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Is this laptop any good for music production?

  • 14-02-2011 12:34pm
    #1
    Ardent
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,350 ✭✭✭


    Hi

    Looking at the a good priced Acer Aspire laptop , specs are below. I plan on using Cubase 5 and a bunch of VSTs such as Battery, Collossus, RealGuitar, Kontak etc. For those of you who use laptops for music production, would this baby cut the mustard?

    Thanks!

    Intel Core i5-460M Mobile Processor (3MB Intel Smart Cache, 2.53GHz)or
    4GB DDR3 SDRAM
    500GB SATA hard drive, 5400RPM


Comments

  • #2
    GTE
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,915 ✭✭✭GTE


    That looks fine though you will either have to upgrade the internal drive to a 7200rpm speed or get yourself a firewire external drive which runs at 7200rpm for good multitrack performance.

    You will also probably have to get a texas instruments firewire card for any FW interfaces you wish to use in the future to avoid issues like clicking and dropouts.

    I use a Toshiba with Centrino Dual Core 2.4Ghz and 4gb of ram so its an older laptop in terms of the processor tech but I have no issue with Cubase 5 and VST's. Sometimes it can get bogged down if I have too many big plug ins going but your i5 is would be lovely to have and I rarely have so many of those VST's going anyway.

    I just ordered two new internal drives to replace my 5400rpm as lugging around the external firewire lacie drive I have can be annoying.
    On that note a laptop that can take two internal drives would be more then awesome.

    You could keep the 5400 rpm for your operating system and chuck a 7200rpm internal in for the project files.

    Travelstar 7k500 is the model of drive I got.

    If you have just the one internal drive you could immediately replace your internal drive and then get a wee USB enclosure so you can use the 5200rpm as a USB drive for other things though I could imagine the two disk approach is better, whether the second disk is internal or external is up to you and the laptop you get.


  • #3
    Ardent
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,350 ✭✭✭Ardent


    Thanks for the reply bbk.

    Your comments regarding the HDD are interesting. So you run your samples from an external 7200 rpm drive... Have you tried running multiple samples from the internal 5400 rpm disk? Does this cause drop-outs?

    On firewire - why do you not use USB? Does running your external drive over USB cause problems? I always thought the difference between USB and firewire was fairly negligible...


  • #4
    Anima
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,945 ✭✭✭Anima


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire#Comparison_with_USB

    Better performance from Firewire and less taxing on the CPU.

    5400 will be quieter than 7200 which is a good thing for laptops really plus its less heat and power. Just get an external and you'll be fine. The difference in performance isn't that much anyway.


  • #5
    GTE
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,915 ✭✭✭GTE


    Ardent wrote: »
    Thanks for the reply bbk.

    Your comments regarding the HDD are interesting. So you run your samples from an external 7200 rpm drive... Have you tried running multiple samples from the internal 5400 rpm disk? Does this cause drop-outs?

    On firewire - why do you not use USB? Does running your external drive over USB cause problems? I always thought the difference between USB and firewire was fairly negligible...

    I don't really use samples that much but I do run all my multitrack files from the external and when I had the 5400 rpm internals the multitrack performance really suffered. I cant remember the exact numbers but I could hardly get into the double figures of a track count and record overdubs for example and even at just mixing and no recording I dont think I got near 20 tracks.

    The 5400 rpm for audio work is IMO completely useless and a 7200 rpm disk will keep you well within the limits which is where you want to be rather then skirting along the limit with a slower read/write speed.

    In terms of acoustics looking at the drives I bought for my laptop the 5400 version seeks at 26dB versus the 7200 rpm which seeks at 28 dB so the acoustic point is a non argument IMO.

    In terms of power consumption I really doubt you will be doing recording or serious work without a power supply nearby so for me that doesn't matter either.

    USB audio interfaces can't transfer the same amount of simultaneous tracks then firewire. This is down to some complicated way that they work which I dont really understand but I imagine was explained in the link previous. Generally USB interfaces can only record the master fader if it is in mixer or two inputs. I can not remember the figure for Firewire but you can do at least 16 which is what I have and I am sure you can get a few more. I hit the 30's in track count for mixing projects with no problems.
    This is where the 7200rpm comes in. I could not record that many tracks with a 5400 disk.

