HI
 
I am buying a new Laptop. (windows 8.1)
I want to choose wisely.
I will be using X3 Sonar for production including Guitar rig 5, and ZETA 2+ (full)
Both of these are CPU hogs.
 
I also plan on using Guitar rig as a live performance tool.
 
So I assume Intel I7 and 16 gig of memory (min).
 
What about the sound card? Are some Laptop cards better than others?
There is a lot of information about laptops and video card performance, but little about the sound layer.
 
So i come to the source. here.
Also what about an Solid State Drive? do they offer anything for performance?
 
Any suggestions?
 
My current setup is on a PC and i experience a lot of sound engine drop out. Usually when cpu reaches 100%.
I also get a lot of popping and scratching sound during recording especially using the ZETA and Guitar Rig instruments.
Also i get acceptable but wish it were better latency on the guitar rig product.
So i want!! the least latency, The never dropping out sound engine, the never reaching 100% cpu, and the scratch free ZETA+ sounds.
 
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Jerry C
 

I recommend RME Babyface for new laptop.

Yep, it's the Audio Interface you need before the Computer.
Be warned, Laptops can be a crap shoot for audio because of the configuration and something weird with the bios that cannot always be optimized for audio. I would either buy from a DAW builder or make sure you can test  it and bring it back. Always run the DPCLAT utility first. 

I use a Toshiba P50t with an i7 4700MQ and 8GB ram (yes 16 would be beneficial) ... it's great.
 
As per @sock monkey ... You'll need an external Audio Interface. PC sound cards and esp factory cards, on laptop or desktop, simply aren't up to DAW requirements. I prefer ASIO drivers (typically included with AIs) to keep latency low.
 
My HDD is perfectly adequate. SSD will obviously have some speed benefits, esp re OS, but even boot times are much quicker on Win8 as you can typically leave it in hybrid boot state. (Ocassionally, you'll need a full boot for e.g. system software updates). I defer to others more experienced in SSD and use with DAWs. You'll likely(?) need an HDD as well for capacity/cost efficiency.
 
[Update] Just a thought as well ...
These laptops are now coming out with 4K screen resolution. I run 1920x1080 and some plugin windows are quite small and non resizable even on that resolution. So ... 4K is great to have ... but you'll likely have to up your font/icon sizing for regular (non-movie) use. It's not required the use you describe.

I have a two and a half year old I7 (Sandy Bridge) with 8GB RAM and an SSD for the OS and an HDD for recording/projects. There's not much I can throw at it that will faze it and my latency figures are pretty decent - especially with an RME card which I would also recommend. I do use my desktop mostly when sitting down to work, but I've been bringing stuff on my laptop more and more lately and really those quad core I7s are pretty indestructable. Get a quality soundcard and don't worry too much about getting the very latest CPU. If ZETA 2 and Guitar Rig run fine for me they definitely will on any QC I7 you buy now.

I don't know how much you're committed to Guitar Rig but I'd give Scuffham S-Gear 2 a try too.