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

I've been doing great with Clevo shells but I think the good ones are closer to the 1500 mark. 

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.

Sanderxpander
I've been doing great with Clevo shells but I think the good ones are closer to the 1500 mark. 

Do you have a favorite source for those?

A typical off-the-shelf laptop is not built for high-performance applications.
 
Custom laptop using Clevo shell is the best high-performance laptop you can buy.
You can get a Clevo based laptop that'll allow you to run a *desktop* Skylake CPU.
Not the cheapest nor most svelte laptop you can buy... but for Audio/Video it's the only one that offers performance on par with a great desktop.  

I have no idea what a Clevo Shell is.
 
Again, this is to be my everyday computer for everything, not just as a DAW. Music will be its secondary function. It will be just a mobile back-up. This crappy little HP Envy I have for every day use now runs Platinum fine for what I do...which mainly is singer-songwriter stuff that is rarely over 12 tracks. I just want a new and more powerful laptop that is not an HP because my experience has not been very good with HP concerning internet connections. So, if I'm getting a new one I want to be sure it is more powerful than what I have, and definitely compatible with Sonar. I'm not trying to get one that is expected to compete with a desk top tower.
 
DS

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

I don't like Win 10

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 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