Good recording laptop for $500?

[PrimitiveMan]

Hi all,

Looking to get back into recording after several years. I currently only have a cheap Chromebook so am unable to do anything really. I am not particularly well versed on what to look for in a laptop for recording.

Are there good options in the 500 USD range? I'm planning on pairing this with Ableton 10. What specs should I look for?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Mushroo]

So for $500 you're almost certainly looking at a PC instead of a Mac. Are you cool with that? And is your heart set on a laptop, or would you consider a desktop or tower PC?

Looks like Ableton's minimum hardware requirements are really quite modest. I thought this guide was actually pretty informative: Invalid Link Removed

I work in IT, and my personal two favorite brands of PC are Dell and Lenovo. I buy most of my computers through the Dell Business Outlet. These are "refurbished" computers, coming off a business lease, with the same warranty as new. Personally, for a $500 music production machine, I would shop Dell Outlet (for Work), looking for a refurbished Optiplex desktop with a solid state drive (SSD). Or if it had to be a laptop, I'd be looking at a Dell Latitude or Lenovo ThinkPad (but that's going to be tough to find, under $500).

A final thought: Do you already own an audio interface, or do you need to include that in your $500 budget as well?

When you have it narrowed down to a few choices, I'd be happy to give my opinion. I geek out on this stuff.

 

[knumbskull]

Ableton isn’t that hard to run unless you use a ton of plugins at once.

Just max out on RAM in your budget range (8GB or more if you can swing it) and you should be fine.

 

[PrimitiveMan]

So for $500 you're almost certainly looking at a PC instead of a Mac. Are you cool with that? And is your heart set on a laptop, or would you consider a desktop or tower PC?

Looks like Ableton's minimum hardware requirements are really quite modest. I thought this guide was actually pretty informative: Invalid Link Removed

I work in IT, and my personal two favorite brands of PC are Dell and Lenovo. I buy most of my computers through the Dell Business Outlet. These are "refurbished" computers, coming off a business lease, with the same warranty as new. Personally, for a $500 music production machine, I would shop Dell Outlet (for Work), looking for a refurbished Optiplex desktop with a solid state drive (SSD). Or if it had to be a laptop, I'd be looking at a Dell Latitude or Lenovo ThinkPad (but that's going to be tough to find, under $500).

A final thought: Do you already own an audio interface, or do you need to include that in your $500 budget as well?

When you have it narrowed down to a few choices, I'd be happy to give my opinion. I geek out on this stuff.

Thanks so much! I used to have a whole recording setup with a Macbook but want to go PC instead this time. I don't think Mac is worth the price to me. I would prefer laptop as I will use this computer for other purposes as well (mostly being able to watch movies/shows in bed or on the couch! I don't have a TV).

I'll look at your recommendations!

I have a Zoom B3 which I will use for the interface for now, I will upgrade at some point. So the budget is for laptop only, I could probably go up to 6 no problem.

 

[PrimitiveMan]

Ableton isn’t that hard to run unless you use a ton of plugins at once.

Just max out on RAM in your budget range (8GB or more if you can swing it) and you should be fine.

Cool, thank you

 

[Mushroo]

...I would prefer laptop...

My favorite laptop reviewer is Lisa from MobileTechReview. She's really great at explaining the difference between different makes, models, and price points. For example here is her comparison of back-to-school laptops from fall 2019, which includes some lower priced models like Dell Inspiron:

 

[PrimitiveMan]

@Mushroo

What do you think of this?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Mushroo]

@Mushroo

What do you think of this?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Generally speaking, ThinkPads are great computers, really good reputation for reliability and build quality! And the specs on that one look very nice for the price. 12GB memory and 512GB SSD should run Ableton just fine.

My two main concerns with this specific model would be:

1. The age (this model is from 2015).
   
2. Does it have a warranty? (If you buy refurbished through the official Lenovo store, I believe it will come with a 1 year warranty.)

Here is my crush Lisa's T450s review. I haven't watched it yet but I trust her opinions:

 

[PrimitiveMan]

Yeah that is kind of old... hmm

 

[slagheap]

Thank-you for the informative discussion.

