Best Laptops for a Studio?

My computer: Lenovo V570 i5 CPU 2.50 GHz 16 GB RAM 64 bit .. I'm considering purchasing a simple "internet access tablet" and stripping down my current home studio laptop (V570) to only the OS and my DAWs which are Reaper Audio / Studio One by presonus. in order to MAXIMIZE the performance.

Any advice? Has anyone tried this and can you post the results. It's a simple home studio seldom having the need to record more than one track at a time. The mixer I'm using is a Mackie USB.
 
My computer: Lenovo V570 i5 CPU 2.50 GHz 16 GB RAM 64 bit .. I'm considering purchasing a simple "internet access tablet" and stripping down my current home studio laptop (V570) to only the OS and my DAWs which are Reaper Audio / Studio One by presonus. in order to MAXIMIZE the performance.

Any advice? Has anyone tried this and can you post the results. It's a simple home studio seldom having the need to record more than one track at a time. The mixer I'm using is a Mackie USB.

Very little point IMHO. By all means read up on and do all the audio performance tweaks to the Lenovo but in truth an i5 PC for "a couple of tracks" is an overkilling monster.

Do however kill WiFi and other wireless kit on the PC. Use a network, RJ45 patch lead to connect to the modem/router and just pull the plug when you don't want to be online which is most of the time. However, my computers are always online and this never affects any audio processing I do (which I will admit is pretty simple) . In fact quite often I am recording Radio 3 HD!

If you don't need wireless internet for other purpose, find the IP address of the router (password will likely be "admin") and shut wireless off. I have done this for my main TalkTalk router but have a little TP-Link unit in a bedroom plugged in to give me wireless int' on this laptop but I can go "off air" completely by pulling the TP's plug.

Elbow all virus protection software. I just use Msoft Security Essentials and never a bother in years. I run Malwarebytes from time to time but rarely find anything really bad. Being on a copper network is really useful and most modems have at least 4 ports. Not only can you swap data twixt computers but also hook in a NAS drive (put it in a cupboard somewhere safe) and backup all your work on it.

Run "DPClat" latency checker.

Dave.
 
Yeah. ecc83 is on the right track. Are you actually having problems now that you want to fix? If so, reinstalling Windows without any of the usual background stuff running can improve things a bit but, if you're not having issues right now then you will likely not see any difference at all.

Easier things to do (as ecc83 says) will be to turn Wifi off completely when work with audio. At the same time, shut down any anti virus software you have. If your Lenovo is like most of them, there will be a small switch somewhere that completely turns off the radios.

Longer term things to do would be (if your Lenovo has a spare bay) is to add a second HDD. Run Windows and your DAW on one and use the other purely for data storage for your tracks. Making this second drive 7200rpm or more is a big help. Or maybe consider an SSD drive.
 
Thanks Bobbs. Meant to say "don't get a cheap tablet"!
I bought an Acer Android tablet at Christmas and still can't work it! If you want something cheap n cheerful for internet use get a little Netbook. I am considering a S/H laptop of some sort for Wife from Cash Generators (but eyes,teeth, car,water, insurance,poll tax bills are on the mat or coming and I dread the lekky/gas bill! So she will have to wait a bit!)

NB. I am going S/H because I want W7. I shall have to coach the missus and there is no point in having W8 for her when I am all Seven.

Dave.
 
My wife loves her iPad and swears by it. Me? I tend to swear AT it. I think I've worked out that, for the most part, she uses it to look at things and post photos online, only using the keypad to do a few sentences here and there.

On the other hand, I'm a verbose old git and type lots of long posts showing my ignorance on a myriad of subjects. I need to touch type to spew out my rubbish efficiently.

On the plus side though, my wife replaced her old netbook with the iPad and I've found that, while not up to any serious audio work, it IS okay for live playback at theatres. It's become my easily portable back up machine.
 
"My wife loves her iPad and swears by it. Me? I tend to swear AT it."

Hah! I should not have gone cheap it seems and bought an "iSomething" instead of Android. I was oping to use the pad for limited audio recording but it seems there are few apps for that and latency is dire.

My wife uses a conventional mobile for texting. I never could text until I got a QWERTY phone, mind you the ARMD was probably creeping up on me in my left eye.

Dave.
 
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