Home recording Laptop suggestions

B

Biohazurd

New member
Hello everyone, I am going to be setting up a small home recording studio in my basement and I have a few questions regarding appropriate gear. First my thoughts, needs and budget. This will be a long post but I would like to give everyone as much info on my situation to find the best possible solution. Thanks in advance.

First budget: This is where it will get a little tricky. I'm looking for the laptop itself to be 600.00 US$ or under.

DAW: I have decided on Reaper as my DAW from various reviews and articles I feel for the price and my uses it would be a good choice.

Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlett Solo or a presonus 2x2 both around 100 US

Microphone: Shure SM57. I will be recording my guitar and bass directly for starters because I'm renting the basement of someone and loud sound is an issue. For vocals or instrument parts that I just cannot record directly at my house I will record through a mic and amp at another location.

My uses: I intend on recording guitar and bass with actual instruments. As stated earlier I will be recording Direct until my living situation changes or I find affordable recording space. Also I will be recording vocals. As far as virtual instruments go I will really only be using some kind of drum machine plugin/app and a decent synth plugin/app (Not sure the proper nomenclature I'm not really tech knowledgeable.) for the foreseeable future as these stated instruments are the only type I use in my personal music. Also I will use some type of midi pad or small keyboard for synth parts.

My plan is to use this laptop to touch the waters of home recording with out blowing a whole lot of money to start up. After I get this recording gear set up I will start saving for a high performance laptop (Most likely a Mac) that I will probably purchase within a year or 2 of this laptop. After which I will resign this laptop to just daily web surfing, light gaming etc...

Like I said i'm not looking for the high end premium, best of the best laptop that all the pros use. I am really just going to be recording Guitar, Bass, Piano/synth, vocals and ill be using some kind of drum machine plugin as of course I cant afford live drums nor could I record them in my current living situation.

I originally wanted to build a PC but i've decided that I would really like the portability of the laptop and gear so I could possibly record at other locations as well as limited recording space at home.

The best Laptop I am finding in my range is thisAmazon.com: Acer Aspire E5-571-56UQ 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titanium Silver): Computers & Accessories

Yes it does have a 5400 rpm 1tb HDD but I was planning on getting an exterior 7200 rpm or SSD for all of my recording stuff and leave the internal for the rest of the laptop functioning. What are your thoughts on that? It has an I5 processor, and 8gigs of DDS3 to start so should have enough power for my minimalistic uses. If anyone has any other options please feel free to suggest.

If possible I could go up to 700 for the laptop but I would like to see a sizeable upgrade in performance if that's the case. I am trying to keep the whole set up under 900 so you see my need for a less expensive pc. If I can save a little money on the laptop I could put more money into the interface and other gear. Also i've heard a certain kind of firewire port is really common. I am not too familiar with how that all works so if you all could enlighten me on that that would be awesome. Also any other really essential gear that I may need let me know i'm sure I am forgetting a few things.

Again thank you for reading my first (Long) thread and I guess my first post ever on your amazing forum. I've been a long time lurker but I look forward to the vast amount of knowledge that you gals and gents have in store for me thanks!

-Charlie (Biohazurd):guitar:
 
Last edited:
It's hard for me to comment specifically about US prices (I'm in Australia) but I suggest you have a look at the Lenovo range. I'm on my second one for sound use and both have been excellent in terms of reliability. They're also custom built (well, at least partially) so you can make at least minor changes to suit what you need.

I might also think about a different interface. It probably won't be too long until you decide you want to use two mics at a time--recording acoustic guitar in stereo for example or doing guitar and vocal at the same time for a scratch track. Also, the direct monitoring on the Scarlett Solo is a switch, rather than a pot to create a personalised mix between pre recorded and new stuff. There are a bunch of interfaces that would do it but I happened to notice that several American dealers have the old style M Audio M Track (or the Alesis IO2 which is the same interface) for about the price you're talking about. I bought an M Track for portable use last year and have been very impressed by the quality and features for the money.

The SM57 isn't the perfect mic for anything but it's an okay compromise for anything...if you see what I mean!

It's hard to beat Reaper as a starting out DAW.

Anyhow, good luck and have fun.
 
Biohazurd said:
The best Laptop I am finding in my range is thisAmazon.com: Acer Aspire E5-571-56UQ 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titanium Silver): Computers & Accessories
Click to expand...

Hi,
Take your time and do plenty of reading.
That laptop worries me a bit because it's the old-story...People read it and say, oh wow it's got an i5 and is therefore the same as X,Y or Z.
It's got an i5 1.7ghz chip which I didn't even realise was a thing.
I haven't done my research but I'll bet it's a super watered down chip.

My macbook is getting on a bit - It's a 2011 i5 2.3ghz. Still pokey enough and I added an SSD and more ram to seal the deal but, rather disappointingly, they can be had on eBay these days in and around your budget.

I'm not sure how much money you're planning to drop if/when you upgrade again, but would it be worth skipping the middle man and just jumping straight to a used mac?

Normally I wouldn't worry but virtual instruments, synths and guitar sims are pretty intensive!
 
Ill look into some of the used macs but i was hesitant on purchasing used as i have had bad experiences in the past so i was prefering new. If anyone knows of some factory referbished laptops from a higher end company i would consider that. Thanks for the info on the I5s i was not aware that they had different levels besides I3, I5, and I7 in that series ill do a little more research.
 
Biohazurd said:
Ill look into some of the used macs but i was hesitant on purchasing used as i have had bad experiences in the past so i was prefering new. If anyone knows of some factory referbished laptops from a higher end company i would consider that. Thanks for the info on the I5s i was not aware that they had different levels besides I3, I5, and I7 in that series ill do a little more research.
Click to expand...

