Laptop DAW

I used to use an ASUS laptop - don't recall the model, but it was a monster machine with 16 GB of memory, 2 300 GB hard drives and an i7 CPU.
 
It bit the dust after 4 years - but worked GREAT with Sonar.  Had a 17" screen too.
 
I just looked at your specs - looks like an updated version of the same kind of laptop I had.
 
This laptop will have ZERO problems running Sonar X3.  It has plenty of memory, plenty of storage - plus having 2 separate drives will greatly assist performance, and it has a great i7 CPU.
 
I CAN tell you that you will need to go through all kinds of bloatware and get rid of it all, when you first get it.  They load these up with all kinds of extra utilities and free trials and just a giant bunch of gick.
 
I would not advise using the battery much on this, as it will suck the life out of its batteries when you have everything up and running at 100%.  Using the battery sparingly will help it last longer and save you money from having to replace the battery pack.  (it was pretty pricey for a replacement for the one I had)
 
I also recommend you configure the laptop to never go into sleep/hibernation, and do not let it selectively suspend USB devices.  I also suggest setting the minimum processor state at 100%.
 
FABULOUS laptop - you will like it, once you clean off the crap and get it configured.  The one I had was actually quite slow until I went in and deleted all the unnecessary software utilities and such.
 
Oh - I suggest you check for BIOS updates and driver updates manually, when you get it, rather than rely on some generic updater software utility.  I have seen too many times where those either fail to find a needed and available update, or they update something incorrectly.
 
Lastly - I happen to Avast's free version of their antivirus software.  The laptop will come with some 30-day trial for Norton or MacAfee or whatever.  I always get rid of those and use Avast.  It is free and your registration will be good for a year - then you simply register again.  It WILL by default add some functionality I myself choose to not install - Grimer Fighter, Browser Cleanup, and something called Updater (one of those update all your software utilities).  It will also attempt to steer you into a paid upgrade - I always just stick to the basic free edition, and it works great.
 
Anyways, Good luck - GREAT laptop
 
Bob Bone
 

jbow - that certainly does happen.  Because of that - I took a good long look at the specs for the ASUS laptop potentially being purchased, and it looks nearly identical to the one I had used quite cheerfully for 4 years.
 
As long as the bloatware and such gets deleted, and some configuration changes get made, that would be an outstanding laptop for running Sonar - in my opinion.
 
Bob Bone
 

I'll take a look at those portable apps - interesting concept.
 
Bob Bone
 

Back on topic... I finally got to check the machine in the OP, and that is more than sufficient to be used as a DAW. You may need to strip bloat-ware/garbage from the machine, and I typically will do a reformat/reinstall of the O/S immediately after purchasing an off-the-shelf machine (just be sure to have the O/S DVD and S/N before doing so if you opt to do this).
 
I am not familiar with Win8/8.1 and the only thing that comes to mind reviewing that is the overclocking. Overclocking is not recommended (or necessary) for most applications, and can actually induce page/thread errors due to the lowered performance created by additional heat on a CPU. I have tested this a bit in a Win7 environment on a desktop with better cooling and although the CPU speeds were higher, the number of "fumbles" increased, so was not an added benefit. My primary concern with a CPU is heat (a laptop has more concerns for this) and the dielectric degradation (slow destruction of insulation due to heat) can be exacerbated by overclocking.
 
ASUS has a built-in utility called "AI Suite II" that some have had issues with. I have only had a few issues with this in the past, and chosen to leave this enabled as it provides real-time control of the fans within my machine (the only functionality I use it for really). An interesting note with this program is that the developer built it on a dual monitor setup, so if you go to dual monitor mode, you will see a small black rectangle on the second screen (a non-functional GUI for this suite) which can be closed by exiting "AI Suite II"

This is still available.
 
It is a monster portable DAW.
 
Make me a reasonable offer and I'll consider it.

bapu
Remember, my laptop is a DAW built by a DAW maker to run as a DAW.

That's a lot of DAW you got there!!
(see what eye did there)
 

gbowling
Do you know how the fans are controlled if the AI suite is removed?

This is actually a very good question and I have no idea of the answer. The AI Suite II taps into all of the sensors on the MB, and without running it, I am not sure of how else to monitor it. The suite seems to be a software tap into the BIOS, so I am "assuming" the BIOS settings take over with the Suite offline.
 
A couple other things that came to mind with this Suite. The "black box" on the second monitor also disappears when opening the Suite from the taskbar (so I typically just open/close it). The only time the Suite has crashed is a few times during boot (no idea why), and I didn't specifically reload it (and saw no issues with it not running). I haven't had it cause any performance issues during normal operation (although its graphics counterpart "ASUS GPU Tweak" most certainly does, which I have disabled and only run when I want to monitor the GPU).
 
