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Good recording laptop for $500?

#81
factory presets said:
Some Apple love in here tonight. You think any faang companies put your interests ahead of their own?
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It's a matter of balance. Why people think there's only extremism? I used to love Apple products before 2012-2013, yep right after the death of one of the original founders. Now I've never been a crap fanatic, if they do crap, I see it, and I stop using their products. My first Apple product was a Macintosh IIfx and my last one a MacBook Air 2013, which I resold. They used to have better care for the users interests. Now they just care about selling a new phone and new computer every year because they make you to. And they're doing it great as long as people are stupid enough to not see how crappy they've gotten.
 
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#82
If you don't need to be mobile and have a seperate budget for a monitor, a desktop gets you a lot more bang for your buck. If you must go the laptop route, make sure you have a decent amount of RAM. Lots of cheap laptops have 4 or less, which by the time you use the operating system and integrated graphics, doesn't leave a lot for Ableton. You could get away with 4, but surely not less, and 8 would be better. Also make sure it has more than 1 usb port.
 
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#83
I second a used Mac. my wife still has a 2012 Air with 8GB RAM and it's still capable of audio production.

I have a couple of Windows laptops and first they're more expensive than a used Mac, second, require more work to make it work without glitches and drop-outs. third, Windows laptops are a lottery (google 'model_of_laptop dpc latency'), some just don't work for real-time audio and you cannot do anything about it.
 
#84
Aloe said:
I second a used Mac. my wife still has a 2012 Air with 8GB RAM and it's still capable of audio production.

I have a couple of Windows laptops and first they're more expensive than a used Mac, second, require more work to make it work without glitches and drop-outs. third, Windows laptops are a lottery (google 'model_of_laptop dpc latency'), some just don't work for real-time audio and you cannot do anything about it.
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Go read @picnic01 message before weighing in; please. And please stop recommanding deprecated hardware.
DPC Latency was an issue with some versions of Windows, I had it with my powerful desktop computer in Windows version prior 1903 where Microsoft fuc*** up things. Now it's back working just fine. I had to stay with previous versions of Windows before it was fixed. I can now do music in real time with lots of programs (active and background) opened and no settings to trick. These things happen with Mac OS too!! Look at "T2 chip USB 2 audio issues" on Google. The laptops people recommanded in that thread that are equipped with Windows are TOTALLY capable of doing Ableton stuff; for 500$ you have a recent quad core processor, 8 GB of RAM, USB-C, NVME SSD. The old stuff you are recommanding are not up to date anymore (software and hardware wise), and have old processors with no new recent instructions sets.
 
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#86
jtrom said:
Unlike video and photo editing, recording uses a lot of single core performance. So getting the best single core for your $ will help in the long run.
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I don’t know where you’re hearing that. But that information is seriously out of date. Virtually any current DAW software you can name is running multicore and has been for awhile.
 
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#89
PrimitiveMan said:
Are there good options in the 500 USD range? I'm planning on pairing this with Ableton 10. What specs should I look for?
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Last year I bought a refurbished HP Pavilion for $275 off ebay. It came with a 1 yr warranty (never a single problem). Loaded with windows 7 - 64bit, 8 gigs memory (upgradable if desired) and a 500 gig hard drive. I use Reaper, EZdrummer, EZkeys and a bunch of vst's. runs flawless. As others have mentioned more memory the better. Hard drive storage not an issue as external drives are cheap, there are tons of 1 - 2 tb in the $50 - $75 range. I use external drives for both my laptop and desktop for all things important to me. Pics, music, etc. That way if you have ever have a computer crash/virus and have to reinstall windows as I did awhile back on my desktop, all external drive storage was right there waiting to be seen once windows was reinstalled.

Side note. It kills me that OP states a few times he has zero interest in using Mac, but a many still posting "you should get a used mac". Doesn't any read these posts? Oh well, I guess that happens a lot here.
 
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#90
Whether laptop or desktop I'd get at least 16GB of RAM, a solid state hard drive (SSD) at least 300-500GB, and a minimum of 256mb graphics card. If you're handy you can upgrade a laptop or desktop and make sure to get a fast processor (suggest Intel Core I5 or I7) Works great with all software and digital interfaces (you will also need a digital interface). If just recording yourself you can get away with a two channel input, but there are lots of alternatives. This is just a starting point and the same can be done with a desktop, just look for horsepower where you need it. Good luck!
 
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#91
40Hz said:
I don’t know where you’re hearing that. But that information is seriously out of date. Virtually any current DAW software you can name is running multicore and has been for awhile.
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That is true but they all manage the multi differently, particularly when you run software instruments and plugins. Some audio processing can’t be split between cores.

