Can I have some help finding a laptop that is good for producing and recording music

Tranceboy 2k

I went through as much things as I could think of, I'm sure there is probably more, but I don't know too much about computers.

I'm only interested in Windows, not Mac, and at a reasonable price, under 700 euro, 400 would be fantastic, I wouldn't mind 500 - 550, and if it is absolutely essential, maybe 650 - 700.
Looking for lots of RAM (CPU), when I was working with music programs they would max out on CPU, so as much of that as possible.
Great for music/production, loud "surround sound" speakers (My Acer speakers are pretty loud) and I don't like listening with headphones constantly, so that is essential.
at least 250 GBs, split into 2 Hard Drives, 1 for music and 1 for everything else.
As little power buzz as possible (quite running noize) Lots of USB sockets, and any other connection types that might come in handy.

Good quality for recording music through (USB).

64-Bit Operating system.

Power! Not the most essential, but I would like to have a reasonably long lasting battery.

Multi-core processor, I don't really know much about this, but it sounds good, quad core maybe.

I'm pretty sure there are other important features I'm missing, but whatever You think is good, and similar to what I have said.
Any suggestions at all will be appreciated, Thanks.

Hal Emmerich

Tranceboy 2k wrote: »

I went through as much things as I could think of, I'm sure there is probably more, but I don't know too much about computers.

I'm only interested in Windows, not Mac, and at a reasonable price, under 700 euro, 400 would be fantastic, I wouldn't mind 500 - 550, and if it is absolutely essential, maybe 650 - 700.
Looking for lots of RAM (CPU), when I was working with music programs they would max out on CPU, so as much of that as possible.
Great for music/production, loud "surround sound" speakers (My Acer speakers are pretty loud) and I don't like listening with headphones constantly, so that is essential.
at least 250 GBs, split into 2 Hard Drives, 1 for music and 1 for everything else.
As little power buzz as possible (quite running noize) Lots of USB sockets, and any other connection types that might come in handy.

Good quality for recording music through (USB).

64-Bit Operating system.

Power! Not the most essential, but I would like to have a reasonably long lasting battery.

Multi-core processor, I don't really know much about this, but it sounds good, quad core maybe.

I'm pretty sure there are other important features I'm missing, but whatever You think is good, and similar to what I have said.
Any suggestions at all will be appreciated, Thanks.

To get all you want you'd have to go above €700!

What are you using that needs more than 4GB RAM?

There's a few Acer 5750Gs that fit the bill but they have bad reviews under pressure.

Lenovo
Lenovo
Sony
Lenovo

Read this Thread and maybe PM Madma to see how he/she is getting on with that spec. You'd probably get away with something similar.

Tranceboy 2k

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

To get all you want you'd have to go above €700!

What are you using that needs more than 4GB RAM?

There's a few Acer 5750Gs that fit the bill but they have bad reviews under pressure.

Lenovo
Lenovo
Sony
Lenovo

Read this Thread and maybe PM Madma to see how he/she is getting on with that spec. You'd probably get away with something similar.

Thanks a lot, I've seen a few discussions and good reviews about the Lenovo. And I like it so far, it's defo on My list anyway, the only 1 so far actually..
And I'm not sure if I actually need more than 4 gigs of RAM, it's just I want to make sure this time I get something that wont be maxing out a lot, and TBH I don't know very much about what I need exactly, but what I will be doing is using Cubase quite a bit, Reason, other software and VST's etc.. fast CD burning is also important.
I've also read that I'd need a 7200 RPM hard drive, I know I may not need much of what I said, but I'd like more than enough, for future proof.

What I am using now is an Acer Aspire 5920G, Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5750 @2.00GHz and 4.00 GB RAM. It is really good, but it got slow at times.

And yeah, I'll ask Madma about that too, thanks.

Tranceboy 2k

I found this awhile ago http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-17.3-640GB-dv7-3079wm/12347230 and it's actually in a store nearby http://www.soundstore.ie/computers-laptops.html it seems to have most or if not all of what I was looking for, most of the reviews are great, but it says it's a gamming computer, is that a good or a bad thing, concidering I'm getting it for Music/production. I'm going to call in tomorrow too and see what they can tell me about it.

Hal Emmerich

NoOOOOOoooo, the chip is barely better than what you have now, older type RAM, **** graphics, definitely no good for gaming but they'll write anything on stuff nowadays and far to expensive for what it is.

I put this up in Bargain Alerts last night, same price as yours and thousand times better for same Money.

Are you looking for something in a Bricks and Mortar?

partyatmygaff

Relying on laptop speakers for Music production is a bad idea unless you go for a specialist music production laptop. I'm sure you know this already but it's always best to use monitors with a flat frequency response. I'm 99% sure that the vast majority of mainstream laptops have either extremely poor tin can speakers or are overly "bassy". If you're adamant on not using headphones you're going to need to make sure the laptop you get has decent speakers.

Notebookcheck.net usually tests speakers in their laptop reviews. Check there before you decide to buy anything.

Hal Emmerich

Tranceboy 2k wrote: »

fast CD burning is also important.
I've also read that I'd need a 7200 RPM hard drive, I know I may not need much of what I said, but I'd like more than enough, for future proof.

I'd imagine all CD drives in these laptops are 48 speed.

There's not much noticable difference in 5400rpm and 7200rpm, if any.