 

Not sure why? 
 
Here are some comparisons.
 
The ADK computer has an i7 960 benchmarks around 5935, the ASUS has an i7 4710 which benchmarks around 7971.
 
The ADK has 3 750g drives, the asus has 256g ssd + a 1 tb 7200 drive.
 
The ADK has 6 gig of 1333mhz ram, the asus has 16gig of 1600mhz ram
 
The ADK has a gtx 560 nvidia with 1.5g ram, the asus has a 970 nvidia with 3gig ram.
 
The ADK is 3 years old used laptop, the asus is new with new warranty. 
 
The asus costs $209 more.
 
True is has a firewire, a nice road case, and an audio interface. But I have an RME UFX usb interface (so I don't need firewire), and I don't need a road case. 
 
Seems like a no brainer to me
 
gbow

I've dropped my price to $1150 based on gbow's analysis.

Just a quick tip:
 
Current laptops use Switchable graphics, when you are not gaming it wont use the dedicated graphic (NVIDIA or AMD) it will use the integrated graphics (CPU chip - probably Intel HD 4600), now you will notice that if you let the NVIDIA activate it will make DPC spikes, so i would NEVER use the dedicated graphics for AUDIO, because A) you dont need it B) if you let it switch on and off while editing you might get really bad spikes.
So dont spend money with a good dedicated graphic card for audio, you dont need it. If you also want to game, just be sure to keep NVIDIA off during audio (easy to do in the settings).
 
Also if you manage to get a laptop without switchable graphics (like mine - P570WM) if you test both NVIDIA and AMD cards you will find something really strange, current NVIDIA hardware/drivers spike at around 600DPC with some regularity, even gamers been complaining about this on desktops. AMD cards = no DPC, my highest DPC value (around 90) is my Audio Card, cant get much better, in a ideal system nothing you dont want to go over 100DPC and you dont want anything causing more DPC than the Audio Card itself.
 
So If you go for a switchable graphics, forget about the dedicated card, that should be turned off during AUDIO, the INTEL HD is enough.
If you go for NON-switchable graphics as for AMD.

Thanks johnkeel, DPC is one of my concerns with these off the shelf gaming pc's. I'll have to check to make sure the ASUS model allows you to switch it off. Since all the graphics on these laptops are internal I'm not sure. 
 
Others have offered that their audio works well with the older ASUS gaming pc's but haven't heard anyone list DPC for any of the g751 models.
 
bapu - I also wanted to say "I feel for you man!" I am typing on an old laptop that was originally an audio laptop, my wife has one, my mother has one, and two of my friends have them. 
 
All of them were "big machines" in their day that I wasn't able to sell after 3+ years. Turned them into basic "web surfing" machines for friends and relatives just to recycle them. It's very hard to get anything for old computers, especially laptops. The price drops and performance increases of these machines has been incredible.
 
gbow

My best laptop DAW was an old P4 power hungry monster. It had an extremely low and very stable DPC measurement. My last two "gaming" laptops have proven unsuitable for reliable field recording, so I drag an old desktop around... it's not really a big deal because I also drag around two racks with the preamps and 4U of ADA interface.
 
My newer "gaming" laptops have amazing battery life. They work great for Photoshop when I go day hiking and car camping in the National Parks.

Well I had never been to the sager site and configured a laptop. Looks like they may have some offerings I can customize that might wind up a better choice than the ASUS. I'll update here as to what I find. 
 
One thing, they have so many similar base models, it's difficult to figure out which one to best configure for our purposes. I don't game, so video performance isn't very important. I'm pretty much trying to optimize for sonar x3e and beyond.
 
gbow

hmm, configuring up the sager np8278 it looks like it might be a better design. It looks like I can trade off the 970 graphics card for the 870 (which is no big deal for audio) and what I get is the following.
 
better drive options, even though I would only configure two drives it looks like there are better options for 3 drives.
 
removable battery, not that this is a big deal but it gives you the option to replace it if necessary.
 
USB 2.0 port. The ASUS only has USB 3 ports, the sager has one USB 2 and two USB  3. Most of the audio stuff I use says it's compatible with USB 3 now, but just in case I have problems it's nice to have a USB 2 port.
 
It's not a huge difference, need to read more about the sager. Anyone have any DPC experience with the sager laptops?
 
gbow

I'm generally perplexed when people discuss the idea that an app may offload some graphics processing to a graphics processor. It seems like that is what graphics accelerators were invented for.

On the other hand, off loading general computing tasks to a GPU seems interesting, especially when the tasks are designed to run as parallel processes which modern GPUs are designed to excell at.