Dell Windows 10 Laptop

I usually get a new every day laptop every two or three years, depending on how well I like the one I have. It's about time to upgrade again.
 
I have used an HP the past two times, and both laptops had lots of difficulty with the internet. Slow downloads, a screen that commonly says "web page cannot be displayed," and on and on with connection and streaming problems. That's enough about HP and I'm not getting an HP this time, but I am curious if any of you have had the same connection troubles with HP.
 
Right now, I'm interested in a Dell. I wanted to see if any of you are using a Dell Laptop as your main Daw, and how well you like it. I'd also like to know if there is any glitch with a Dell and SONAR similar to my HP and the internet that doesn't make sense, but is very real. I want to see what the users here think, and their experience, with the compatibility of a Dell laptop and Platinum. My main DAW is the desktop Jim Roseberry built for me as listed in my signature, but I also like having a mobile unit.
 
Here's a machine I'm interested in. Seems like there may be one now that boosts up to 3.5 ghz, but I'm not sure of the brand. I want to stay around the $1,000.00 price range. I've had my share of MacBooks and I'm not spending $2,000.00 and up on a laptop again. I'm through with Pro Tools and Apple, so I'm not even considering a Mac of any kind, even if Cakewalk comes out with the Mac version of Platinum in the near future.
 
What do the users here think of this machine, and are any of you using it as your main DAW? Or what is a good laptop that SONAR users have especially good results with? This one has all the right specs....17.3" monitor, Windows 10, i7, 16 gb, 3.1 ghz, and a 1 TB. More than enough for SONAR Platinum. I'm mainly interested in compatibility and a track record.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-DELL-17-3-i7-6500U-3-10GHz-16GB-1TB-SSD-BACKLIT-KEYBOARD-WINDOWS-10-OFFICE-/281986679484?hash=item41a7b742bc:g:64oAAOSwBnVW~L37
 
Thanks!
DS

If you're gonna spend over 1K for your DAW I would get one that has at least 2 HDDs in it. Look for deals like local open box, etc. You can sometimes talk them down even lower than their asking price. The Alienware models are really quiet and have slots for 2 or 3 HDD. Mine has 2 SSDs and 1 HDD where the DVD would have been. The missing DVD was no big deal as I have a good external unit that hardly gets used anymore.

I have owned Dell, ASUS, Toshiba, Sony and HP laptops. Currently have an HP i7, 16gB, 17.3. I have Sonar and Komplete and a bunch of other stuff on it. I use a Scarlett 2i2 with it sometimes when traveling. It is really just an everyday and work machine, not primarily for daw. But I did get the 17" with idea that it would be a portable daw. Glad I did too, because the larger screen is much better for my work apps, Quicken and everything else and not that much less portable than 15.6". Great machine. I'm sure a comp spec Dell would be fine, as would Asus or any other, for your (and my) purpose as an everyday laptop. A lot of the differences are going to be cosmetic and bloatware, which you can avoid if you buy at a Microsoft Store. I did that and it really does make a difference not having to tediously remove all the crap that is often preinstalled. I think most have some sort of preinstalled monitoring software which you can disable. Not everyone likes HP Assistant. Personally, I am fine with it. It is good at keeping drivers up to date. FWIW, I doubt your connectivity issues have anything to do w brand.
BPM

Just got an Inspiron 5000 series.  I also was a former HP user.  I think HP's quality has gone considerably down over the past 5 years.  HP used to be a rock solid performer, my last laptop was extremely loud from the fan noise and yet consistently overheated, to the point where my graphics card started failing after just 3 years.
 
The inspiron 15 is  a great value.  It was $1000 with an extended warranty.  It has a 4K display, it's extremely ruggged and the keyboard is far superior to the HP, which always felt cheap to me.  It's always cool to the touch unlike the HP, it's got dual fans that are extremely quiet and vents to the back not to the side.  The best feature though is it's got a M.2 SSD slot so you can have a M.2 SSD and a secondary hard drive.  It comes with a 1TB SSHD.  For $200 I upgraded it to 16G RAM and a 250G M.2 SSD, and it was still less than I paid for my HP.
 
The only negatives I'd say about it, is if you use the trackpad often it doesn't have a great track pad, and it's a little heavy (about 6.5 lbs).  I think Dell made it as a gaming laptop, but for music it's great, because it's built as a desktop replacement.  Full quad core i7 with hyperthreading, with great expandability and very easy to work on for upgrades/expansion.
 
Also if you don't mind spending a little more I'd also reccoment the new XPS laptops. I know you said $1K so this might not be doable, but those are going to be more in range of a Mac Book, and it's got a real premium feel for a laptop, very portable and powerful, and you get Thunderbolt-4/USB-C port on board.

My HP doesn't get hot, and I live in a hot place. The fan is not noisy either. It's about 2 years old

Sorry Just. When I clicked on the thread the forum took me to post 9, so was inputing on that. Just read your opening post, so mines looks a little awkward in hindsight.

