Laptop to support Cubase

coasters

Hi

Does anyone out there know what laptop would be best to buy to support Cubase?? Initially bought a Dell Inspiron (before buying cubase) and have been told it's basically usless as it will only support up to 4 tracks......this is true as we tried and tested it....its a celerone and apparently I need a pentium 4 processor!

Before I go out and buy another laptop I wouldn't mind hearing some of your experiences. I have read elsewhere that some people prefer Apple for using Audio.....

Tom Dunne

I would be surprised to hear (no pun intended) that the number of tracks is limited by the processor - I would have thought it was limited by the sound hardware.

One way around your problem would be to investigate PCMCIA sound cards. I don't know the first thing about them, but I am sure there is a more powerful model than is currently in your laptop.

kwalsh000

Well, my mate uses cubase and his one athlon 64bit desktop gotten in pc world for all of 799 for alot of his recordings (so i assume one of the 64bit laptops would work good aswell). Guitars, keyboard mic etc connected up and has never had a problem on it. And ive used it on my p4 fujitsu laptop without any problems if thats of any use to you

rOBeRt frETt

The very Vast majority of laptops will fall over and die when you start using Cubase on em, consumes too much RAM- remember laptops are puny compared to desktops and for Cusbase you really need a high end desktop with at least a Gig of RAM if your going thru a pre-amp and recording more than one instrument at a time etc. It will install, it will run, it will record- you will get latency on your tracks, and your system will die. You need a desktop that runs like a greased pig on buttered ice- buy a 4 track- cheaper than ever

Tom Dunne

rOBeRt frETt wrote:

The very Vast majority of laptops will fall over and die when you start using Cubase on em, consumes too much RAM- remember laptops are puny compared to desktops and for Cusbase you really need a high end desktop with at least a Gig of RAM if your going thru a pre-amp and recording more than one instrument at a time etc.

Erm, it is not unusual for a laptop to have a Gigabyte of RAM. Also, a lot of laptops in the last year or so are on a par with desktops. I, for example, have a 3Ghz P4 with a Gig of RAM.

High-end laptops are up there with high-end desktops. Making sweeping statements like that will only confuse the matter.

rOBeRt frETt

The Vast majority of Laptops DON'T come with 1G or RAM or 3GHZ processors, hense the sweeping statement, Why pay over 2 grand for that in a laptop when you can get more from a desktop for half the price. Laptops are Puny when compared with thier desktop counter parts- if you have the rolls royce of Laptops is still doen't compare to the desktop equivalent. I don't recommend laptops for running Cubase- even a MAC

Tom Dunne

rOBeRt frETt wrote:

Why pay over 2 grand for that in a laptop when you can get more from a desktop for half the price.

One word - portability.

kwalsh000

True the desktops are cheaper for better performance..but any decent laptop will run most programs without any problem. Ive used cubase, photoshop, flash other adobe programs aswell as high end games etc on my laptop with no problems 1gig ram, 3.2ghz etc (which alot of laptops now a days can be compared to) Back to the original question, if you really need it to be a laptop then it will end up costing you more, but if you can go for a desktop.

coasters

Thanks for all your help

It does have to be a laptop as it will need to travel....so will have to live with cost!!

condra

Macbook?

jimmycrackcorm

I'll never go back to desktops again and I've built plenty of speciality desktops ( dual cpu water cooled etc). The portability beats them all.

1 Gb is getting to be the standard for laptops at the present. I think you need to discount the cheapie celeron laptops but after that htey handle themselves well against their desktop cousins.