I am a music hobbyist/occasional performer who has been using Sonar Studio 8.5 with an ADK Pro Audio WinXP laptop/MOTU Ultralite for coming up on 10 yrs (I think), for midi/audio backing tracks & general music therapy."If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I am very surprised it lasted as long as it did.

The laptop GPU has failed (Nvidia 8400M GS) & I have not been paying attention to the latest computer & audio tech.
I am looking for advice on replacement equipment & components: laptop/vendor, CPU, HD/SSD, audio interface FireWire/thunderbolt/USB etc.

Ideas?
Thanks
Kim

There's already a thread running on Sonar and laptops. I suggest you start there.
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3169218

There does not appear to be anything to "upgrade" in your situation. I think you are looking for advice on how to buy a new computer to use for general audio work. Or are you looking for something that will specifically run your current software, or some other specific software? If you are looking for a general discussion on what has happened to computer audio in the past decade, you have a lot of reading to do. Or just visit ADK and pull out your wallet.
 
You can start with firewire came, became popular, and now is aging and largely irrelevant technology.

Thanks for the replies.
OK, I've got some studying to do. Yeah, advice on new equipment for general audio work: sample & audio playback while recording audio.
 
I guess my main questions are:
Does anyone else think 8yrs is a good lifespan for a laptop?
Are there any off the shelf brands/models (HP, Acer etc) that are reliable and not as expensive as buying from an audio/video vendor.  Nothing against ADK, I'm just not a professional.
Which small portable audio interfaces with at least 8 inputs have good performance?
 
if there is an alternative to pulling out my wallet with any vendor, I'd be glad to hear it.
 
KIm

One question I would ask is do you really want a laptop? And why?  If portability isn't an issue you could do a lot better. It's a tough call to say what the life expectancy of a laptop computer might be...I wouldn't put a lot of faith in anything over 5 years old and that's only if has been treated well...kept in a good environment and not subjected to a lot of vibration.
Of course you can build a computer from vendor parts and get more bang for your buck..plus taylor it to your needs...I would always build a little more than you need. It sounds like you could easily make it ok with an Intel i5 for basic studio work, or an AMD 8520 even.......
 
If you absolutely need/want only a laptop any of the big names should be ok as long as you get a fast enough processor and enough memory.Once again an i5 chip and at least 8gb of onboard memory...this is the bare minimum I would be looking at if it were me, and only for basic work.
 
Audio interfaces- Focustrite,Tascam,Presonus among others...most any of them are ok for basic work.