Jimmyillest
New member
The Hp beats edition laptop is good with music production . its also not that expensive . "Doesn't what you have its how you use it ".
Best Laptop PC for Music Production?
- Thread starter EScottProductions
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Bobs music laptop
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Glad to have found this thread. And I see it's been going for a few years, needless to say technology changes so often it's hard to keep up. I have a dell laptop I use for music recording and it works just fine. But im just a solo guy. However, I would like to record bands and that will require more tracks and effects, so I am looking for a good MacBook. But if you guy's can offer any advice, I would appreciate it! Thanks everybody!
So many dumb attitudes on here.
In 2004 i used to carry around 2 desktops one for the visual side of things and one for my live set
that was 9 years ago. Things have moved on since then quite a bit.
Pretty much every attack on using a laptop for production on here, seems to me to be a dogmatic
and irrelevent one.
If your doing a lot of intensive video work i don't see how you could do with out a desktop other then
that most of the arguments against laptops for music production are out of date.
A laptop uses on averge around 100 watts of power compared to 5/600 watts used for a desktop
if your not enviromentally consious about this by now perhaps you ought to be.
Music should be made to play out LIVE this means having a portable solution, I get the feeling
most opinons on here are coming from noobs who have not yet made it far enough that they
have had to deal with the reality of live music performance and are happy messing around in
there bedrooms. I used to drag desktops around becuase that was the ONLY option and what
a complete hassle that was trust me!.
A modern laptop preferably a mac can handle almost anything audio related, I am totally pragmatic
about music production In that i am only intrested in what i need to achive the
goal at hand. a good quality modern laptop irrefutably fits this bill for me.
It is cheeper to get a faster desktop together BUT in the long run if your serious about getting
out there and actually doing stuff live with your music your going to need to buy a laptop
anyway sooner or later.
In the project studio I share we have with 32 channels of audio running from a live room i would in this instance
only concider the fastest desktop. But that along with my video post production work is really the only application for me. The modern live recording studio/Post production video suite, in my mind is the best place for a fast desktop
All other work and mixdown stuff i can do at home with my macbook pro I have a dual screen automatically and
everything runs as well as it could for me + that same machine allows me to work anywhere and do my live sets. whats not
to like unless your to skint to afford one.
I would certainly say if moneys a problem i would go with a Lenovo T61/T420 To get started on turn of all none essential drivers and run DPC LATENCY CHECKER (Lenovo also ground their motherboards properly on buisness machines like apple to avoid that ground hum!)
when you have more money, get a ssd, and use the ultra bay for a second HD and work your way up to a macbook when you can afford it
Each to their and all, but if one day you want to do more then just w**k off at home. your going to need a laptop.
---------- Post added at 07:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 AM ----------
Total rubbish hyperbole, It's sad that people are taken in by attitudes like this. POINTLESS USER BASED CYNICISM
I know many live electronic artists being one myself, the modern laptop has been the most valuble asset to come
around in decades your denile is beyond reproach and can be quickly regarded as meaningless rubbish.
"It's not like there are huge convoys of busses teaming with laptop producers criss crossing the country, or all the venues are booked out because every second person has a laptop"
Actually that is exactly what has been going on GLOBALLY by people who have been very succesfull in there endevours wakey wakey mate
Sorry to the rest of you for bringing antagonism to the thread I prefer it when people are exposed to sound arguments based on the real world not rubbish
In 2004 i used to carry around 2 desktops one for the visual side of things and one for my live set
that was 9 years ago. Things have moved on since then quite a bit.
Pretty much every attack on using a laptop for production on here, seems to me to be a dogmatic
and irrelevent one.
If your doing a lot of intensive video work i don't see how you could do with out a desktop other then
that most of the arguments against laptops for music production are out of date.
A laptop uses on averge around 100 watts of power compared to 5/600 watts used for a desktop
if your not enviromentally consious about this by now perhaps you ought to be.
Music should be made to play out LIVE this means having a portable solution, I get the feeling
most opinons on here are coming from noobs who have not yet made it far enough that they
have had to deal with the reality of live music performance and are happy messing around in
there bedrooms. I used to drag desktops around becuase that was the ONLY option and what
a complete hassle that was trust me!.
A modern laptop preferably a mac can handle almost anything audio related, I am totally pragmatic
about music production In that i am only intrested in what i need to achive the
goal at hand. a good quality modern laptop irrefutably fits this bill for me.
It is cheeper to get a faster desktop together BUT in the long run if your serious about getting
out there and actually doing stuff live with your music your going to need to buy a laptop
anyway sooner or later.
In the project studio I share we have with 32 channels of audio running from a live room i would in this instance
only concider the fastest desktop. But that along with my video post production work is really the only application for me. The modern live recording studio/Post production video suite, in my mind is the best place for a fast desktop
All other work and mixdown stuff i can do at home with my macbook pro I have a dual screen automatically and
everything runs as well as it could for me + that same machine allows me to work anywhere and do my live sets. whats not
to like unless your to skint to afford one.
