Which is the best laptop for recording.

J

Jae

New member
I'm trying to build a mobile recording setup using a laptop and an 8 channel AI. I have Sonar X3. I'm wondering what would be the best laptop to do this with.
 
The best laptop is no laptop at all.

Great for editing, but I would never do a master recording on a laptop as I prefer to use a dedicated recorder.
 
Jae said:
I'm trying to build a mobile recording setup using a laptop and an 8 channel AI. I have Sonar X3. I'm wondering what would be the best laptop to do this with.
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Almost anything that will run Windows 7 (preff' 64bit ver.) . I have an HP i3 and that I am sure would barely break a sweat for 8 tracks.
This assume you will just be recording "dry" and "flat" and not using up CPU grunt on plugins.

You will also I am sure get negative comments about the 5k4 drive speed? Worry not, that is plenty fast enough for a shedload more than 8 tracks at 24bits and 44.1kHz and should you have shares in Western Digital and want to record at a silly 96kHz it could still cope very well.

Do keep the drive well under 70% full however. Of course, if you can spring for an SSD, don't let ME stop you!

Dave.
 
The last three AMD based computers I've bought (2 desktops and 1 laptop) have had unusual bleed from graphics (you can hear when you move the mouse, etc.) My last i3 did not. I have to be really careful when I record not to let the screen move around much (not physically). I would recommend Intel processors for recording based on my experience with the 6 and 8 core AMDs... Actually the laptop was only a 4 core Sempron. Eco is absolutely correct about drive speed, but be careful about bus speed (the real bottleneck toward getting the data between cpu and drive.) If you're going to use it for recording only, you need to visit Black Viper's page for Vista/XP/7. But definitely (for the moment) avoid Win 8 as a lot of the drivers are not out for recording equipment, and stability is not a new OS's forte. Other than that, get yourself a good backup drive USB 3.0 3TB drives are reasonable
ASUS U57A-BBL4 Refurbished Laptop Computer - 2nd generation Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz, 6GB DDR3, 750GB HDD, DVDRW, 15.6 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit at TigerDirect.com
is just one example. Decent specs, 6 GB Decent sized screen (you might look for a 17" screen). Everything you need right there.
 
If you want to know which is the best laptop to BUY to record on, then unless you're after the portability, I'd say the answer is a desktop - much less constraining to work with.
 
Armistice said:
If you want to know which is the best laptop to BUY to record on, then unless you're after the portability, I'd say the answer is a desktop - much less constraining to work with.
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I quite agree A, but the OP did say "mobile".

Even so were I in the need of a mobile rig I too would look at a tower PC (put a gitamp strap on top). You get vastly more power per buck (or a very usable but much cheaper setup). Most people that have dabbled with PCs end up with spare k'bds, mice*, and monitors but you can get the latter from charity shops at $30 or so for a 17incher.

*But use a wireless keyboard and mouse. ~$20.

Dave.
 
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