Cool.
Apple have a refurb store online. They're returns for whatever reason which can't be sold as new, but are restored to new and sold with the same warranty you'd expect on a new product.

I guess dell etc have a similar thing? The discount isn't mental, but you might save 10% or something...
 
ARK | Intel® Coreâ„¢ i5-4210U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz)I found this on Intels website for specs on that specific I5 processor. Not sure how this compares to a "Deluxe" I5 type processor so if anyone has any idea. As i stated im some what familiar with computers but this stuff isnt my cup of tea. Macs still seem a bit out of my reach even used unless i go a few model years back which is well, yeah.. if anyone else has any ideas please let me know. Like i said i dont need the top of the line laptop just something that will get me started for under 600 if possible.
 
Perhaps I jumped the gun. I just took a look at the specs of that chip and it benches a little bit higher than the older 2.3ghz chip that I have.
I know my MBP is still damn capable so maybe it's not a watered down chip after all.
 
Considering what you know now about this particular I5 Processor would the previously stated Dell Or Acer (Really similar specs.) work alright for my light purposes? Also what specs am I looking for in a good processor? I've heard at least 2 gigs for recording but Ive seen lower used frequently. Should I be looking more at Gigs, Cores, Threads? Im not sure how things are measured in the hardware world...
 
I am with Bobbsy, single mic input AIs are pointless IMHO for music, ok maybe for podding! Even if you don't use a second mic, you have a geetar problem? A DI box can be cheap and give a different sound from the high Z inputs.

Look at the Steinberg UR22 Bob's M-TRACK and my recent find, the Focusrite Saffire 6. All have two mics and all have MIDI!

Laptops I will leave to my youngers and betters. Personally I think your idea of something basic now then go for a "Deep Blue" later is a good one. I have an HP i3 2.4G and that runs Cubase demo tracks no problem. That cost me a smell under £400 a couple of years ago but we get almost as badly ripped for electronics kit here as does Bobbsy in Oz!

Again I agree about the SM57, ok but an SDC would be my first choice if I only had one microphone. A capacitor mic is almost a must if acoustic guitar is a possibility.

Dave.
 
Biohazurd said:
Considering what you know now about this particular I5 Processor would the previously stated Dell Or Acer (Really similar specs.) work alright for my light purposes? Also what specs am I looking for in a good processor? I've heard at least 2 gigs for recording but Ive seen lower used frequently. Should I be looking more at Gigs, Cores, Threads? Im not sure how things are measured in the hardware world...
Click to expand...

For sound work 2gHz RAM is an absolute bare minimum and far from desirable. Get as much as you budget allows...at least 4 gigs and preferably 8 or 16.

For sound work, I'd probably compromise a bit on the processor to get adequate RAM if it came to that...though best to have both.
 
Bobbsy said:
For sound work 2gHz RAM is an absolute bare minimum and far from desirable. Get as much as you budget allows...at least 4 gigs and preferably 8 or 16.

For sound work, I'd probably compromise a bit on the processor to get adequate RAM if it came to that...though best to have both.
Click to expand...

Early last year I upgraded the HP from 4 to 8G of ram. The only thing that seems to have changed is that my left leg gets hotter! Mind you I don't push the lappy very hard and I found a shop that would fit the ram for 60 quid all done so I did it.

Dave.
 
The difference becomes more pronounced as the number of tracks and/or the number of effects on each track goes up.

BTW, thank you for evangelising SDC mics. If I had to choose one mic and one mic only to keep from my collection, it would be an SDC. However, I've just about given up saying that on this forum because of the love affair with the 57!
 
On 64 bit OS, 8 gigs is about right. 16+ I think is overkill. But, better to have and not need, than to need and not have.
 
DM60 said:
On 64 bit OS, 8 gigs is about right. 16+ I think is overkill. But, better to have and not need, than to need and not have.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I put 16gb in my MBP and half of it literally never gets tickled.
There's 12gb in my MacPro which is a much more powerful machine. The full 12gb only just gets saturated with a bit of video work which the laptop would struggle with regardless.

I may bump it up to 16gb sometime but only because there's room for 2 more sticks and they aren't that expensive.
 
Bobbsy said:
For sound work 2gHz RAM is an absolute bare minimum and far from desirable. Get as much as you budget allows...at least 4 gigs and preferably 8 or 16.

For sound work, I'd probably compromise a bit on the processor to get adequate RAM if it came to that...though best to have both.
Click to expand...

No I meant 2gigs was that minimum processor speed that I had heard you should have. The Dell and Acer laptops I am inquiring about come with 8gigs of ram to start so I was just curious about the I5 processor and those two laptop configurations and if they would be good for my use. I'm gonna see if I can bump my Interface budget up a bit but im hoping one of those laptops will be adequate for me. Thanks for all the help guys let me know if anything comes to mind that can further assist me.
 
Biohazurd said:
Ill look into some of the used macs but i was hesitant on purchasing used as i have had bad experiences in the past so i was prefering new. If anyone knows of some factory referbished laptops from a higher end company i would consider that. Thanks for the info on the I5s i was not aware that they had different levels besides I3, I5, and I7 in that series ill do a little more research.
Click to expand...

I'd say go for a new one - I've seen people have terrible experiences with used macs.
 
Yeah im pretty set on new or refurbished. Ive had some bad times with used computers before and im sticking with new thanks. Ill probably just get the dell i mentioned earlier. Seems like a solid machine for the money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top