JustGotPaid
Have any of you also noticed that HP doesn't connect and stay connected well? I've noticed it on the past two HP's I've had, and have also heard others say the same thing. I was curious if anyone here has had the same experience.
Thanks.
DS

Mine is fine.

JustGotPaid
Have any of you also noticed that HP doesn't connect and stay connected well? I've noticed it on the past two HP's I've had, and have also heard others say the same thing. I was curious if anyone here has had the same experience.
Thanks.
DS

I'd really have to add that connectivity is not related to any particular brand.  It can be caused by many possible hardware or software issues.   Aside from the other suggestions already made to rule out software or driver conflicts, I'd at least invest in a $10 USB Wi-Fi dongle to see if that fixed the connection issues, before discarding the HP.
 
But I can understand if you are ready to move on to a new laptop.
 
Here are some possibilities at a site known to be popular with tech fans.  This list is showing all of their new laptops, with Core i3, i5, i7, and Windows 7, 8.1, 10, sorted by most reviews given.  The search can be modified with any detail desired ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%20600566986%20600003982%20600003988%208000%20600003986%20600514776%20600514777%204814&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&order=REVIEWS
 

JustGotPaid
Have any of you also noticed that HP doesn't connect and stay connected well? I've noticed it on the past two HP's I've had, and have also heard others say the same thing. I was curious if anyone here has had the same experience.
Thanks.
DS

 
Never had an issue with connectivity on my old HP, only overheating which eventually cause GPU failure.
 

JustGotPaid
I'd like to get some input about Dell in particular as a laptop for SONAR.

 
Not sure what specifics you want.  I've got the Inspiron 7559, and it works like a charm.  Like most Windows laptops, you will need to tweak for audio production.  Big thing is making sure your drivers, especially BIOS and chipset drivers are up to date.  I use a free program called Latencymon, which detects for dpc latency which could cause audio dropouts.  On most Windows laptops I've seen out of the box, will have some latency issues that are usually cleared up with driver/BIOS updates, as well as some of the performance tweaks ABACAB listed above.  Also on Windows 10 go  to start > settings > Privacy > Background apps.  Turn off most everything unless it's something you frequently use, this will prevent push notifications in the background that could cause an audio dropout.
 
Also on a laptop, look for the quad core i7,  it's the 6700hq, not the 6500.  It's not as powerful as the desktop i7, but it's faster than the 6500.
 
 

Most off-the-shelf laptops *do not* expose many BIOS parameters that can help reduce DPC Latency.  
This is done to prevent novice users from fouling up their machine.
 
If your off-the-shelf laptop has high DPC Latency... and driver updates don't resolve it, you're pretty well SOL.
Tweaking Windows will have near zero effect on DPC Latency.
 
With a tight enclosure, performance throttling has to be done to keep temps in check.
As part of this, most laptops run a "mobile" version of the i3/5/7 CPU.
CPU throttling can cause high DPC Latency.

hipplas93
I don't like Win 10

I'm generally irked by anything new but I've found Win 10 (pro) a very good experience, coming from Win 7 Professional. It didn't please me straight out of the box but it didn't take much tweaking to make it fit in with my workflow, and I'm pleased with all of the technical enhancements, such as working with touch screens, high-res screens, it even plays better with my Wacom tablet. I can't really see any reason not to prefer it, so maybe give it a bit more of a go and look into ways around anything you don't like. In desktop mode you can have it running pretty much the same as Win 7, but i'm kinda getting addicted to having a touchscreen for a lot of things. If there's anything specific that causes you trouble you may want to mention it in case there's a solution.

Dell XPS 13 or 15. It runs smooth and with great build quality. However, the price is a bit higher than the budget.