I would certainly say if moneys a problem i would go with a Lenovo T61/T420 To get started on turn of all none essential drivers and run DPC LATENCY CHECKER (Lenovo also ground their motherboards properly on buisness machines like apple to avoid that ground hum!)
when you have more money, get a ssd, and use the ultra bay for a second HD and work your way up to a macbook when you can afford it
Each to their and all, but if one day you want to do more then just w**k off at home. your going to need a laptop.
---------- Post added at 07:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 AM ----------
Total rubbish hyperbole, It's sad that people are taken in by attitudes like this. POINTLESS USER BASED CYNICISM
I know many live electronic artists being one myself, the modern laptop has been the most valuble asset to come
around in decades your denile is beyond reproach and can be quickly regarded as meaningless rubbish.
"It's not like there are huge convoys of busses teaming with laptop producers criss crossing the country, or all the venues are booked out because every second person has a laptop"
Actually that is exactly what has been going on GLOBALLY by people who have been very succesfull in there endevours wakey wakey mate
Sorry to the rest of you for bringing antagonism to the thread I prefer it when people are exposed to sound arguments based on the real world not rubbish
logic7
old school
There are some facts about laptops that simply cannot be denied.
1. They use slower processors than their desktop counterparts.
2. They cannot handle as much RAM as desktops
3. The video subsystems are substandard compared to desktops
4. Expansion options are limited when compared to desktops.
Which means absolutely nothing for music production. Desktops range in power consumption from ~120W or less to 1KW+ depending on what you're using.
This is PURE opinion, no fact involved whatsoever. Not all music is meant to be played out live.
More opinion with most of it self-focused, especially the "preferably a mac" bit.
Which doesn't apply to everyone. Hip hop producers, by and large, have no desire to "play out", this includes me. Even when I drop Techno or House tracks, I have no desire to play out "live". I'll settle for two turntables and vinyl 'cause that's what has defined "playing out" for me for the last 20+ years. I've done a handful of live shows, but it was a bit more impressive using a pair of Roland drum machines (R8 and R5), sequencer (Alesis MMT8+Yamaha MDF2), and whatever boards and modules I had handy (typically my Sequential Multi-Track, Roland MT32, Yamaha TX7 or TX81z, and whatever else I threw in). In those days, you had to have real skill to pull off a live show, nowadays it's degraded to some chap bobbing his head behind a flippin laptop, frontin' like he's doing something. It's comical what passes as a "live" show these days.
Why on earth would you mixdown on your laptop? Do you have a proper monitoring environment that you carry around with you too??? My workflow was always the opposite: My laptop is an idea scratchpad. Completing the track and the final mix is always done on my desktop on proper monitors through a decent audio interface.
A few things:
-With a PC, you don't "turn off" anything. It's completely unnecessary, especially these days.
-Assuming the person buying a laptop will also buy an audio interface to go with it, there's no real need to run dpc latency checker (not that there ever was a reason). Even a crappy little $30 Behringer USB interface will get you good latency numbers (~8-11ms).
-There's no real reason for an SSD. In fact, there's reason NOT to use them (finite r/w cycles, surprisingly high failure rates, cost, etc).
-You have yet to make a case for owning a Macbook. Just know who you're dealing with here: I'm a former Mac owner and I still see no need for one unless one wants to run Logic or DP. Outside of that, no need for a Mac at all.
That is a day that may never come for many of the people on this board.
---------- Post added at 07:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 AM ----------
Your entire post was filled with "POINTLESS USER BASED CYNICISM" and ZERO facts.
The post you quoted about convoys of busses was actually dead-on accurate. There's quite a few laptop users that never take their laptops out of the home. In those cases, having a laptop was a waste of money. That's not the case for me, as I've started quite a few pieces on the bus to and from the office using a laptop. However, there's people out there that simply hear "get a laptop for music" and run out to buy one without really considering whether or not they're ever going to use it for music outside of their home.
There are pros and cons to both laptops and desktops. Its up to the individual to decide what will be best suited for them.
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"There are pros and cons to both laptops and desktops. Its up to the individual to decide what will be best suited for them"
Agreed, You would of done well to leave it at that instead you had to go off on an onslaught defending your
own individual choice YAWN
the busses are usually planes, paid for along with the usual rider by label bosses
and record companys. If your good enough and you promote yourself you will
get there with work and effort
"That is a day that may never come for many of the people on this board."
Exactly what i am talking about in regards to pointless cynicsm, what help is that to anyone starting of???
you should be boosting people with out much knowledge, not cutting them down there could be amazing potential
artists reading this that want sound advice not personal bigotry.
