time for a new computer..desktop or laptop?

I do Sonar for fun but I'm semi retired and have lots of time for it and I'm determined to get good at it over time. 
I'm a Guitar/Singer/songwriter doing mostly audio now but looking towards midi as I learn. I also use a CAD program (Softplan) for my work (home design) which simply needs CPU power and a decent graphics card.

My desktop is dying as I write but I'm so confused about what to buy due to the rapid changes in IT.
Tho it's a couple of years old my Asus laptop is powerful enough to run my CAD 
(Intel Duo T660 CPU, 500GB HD, 4GB memory, win 7, Nvidia geforce G102M) 
and maybe I could get another one for Sonar alone?

If a desktop is better for whatever reason, can they be really quiet? Even with the good fans I can hear it in the mics. (same room) 

What ports would be wise to include? (I hear lots of good things about larger SSD's now)
My controller (BR800) with external sound card seems fine as an interface but does not have MIDI. I'll get a keyboard for that.
I guess the bottom line is:
Is there a good basic computer shopping check list available for sonar?

I still don't understand why you just can get a $700 computer with an i5 or i7 in it and the other stuff usually included and use that.

I've got an 8 yr old PII, Dell 2400 that's running 7.03 just fine.  I put in the max 2gig or RAM, but that's about it.  Use a Layla 3G.

When X2 comes out, probably upgrade then, so I can go 64 bit, get stuff like Omnisphere,etc.

A desktop pc can be made quieter in various ways, for example, by using a quiet cpu cooler and large fans running slowly, by soundproofing the case, by using a high efficiency psu, by avoiding high powered graphics cards, by soft-mounting hard drives, and by using SSDs instead of HDDs. Refer to sites like silentpcreview for more info.

Even laptops can get noisy e.g. when their cooling fan(s) kicks in or when their hard drive(s) is working out, and can be more difficult to quiet than a desktop. 

You can add a USB MIDI interface easily and fairly inexpensively if you have a free USB port. 

Btw, the BR-800 actually does have MIDI, but only internally - which is how it can function as a DAW control surface over USB.

I think you missed my point.  I bought a $350 computer from Dell, 8 years ago and it's running Sonar just fine.  I can run Toontrack SD and a couple of other soft synths without freezing and about 20 audio tracks, no problem.  

I do take your point, but back in 2007, I had a DAW built for me based on a Q6700 Quad core, Win XP32 & 2Gb of RAM.


Without freezing, I put together a project containing 75 audio tracks, at least 100 plugins, and many instances of live V-Vocal clips.


I think you'd be extremely lucky to get an off the shelf system to perform to this sort of level.

Ok, I' came across an earlier topic you started in the Sonar X1 forum last year, which fills in a bit more background:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2462095


Now,  I will try to clarify (hopefully without getting too technical)...

M_Glenn_M
I've just seen a few systems in town and they all seem to have lots of power and ram.
Even the laptops have more than enough and are reasonably priced. 
Yes the fans are better now it seems tho the shop environs are noisy enough to mask it.
I am listening carefully about other limitations and custom builts.

Just because a PC is powerful enough to run Windows 7 and DAW software like Sonar does not necessarily mean it will perform well as a DAW.  There are settings in the BIOS which can affect this, but some PCs (especially many laptops) may not offer a user access to these settings. Also, Windows installs and runs a lot of things which are not essential to a DAW, and defaults to certain settings which can affect DAW performance if not disabled/adjusted.  

Latency can become an issue both with audio interfaces and with DAWs, especially for people who use soft synths (virtual instruments) and native fx while tracking. So, while it is desirable to use smaller buffer sizes in order to reduce latency, doing this puts more strain on a PC's performance, and that is where tuning or tweaking a PC and Windows can pay benefits.

Someone in another forum said it better than I can: 
"If your computer is your instrument, you had better learn to play it!"

They are not recommending the SSD's as primary HD's saying they are not reliable in the long term?

Someone better inform Apple then, because they have been shipping a lot of Macbooks with only SSDs.

The reliability (and performance) of SSDs has improved a lot since the early days.

One more concern is the number of problems reported with 64 bit installs of Sonar X1 on win 7.
A few folks are saying the 32 bit on XP is more stable. (what I have)
Would you advise a 32 bit install on a 64 bit machine? (Not sure of the 64 bit advantage)

Baloney. As already mentioned, a 64-bit OS enables more memory (more than 4GBs) to be used by the OS and applications (and also larger storage drive partitions). XP isn't more stable than Win7 (ime). I don't even think Sonar X1 can run on XP32 (or maybe not without installing an add-on for the different graphic mode).

Also interesting about my BR and MIDI. 
I'm not understanding how I can use it for midi input without the midi ports?

Sorry to confuse you. You can't use your BR-800 for MIDI I/O. Just as you can't use MIDI to trigger the BR-800's internal drum sounds. Dunno why Roland skimped on that, probably to keep the cost down or for product differentiation with the higher-priced BRs..


Was only pointing out that the BR-800 does in fact use MIDI internally (which is why its shows up as a MIDI controller device in Sonar). 


Yeah, you probably should have held on to that M-Audio MIDI interface (btw, M-Audio (formerly known as "Midiman") have long been one of the more reliable makers of MIDI interfaces (along with, ahem, Roland/Edirol)).


Clearer now?

Update
New hard drive. Killed old Drive D
It seems the dropouts AND the slow windows performance were all about the (Really old) D drive that was dying, not my C drive. 

Once I cloned the C and moved the project files to the new 1T SATA 3 7200 rpm hard drive everything works fine.
I'm now having my old C (SATA 2 7200) drive tested to check if it's ok and I can then wipe it and bring it back in for my projects to be on a separate drive.
But I'm back in business!! Yes.

Don't ever "wipe" or erase your old hard drives.
Just put them on the shelf as a back up.
 Hard drives are so inexpensive compared to much of our other equipment we rely on.
With a little research it's not hard to build a quiet, studio grade computer. Things have changed and the power and memory have finally gotten ahead of our demands. Off the shelf computers are more of a pain because they use lower quality components. For the same money you can build one with probably 2x the quality. And quiet. If your not taking the studio on the road, go with a desktop. It will serve you for a few more years than a laptop.