Suggestions on a new laptop?

[Jmax]

Hey guys,

I'm purchasing a new laptop pretty soon and need some suggestions. I will be running reason mainly and just watching videos on youtube.

I have a desktop pc already I use for my main production but want something small and compact as well.

Looking to spend 600-1000. I like the Asus brand. Touch screen would be nice, almost sure I want it. 500gb to 1tb..

ssd eventually..

I already have a presonus audio card so audio doesn't matter very much.

Anyone got any ideas or other brands specific models that work well?

[jappe]

Hi Jmax,

I'm using an ASUS G73S gaming laptop with Windows 8. It's around five years old, but never had any performance problems with Reason. I guess a successor to that model would be good.
I would suggest a laptop with SSD, and with a processor that doesn't make the fan go crazy.
I never buy PC:s with AMD CPU.
Perhaps you want a couple extra screens? Check that the laptop supports the number of monitors + resolution you want to use.

[freeQlow]

Are you getting a new laptop, because of space or because you're travelling a lot?

If you're into bargain shopping, a lot can be said.
if it's new from a big box store, I'm personally a fan of Asus MotherBoards.
I've seen the I7 processors coming down a bit.
Goes without saying make sure it's a Quad Core at the very least.
With laptops, whatever has the most USB ports, HDMI, Display ports IMO....

I hate seeing my friends laptops that have 3 USB ports.
1 had a USB hub, 2nd is usally the Audio Interface, 3rd Midi Controller.

*I'm not a fan of laptops or anything made from Apple so I'm biased as hell

[freeQlow]

Asus 77 or newer, might give you an internal option to add more Ram or PCI-E
Intel i5 is good, but get the best I7 while you can.
64 bit OS.
8 GB Ram should be good, option to go 16 even better.

If you're a bargain shopper, used Desktop/Laptops with i5 Windows 7 64 bit (used gamer/alienware) on ebay $500+ i5 and $600+ I7 are the deals. As long as you can upgrade and expand. Those prices are on ebay all the time, laptops might be $100 more and less expandable

[Last Alternative]

I suggest you build your own PC. Much more bang for your buck.

[Jmax]

I suggest you build your own PC. Much more bang for your buck.

I already have two PC's built from scratch. One as my media center connected to the tv, receiver etc..
and one as my studio room computer. Simply looking for a laptop for on the go or if I want to sit down at a coffee shop or on my bed and draw out music or string lines, whatever. One gets tired of sitting in the studio 'chair' if you do it long enough I suppose. Could be just me.

[Jmax]

Asus 77 or newer, might give you an internal option to add more Ram or PCI-E
Intel i5 is good, but get the best I7 while you can.
64 bit OS.
8 GB Ram should be good, option to go 16 even better.

If you're a bargain shopper, used Desktop/Laptops with i5 Windows 7 64 bit (used gamer/alienware) on ebay $500+ i5 and $600+ I7 are the deals. As long as you can upgrade and expand. Those prices are on ebay all the time, laptops might be $100 more and less expandable

Yes the guy at the store mentioned getting an i7 which would be quite fast. I think most of them come with 6gig ram.. which isn't to much. I'd at least like 8gig or 16gig but 16 is very hard to find or pay a lot for the upgrade. Also there's the option of getting ssd.. but the ssd they provide are always small like 126gig.. I'd want at least 500 gig ssd. So may'be could buy one with a cd drive and take that out and put in an ssd.

Also is it worth to get a touch screen? this is the big question what do you think?

[Jmax]

Hi Jmax,

I'm using an ASUS G73S gaming laptop with Windows 8. It's around five years old, but never had any performance problems with Reason. I guess a successor to that model would be good.
I would suggest a laptop with SSD, and with a processor that doesn't make the fan go crazy.
I never buy PC:s with AMD CPU.
Perhaps you want a couple extra screens? Check that the laptop supports the number of monitors + resolution you want to use.

