Laptop...Ordered! ASUS ROG GL752, 1tb HD+1tb Samsung m2 ssd $1350!
I'm in the process of retiring/relocating from northern Calif to northern Idaho to help my 90 yr old mom... so am trying to decide on a laptop as this transition is gonna take several months and I'll be doing more mobile stuff from then on. I'm impressed at what's out there these days.
My first choice was a convertible, with thunderbolt and 4K vid touchscreen screen, capable of running 4 other screens but limited to 16GB and a 2 core 6 gen intel i7-6500U...It's the new ASUS Apple killer, the Q534UX-BBI7T16...
It has 2 HD's... a 512gb SSD and a 5400 2TB slow hd... it is SLICK and a BestBuy exclusive at the moment for $1400 by Asus... it is
here... What I love is the long term prospect of thunderbolt and low latency recording. Easy to swap out the 2TB junk for a fast 1TB SSD. It is a state of the art laptop/convertible/pad combo. Not that I need the convertibility... it's just cool! Oh, and better battery life.
BUT after looking around it appears the basic ASUS gaming laptop configuration (GL752), which includes a 4 core/8 thread 6 gen Intel processor are WAY more beefy (2X the power/speed) and allow for up to 64GB of RAM (vs 16) which is important...I do a LOT of ram intensive Kontakt stuff, orchestral et al. So I'm now looking at the ASUS gaming rigs, which all sport the i7-6700HQ 4 core or better cpus, provision for 2 drives, and swap-able memory up to 64GB!
The base unit is $999, 16gb ram with a crappy 1TB drive but I can throw this away and replace it with TWO 1TB SSD's for the price differential of the convertible above; It lacks the 4K screen but I can upgrade the memory easily. BUT I sacrifice the 4K touch screen and convertibility and THUNDERBOLT
Quite a quandary... both are awesome; the gaming platform offers way more raw power but the new convertible is the next level of elegance... Omnisphere alone fracks with my VastMaschine but S4Life's new simultaneous audio recording is my new friend these days to minimize cpu hit... makes it way easier to go crazy with less power. RAM is important to me... I am a heavy Kontakt user....
I'm definitely in need of a mobile option as I'll be moving into travel mode... Both have multiple usb3/2 so I'll be able to use my 2TB back up/ancellarly drives
Wish the new ASUS allowed for memory expansion... but to take advantage of thunderbolt I have to give up my Forte and get a new interface...which is even more money! I love the Forte, latency aside...just has gorgeous pre's and is rock solid.
Any thoughts or other ideas are welcome... trying to save the duckets this week before I head up north again.
Thoughts anyone???
post edited by Vastman - 2016/09/02 22:09:36