Sanderxpander
If you like using high performance laptops, I don't think you can get better than Clevo shells.

Curious if Clevo LPs with Sound Blaster X-FI cards can load soundfonts like the old desktop SB Lives could.
 
Also how noisy are they? My HP Envy is too noisy for studio work.

My Desktop system (Fractal R5 Super Quiet and extremely efficient) is "Rock Solid" with Sonar, I'm using AMD 6 core & 16gb of Ram, no matter what I throw at it (track count & advance editing), it performs wonderfully. 

Jesse G
...The link I posted will take you to the Micro Center in SD Davids, Pa, Next to Villanova University.  It's a nice large Micro Center and I am always getting items there.  It's my main go to place for computer parts.

Huh, I'll have to check that out!   I'm in Chester County about 45 minutes from Saint Davids, but it could be worth the trip... 
 

Build: Yes, since 2000.  My 1st PC was a store bought "multimedia" PC in 1997 that cost me like $2000.  Found out it sucked for audio.  It was Cakewalk that inspired me to build my own desktop.  That name brand PC was difficult/impossible to upgrade most of the proprietary hardware inside.  Sort of like today's laptops ... Googled a lot about the topic, and then went to a local electronics store and came home with a box full of parts for a screaming Pentium 3. That night I had a clean first BIOS post, and the install with Windows 98 went well.  Life was good!  So was Cakewalk Professional 6.
 
Desktop: Yes, primary workstation/DAW. Also have a laptop, with my DAW software loaded for when I'm traveling.  Nice to have a portable office, but I would never consider a laptop as a desktop replacement, or main rig.  They are useful, though, but limiting.  If my desktop acts up, I can just swap parts until all is good again.  I have a twin system with the same hardware specs, but runs Linux, that I can borrow parts from for troubleshooting.
 
Gaming: I have never setup a rig dedicated to gaming.  Not that there is anything wrong with that! I do have an older generation home theater PC in the living room, with Nvidia graphics, and a few games loaded.  But I would probably get a dedicated gaming console if I ever felt the need for more gaming power. While a DAW for MIDI/audio is my first requirement (addiction), I've installed decent Nvidia cards in the past and dabbled with older games that I could get to run OK.  The Intel HD integrated graphics is good enough for my use on my current rig (2014).  So no new graphics boards for me lately.  But I do think my current rig would do well for gaming with a fancy graphics card.  No matter what, get an SSD
 
Intel vs AMD: I have always used Intel or Asus desktop boards with Intel CPU's.  Intel is getting out of the mobo business, so I expect it will be Asus with Intel chipsets for me going forward. I have never had a mobo fail. Just my preference, but because I value stability over performance, I do not ever overclock.  My theory is because Intel is bigger, they probably can write more compatible drivers.  I am sure you can find forum flame wars on Intel vs AMD if you use Google.
 
I have always used good power supplies and keep my PC's on APC UPS power backups.  Keep the fans clean & spinning.  May partially explain my good luck with components longevity.  I repaired a friends HP PC with a blown mobo recently.  Swapped the mobo because the caps (capacitors) were bulging and leaking.  The fans were also full of dog fur.  Just FYI: my latest Asus mobo's have solid polymer capacitors for long life
 
I am very happy with my current rig. It is very fast and solid as a rock. With the SSD it reboots in seconds and programs launch almost instantly.  With Sonar I mostly use virtual instruments and effects, rather than audio recording, and have a hard time pushing it to 50% CPU.  DPC latency is low according to LatencyMon.  My Sonar mixing latency with ASIO settings at 24/44, two buffers, 128 samples, are 2.9 msec with ASIO reported total roundtrip latency of 9.8 msec.  No dropouts yet.
 
The only time I have ever hit 100% is with a CPU/RAM stress test called Prime95, which searches for the largest known prime number.  My keyboard and mouse is still responsive, even with that running.
 

StudioCat. Laptops don't have enough hard drives are big enough, multi monitors

StudioCat here, even at nearly 6 years old its still plenty powerful.
As soon as Win 10 settles down (6 mo to a year?) I'll have Jim whip me up a new one.
I'll miss my FW-1884, but it looks like the X-Touch is working fine in 10.
I've built plenty of rigs, but grew tired of troubleshooting when I want to make music.
StudioCat's are just solid, and Jim is always an email away if you have any questions/issues.
 
T

I am using an HP Elitebook, while I would normally pick a desktop for a studio pc, I think elite books are pretty awesome for this because their hard drives are 7200 rpm while most laptops are 5400, and they can take a second hard drive. They also actually have a FireWire port which most computers stopped having a while ago, and since I have a FireWire interface that's pretty important to me. It can also do dual monitors so I don't feel like I am missing anything by not using a desktop. Plus if I ever do need it to be mobile it is.

Relatively new desktop build here.  My old MB died and needed to be replaced anyway, so now I have the following which I use for regular use, hobby DAW, and light gaming.
 
ASUS B85 motherboard
Intel i5 CPU (I'm on my SurfaceBook right now, so I don't know the model of the CPU)
8Gb of RAM
256 GB Samsung EVO 850 SSD for OS
multiple 7200 RPM mechanical drives for data and project files
(aging) Echo Audio Layla 3G PCI audio card which still works remarkably well even at low latency with Windows 8 drivers
Windows 10 64bit Professional OS
ASUS Strix video card with NVidia GTX960 GPU - for games :)
 
Hope this adds something to the conversation.

