Good laptops for music production?

Monarch1990

New member
Hi all, Im finally getting back into music production after about 2 years away from it and am looking to buy a new laptop to produce on. I use FL Studio 11 and have looked at a few laptops that arent overly expensive that i think may be good. What are the most important things to have in a laptop for production? Like how much ram and memory and processors etc?
And can you give reasonable examples
 
This is an impossible question to answer Monarch without further details of your proposed setup/genre/additional equipment.

To go basic but useful, say you bought an 8 input interface and wanted to record a 4 piece band down the Mucky Duck? 4 mics just about covers drums, mic on bass, lead, rhythm leaves one to crowd round and sing! The 6yr old HP laptop I am typing on could cover that, burn a disc and I could check my emails while it makes the tea. Specs? i3 4core 8G ram (but the original 4G would do) 5,400 spinner HDD. But!..If I wanted to put any real time FX on any track(s) the CPU demand would shoot up.

So, we need to know what you intend to do, how you intend to do it and what you might do in the foreseeable. You need IMHO to be looking at an i5 processor, definitely an SSD, two if you can. USB 3.0 ports are a given these days but 3.1 would be advisable. Thunderbolt is as yet AFAIK rare on mainframe MOBOs and not on laptops? Nice if you could get it assuming you want/need an ultra low latency system* beware though, from my very limited knowledge TB/TB3/USB C is a bit of a minefield on PC as yet.

I am sure there is still a dedicated section "choosing an audio laptop" over at soundonsound.com? I would also ask the specialist suppliers, e.g. Scan, give you some idea of prices.

*Once again, ancillary gear has an impact. If say you go with an RME interface you would still get very low latency with USB 3.0 and even 2.0 is no slouch!

Dave.
 
Mainly EDM, I will just be using FL Studio 11 and plugins I have on that, I will be mainly using sounds i create in the software so wont be recording live or anything. Just want something that is capable of simply running fl studio without skipping.
the laptop I want to buy is Medion Erazer P6677 Intel Core i5 8GB RAM 1TB Hard Drive 15.6in Gaming Laptop, can you tell me if this would be suitable and powerful enough to run fl studio with alot of plug ins etc being used without it freezing ?
 
The main configuration is probably fine, but I'd be inclined to shop around and find something with SSD as the main system drive.
The CPU isn't far off the i5 in my 2015 laptop.
Not cutting edge or blazing, but not a slouch either.

Might not matter to you but calling it a 'Gaming Laptop' is probably generous. The GPU isn't going to excite you, if gaming is on your horizon.
If it's not, don't sweat that. :)
 
I just don't like 8GB on a Windows system would be my main concern, especially when I read "lots of plugins" in your post. It should be upgradeable, but you never know with the cost cutting and thinness demands of the market these days. (Sockets cost both money and space.)

As has been mentioned here and I've complained about, the whole Intel processor naming is close to meaningless unless you know you are talking specifically about the same generation and manufacturing process family. i3/5/7s can be all over the place, depending on what they've been made for, especially the low power (battery life) optimized ones. But, you can kind of assume that within a brand and certainly a model line where only the processor changes, "you get what you pay for" - just be aware of what you're paying for.

I'd also recommend an SSD, but that's going to bump your cost even more.

Here's something with a bit more oomph (and cost, of course), but still just HDD.

MSI GL62M 7RDX Intel(R) Core™ i7 Processor, 16Gb RAM, 1Tb Hard Drive, 15.6 inch FHD Gaming Laptop with GeForce GTX 1050 Graphics | very.co.uk

And a hybrid drive (kind of - didn't read details) system, even more money, but a brand I've heard of.

Dell Inspiron 15-7000, Intel(R) Core™ i7-7700HQ, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB HDD & 128GB SSD, 15.6 inch IPS FHD Gaming Laptop | very.co.uk

(I realize these go up significantly from the price I saw when searching for that model you described, but I'm a Mac guy, so pretty well have my monetary senses dulled from looking at newer MacBook Pros :()
 
Intel processor naming is close to meaningless unless you know you are talking specifically about the same generation and manufacturing process family. i3/5/7s can be all over the place, depending on what they've been made for, especially the low power (battery life) optimized ones.

Big plus one. I always reference cpu benchmark lists to see where a chip is really at.
People criticise, pointing out that a benchmark doesn't tell the whole story, but it tells you a hell of a lot more than 'i5' or 'i3'.
 
But, caveat, bloody emptor! Read this..
SOS Forum • ACPI.sys DPC latency on new Dell laptop - please help. I am depressed.

Looks like a pretty snorting specc' but the guy is having woes and even Pete of Scan says he might be better to chop it in.

Looks like "you can't know until you know" as it were?

Jusfort: Where are you? Here in UK (EU?) we have the Distance Trading Regulations. Basically anything you get by mail order you can keep and try for several days then, without giving ANY reason at all, send the item back and get a full refund.

Dave.
 
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