I'm with you on the fan issue. A little concerned about that and the heat generated in general. I'm def looking at the intel processers, although my custom built comps run AMD's. Not sure about the screen thing but it's a good thing to look into, I'll check what the graphics card offers some are more powerful. Not even sure to bother with the touch screen or not? It's a real if. I know I wouldn't really need it but still it would be cool and handy once in a while.

[freeQlow]

I suggest you build your own PC. Much more bang for your buck.

I already have two PC's built from scratch. One as my media center connected to the tv, receiver etc..
and one as my studio room computer. Simply looking for a laptop for on the go or if I want to sit down at a coffee shop or on my bed and draw out music or string lines, whatever. One gets tired of sitting in the studio 'chair' if you do it long enough I suppose. Could be just me.

I found what I was looking for @ $400 on ebay.
Asus p77 (few years old but great)
i5 3rd gen, w7 64bit, 8 GB, 128 SSD

Added a PCIE Firewire/usb for $40
850 watt Sata power for $100
8 GB Ram ddr3 1600 $75
2 TB 7200rpm Sounds drive $125
250 GB SSD $100

Overall the base price for the tower felt like a deal and all the upgrades and additions were needed.

Where I buy my parts locally, went thru specs to see about an i7, the builder said he didn't think I even needed to bother.

Something similar new to build would be in the $1100-$1400 range.
The newer Asus boards of course cost more, but I'm good.
25% CPU wide open in Reason, 35% tops in Studio One thus far. When I get all plugs reinstalled, it maybe more.

Sounds like you can be a good buyer and builder. I've never built a laptop.

Would like to see what you finally come up with and the final cost too, keep me posted.

[mbfrancis]

Hey Jmax--

I literally just spent a few weeks shopping for a new PC laptop solely for audio (primarily Reason) and I'm very happy with my purchase so far.

The challenge I found is that your options at the higher specs (i7, 16GB RAM) are mostly limited to gaming laptops, which have way more graphics processing than I needed. My specs were a little different than yours: i7, 16GB Ram, 17" screen, 1TB min storage, SSD or hybrid drive if available. Don't care about touch screen. From experience, wanted HP or Dell preferably. $600-900 budget.

I had to go through three (3!) laptops to get what I wanted. I shopped a lot on Frys.com and went in a couple of times so wanted to buy there if possible, but the only one they had was this Lenovo: http://www.frys.com/product/8365317?sit ... IN_RSLT_PG. I'd heard mixed stuff about Lenovo, and the whole Superfish thing was kind of offensive on principle, but that was the only laptop they had that had the right specs. But when I got it home I hated it. It felt cheap, I hated the form factor (esp the locations of the ports, but also weird keyboard), and there were *dozens* of Lenovo bloatware programs. W8.1 didn't help. So I returned it the next day.

Meanwhile an IT friend recommended a refurbed HP ENvy at Newegg, which looked perfect: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834259389. Except that when it arrived it was DOA. Even so, I hated this form factor as well, slick but the ports way up front. So instead of replacing I returned it as well and got this Dell: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 42J34H6777. Boxy, conservative, ports in the right place (back), great keyboard, well put together, can use a docking station if I want, even Firewire. And my old sessions which used to tank Reason after half a second run with 2 or 3 bars. $800. Life is good.

TL;DR consider a refurbed HP or Dell with the specs you want, avoid a gaming laptop with unnecessary stuff, even though they look cool.

Hope this helps.

[Jmax]

Hey Jmax--

I literally just spent a few weeks shopping for a new PC laptop solely for audio (primarily Reason) and I'm very happy with my purchase so far.

The challenge I found is that your options at the higher specs (i7, 16GB RAM) are mostly limited to gaming laptops, which have way more graphics processing than I needed. My specs were a little different than yours: i7, 16GB Ram, 17" screen, 1TB min storage, SSD or hybrid drive if available. Don't care about touch screen. From experience, wanted HP or Dell preferably. $600-900 budget.