Since Ableton has the interest of the OP, here’s what they have to say about it.
Invalid Link Removed

Here’s a long article on the subject. They get into specific DAWs past halfway down the page.
Multi-core Processors For Musicians
(Edit - article is from 2008)
 
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#93
40Hz said:
I don’t know where you’re hearing that. But that information is seriously out of date. Virtually any current DAW software you can name is running multicore and has been for awhile.
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Right, it’s not that DAWs don’t run multi core ... it’s how useful multi vs. single is. Depending on what you’re doing obviously. From the research I’ve done, many folks have said that less cores with higher performance will be more useful than many cores with low performance. For example, in a recording application, 6x2.2ghz may not be “better” than a 4x4.2ghz. Like you said, DAWs will run anything, but if you’re trying to future proof a machine, high count vs multi may be a “better” option.

This is not a hill I’m going to die on but that’s the conclusion I’ve arrived at. Though I would be very interested in other opinions... a couple months ago, I was researching how to do a very budget conscious computer upgrade that’s what the internet was suggesting.
 
#94
MojoPenguin said:
Also consider buying a laptop and an additional bigger screen, as for me a laptop screen is too small for mixing anything. You can buy a larger screen used as well.
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Agreed. For under $250 I got a 40” TV that I use as a monitor.

An annoying Ableton quirk when using multiple screens that I haven’t found a workaround for is that when you are working on one channel and switch to another all the open plugins disappear from view. In Logic they stay open. Logic also has a separate window for mixing which makes having a multi screen arrangement quite helpful. I’m sure various DAWs handle this in different ways.
 
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#95
InstantEctobass said:
Go read @picnic01
DPC Latency was an issue with some versions of Windows
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god bless the ignorant people. there're some problems with Windows itself (like 1909 doesn't work for me, but 1903 does), but there's some hardware that just has the unacceptable DPC latency, like Dell XPS line. or nVidia drivers are a very common problem.

as for "outdated hardware", well, 2012 Air works with my new Thunderbolt interface. I have a couple of Windows laptops that also work with it, but they're more expensive than $500.
 
#96
monsterthompson said:
That is true but they all manage the multi differently, particularly when you run software instruments and plugins. Some audio processing can’t be split between cores.

Since Ableton has the interest of the OP, here’s what they have to say about it.
Invalid Link Removed

Here’s a long article on the subject. They get into specific DAWs past halfway down the page.
Multi-core Processors For Musicians
Click to expand...

Today that’s usually more an issue due to the coding of the individual plug-in rather than the DAW from what I’ve seen.

The second SOS magazine article you’re citing also dates back to 2008. Quite a bit has happened on the OS and coding front in the intervening 12 years since then. Multicore support is enabled by default in Windows 10. Same goes for Linux which also has a real time kernal most DAW users and all music oriented distros install by default. The only time multicore support would ever need to be turned off or adjusted is for certain applications for compatibility reasons because their authors haven’t updated their code to modern standards. Lord knows why. They've certainly had enough advanced notice and dev time to do it.
 
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#97
I have a question that I hope is relevant to the OP's question. Regarding integrated audio "card/chip" on Windows laptop. Is this like graphics where you see NVidia/AMD/Intel versions on different laptops with different capabilities? Is there a specific integrated audio component that would be favored on a laptop for most DAWs?
 
#98
Aloe said:
god bless the ignorant people. there're some problems with Windows itself (like 1909 doesn't work for me, but 1903 does), but there's some hardware that just has the unacceptable DPC latency, like Dell XPS line. or nVidia drivers are a very common problem.

as for "outdated hardware", well, 2012 Air works with my new Thunderbolt interface. I have a couple of Windows laptops that also work with it, but they're more expensive than $500.
Click to expand...

Windows and Mac computers have been sharing the same architecture since 2006, and to date. I don't know how a Dell XPS has a worse DPC latency than any other computer, unless it's a Celeron/Pentium processor with slow RAM and deprecated spinning hard drive (fun fact: the 2019 "base" iMac uses a spinning hard drive... joke on Apple for asking 240$ for a 250GB SSD that cost them $30-40 no more) : all the articles I found regarding the XPS DPC latency issues are before the large release of 1903... I was the first to have nightmares with Windows 1809. And a lot of people did. I guess it wasn't a matter of the model, and poor Dell tried to fix something that was out of their hands.

Regarding nVidia drivers, it isn't the fault of Windows then, it's the fault of badly designing drivers by other manufacturing of hardware you are using in your computer.
 
#99
Even though I've been a Mac user since 1986 I have this story to relate.
Now, in the time of the plague, upgrading stuff is something to do. I got a Scarlet 212, which I can also highly recommend, and I upgraded to OS Catalina on my laptop. I should have done a little more digging because "Audacity"my recording software of choice, is not supported! It still runs on my desktop but the good news is the free version of "Ableton" that comes with the 212 allows two installs, just for every ones information and a vote for any computer platform that keeps you in business.
 

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