    The reason I use a firewire harddrive is because I have the extra FW slot handy and in my mind it makes more sense to use FW since USB can't handle the recording side of it. Not scientific but since I had the spare I just use it. The drive I have also has a USB connection and I had to use it there last week because I lost my firewire cable and I did hit problems with playback.

    On the note of having a spare FW slot I will say again that generally laptop firewire cards cause audio clicks, pops and dropouts so you will probably need to get an express card that has a Texas Instruments firewire chip in it. Maplin do sell one. This resolves the problem and leaves you the free FW port for the harddrive which does not cause problems with audio for some reason when you connect a hard drive too it.


  • #6
    drumdrum
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 354 ✭✭drumdrum


    +1 on the hard drive speed.

    If you can muster the extra cash, invest as much in RAM as you can afford. Generally helps make things go smoother.

    If you have the cash, I'd suggest maybe spending your money on a MacBook Pro as they tend to be a lot more stable (for a lot more cash!:rolleyes:), and some people swear that DAWs and plug-ins run smoother under OSX that under windows. I could be wrong on this though....I'm no computer expert.


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  • #7
    GTE
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,915 ✭✭✭GTE


    drumdrum wrote: »
    +1 on the hard drive speed.

    If you can muster the extra cash, invest as much in RAM as you can afford. Generally helps make things go smoother.

    If you have the cash, I'd suggest maybe spending your money on a MacBook Pro as they tend to be a lot more stable (for a lot more cash!:rolleyes:), and some people swear that DAWs and plug-ins run smoother under OSX that under windows. I could be wrong on this though....I'm no computer expert.

    RAM is a great suggestion.

    If the OP's laptop is a 32 bit Windows machine he will max out at 4 GB sadly.
    If it is 64bit it would be very interesting.

    I don't personally buy into the Mac is better theory. I believe that people can prefer certain DAW's and that some DAW's work better on certain platforms for example Pro Tools can work on Windows as well and I hear on the grape vine that it doesn't work as well on Windows but I have never run into trouble with Cubase on my Windows XP machine.

    I see computer choice being DAW dependant rather then the computer determining the DAW but I do see where you are coming from with plug in stability since Mac computers can take truck loads more RAM then the Windows machines that have been around up until Vista.

    I can not wait till the 64 bit Windows 7 DAW reviews come through as you can get truck loads of ram into those too!

    =D


  • #8
    Ardent
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,350 ✭✭✭Ardent


    The laptop is this baby:

    http://www.currys.ie/Product/ACER-5742-Core-i5-laptop-with-4GB-memory-Black/305171/148

    As far as I can make out, it has a 5400RPM drive and there's no slot for an express card, which rules out the possibility of firewire. I could probably replace the HDD with a 500GB 7200 drive for about 60 or 70 euros. As for replacing the RAM (2 x 2 GB) and putting in 8 GB, I'm sure that's not too costly either.

    Basically, the specs are really good for the price (i5, windows 7 64, 4 gb ram) but the laptop is limited in some ways, i.e., slow HDD, expanding the RAM is not straighforward and there's no possibility of firewire. I plan on recording a good bit through an external USB card and I typically use lots of sample libraries - I don't want to be stuck with something that's not up to the job.

    What do ye think, it this a good deal and will it do the job? Or is it just too limited and a bad investment?

    Thanks!


  • #9
    GTE
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,915 ✭✭✭GTE


    Ardent wrote: »
    The laptop is this baby:

    http://www.currys.ie/Product/ACER-5742-Core-i5-laptop-with-4GB-memory-Black/305171/148

    As far as I can make out, it has a 5400RPM drive and there's no slot for an express card, which rules out the possibility of firewire. I could probably replace the HDD with a 500GB 7200 drive for about 60 or 70 euros. As for replacing the RAM (2 x 2 GB) and putting in 8 GB, I'm sure that's not too costly either.

    Basically, the specs are really good for the price (i5, windows 7 64, 4 gb ram) but the laptop is limited in some ways, i.e., slow HDD, expanding the RAM is not straighforward and there's no possibility of firewire. I plan on recording a good bit through an external USB card and I typically use lots of sample libraries - I don't want to be stuck with something that's not up to the job.

    What do ye think, it this a good deal and will it do the job? Or is it just too limited and a bad investment?

