Is there a Laptop that is suitable as a DAW?

After reading most of the posts regarding laptops for DAW's, and seeing that the 'DPC' issue is the main culprit of not being able to use a high-end laptop (ie dv7t), I ask the question "Are there any off-shelf laptops suitable for a DAW?"....I know there are 'custom' people out there, but I am really not directing my post to them....(not to say that your machines are not good).  Also, If I do decide to purchase a laptop, am I correct in thinking that getting a core2duo will yield better results than a core2quad, i3, i5, or i7.  Lastly, does AMD chipsets have the same DPC problems? Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated..Thanks all.....

most off the shelf will not work too well
for firewire forget it
for USB interface you might get lucky as less than 1/2 work and thats after doing a good amount of tweaking.

now used from 2.5-3 yrs ago you might have a better chance.

yes AMD has the same issues  all laptop manufacturers are doing the same things to all laptops.
(power management crap)

Hi Day...

I would suggest bootcamping on of these - http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

They have just been updated with the second generation iCore processors which are even faster than the previous iCores. 

Although the connections are firewire800 and usb 2.0 there is also a new port (Thunderbolt) which claims to be ten times faster than firewire and is PCI express compatible. More on that in the future.

 I know that this will address my needs, but it really depends on what your needs are and what you want the laptop to do.

Regards

Rodders

Would these newer laptops accommodate heavy VST recording use,

 
Off-the-shelf PC laptops don't make particularly good DAWs (especially if you have high performance expectations).
Doesn't matter if you're talking heavy audio tracks/mixing... or heavy VSTi use
The best off-the-shelf laptops are the MacBook Pros.
 
If you don't absolutely need a laptop, you're far better off going with a desktop/tower/rack... or even a mATX/ITX (small form factor) custom machine.  You'll have all the speed you need...  with complete control over which components are used and how the machine is configured.
ie:  Tonight, I'll be using a mini-ITX i7-870 based machine that provides all my keyboard sounds.
The machine, small monitor, mini wireless keyboard, and RME Babyface (audio interface) all fit in a single (relatively small) rolling case.  This machine kicks the tar out of any off-the-shelf laptop (including Macbook Pros).
I can play 128-256 notes of polyphony at a 48-sample ASIO buffer size... completely glitch-free (including splits/layers with Kontakt 4, Omnisphere, etc).
 
Keep in mind, this is what I do for a living.
I have extremely high performance expectations.
If your needs are more modest... and especially if you don't mind working at 256-sample ASIO buffer size or higher (and you use a good USB audio interface) you may do OK with one of the better off-the-shelf laptops.
But it'll never deliver the kind of performance mentioned above...
 
Another thing I like about the small form factor custom machines:
If a part fails, it's relatively easy/inexpensive to get replaced.  Especially important if you're using said machine for live work.

Jim Roseberry

Would these newer laptops accommodate heavy VST recording use,

 
Off-the-shelf PC laptops don't make particularly good DAWs (especially if you have high performance expectations).
Doesn't matter if you're talking heavy audio tracks/mixing... or heavy VSTi use
The best off-the-shelf laptops are the MacBook Pros.
 
If you don't absolutely need a laptop, you're far better off going with a desktop/tower/rack... or even a mATX/ITX (small form factor) custom machine.  You'll have all the speed you need...  with complete control over which components are used and how the machine is configured.
ie:  Tonight, I'll be using a mini-ITX i7-870 based machine that provides all my keyboard sounds.
The machine, small monitor, mini wireless keyboard, and RME Babyface (audio interface) all fit in a single (relatively small) rolling case.  This machine kicks the tar out of any off-the-shelf laptop (including Macbook Pros).
I can play 128-256 notes of polyphony at a 48-sample ASIO buffer size... completely glitch-free (including splits/layers with Kontakt 4, Omnisphere, etc).
 
Keep in mind, this is what I do for a living.
I have extremely high performance expectations.
If your needs are more modest... and especially if you don't mind working at 256-sample ASIO buffer size or higher (and you use a good USB audio interface) you may do OK with one of the better off-the-shelf laptops.
But it'll never deliver the kind of performance mentioned above...
 
Another thing I like about the small form factor custom machines:
If a part fails, it's relatively easy/inexpensive to get replaced.  Especially important if you're using said machine for live work.

hmmm...up until this point, I never considred a 'mini'......I think I will start building one immediately...

I only play around, strictly hobby, but I have a Pavilion(see signature), that is running Sonar 8.5.3 PE, and I can't record massive projects or lots of plug-ins, but for what I do it works fine. I have a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB, and the laptop, with everything turned off that should be, is very stable. I also have Guitar Tracks Pro 4 on the same machine. You probably want more, but it can be done. With more tweaking, I dont see why you couldn't get some decent size projects. Max out RAM, and possibly faster processor?

got a toshiba sattelite 4gram..i3...does well..ive done up to 28 audio tracks with plugs and not breaking 40 on the performance module

Last year I needed a laptop for temporary portable use while my main PC was going to be unavailable for several months.  I purchased a used/reconditioned Dell Studio 1537 laptop via eBay, costing 230UKP.  It had Linux installed, but I reformatted the HDD and installed XP.  This laptop had been originally built to run Vista, so suitable XP drivers were not available for all of the internal hardware, but this did not matter, as most of these devices were not needed for my purposes anyway (certainly not the onboard audio).  The only real issue was the lack of graphics drivers, meaning that I had to put up with viewing a 4:3 image stretched to fit a 16:9 screen, but I learned to live with this.  Later I installed Vista and got all the hardware working properly.
 
Anyway it worked ok as a portable DAW.  The key feature that influenced my choice of model was the inclusion of a separate graphics card rather than one built into the motherboard that relies on the CPU.

Guitarhacker


In spite of all the commentary above....and,  those posters are very knowledgeable on this topic..... many of whom I respect.

I have, as have many others, used an "off the shelf" lappy with good success. It's how I and many others  started.

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1720 with USB & Firewire ports on it. I installed Music Creator and a Saffire Firewire external interface. I added lots of VST and synths and FX through the years. It all ran well.

I had some crashes ( I mostly blame the Vista OS)  and the CPU numbers got a bit high at times with lots of VST's loaded, but it always ran and did so reliably.

I recently built a DAW.... I will say that it runs so much better than the lappy ever did. (it barely hits 20% CPU on the biggest of projects)
I still use the lappy as a back up, just in case. I plug it up every now and then just to make sure it still runs well.

But back to the lappy..... yes, I think a stock lappy is a way to get started in home recording.

Will you get the best recording experience form a stock lappy?
Will it run a bucket load of big synths and FX at the same time?
Will the specs be impressive to the gurus? 

Probably not, but you will be able to record and do that fairly well with the proper external USB interface. There are, or were issues with some firewire installs, and from what I hear, USB will be the way of the near future. 

So, you can use a lappy to get started, just plan on a decent soundcard and you'll be able to do some decent recording with that lappy.

Thanks for that.  I have been building PC'sand DAWS since Cakewalk 7, so for beginners, I would recommend an OTC desktop before a laptop...If I recommended a lap-top at all.  Mainly because I couldn't reccommend spending more money on a slower system.  My interests in a laptop is as a practical solution VST production, simple mobile recording, and  live play.  I was ready to go in on one, but now feel highly discouraged.  For live play, though, of one synth at a time, I may still get a laptop though...