"Hip hop producers, by and large, have no desire to "play out"
Ok now your making gross generlizations for the entire hip hop community???? WTF just shut up
" In those days, you had to have real skill to pull off a live show, nowadays it's degraded to some chap bobbing his head behind a flippin laptop, frontin' like he's doing something. It's comical what passes as a "live" show these days."
Yea Yea anyone over 35 making music for that long started of on hardware gear. The laptop is best viewed
as the brain of operations, this is not about what addtional tools you use to perform live. Stick to the point
besides which i COULD NOT GIVE A FLYING F*** what some one uses to make music as long as the music
is high in quality and emotion
"-There's no real reason for an SSD. In fact, there's reason NOT to use them (finite r/w cycles, surprisingly high failure rates, cost, etc).#"
Totally inacurate statment A decent ssd will dramaticlly improve the performance of any os installed to it your a moron
Agreed, You would of done well to leave it at that instead you had to go off on an onslaught defending your
own individual choice YAWN
the busses are usually planes, paid for along with the usual rider by label bosses
and record companys. If your good enough and you promote yourself you will
get there with work and effort
"That is a day that may never come for many of the people on this board."
Exactly what i am talking about in regards to pointless cynicsm, what help is that to anyone starting of???
you should be boosting people with out much knowledge, not cutting them down there could be amazing potential
artists reading this that want sound advice not personal bigotry.
"Hip hop producers, by and large, have no desire to "play out"
Ok now your making gross generlizations for the entire hip hop community???? WTF just shut up
" In those days, you had to have real skill to pull off a live show, nowadays it's degraded to some chap bobbing his head behind a flippin laptop, frontin' like he's doing something. It's comical what passes as a "live" show these days."
Yea Yea anyone over 35 making music for that long started of on hardware gear. The laptop is best viewed
as the brain of operations, this is not about what addtional tools you use to perform live. Stick to the point
besides which i COULD NOT GIVE A FLYING F*** what some one uses to make music as long as the music
is high in quality and emotion
"-There's no real reason for an SSD. In fact, there's reason NOT to use them (finite r/w cycles, surprisingly high failure rates, cost, etc).#"
Totally inacurate statment A decent ssd will dramaticlly improve the performance of any os installed to it your a moron
logic7
old school
All the insults thrown about show how immature you really are.
That many will never leave their home to perform or compose is a reality and something that must be taken into consideration when making a decision such as this one. It's not cynical to make this recommendation, it's being thorough.
Now... Hip hop producers generally DON'T play out (except to DJ... rarely). Pick a producer and, unless they rhyme along with producing, you'd be hard pressed to find one that does anything but beats. Some DJ, but even that's a rarity these days. This is indisputable fact.
As for "boosting people without much knowledge", check my posting history. That's all I ever do. Ask around the board (even ask a mod or two), that's all I've done on this board for nearly 10 years. YOU still have yet to post one FACT. I've proven quite a bit of what I've ever said on this board repeatedly. What have you done except come off like some wannabe know-it-all? Nothing... Not one thing... Try again when you've spent some time here.
SSD's have had reliability issues from day one. It's better now, but still sketchy. I work with them all day long. I work in network security and see SSD failures on every piece of network monitoring equipment that we use all the time. I'm constantly RMA'ing SSD's in my packet capture machines (RSA Netwitness), so miss me with all the garbage you're spewing. I have first hand experience with them in enterprise class environments, what experience do you have? That one in your consumer grade laptop??? Please stop. I've replaced more SSD's in the last two years than you'll probably see in your lifetime.
I have u160 SCSI drives (Fujitsu 10K RPM) that were purchased in the late 90's that still run perfectly in one of my servers at home with an uptime usually measured in months (only downtime is when I reboot for a kernel patch).
hollandturbine
New member
@ Spick1923 You must realize that I am playing devils advocate here, I am challenging people to consider the cons of using a laptop and not just look at the pros, so that people can make an informed decision in regard to their actual needs as opposed to what they think they need.
My point is simple, you should buy a laptop not because you like the idea of portability but because you actually need portability, in other words "don't buy a laptop to use as a desktop" which is exactly what a lot of people are doing.
When it comes to production the tower reigns supreme just based on architecture.
My point is simple, you should buy a laptop not because you like the idea of portability but because you actually need portability, in other words "don't buy a laptop to use as a desktop" which is exactly what a lot of people are doing.
When it comes to production the tower reigns supreme just based on architecture.
D
DeviozBeats
Guest
i feel the same like everyone else on here. i need a laptop for my music production as i always have to have it whenever i come up with a new beat on my mind and there it is. i've had my Lenovo idea pad G575 from Radioshack for sometime now and it hasn't done the job like i expected it to be. It's not as fast as i want it to be so i'm left looking for a different laptop that will provide better speed and latency.