JustGotPaid
My everyday laptop is still getting crankier. The worst thing is how bad it is when it comes to internet connections and downloads. Time and again I go to web sites and start to read and then it disconnects and says 'Page Cannot Be Displayed." Yet, it doesn't do that on my other computer. I've had about all I can stand of this, and also am ready to start on some new projects (non music) and think it will be better to start from scratch on a new computer.
 
Here's what I'm looking at now. I wanted to see if anyone is using this with SONAR, or what the general opinion among SONAR users is about this Dell, and if there is anything about it that seems to not play well with SONAR.
https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-Laptop-Generation-i5767-6370GRY/dp/B01L8PE6VO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478756264&sr=8-1&keywords=Dell+17.3%22+i7+16+gb
 

Don't have any personal experience with this model, but looked up the specs for that CPU.  Big difference in the desktop and mobile CPU's from Intel...
 
That one is a dual core, four thread CPU, running at 2.7Ghz with turbo up to 3.5 Ghz, so it's not going to perform like a desktop i7.  So if your demands are within this spec, you will probably run ok.
http://ark.intel.com/products/95451/Intel-Core-i7-7500U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz-
 
I bought a Dell laptop a little over 10 years ago, and it still works, although it is an out of date Pentium 4 with Windows XP.  It can run Sonar 8.5 Producer OK.  I never really needed to contact support, but I did find that Dell keeps all the manuals and downloads handy online for self-help.  I found most of the answers that I ever needed on their help forums...
 
But if I was looking for a laptop to be my primary PC for Sonar today, I think I would invest in one with a SSD drive.  That is the single best bang for the buck performance upgrade when it comes to rebooting, launching programs, or opening projects.  A lot of suggestions I have seen recommend a laptop with a 2nd hard drive bay for audio and samples drive, etc.
 
And finally, I would recommend wiping out all the pre-installed crap from an off the shelf laptop.  There is a lot of crapware on board that could conflict with your chosen security software, your online connectivity, and your DAW software.  There are web forums devoted to this topic, so I won't go into detail here.  Personally, I believe that a hard drive wipe and a clean install of Windows, along with re-installing the manufacturers hardware drivers is the best starting point.  Google is your friend

Have any of you also noticed that HP doesn't connect and stay connected well? I've noticed it on the past two HP's I've had, and have also heard others say the same thing. I was curious if anyone here has had the same experience.
Thanks.
DS

Connection issues can be a lot of things, ISP, modem/router, drivers, system settings, and even services enabled/disabled.

On the computer side of that Iobit's Advanced System Care (free version) may be an option for a holistic look, but forget if the startup modification is part of that. A lot (pretty much all) programs default to autoload at boot, when "manual" (meaning you instantiate the program whenever you use it) is a better option. You can also get into that window typing "Services" in the Windows search field.

JustGotPaid
Have any of you also noticed that HP doesn't connect and stay connected well? I've noticed it on the past two HP's I've had, and have also heard others say the same thing. I was curious if anyone here has had the same experience.
Thanks.
DS

Mine is fine.

JustGotPaid
Have any of you also noticed that HP doesn't connect and stay connected well? I've noticed it on the past two HP's I've had, and have also heard others say the same thing. I was curious if anyone here has had the same experience.
Thanks.
DS

 
Never had an issue with connectivity on my old HP, only overheating which eventually cause GPU failure.
 

JustGotPaid
I'd like to get some input about Dell in particular as a laptop for SONAR.

 
Not sure what specifics you want.  I've got the Inspiron 7559, and it works like a charm.  Like most Windows laptops, you will need to tweak for audio production.  Big thing is making sure your drivers, especially BIOS and chipset drivers are up to date.  I use a free program called Latencymon, which detects for dpc latency which could cause audio dropouts.  On most Windows laptops I've seen out of the box, will have some latency issues that are usually cleared up with driver/BIOS updates, as well as some of the performance tweaks ABACAB listed above.  Also on Windows 10 go  to start > settings > Privacy > Background apps.  Turn off most everything unless it's something you frequently use, this will prevent push notifications in the background that could cause an audio dropout.
 
Also on a laptop, look for the quad core i7,  it's the 6700hq, not the 6500.  It's not as powerful as the desktop i7, but it's faster than the 6500.
 
 

hipplas93
I don't like Win 10

I'm generally irked by anything new but I've found Win 10 (pro) a very good experience, coming from Win 7 Professional. It didn't please me straight out of the box but it didn't take much tweaking to make it fit in with my workflow, and I'm pleased with all of the technical enhancements, such as working with touch screens, high-res screens, it even plays better with my Wacom tablet. I can't really see any reason not to prefer it, so maybe give it a bit more of a go and look into ways around anything you don't like. In desktop mode you can have it running pretty much the same as Win 7, but i'm kinda getting addicted to having a touchscreen for a lot of things. If there's anything specific that causes you trouble you may want to mention it in case there's a solution.