Hi All
 
I am about to pull the trigger on a laptop that I hope will last me a good few years (I am unable to go for a desktop solution for a number of reasons)
 
I will be running Sonar X2 as my DAW and will be running the following plug-ins: Komplete 8, Amplitube (Fender + Ampeg Bass sim), Guitar Rig and the usual Sonar plug-ins
 
How does the following spec look for a "professional" level DAW?
 
Chassis & Display: Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3740QM (2.70GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM): 32GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670M - 1.5GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2^nd Graphics Card: NONE
Memory - 1^st Hard Disk: 240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2^nd Hard Disk: 750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
RAID: NONE
SSD CACHE DRIVE: NONE
1^st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Memory Card Reader: Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste: ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card: Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities: GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options: 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire: 1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery: Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor: 1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
 
I have gone for Windows 7 as I will be using an MAUDIO Fast Track Ultra (which doesn't have official Win 8 drivers but I think the Win 7 ones may work and a Focusrite VRM Box, which does not have any Win 8 drivers yet) but I will get the cheap Win 8 upgrade so I am ready
 
This is all coming in at around £1,700
 
Is there anything you would change looking at the level of the specs - I did look at pushing the processor to "2.8ghz with 8mb" but this adds well over £100 and I am not sure I would notice that much of an improvement??
 
I am looking at the SSD for OS + prgrammes and the hybrid drive for storage/audio
 
I may have to share this drive for sample storage - or look at an external USB 3 drive for loops, samples etc. - would that be better?
 
I have the option of "Samsung RAM" with the same numbers
 
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I need to order soon...
 
Chassis & Display Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3740QM (2.70GHz) 6MB Memory (RAM) 32GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (4 x 8GB) Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670M - 1.5GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11 2^nd Graphics Card NONE Memory - 1^st Hard Disk 240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW) 2^nd Hard Disk 750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm) RAID NONE SSD CACHE DRIVE NONE 1^st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo) Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9) Sound Card Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD Firewire 1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT Battery Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH) Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109) Office Software Microsoft® Office Home & Student 2010 (1 License Product Key Card) (£82) Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE Laptop Cooling Stands NONE Carry Case NONE Monitor NONE Keyboard & Mouse INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE Gaming Mouse Pad NONE Speakers NONE Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM Headsets NONE

That looks like a pcspecialist laptop. I'm using one of those, spec in my sig, cost nearly two grand. So far so good.

Oh, if it is a pcspecialist pc and you're having two internal hard drives you cannot have an internal bluray as well. The annoying thing is that the spec'ing system allows you to ask for that but when you finally place the order it tells you you cannot.

I do not have an internal bluray/dvd and I don't miss it...

Thanks SYNKROTON

It is indeed a PC Specialist laptop

Thanks for the heads up about the BLu Ray - I will definitely look in to that!

You think the specs are OK for my purposes though?
 
 
**EDIT**
 
Quick update - just checked with PC Specialist and I can have the blu ray + 2 hard drives because it is the Vortex 17.3 inch screen size, which is quite a big "laptop" 
 
Thanks for the heads up though

Seems pretty good.

You might want to read the thread about Nvidia graphics cards further down the page before pulling the trigger.

I used an external drive for sample streaming for a good couple of years with no problem on my old system, I think this is infinitely preferable to sharing it with the OS drive, which probably won't be big enough anyway.

Hi Boydie, that's good news about being able to have an internal bluray and two hard drives... I never thought of going for the 17" because I thought it would be a bit to big to lug around.

As for the specs, I never intended to use my laptop as a pro DAW but I did want something, ike you mention, to last me a good few years. I mainly use soft synths and a bit of audio and up to now I've had more than twenty synth instances all running at once without having to freeze any and no real problems. I have two SSDs and therefore I'm "streaming" from a very fast drive and my disk activity meter barely goes beyond 5%.

I suppose the real test will come when software becomes more powerful, but I not expecting that to cause a problem in the next three or so years, and I might just stick with X2 for some time to come, like others here have stuck with 8.5

Bottom line, for me, is I am quite satisfied with my pcspecialist laptop, which are based on a brand called CLEVO, who provide laptops for other DAW builders like Rain for instance.

I've only just seen the nvidia thread Jonesey so I wasn't aware of any problems. Trouble is, I may not have done anything yet that causes any of the problems discussed in that thread so I cannot comment, other that I have had no real problems as yet.

Thanks guys

I just went through the NVIDEA thread and the issue seems to affect the "non-gaming" graphics cards

From what I can understand the Vortex laptops are gaming machines so I expect the graphics card is a bit more upgraded than the norm - backed up by the fact you are not having any issues Synkroton

I think I will take a chance...

Yep, I'm sure you won't regret it in the long run. I'm really glad I switched to a laptop. I plunged for a simple QUAD-CAPTURE for now and I love the fact that I can set up anywhere and make my music. Much better than being stuck in one room I'm finding.

My laptop took about three weeks by the way. Oh, and the only thing that has "gone wrong" with it, recently, is the backlit keyboard software driver appears to be bust, even though I've downloaded and installed it from the CLEVO site. No big deal, because the basic blue backlit keys still work, I just can't do the fancy colours thing any more.

I'm going to move to Windows 8 soon so that might be a bit weird, but most of the chipsets are intel based, which is one of the main reasons I went for it in the first place, so I'm hoping the upgrade to W8 should go okay. I'll no doubt post about my upgrade "issues" here when I do.

Thanks again - wil be pulling the trigger tomorrow!!!!!!