Some significant factors about my main DAW computer rig:

NOT NEW
The PC is over 5 years old, but it still performs well and very rarely maxes out, so I'm not planning to build a new replacement yet. The CPU is an i7-950.

ONLY 6GB RAM
I was originally planning to add more RAM but nothing that I've ever run on this PC has ever hit the RAM ceiling. I have seen it repeated advised on this forum that you need a minimum of 16GB these days. This may be true in some cases but it certainly doesn't apply generally.

QUIET CASE
The case is an Antec P183 case, which is designed to be quiet and it is quiet. However I would not necessarily recommend it, as I fing it too small and cramped and awkward to work with whenever I open it up.  Space is tight, with SATA and power connectors end up bunched up and pressing against each other and against components.  Also, sometimes the side covers are be difficult to put back on, with PSU cables pressing against them.

4 MONITOR SCREENS
I have 4 screens (all Dell 1905FP) in a 2-up 2-down configuration. These are the old type with 5:4 aspect ratio. The first one was quite expensive when I purchased it 10 years ago but the other 3 I picked up cheaply later via eBay. I use each side-by-side pair as if it were a single wide screen and try to ignore the centre bezel. If I could afford it, I would replace 4 with 2 wide (21:9) ones. Sonar's Track View is displayed on the top pair. The bottom pair is for PRV, CV or whatever, depending on the Screenset.

SEVERAL HARDDRIVES
I recented added a new 120GB SSD and set up a new Windows 7 installation for DAW-only use. The previous installation (still present) was for DAW plus a few other things, e.g. video/image editing. Earlier this year I added 2 similar SSDs for projects and multisamples. There are also 4 other drives (not SSDs) with other o/s installations, backups and various non-music stuff.

MULTI-BOOT
It has actually grown to quin-boot, although some of the older boots are not used regularly any more. The original Windows XP setup, with Sonar 7, is still intact if I need it. I have a lot of old projects that contain DX versions of plugins that currently only only exist in VST format. Hence the need for occasionally accessing the old setup. All the installations share the same resource paths.

MATROX GRAPHICS CARDS
The cards that I use are old and don't have much onboard RAM, but the image quality is great. I hear people with other GPU brands complaining about having difficulty with small text on screen or washed-out colours in some badly designed GUIs, but I never have any such problems. Even the red background on the SampleTank GUI looks just fine on my system. The total combined amount of RAM, i.e. 512MB, small by today's standards, has proved to be sufficient to drive 4 screens. I have read on these forums that you need a 1GB card for Sonar, but that's evidently not true. However, I would replace these cards with a new up-to-date Matrox card if I could afford one. They are not cheap.

OFFLINE
I recently moved and my studio room in the new house is a long way from the network hub. I managed to activate almost everything without being online when I installed all the DAW software on a new boot setup. There was only one instance when I briefly needed an internet connection. I ran a 30 metre ethernet cable across the room, along a corridor, across the lounge area to the dining room. This didn't go down well with the other people in the house. I suppose I could add wifi, but I don't really need it very often.

Tunerman
Kev999:
"I have 4 screens (all Dell 1905FP) in a 2-up 2-down configuration. These are the old type with 5:4 aspect ratio"
 
I looked up this monitor and it looked identical to my 2nd monitor. So I looked at my model and saw that I have a
Dell AS 500. My main monitor is an LG Flatron23" which I love. But....the lowly Dell is great for viewing GUI's like the Sample Tank you mentioned and most every other one I have. The higher resolution of the LG does not help one view these VST-GUI's  that much. The lower resolution of the Dell (5:4 aspect) makes everything is easier to see! Larger text, the knobs, the sliders. 
 
Until the VST manufacturers start making GUI that are scale-able, I'm keeping this ole Dell.

 
I have a bigger and better Dell monitor attached to the family PC, but the image quality has not been as good since the previous graphics card (Matrox) died and I replaced it with an nVidia.
 
By the way, I believe that AS500 is the model number of the attachable speaker bar rather than the monitor itself.

DrLumen
SteveC, you might want to check out their website - if you haven't already. I find ordering online and picking up at the store particularly useful. At the one here in Dallas there is usually a long line for the normal checkout lines (of which there are many). But, the pickup counter usually only has a few, if any, people waiting. It only takes a few minutes to get the gear and pay for it. If you want you can still shop around for more gear too and take it up when you pickup your online order.

 
Thanks, doc!   That sounds like a good idea, so I will definitely check them out online for possible pickup.
 
 

Jesse G
SteveC,
This Micro Center has a nice mark down section in the store and a lot of nice deals weekly.  As soon as you walk in to the store there are items stacked in large quantities.   Take a trip on Saturday.
 
If you are married or dating, there is the Radnor Hotel across the street that has a brunch on  Sundays to die for.  All you can eat with free mimosa  for brunch.  $29 each person, but the food is worth it.
 
Radnor Hotel Sunday Brunch

 
Thanks, Jesse!   Micro Center is sound better all the time...   I'm not sure I could get my wife to go knowing the type of store it is, but hey, ya never know.   I appreciate that.