 

[mikewalker]

Laptop hardware: DELL and LENOVO are my brand recommendations. 500 bux ( USD?) is pretty low end hardware by today's standards. you should budget for something quad-core, at least 16GB RAM, and an SSD for hard disk. Strongly recommend the newer AMD Ryzen CPUs, if its a machine you will keep around for another 5 years ... example (just needs more RAM, in my opinion) - Inspiron 15 5000 Laptop | Dell Canada

 

[Kmonk]

Invest in a good interface to avoid latency issues.

 

[Sonicfrog]

I go way back to the days when you had to go into the computer BIOS and rearrange the IRQ's to make sure the demands of the audio processing didn't interfere with the video card! Computers and laptops have come such a long way, it's hard to get something truly "bad". I have a laptop set up for mobile recording. It's an older Dell Latitude w and i5 processor and 8 gigs of memory. It's been fine on the few times I've used it. Note that what I did use it for was my three piece acoustic band Laurel Canyon, with three of us playing acoustic guitars and singing Crosby Stills and Nash style songs. So what I was doing was not that resource intensive in the first place. I have head noting but good things about the Think Pads. I would have got one of those if I had a little more money when I got my Dell.

What kind of interface are you going to be using?

 

[OptimalOptimus]

I would check first if Ableton can use your Zoom as an interface. Also when you buy a Scarlet interface it comes with a few plugging and a very lite version of Ableton live which is pretty much the same as the less expensive version of the actual Ableton.

if you are going to run an old version of Ableton I would also check that out if it will run on newer PC.

Do you count the cost of Ableton into your 500 ?

 

[Medicine Man]

As long as your not trying to do ton of effects, the quality of the interface matters much more. For recording one track off a zoom and programming some drum beats, your pc can be pretty potato. Do you have any other intended uses?

 

[logdrum]

Buy an older Macbook. The upgradeable ones ended 2012. I got one for 350 and then put in an SSD and maxed the RAM for 170. and then further down the road, bough a 50 battery. I run Logic on it as well as reaper. No issues. I also have a newer laptop but really do not see the old one as having a hard time.

 

[PrimitiveMan]

Laptop hardware: DELL and LENOVO are my brand recommendations. 500 bux ( USD?) is pretty low end hardware by today's standards. you should budget for something quad-core, at least 16GB RAM, and an SSD for hard disk. Strongly recommend the newer AMD Ryzen CPUs, if its a machine you will keep around for another 5 years ... example (just needs more RAM, in my opinion) - Inspiron 15 5000 Laptop | Dell Canada

Thanks, I could swing something like that in another month.

 

[PrimitiveMan]

I go way back to the days when you had to go into the computer BIOS and rearrange the IRQ's to make sure the demands of the audio processing didn't interfere with the video card! Computers and laptops have come such a long way, it's hard to get something truly "bad". I have a laptop set up for mobile recording. It's an older Dell Latitude w and i5 processor and 8 gigs of memory. It's been fine on the few times I've used it. Note that what I did use it for was my three piece acoustic band Laurel Canyon, with three of us playing acoustic guitars and singing Crosby Stills and Nash style songs. So what I was doing was not that resource intensive in the first place. I have head noting but good things about the Think Pads. I would have got one of those if I had a little more money when I got my Dell.

What kind of interface are you going to be using?

I'd just use my zoom b3 for now but was looking at a presonus or focusrite USB interface

 

[PrimitiveMan]

I would check first if Ableton can use your Zoom as an interface. Also when you buy a Scarlet interface it comes with a few plugging and a very lite version of Ableton live which is pretty much the same as the less expensive version of the actual Ableton.

if you are going to run an old version of Ableton I would also check that out if it will run on newer PC.

Do you count the cost of Ableton into your 500 ?

Thank you maybe I will go that route (focusrite and lite software to start).

I was planning on buying Ableton with separate funds. I'm also budgeting about 300 for monitors.

 

[PrimitiveMan]

As long as your not trying to do ton of effects, the quality of the interface matters much more. For recording one track off a zoom and programming some drum beats, your pc can be pretty potato. Do you have any other intended uses?

I play some keys also and was mostly going to later synth and drum tracks with live bass sometimes.