    Thanks!

    Personally, I would not consider that laptop due to the express card.

    I don't know what it would be like to record and playback from the one internal drive at 7200 rpm. I always hear advice to keep samples and multitracks separate from operating system drives.


  • #10
    Anima
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,945 ✭✭✭Anima


    I might be wrong but I think, in general, that ACER are not a good brand. They tend to make cheap laptops and you get what you pay for. The main specs will be good but they'll screw you on the little bits that matter as well. Such as giving you a crap motherboard. I'd say for a nice one you'd need to be spending around 700-800. Maybe a bit less if you compromise. I'd also consider getting a 17in screen, 15in is just a bit small for working with DAWs which use a lot of screen space but I guess thats a luxury.

    Not exactly sure of good brands. From experience I think Dell are ok. Theres a thread on the bargain board where you can get 5-10-15% off vouchers for new purchases. I think they do refurbished laptops as well (repaired or 2nd hand or something like that) so have a look on the site for that too.

    I wouldn't worry to much about memory (either HDD or RAM) as they can usually be replaced easily. The main thing is to make sure you get a decent CPU and decent motherboard with good bus speeds, as you can't replace those without getting a new laptop essentially.


  • #11
    GTE
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,915 ✭✭✭GTE


    Anima wrote: »
    I might be wrong but I think, in general, that ACER are not a good brand. They tend to make cheap laptops and you get what you pay for. The main specs will be good but they'll screw you on the little bits that matter as well. Such as giving you a crap motherboard. I'd say for a nice one you'd need to be spending around 700-800. Maybe a bit less if you compromise. I'd also consider getting a 17in screen, 15in is just a bit small for working with DAWs which use a lot of screen space but I guess thats a luxury.

    Not exactly sure of good brands. From experience I think Dell are ok. Theres a thread on the bargain board where you can get 5-10-15% off vouchers for new purchases. I think they do refurbished laptops as well (repaired or 2nd hand or something like that) so have a look on the site for that too.

    I wouldn't worry to much about memory (either HDD or RAM) as they can usually be replaced easily. The main thing is to make sure you get a decent CPU and decent motherboard with good bus speeds, as you can't replace those without getting a new laptop essentially.

    Yeah, the screen is a big thing actually! I could not imagine having to put up with a 15" instead of the 17".

    Good point on the quality of Acer. I don't have experience but it is a good thing to research.

    My Toshiba has is going strong for 3 to 4 years and is fine but they do carry a bigger price tag.

    Finally another good point on securing a good spec machine in terms of the things you can not replace and then upgrading the other bits as needed. It is an interesting take that I never really realised. I may do that for my next computer.

    Has anyone bought a dedicated audio machine like those Scan computers or the ones from DV247? Synergy I think. Serious specage!


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  • #12
    Ardent
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,350 ✭✭✭Ardent


    I have a Dell already - a dual core 17" Dell Inspiron Studio and I would never buy one again. The DPC latency on it is shocking due to Dell's poor ACPI/power management drivers, big red spikes all over the place! The missus pretty much owns it now.

    I agree a 15" screen is a bit small to work with DAWs but I was planning on doing most of my work through a docking station anyway.

    Thanks for the tips anyway guys, I have a much better idea now what to look out for when buying a lapop for music production.


  • #13
    Anima
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,945 ✭✭✭Anima


    bbk wrote: »
    Finally another good point on securing a good spec machine in terms of the things you can not replace and then upgrading the other bits as needed. It is an interesting take that I never really realised. I may do that for my next computer.!

    Yeah its really something to look out for. Often its much better to buy as little memory from them as possible and just buy it yourself and install at a fraction of the price. Apple in particular really screw people on that.

    Its much nicer to advertise 4 / 6 / 8 gb and charge a mint for it because it sounds like a big difference, but the cost isn't really that much in reality.

    You just have to watch out for the marketing that goes on. Like it used to be all about mega-hertz / giga-hertz (it really wasn't, AMD were always clocked lower but achieved the same or better performance), then the numbers started to level off and not increase by much. Now its about how many cores you have.

    Best thing to do is find reviews for each component and decide that way. As I said, get the best CPU and motherboard combo you can afford and update the memory later if you're strapped for cash.


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