Scott makes some of the best DAW machine builds for audio professionals. Checck his site out: http://www.adkproaudio.com/

jcschild


i hate to post this... have you even looked at my site?

Yeah i have.  I actually configured the 1QVB but there were some things that were not offered at a price higher than I am specing out on similar based product.  Seagate XT drive is my choice as it seems after reading alot about it vs SSD it a good choice.  If one is not going to get the 3820 with 8GB cache may as well get the 3610.  When I see specs like this for $1449 I have to take another look
MSI G Series GT600NC-004US Notebook Intel Core i7 3610QM(2.30GHz) 15.6" 12GB Memory 1TB HDD 7200rpm dual SATA hard drives in RAID 0 I would probably dump the Raid set up and configure a Seagate XT OS drive and a 7200 RPM Data drive. I never found I needed the throughput of a Raid set up. (or the dangers of one drive failing. 
I always lean toward gaming specs when building or buying as its a good place to start. If I was using a bunch of VSTi samplers and gobs of efx on 40 plus tracks with live players, with big budgets  I would definitely need a consult with a pro like you on the hardware. 


But my projects are small by choice, and I keep them as simple as possible. My clients don't have big budgets I have to create maybe 12 minutes of music for $500. for a phone app,  videographers who do web ads, and atmospheric stuff as well as personal projects.The kinds of projects I am doing are usually less than 16 tracks at 24/44  Much of it ends up on MP3 320 VBR format. Much of it is created and mixed on the workstations depending on the budget and requirements. 


This is the kind of stuff I do. this is a 9 track title song and 14 track NY setting theme,  for an iPhone Game called Tap Tap Bar I did the music for. Simple and quick.  This track took less than an hour to create and finish. I did 6 of these in various musical  settings (as the levels in the game changed one goes to a different city in the world) in 3 hours. and no more  than 16 Sonar tracks all using hardware voices. 
https://www.box.com/s/463f06f72a14228a3dd8 
https://www.box.com/s/e3f487e210a34dff1db4



But i thank you for your response and interest. I am just not in the same league as many here. 

the XT drives are marketing Hype.. we took them off the site.. they did nothing for performance or even boot time. (of course if you really insisted we can offer)
3610 costs $14 less than the 3720 so no point to offering it..

ughh hate to toot my own horn (thanks Obi)
my point is if you are so close to my prices with what you are looking at, then why not know it will work for audio and have support for audio..

you may be buying 3-4 laptops (or more) before you find one without DPC issues.. (yes even with a USB interface)
and you will still have many tweaks to do to get it tamed..
now if you were trying to get a $600 laptop well thats another story..

jcschild


the XT drives are marketing Hype.. we took them off the site.. they did nothing for performance or even boot time. (of course if you really insisted we can offer)
3610 costs $14 less than the 3720 so no point to offering it..

ughh hate to toot my own horn (thanks Obi)
my point is if you are so close to my prices with what you are looking at, then why not know it will work for audio and have support for audio..

you may be buying 3-4 laptops (or more) before you find one without DPC issues.. (yes even with a USB interface)
and you will still have many tweaks to do to get it tamed..
now if you were trying to get a $600 laptop well thats another story..

Listen to Scott, he knows :)
 
 
@Scott: do you have any experience with the Samsung 830 SSD?

sorry alex none at all..
considering the other offering out there (Crucial and Intel) we never bothered with them.

Ok, thanks anyway Scott :)

Yes he knows. I have researched the Seagate drives but my bigger issue is the price differnce is huge on the SAME BASE a Sager NP3260  




ADK
 7600 IVB 17" 1920 x 1080 LED backlit, up to 16Gig DDR3,
 Geforce 650M 1G GDD
Processor Intel - i7-3720QM 2.6GHz 6M cache Quad core with HT (turbo to 3.6GHz)
Memory4Gig (2x2Gig) DDR3 1600 Sodimm Samsung chips
Operating SystemMicrosoft - Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. 16 gig ram max
Recovery SoftwareParagon Backup & Recovery 11 Suite with ADK recovery DVD
.OS/Programs 
DriveWestern Digital - 500GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA II/300 5 yr warranty
DVD-RW/BDRIncluded CD-RW/DVD read/write
InternetIncluded Wired 1GB and Wireless Lan 802.11 b/g/n and Blue Tooth
WarrantyStandard 1 yr Parts and Labor Lifetime Tech Support
$1,647.00  