Have you done every thing you can to speed up the laptop? perhaps replace the cpu if possible I think the model you talk of
only has a 1.6 amd dual core?
also despite what the voice of hiphop says upstairs, you will be shocked at how much a decent brand ssd will improve your performance
other then that you should have either a dual partition one used Just for audio and all none essential drivers deactivated and one for everything else failing that. just use the laptop for audio only.
For a cheeper p.c based laptop I could only recomend the lenovo T61/T420/520 They ground there boards properly to avoid ground loop hum!
though im sure there may be other laptops out there if you do a lot of careful searching
The best advice would be to get a mac book pro if you can afford it, so easy and most things just seem to work so much better, with out having to spend so much time pissing about trying to optomise everything, They are a great tool if not far too overpriced for a lot of people to concider
only has a 1.6 amd dual core?
also despite what the voice of hiphop says upstairs, you will be shocked at how much a decent brand ssd will improve your performance
other then that you should have either a dual partition one used Just for audio and all none essential drivers deactivated and one for everything else failing that. just use the laptop for audio only.
For a cheeper p.c based laptop I could only recomend the lenovo T61/T420/520 They ground there boards properly to avoid ground loop hum!
though im sure there may be other laptops out there if you do a lot of careful searching
The best advice would be to get a mac book pro if you can afford it, so easy and most things just seem to work so much better, with out having to spend so much time pissing about trying to optomise everything, They are a great tool if not far too overpriced for a lot of people to concider
MascaraSeBeatmaker
New member
Let me ask you a question:
How long do you keep your notebooks & pcs for music production? As long as your DAW & Plugins run smooth on it?
How long do you think can I keep my 2. Gen. i5-2410m & 8gigs of RAM? Its mostly about Boom-Bap-Beats, samplebased Production, nothing special. FL Studio 11, Reason 5 & Recycle 2.
How long do you keep your notebooks & pcs for music production? As long as your DAW & Plugins run smooth on it?
How long do you think can I keep my 2. Gen. i5-2410m & 8gigs of RAM? Its mostly about Boom-Bap-Beats, samplebased Production, nothing special. FL Studio 11, Reason 5 & Recycle 2.
ego killer
New member
^sample based takes up much less processing other than effects.
vintage2013
New member
That would be my reason...
Flash Falcon X
New member
THE YEAR IS 2013.
You probably don't get around a lot when it comes to music or you're stuck in the past, or both.
For a lot of producers, portability is valuable. Many producers like to travel or go to different studios to meet up with different artists. Having a laptop for music production is extremely beneficial nowadays for many different reasons. A producer can have beats set up on his laptop and bring it on the go so when he meets an artist/singer/rapper in a studio in a different city or country, the producer can conveniently take out his laptop, hook it up to the studio's system and get to work.
A producer may be invited to go work with a certain artist, and that producer can bring his laptop with him so when they meet he/she can use his own programs with his own VSTs, presets, sound kits, etc; it's a very valuable asset to be able to take your own sounds, program files, VSTs, etc. when you're on the road.
Also, have you ever heard of headphones? You don't need to carry around studio monitors/speakers in order to make beats outside. The year is 2013, it has been a new millenium for 13 years now and almost 14. Headphones have the technological capabilities to let a sound engineer, artist or producer hear all the types of highs and lows. For a producer that travels a lot, he can use his headphones if he needs to make adjustments to a beat while on the go, and then when he gets to the studio he won't need to make as many changes once he hears the beat within the space of a room using monitors. It's even more convenient with a program like FL Studio, because you don't necessarily need a keyboard; all you need is headphones and a mouse. Well known EDM producer Avicii makes his music that way.
Don't get me wrong, desktop computers are always more powerful, but people here are trying to discredit laptops as if they have no advantages and benefits at all. People move around a lot nowadays. People meet other people and work with other people. Music isn't just one city anymore. A producer can make a majority of his beats in one place, but there will be times when their music will take them places and meet new people to work with.
Of course, like in rap production, all you really need is an e-mail. You can make all your beats at home and then conveniently send them to different artists through e-mail. With EDM, you can get vocals sent to you and you can remix them with your music at the convenience of your own home and then e-mail the finished product to blogs. With that said, there are times where you might have to go on a trip or have to actually meet an artist face to face in order to work. It may not happen all the time, but when it does it would be extremely inconvenient to have to bring a desktop computer on the road.
bandcoach
Zukatoku - Mod Scientist
whatever works for your budget
given that we are 21 months on from when you asked this question, I am confident that you have already acted (that and the fact that this would appear to be the last post that you made), so I am going to close this thread as it now seems to have become a place for zealots to argue what are essentially matters of "religion": laptop vs desktop and pc vs mac
each has their own place in the panoply of production and each has its merits and target audiences - to continue to flame each other is fruitless and only makes the arguments seem even more trivial than they really are.....
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