About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this?

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michaelreiser
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2014/06/09 14:51:53 (permalink)

About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this?

...  or tell me if there's something better?  I've been out of the game for a while (Its been so long since I've posted, that my old forum account is gone.).  After many years, I feel the old passion coming back, I'm wanting to start recording again.  I have Sonar X3e and various instruments, and I'd like to go with a laptop this time around (after decades of building my own desktops)
 
Some of the laptop info here is a bit dated, so my first inclination was to go with what Cakewalk is using at their shows according to a recent blog post.  I've settled on this version of an HP Z-book (I will add a second drive to it):
 
HP ZBook 15 (F2P55UT#ABA) Mobile Workstation Intel Core i7 4700MQ (2.40GHz) 8GB Memory 500GB HDD NVIDIA Quadro K610M 15.6" Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
 
(the forum stripped the original link)  hxxp://w w w.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834257618
 
Its a chunk of change, and I'm hoping someone can give me the warm fuzzies before I click on the shopping cart button.  I'm going to have this for a while, so I'm hoping this will do for years to come.  Thanks for any suggestions or criticisms!
 
Michael Reiser
 
 
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    Kev999
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    Re: About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this? 2014/06/10 03:47:59 (permalink)
    http://www.newegg.com/global/au/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834257618
     
    Looks OK to me, but it appears to be out of stock.

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    #2
    jcschild
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    Re: About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this? 2014/06/10 09:54:09 (permalink)
    most off the shelf laptops do not work well for audio.
    google "pro audio laptop"
     
     

    Scott
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    Mesh
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    Re: About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this? 2014/06/10 10:10:59 (permalink)
    jcschild
    most off the shelf laptops do not work well for audio.
    google "pro audio laptop"
     
     


    ^^this^^
    If you're going to spend a nice chunk of change on a dedicated DAW, you should consult one or both of the two best DAW builders here in Cakewalk land: Scott at ADK_Pro_Audio or Jim Roseberry at Studio_Cat. You'll have a peace of mind that your system will be custom built to your needs and pre-tested for Pro audio. 
     
    No I don't get any referral bonuses for doing this, but I sure as **** won't turn it down (if offered).  

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    #4
    Starise
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    Re: About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this? 2014/06/10 11:51:43 (permalink)
    Cakewalk demonstrates with lap tops...but I am still leary of using one for workhorse projects..I know that doesn't help with the warm fuzzies any....as a second machine no question IMO, but as a main DAW my fuzzies are colder there. I have heard too many issues with incompatibilities concerning audio cards among other things....if I were going laptop, I would go with one dedicated to audio...the future upgrade path of a laptop is limited compared to a desktop...I sometimes think it would be nice to be in my recliner working on a mix...yeah, it would be nice alright....after 10 minutes I would be fast asleep.

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    #5
    Jim Roseberry
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    Re: About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this? 2014/06/11 07:24:55 (permalink)
    General purpose laptops are made for the general purpose end-user.
    That person is using Office, Surfing the Internet, Facebook, YouTube, etc.  Nothing demanding (performance wise)
    They're more concerned with extended battery life than the laptop sustaining maximum uninterrupted thru-put.
    We (as DAW users) are on the opposite end of the spectrum.
    We need maximum sustained (uninterrupted) data thru-put.
     
    Low/consistent DPC Latency is necessary to effectively work (with substantial loads) at low audio latency.
    With an off-the-shelf computer, many advanced BIOS parameters are hidden from (not exposed to) the end-user.
    This reduces the load on tech-support (ensuring folks don't foul up their machine), but it comes at the expense of not exposing some parameters that help minimize DPC Latency.
     
    DPC Latency isn't a factor for the general-purpose end-user.  They would never notice a 3ms hiccup in data flow.
    For DAW applications (especially when working at low-latency settings), a 3ms hiccup in data flow results in glitches/drop-outs.
     
    A laptop is a super tight space.  The ultimate small form-factor.
    To keep temperatures in check, performance compromises *HAVE* to be made.
    Notice that the clock-speed of laptop CPUs hasn't changed much in a long while.
    2.4GHz is relatively slow considering desktop CPUs are now running quad-core CPUs at 4GHz
     
    I've said this many times, but I'm just not a fan of laptops.  
    I'd rather have a mini-ITX machine (still very portable) that has all the speed of a tower and none of the limitations of a laptop.

    Best Regards,

    Jim Roseberry
    jim@studiocat.com
    www.studiocat.com
    #6
    Cactus Music
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    Re: About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this? 2014/06/11 13:56:01 (permalink)
    I agree that a laptop would only be a choice for those who do remote recording or travel a lot. 
     
    If it's just going to sit on a desk then you've just spent all your money on portability instead of better specs. Laptops are almost obsolete anyhow with most people going with a tablet for travel. I don't think much effort is put into their development anymore as the market share shrinks. 
     
    What Jim has mentioned about the BIOS of laptops is 100% truth! My son wasted months on a top of the line Dell that had huge DPC issues that made it useless for Audio. Dell would not take it back because it was not "broken" 
    If you do go the laptop route, either have it built and guaranteed for audio, or make the sales people run the DPCLAT test before you lay your money down. 
     
    And just because one person is using Model WTF-1 without issues may not result in you having the same success. Laptops manufactures swap out components as they roll off the line. They use whatever they have on hand. At least with a desktop you have control over this. 
     
     
     

    Johnny V  
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    #7
    michaelreiser
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    Re: About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this? 2014/06/12 15:04:33 (permalink)
    Thanks for the input!  I felt that this series appeared to be tailor-made as AV workstations, but perhaps not.  I will think long and hard about what steps I will take next.
     
    Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate you all helping me to dodge a bullet.
    #8
    lawajava
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    Re: About to buy this laptop... can someone make me feel more confident with this? 2014/06/12 20:13:56 (permalink)
    I agree with the recommendation to buy a laptop put together for audio recording. It will be a smooth ride that way with probably zero headaches.

    I bought one of these two years ago. Haven't had a glitch except for ones I made on my own and which I could remove on my own.

    I record challenging pieces on routinely 120+ tracks loaded with various processors (plug-ins). I do freeze tracks which keeps the craziness working just fine.

    Since I've had great success with a laptop and it has given me so many options for when and where I can work on Sonar, I would never go back to a desktop.

    Two internal 2TB SSDs laptop stuffed with Larry's deals and awesome tools. Studio One is the cat's meow as a DAW now that I've migrated off of Sonar. Using BandLab Cakewalk just to grab old files when migrating songs.
    #9
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