Hal Emmerich

i7s nearest to budget

asus
asus

Hal Emmerich

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Relying on laptop speakers for Music production is a bad idea unless you go for a specialist music production laptop. I'm sure you know this already but it's always best to use monitors with a flat frequency response. I'm 99% sure that the vast majority of mainstream laptops have either extremely poor tin can speakers or are overly "bassy". If you're adamant on not using headphones you're going to need to make sure the laptop you get has decent speakers.

Notebookcheck.net usually tests speakers in their laptop reviews. Check there before you decide to buy anything.

Can't a decent set of speakers be plugged into an ordinary Laptop?

partyatmygaff

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

Can't a decent set of speakers be plugged into an ordinary Laptop?

Well yes. The problem is that plugging in perfectly balanced studio monitors in to a gammy old headphone socket connected to an integrated sound card is a waste of time.

Most people use a USB/Firewire Audio interface to get clean inputs/outputs unless they have a dedicated sound card which most laptops lack.

Tranceboy 2k

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

NoOOOOOoooo, the chip is barely better than what you have now, older type RAM, **** graphics, definitely no good for gaming but they'll write anything on stuff nowadays and far to expensive for what it is.

I put this up in Bargain Alerts last night, same price as yours and thousand times better for same Money.

Are you looking for something in a Bricks and Mortar?

OK lol, that's off my list anyway... It doesn't matter where it comes from TBH, I usually get my stuff from the internet anyway, and it's always been OK and cheaper in most cases.

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Relying on laptop speakers for Music production is a bad idea unless you go for a specialist music production laptop. I'm sure you know this already but it's always best to use monitors with a flat frequency response. I'm 99% sure that the vast majority of mainstream laptops have either extremely poor tin can speakers or are overly "bassy". If you're adamant on not using headphones you're going to need to make sure the laptop you get has decent speakers.

Notebookcheck.net usually tests speakers in their laptop reviews. Check there before you decide to buy anything.

My bad there, sorry.. The only reason I want good laptop speakers, is for chilling out and listening to random songs and previews from Beatport, Youtube etc.. not actually for production, I use My headphones for production, and I'm going to be on the look out for some small monitors in the next few weeks or so, I also have a Behringer U-Control for connecting upto large speakers, but what I'm looking for here (on the laptop) are just reasonably comfortable ones, when I first got My Acer Aspire, I was blown away by the sound.. it's called Dolby Home Theater (it's not so much about loudness, just nice full HD sound). compared to my old laptop (a Dell Inspiron) pretty old now though.. If I can't get a laptop that is really powerful for production, but doesn't have the type of speakers in question, I'll get over it (I surely won't let that get in the way) but it's just handy when I want to go looking for tunes and want to be headphone free, as they can get really uncomfortable :pac:

and it's also cool when watching Youtube videos, it's defo more dedicated to home entertainment, than work..

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

I'd imagine all CD drives in these laptops are 48 speed.

There's not much noticable difference in 5400rpm and 7200rpm, if any.

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

i7s nearest to budget

asus
asus

And thanks, I saw a few topics about the Asus too, I'll defo check them out anyway, they look nice from what I see anyway, I'll keep them on the list

About 3 months ago, I said! should I start looking ahead at what laptop I might want in the next few months?? But No I always leave it till My own 1 is practically falling apart

And another thing, I've actually found a website that looks pretty good so far.. http://whatlaptop.techradar.com/buying_advice

Cheers.

Hal Emmerich

Here's two more with nice speaker addons:

Acer
Asus

Spec wise i5, 6-8GB RAM, USB3, HDMI, some king of nice built in speaker and good selection of ports....Express Card slot for a sound card, esata port your're looking at the €800+ region.

You could save a bit by buying a Laptop with 4GB of RAM and buying extra yourself.

You have a good choice of laptops there to narrow down abit now though....

Tranceboy 2k

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

Here's two more with nice speaker addons:

Acer
Asus

Spec wise i5, 6-8GB RAM, USB3, HDMI, some king of nice built in speaker and good selection of ports....Express Card slot for a sound card, esata port your're looking at the €800+ region.

You could save a bit by buying a Laptop with 4GB of RAM and buying extra yourself.

You have a good choice of laptops there to narrow down abit now though....

I've been looking at those 2, and the Acer look's great, I'm not sure yet if I should go for it, this review makes it look dodgy http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Acer-Aspire-5943G-Notebook.36208.0.html

But most other reviews are good, so it's a hard 1, they say (it heats up a lot and the laptop additionally underclocks itself under full load and even completely turns itself off after a certain amount of time) but that is only 1 review though, customer reviews were great.. and it seems to be a powerful machine. The heat wouldn't bother me too much, as they say the 1 I have now is supposed to be bad for that, but it never bothered me. It's the underclock part that worries me. Not ever sure what it means

And My second choice is http://www.eshopbrokers.co.uk/products/Computers/Laptops/Lenovo/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T510-4349-Core-i5-520M-2-4-GHz-?prodid=764110&info=2

This seems to be the most popular for productivity, that I have seen, but it's hard to tell if this is the correct 1, there are a few variants of the T510.

LOL I'm trying My best to just go buy 1 :eek:

Tranceboy 2k

What about a Dell xps 15? I got an email earlier today with a good offer, 729 euro. 150 off. And it looks good.

Hal Emmerich

Tranceboy 2k wrote: »

It's the underclock part that worries me. Not ever sure what it means

Laptop slows down Processes/what it's doing to use less electricity so as to produce less heat to avoid having to turn itself off.

Tranceboy 2k wrote: »

What about a Dell xps 15? I got an email earlier today with a good offer, 729 euro. 150 off. And it looks good.

^^^ It's not a patch on the Samsung from post 5 or some of the Lenovos on post 2.