Laptop for music - buying advice needed

Configure and optimize you computer for Audio.
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I switched from MacBook Pros to a high end HP ZBook workstation early this year. Delighted with performance which is about par with my maxed out 2015 iMac. Cool enough to use on my lap.

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lnikj wrote: Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:01 am Thermals are always a trade off but one thing Pete Kaine at Scan convinced me of on the phone is that they go to incredible lengths with their builds to cool their computers and not to overspec where this caused problems (in their thinner model).
I bought my i7 17" laptop from Scan. It runs cool & quiet. They even managed to squeeze a third SSD into it for me for under £2000 ...

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"buying advice needed" how much would one charge for advice? heher :clown: sry i had to...

perspective is a funny thing :)
"There is no strength in numbers... have no such misconception... but when you need me be assured I won't be far away."

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MadDogE134 wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 7:05 pm "buying advice needed" how much would one charge for advice? heher :clown: sry i had to...

perspective is a funny thing :)
You're ten months too late to offer your services :)

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lol... them's the breaks lol cheers
"There is no strength in numbers... have no such misconception... but when you need me be assured I won't be far away."

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I'm looking for what would be the most capable low latency/live performance system (non desktop). Would like the headroom to run many effects on live audio. So far my deduction has come to the MSI GT76 Titan (and it IS relatively large and quite heavy) with a 9900k, due to (what I can deduce) the apparently superior cooling system (over the Alienware Area 51m or Clevo P750TM1, other 9900k desktop replacement class). The implication being that better cooling would allow higher sustained CPU speeds.

Another hypothetical is if I'm reconciled with the size and weight of the above, just a little more size allowance and instead I could perhaps build a slim size mini-itx 9900k. Comparing dimensions of the gt76, an example of a slim style mini-itx case is only 1 inch wider and about 3 inches thicker.
https://www.silverstonetek.com/raven...&area=en&top=C
15.04" (W) x 4.13" (H) x 14.33" (D)

On the other hand, to go for a smaller size, this i9 nuc looks interesting, coming next year supposedly, but the cooling looks comparatively basic. Would want to wait for some reports about its effectiveness. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/in...ost-canyon-nuc

For audio interface, so far I've come to the Presonus Quantum, due to wanting 8 pre amps in a single rack (I like RME, but they don't have a single rack with 8 pres, and Antelope's reports/reputation is quite discouraging (looked at the Discrete 8) ).

Thanks for any thoughts!
Last edited by ericzang on Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Why do you need so much grunt? We can get by with a two year old Core i5 on stage. I put a lot more strain on my system doing studio work. The thing witha NUC is you'll need a monitor, which would be annoying on stage.
Last edited by BONES on Thu Oct 24, 2019 2:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
NOVAkILL : Asus RoG Flow Z13, Core i9, 16GB RAM, Win11 | EVO 16 | Studio One | bx_oberhausen, GR-8, JP6K, Union, Hexeract, Olga, TRK-01, SEM, BA-1, Thorn, Prestige, Spire, Legend-HZ, ANA-2, VG Iron 2 | Uno Pro, Rocket.

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I'd like to run several channels of live mics/instruments, monitoring at lowest latency possible (RTL round trip latency of about 8ms or less), while be able to run elaborate configurations of effects. A couple vsti-s, but probably nothing too heavy there.

True, I'd like to be able to test a more typical higher end laptop to see if that's enough (the size and weight advantage would be nice), but seems like higher cpu speeds will allow for more freedom with the above scenario. My friend has a recent mac mini (i7 something 3.2ghz) and with his fairly elaborate set in Ableton, he's about at the limit.

Right about the NUC, although I'm considering checking out Usine as a host, which if I understand correctly, looks like it has a mode that can be setup as a touchscreen with customized controls, so I'd use a screen as another controller.

Thanks for the reply!

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I don't think it will be a problem. It doesn't sound like what you want to do will put much strain on your CPU, even at low latency. Bandwidth is more likely to be an issue, so an audio I/O device that takes full advantage of USB 3 or Thunderbolt might be a better way to spend your money.
NOVAkILL : Asus RoG Flow Z13, Core i9, 16GB RAM, Win11 | EVO 16 | Studio One | bx_oberhausen, GR-8, JP6K, Union, Hexeract, Olga, TRK-01, SEM, BA-1, Thorn, Prestige, Spire, Legend-HZ, ANA-2, VG Iron 2 | Uno Pro, Rocket.

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Thanks will consider. Maybe can do some tests on friend's computer.

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