I had to go through three (3!) laptops to get what I wanted. I shopped a lot on Frys.com and went in a couple of times so wanted to buy there if possible, but the only one they had was this Lenovo: http://www.frys.com/product/8365317?sit ... IN_RSLT_PG. I'd heard mixed stuff about Lenovo, and the whole Superfish thing was kind of offensive on principle, but that was the only laptop they had that had the right specs. But when I got it home I hated it. It felt cheap, I hated the form factor (esp the locations of the ports, but also weird keyboard), and there were *dozens* of Lenovo bloatware programs. W8.1 didn't help. So I returned it the next day.

Meanwhile an IT friend recommended a refurbed HP ENvy at Newegg, which looked perfect: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834259389. Except that when it arrived it was DOA. Even so, I hated this form factor as well, slick but the ports way up front. So instead of replacing I returned it as well and got this Dell: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 42J34H6777. Boxy, conservative, ports in the right place (back), great keyboard, well put together, can use a docking station if I want, even Firewire. And my old sessions which used to tank Reason after half a second run with 2 or 3 bars. $800. Life is good.

TL;DR consider a refurbed HP or Dell with the specs you want, avoid a gaming laptop with unnecessary stuff, even though they look cool.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info! yes after a discussion with a friend as well I will not be getting the touch screen laptop. What is the purpose, might as well get a tablet. So with that out of the picture I'm looking at an ASUS i7 8gig (I will upgrade ram to 16) 1tb.. take out the cdrom and put in 250 ssd as main drive. I think that will work.

[nani456]

What are the specs of the old laptop? Before you go out and spend money (which could potentially go to more recording gear instead ), lets take a look at what you have.

The smoke may be related to something else, and not the new gear. Minimum specs for S1 and the iTwo are on the respective product pages. However, I would look to the maximum horsepower your budget allows to future proof as much as you can.

[freeQlow]

If you haven't already purchased, I did see a few i7 asus and Toshiba under $999 @ best buy Friday

[reusetek]

I suggest you to ASUS G73S which is one great choice I thinks. Rest you can check more brand and their features.

[EdGrip]

My computer is a refurbished Dell Precision M6800, which is a big fat enterprise workstation laptop with a 17" screen and all the trimmings. It's a couple of years old now, but it still does everything I need it to without breaking a sweat. (Well. Sometimes a little jet-like fan whir.) It's got 2 internal storage bays, so there's an SSD which all the application data lives on and a big HDD for data. I <3 it. I wish more love was given to the 17" laptop format in general, by all the manufacturers.

I like Dell. Dell's enterprise line is preferable to their home consumer line. They're typically robust, well-built, unkillable computers.

There are bargains to be had with Dell Refurbished - especially if you look at Dell certified resellers on eBay. If you refine here for 6th generation i7 quad core you'll see some 15" laptops in your price range, which you'll probably find cheaper and/or better equipped storage- or RAM-wise on eBay. They all come with the same warranty as a brand new computer:
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSale ... l=en&s=dfb

I found it was actually cheaper/better value to order and ship from a US eBay reseller, than to buy from Dell UK. So my computer's @ key is in the wrong place and the £ sign is only there if you know which key to press, but I'm happy to live with that burden. ^_^ (I could buy a replacement UK keyboard for £25 or so, but nah).
My instinct/prejudice would be to avoid gaming laptops, which I assume would prioritise speed over stability - I'm probably wrong! I've never had one, as gaming isn't my thing. (This laptop can play Portal 2 smoothly with everything maxed, though, which is a game I do like.) I DO know they tend to look like silly spaceships for children.

Asus are probably great too, although I don't think workstation laptops are a thing that they make. MSI are getting into workstation laptops.

[EdGrip]

Lolz, ZOMBIE THREAD! I didn't even notice the date.

I'll leave my reply cos I did all that typing. ^_^

[RhysHuntley89]

Lolz, ZOMBIE THREAD! I didn't even notice the date.

Neither did the guy before you