 SAGER NP3260 Display15.6" Full HD LED-Backlit Display featuring"95% NTSC Color Gamutin Matte Finished Surface (1920 x 1080) [$125.00]
Video & Graphics Card1GB GDDR3 Nvidia GeForce GT 630M GPU with"]Optimus Technology / Embedded Intel HD GraphicsCPU\
 Processor 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM Processor ( 6MB L3 Cache, 2.60GHz) [$230.00]
Thermal Compound IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU [$25.00]
Operating System Genuine MS Windows® 7 Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition( 64-Bit Preloaded )Memory4GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 1 X 4GB
Primary Hard Disk Drive500GB 7200rpm SATA Hybrid Hard Drive with 4GB SSD [$50.00]
Optical Drive Bay — Optical Drive or Hard Disk Drive in Optical Drive Bay with Caddy case 8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
Wireless Network Card Internal 802.11 B+G+N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Combo ModulePrimary BatterySmart Li-ION Battery PackMicrosoft OfficeMicrosoft Office Starter 2010 -
 Included in PriceWarrantySager 1 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty



$1,229.00 


SAME system. of course not "optimized" for audio but that process is not all that difficult. especially on systems that will not be used to their entire capabilities. I think there is a need for Audio DAW builders for those who cannot build their own or do not understand the processes that can be stopped or eliminated to reduce DPC latency.



An example of the hardware and  costs I am looking at


Backlit Keyboard Option: Choose Keyboard Style Here-SteelSeries Backlit Or Standard Gaming Non-Backlit Display-FHD LED: 15.6" FHD LED 1920 x 1080 16:9 Non-Glare Matte Display Battery-9 Cell: MSI 9 Cell Primary Battery (7800mAh)-Included VGA Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M 1.5GB DDR5 VRAM - With NVIDIA Optimus Technology Optical-DVD Or Blu-ray: Integrated DVD Super-Multi-Dual Layer Drive Core i7 Processor: Intel Core™ i7-3820QM Processor-2.70Ghz-3.70Ghz Turbo 8MB Compound-Heat Sink: IC Diamond Premium Performance Thermal Compound (CPU/GPU) Hard Drive-1: 500GB SATA II 7200 RPM 3Gbs 16MB Cache Hard Drive Hard Drive-2: No Hard Drive-Click Here To Add Raid Options: Hard Drive 2 Must Be Selected To Enable Raid Memory-DDR3: 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz PC3-10600 - 2 X 4GB Wireless & Bluetooth: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 802.11 b/g/n 2x2 MIMO + Bluetooth 4.0 Killer Gaming LAN: Integrated Bigfoot Killer™ Gaming LAN E2200 - With Game Detect™ Technology HD Webcam: Integrated 720p-30fps HD Webcam NoteBook Cooler: No Cooler-Click Here To Add Spare Main Battery: No Spare Battery-Click Here To Add Spare A/C Adapter: No Spare A/C Adapter-Click Here To Add Car Adapter: No Car Adapter-Click Here To Add Carry Bag: No Carry Bag-Click Here To Add Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit DVD + Get Windows 8 Pro @ $14.99 By Microsoft Offer* Driver Disk: RKC Custom MSI Qualified Enhanced Driver And Utility Disk-Included Microsoft Office: No Office Software-Click Here To Add
\Price $1506


I have never had issues with latency because my projects are small. I don't need a lot of consultation. 
beyond user experience. Would rather put my money in the Hardware and pay for consulting separately if needed. The technology moves to fast to pay a premium for less.

alexoosthoek

jcschild


the XT drives are marketing Hype.. we took them off the site.. they did nothing for performance or even boot time. (of course if you really insisted we can offer)
3610 costs $14 less than the 3720 so no point to offering it..

ughh hate to toot my own horn (thanks Obi)
my point is if you are so close to my prices with what you are looking at, then why not know it will work for audio and have support for audio..

you may be buying 3-4 laptops (or more) before you find one without DPC issues.. (yes even with a USB interface)
and you will still have many tweaks to do to get it tamed..
now if you were trying to get a $600 laptop well thats another story..

Listen to Scott, he knows :)
 
 
@Scott: do you have any experience with the Samsung 830 SSD?

lol 17" vs 15"? not the same system.. nor do they have optimized bios.. windows tweaks etc..
no support, etc..

our 15" is $1547.. but yes they are cheaper.. by $248
good luck..

jcschild


lol 17" vs 15"? not the same system.. nor do they have optimized bios.. windows tweaks etc..
no support, etc..

our 15" is $1547.. but yes they are cheaper.. by $248
good luck..

Fair enough. 

I have Scott's 9000X laptop. Price was high, but well worth it. That best holds three drives. No more carrying around a "projects" drive for me.