Hi all,
Have done a fair bit of home and studio recording in the past, and am looking to re-boot my recording hobby.  I intend to record acoustic guitar, vocals, bass, piano.  Nothing too fancy, but will tinker with synths and drum loops / midi programming and a bit of electric guitar.
My old laptop DAW is too old and noisy to be much use, so I would like to upgrade.
I also need to use the PC / laptop for work use (just word-processing, excel, internet), so I would like some advice about whether to "partition" the PC, or set up 2 boot-ups.  I'm a bit rusty on all of this.
I have up to £1000 to spend on this.  Advice, thoughts, general comments very welcome.  Happy to come back with further info if any of you are willing to indulge me!
Thanks,
A
 
 

For the money, you'll definitely get more (hardware specswise) with a PC than a laptop and it's very easy to switch out parts on a PC. I haven't partitioned my PC, but do make monthly backups of my OS drive, and do highly recommend in doing this. It'll save you the headache/time of re-installig everything from scratch (if something does happen to go south with your DAW).
 
If you're comfortable doing your own build, that's a fantastic way get each & every component that suits your needs and you'll have control of what goes on in your machine..........generally, buying PC's off the shelf will get you a inferior/cheapest components and you'll get a lot of bloatware preinstalled. I personally think that building your own PC is the best way to do things on a tight budget.......I built mine and I'm just an amateur/hobbyist.....so anyone can do this.
 
If you prefer to have someone build it for you, then I'd contact the two Pro builders in here: Scott at ADK or Jim Roesebrry at Studiocat........they're both in the States, but are the DAW guru's in here. 
 
My drive confiugaration is:
 
C: OS/all software (250 GB SSD)
D: Sonar projects (1 TB HDD)
E: Synth Samples (3TB HDD)
 
If you're not going to be using a lot of soft synths that usually require big sample libraries, then you may not need a 3rd HD, but possibly someone with more expertise might chime in on having 1 HDD for Sonar projects and samples.
 
Once you decide which way to go, you can always post the projected specs for your DAW as there's a lot of knowledgeable/helpful people in here willing to help you with your build.

Thanks for the really detailed reply! Building my own pc sounds a bit daunting... I just discovered this site online:

moltenmusictechnology . Com

I like the idea of a silent computer, as a lot of my music is quiet acoustic music, and I record in the same room as the daw.

Anyone got any experience with molten?

Sounds like they would be an excellent way to go for you in GB. The prices seem reasonable. Best is you'll have support. If you build your own your out in the cold. I build my own just because I enjoy the challenge and the hobby. I save a bit of money too but I'd buy from a DAW builder to get the support if building is not your thing. Off the self computers are way over priced for the junk components they use. 
 
I agree with Mesh about laptops. Unless your going on the road or doing remote recording Laptops are a waste of cash. 
Go with a desktop. 
Pick up a Tablet for Email when traveling. or
Once you get your new desktop DAW  fix up the old laptop for your office machine. Putting a SSD drive in an old laptop might give it a few more years of good service.  
My office laptop is from 2004. New hard drives and a fresh OS perks them up like new. 
 
Partitioning your DAW if your using it for an office computer is an option. But as long as you don't use it for adventurous browsing it's not totally necessary. Use a wired LAN connection, avoid wireless. 
Partitioning requires two copies of Windows. 
 
 

I purchased a DAW computer from SCAN following recomendations on this forum almost two years ago. I have been very happy with the purchase. Its quiet and has worked perfectly. I use a Roland Quad Capture interface.
 
http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/pro-audio
 
 
 

I purchased my last two DAW PC's from these guys http://www.inta-audio.com/ whom have proved in the main to quite helpful.
 
They are a UK Based company

Hey, Viking.... I would urge you to get an intel 4930 cpu which should last you into infinity.  It is the most powerful bang for the buck and you'll find you can explore many of the powerful new vst synths without worry over cpu crunch.  You won't have to worry down the road of upgrading again... that way you'll have your duckets to spend on all the amazing things vst creators like U-he are offering these days!
 
I was in the constant spiral of upgrading my maschine every couple years as VST's became more demanding...and I began dabbling in them, growing as an artist learning new and exciting tools to paint my visions with.... it's expensive to "redo" the computer and my last upgrade took care of that.  I can throw anything at it and it just keeps sayin', "bring it on!"  this should be totally doable on your budget.  As ram is cheap these days, I'd get a minimum of 16 as if you get into any of the amazing sampling options with Kontakt/Play/etc you'll want as much as you can afford

thanks all.  going to take the plunge in the new year.  all the advice on here is very useful.

I've bought 2 machines from Carillon Audio Systems.
 
The first (Win XP32, 4Gb RAM) was absolutely wonderful for the time.
 
The second has been nothing but trouble since day 1.
 
I've have to replace RAM, PSU, Graphics card (all under warranty) but even now, it's still a hell of a lot noisier than the old box, so I think their QA has taken quite a nosedive.
 
It's out of warranty now so any remedial work needed to get it quieter will be at my own cost.