Higher end sound cards can make a big difference, though unfortunately this is reflected in their price.

Yeah mate the latency is largly down to your soundcard and dreadfully outdated CPU. Your 4GB RAM is fine but its useless with that CPU.

Most laptops you can get today will be at least dual-core which will destroy most applications you will need-couple that with 4GB RAM and you will be fine-these are minimum specs I would upgrade to if I were you although I don't know your budget.
An SSD would be great also.

At the moment I don't think you can go far wrong with a macbook air 13" or pro 13"-about £700 with education discount, £1k if not.

Don't forget to invest in a decent soundcard

Thanks for the replies guys!! What would you suggest I look for as a minimum requirement for the soundcard? And if I do get a good soundcard and SSD, would a windows based laptop suffice?

TrainwreckNick wrote:Thanks for the replies guys!! What would you suggest I look for as a minimum requirement for the soundcard? And if I do get a good soundcard and SSD, would a windows based laptop suffice?

Sound card depends on how many input/outputs you need. Once you know that, then your budget comes in to play. For instance, the cheapest RME sound card is probably E500-600, whereas you could get a sound card with similar inputs/outputs for E100-150. So if you're going for price, brands like M-Audio/ESI will do the job, but a lot reports issues with them and latency may not be better than your internal sound card in some instances. For quality, something from RME or a lot of people rave about Apogee. There are middle grounds - MOTU are pretty good and have a range at different prices (I've had a MOTU for 10 years or so - the same one and it's still going well!). I would suggest doing some research before buying one - read reviews, forums for each sound card and pick based on that. There are of course other brands, but having a look at the ones I mentioned should get you started on the journey.

A lot of people use windows based laptops rather than macs and will swear blind they perform better - then Mac users will tell them they are talking bollox and the argument goes on! In short, a windows laptop will of course suffice. Some just prefer the way OSX works and say they are more stable (like me!), others say macs just look good and are a rip off. Again, it all really comes down to price - a high spec windows laptop or mac with a half decent sound card will improve your situation no end. If you go Windows, I highly advise getting as high a spec laptop as you can afford as the likelihood is that you will not have to replace it nearly as quickly, making it worth the extra money. There are no really low end mac's, so if you go down that route, you should be okay.

SSD is a nice add, but not essential. For instance, I don't put samples etc on my SSD because I find more value in having it as my OS/Apps drive as it really speeds up general use of your laptop. I would love 2 SSD's, but when you get into the 500Gb range for SSD's the cost is astronomical. So I use an 80Gb SSD for OS/Apps and a large 7200RPM drive for recording audio to etc. So using an SSD like I do will not have too much effect on latency at all.

Unfortunately all of this stuff is an expensive business/hobby...

Windows laptops are absolutely fine for audio production. Forget the branding wars-you need to focus on your budget and getting the highest specs you can find with that budget.