Should I get a new laptop?

[Shlogo]

So I am starting school for audio production, and my dad is awesome enough to help me get the equipment I need.

Part of this is (maybe obviously) Pro Tools.
I know my school has some dual boot computers but I know I will be working with Mac's for sure (new to me).

As of right now I have this:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
With 4 GB of mem

(I do not really do any recording on it at the moment either)

I know nothing about computers, this was a recommendation by my brother.
Will this be powerful enough to run Pro Tools 11 (for audio and video)?

Or is there some other reason as to why I may want to get a new laptop for this?
And I want a laptop not desktop, for portability.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

What's the processor model/speed in your current unit? If you're doing video editing too then you'll want all the processing power you can afford.

You've got a decent computer there. It even has discrete Radeon graphics for better video performance. For video, just about anything is better than the integrated Intel HD video. It should serve you pretty well to get started.

If you can get a high-end i5 processor, or even an i7, and 8GB of RAM along with discrete graphics and audio, you can "future proof" your machine. That just means it will take you longer to outgrow it. Also, with video (because of the large file sizes), you'll want the largest hard drive you can get, 750GB to 1TB.

Note: Being a hardware guy, I always recommend bigger, faster, more, as much as your budget allows.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[InsaneBassninja]

How old is it? My Is 4 years old so I need to buy one next year.

 

[Dave Curran]

Is this the 1.60Ghz 4 core? With a 640GB HDD @ 5400 rpm? Resolution 1366 x 768?

 

[Dave Curran]

4 Years old is not old anymore. (First pc built was a 386sx/16Mz) Often uprgading memory, adding an external hdd, and swapping the internal one for an ssd will give you all the performance you need for audio production. I currently do this on a '07 13" mac, 2.0Ghz dual core. Put a 128GB ssd with the os, and recording software.(I use Studio One) Plug-ins live there too. All recording is done to a generic W/D green 7200RPM in a cheap newegg eternal enclosure. Laptop was given to me, and total cost for upgrades were under $200.

 

[Shlogo]

Lilduke, yes.
And I've had it for...2-2 1/2 years.

I was thinking of possibly getting a 13" MacBook pro, 8gb mem, 128gb ssd, and 2.9 GHz i7.
Then getting a 1tb external.

This way I could also get use to the Mac os, which is what my school will most most of the time.

 

[p0ppyman]

Will this be powerful enough to run Pro Tools 11 (for audio and video)?

Or is there some other reason as to why I may want to get a new laptop for this?
And I want a laptop not desktop, for portability.

Thanks for any advice!

I took a look at Avid's recommendations and it looks like they lean towards Intel i7 Sandy Bridge processors.

I think you have an AMD Quad-core clocked @ 1.60 GHz. I expect their recommendation is based upon feedback from the customers that use their product. I would give your system a try and if you start seeing performance issues consider upgrading at that time.

If you do not have 8 GB of memory I would consider upgrading it to 8 GB on the assumption you are running Windows 7. Home Premium can use 16 GB but I think your laptop is limited to 8 GB.

I am both a Apple (iPad, iPod, MacBook Pro & Mini Mac server) and Windows (Phone, Zune, Desktop, Laptop, Surface RT and Win Servers) platform owner. I use my MacBook for things music related.

Have fun with your audio production classes!

 

[Landy67]

(First pc built was a 386sx/16Mz)

[NERD/ON]
I know it's "picking nits," but the first IBM PC had an Intel 8088 2.77Mz processor.

IBM wanted to compete with the Apple computer, which ran on an 8 bit processor, but they were afraid that the PC's would impact their mainframe sales, so they had Intel cripple the 16 bit 8086 CPU so it could only access an 8 bit data path and address 1 MB of RAM. Then they put all of the hardware at the top of RAM so it couldn't be expanded.
[NERD/OFF]

... Sorry... I couldn't help myself.

 

[davidhilton]

So I am starting school for audio production, and my dad is awesome enough to help me get the equipment I need.

Part of this is (maybe obviously) Pro Tools.
I know my school has some dual boot computers but I know I will be working with Mac's for sure (new to me).

As of right now I have this:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
With 4 GB of mem

(I do not really do any recording on it at the moment either)

I know nothing about computers, this was a recommendation by my brother.
Will this be powerful enough to run Pro Tools 11 (for audio and video)?

Or is there some other reason as to why I may want to get a new laptop for this?
And I want a laptop not desktop, for portability.

Thanks for any advice!

MacBook Pro.