do you use a laptop and if so... what do you use?

[FapFilter]

Thanks, what's your take on Win 10 now?
I'm on 7 still

IMO, definitely get Windows 10. Not many DAWs will support anything else in the near future.

In my experience, this “not supported“ is not a big deal on Windows, really. At least i never had trouble running stuff for designed for either way older Windows versions, and also not running stuff for newer Windows versions. At least regarding normal applications, including music software. Gaming might be another story, but i don't game on PC anyway.

I'm of course not against Win 10 in general anyway, was just curious if people thought that previous versions were much better performing for audio

[Unaspected]

If and when I come to replace my MBP I'll be looking at Ryzen options.

Running W7x64 on my laptop with no issues; W10x64 on my Ryzen desktop - also with no issues.

[Jace-BeOS]

MacBook Pro. Runs everything I want and has really good integration with my iPad and iPhone. Just about everything I plug into it just works. Can route audio in so many ways (especially with SoundFlower installed), and MIDI routing is a breeze.

Might be expensive, but it's damn fast and it would cost me almost as much to get a Windows laptop that runs as good.

Not really music related, but there's also the Sidecar integration with my iPad so I can use my Apple Pencil on Mac apps by using Sidecar.

I seem to always be just out of reach of these interesting integration features, or Apple breaks them with an OS update (like Safari sync in iOS 13, broken unless also on Mojave or newer). Being stuck on older OS versions and not having sidecar with my iPad and Apple Pencil... grrr...

[Jace-BeOS]

As for the OP: I use an old 13” MacBook Pro 5,5 from over a decade ago. It’s too small for my tastes. It’s also got poor thermals, but then all laptops do. They are all too small for heavy CPU & GPU loads for long periods of time. My prior MacBook Pro 3,1 died from thermal stress so I swore never to run another laptop that hard.

It really depends on your workflow and how hard you run the CPU/GPU. I prefer a proper desktop/desk-side computer, but my brand of grudging choice (Apple) don’t make one that’s affordable to anyone less than a corporation or a plutocrat (and I hate Windows and PCs even more, so, they’re not for me).

Laptops are handy, and I wouldn’t want to be without one (my iPad Pro isn’t enough for all tasks), but if you run hot, go for a larger machine with proper thermals as a primary machine. If you can only afford one computer, and want to still have mobility, then I sympathize with the difficulty of finding the right selection.

[MadDogE134]

most proprietary companies will put their own BS on there from what i know of the past but companies like eluktronics which sells customized Clevo systems only installs their boost application but you can defer not. also they only install window$ 10 home/pro as is but you can also choose not to have an OS installed so you can install your own when you get it i think.

as for win10 i have never had a problem with it cheers

[MadDogE134]

right jace... that is one reason i don't advise others when asked to use only a laptop... mainly from the fan noise and thermal throttling. well that and not being able to really work on them (hardware) or upgrade them but that is kinda changing. i think some of the Clevo machines actually use desktop cpu's unsoldered so it can be replaced as so with the ssd's and memory. pretty much all major components can be easily replaced or upgraded. i think that is one of the big selling points at least for me looking at them. but yeah battery life and thermals are still a problem for the most part. not sure if it is still a problem but leaving a battery powered system on power/charger wreaks havoc with the battery and could shorten it's life span. but then again they do have new battery technology these days which may not be as affected as batteries of the past. cheers

[chk071]

Thanks, what's your take on Win 10 now?
I'm on 7 still

IMO, definitely get Windows 10. Not many DAWs will support anything else in the near future.

In my experience, this “not supported“ is not a big deal on Windows, really. At least i never had trouble running stuff for designed for either way older Windows versions, and also not running stuff for newer Windows versions. At least regarding normal applications, including music software. Gaming might be another story, but i don't game on PC anyway.

I'm of course not against Win 10 in general anyway, was just curious if people thought that previous versions were much better performing for audio

I don't think so. It also depends on drivers, of course, I guess, and, Windows 10 also has more background tasks running, but, if you want to optimize the hell out of your system to get the last 0.01 % of performance, you can always do that, of course. Whether or not that makes sense with nowadays' performance monster machines is another thing.

Personally, I wouldn't want to go back to either Windows 7 or Windows 8. I consider Windows 10 the much better system, in any regard really.

[MadDogE134]

yeah i think the only major con with the new 13 MBP i am wanting is they tend to solder crap in so you can't readily mess with them and i think we ALL know how apple will rake you across the coals in repair costs and they solder parts in just for that reason... most will have to pay apple for repairs.

[MadDogE134]

right... my biggest beef with window$ is the bloat... trying to cover every possible combination of parts available. win10 is slimmed down considerably but still has a ton of services that seem to HAVE to run. but it is far better now than in the past... window$ OS that is.

i have this window$ desk system which i am somewhat happy with but i am STILL leaning towards the MBP for all the added perks previously mentioned. and to note... i LOVE my ipad for creating parts but still wouldn't rely on it for a full production... well not at this time. cheers

[BONES]

Does anyone know if any of the vendors optionally ship their laptops with a clean Windows install without dozens of unnecessary crap on it?

That would be every laptop I've ever bought. The only extras on my current G7 are things like Dell's remote diagnostic tools, which you kinda need to have. Otherwise it's a pretty clean install, like I've always had with every other laptop.

[FapFilter]

My Vaio came with plenty of stuff installed.
Not sure about my previous laptop anymore
All my other PCs were custom build by myself where i didn't have to worry about such things

[MadDogE134]

my old dell came with like mcaffee and a bunch of trial crap as i recall lol. spent the first few hours removing unwanted/unneeded stuff. didn't even come with a recovery disk... they had a section of the bloody hard drive partitioned off holding the recovery image. what a waste... and THAT was when laps actually had CD/DVD bays lol

[Erisian]

I have a Toshiba laptop running Win7-64bit. It is still working fine except that some physical damage sometimes causes problems.

[Pacific05]

I'm using a PC which I built on my own 6 years ago. It still runs fine, never had any problem. But I need space, portability and changes, so I'm going to replace it with a laptop. I'm really stuck with the final choice (between a Macbook Pro and a powerful pc; money matters). Well, I could be able to build another computer piece by piece, I know the specs and the prices of CPUs, RAM banks, SSD HDDs etc. etc., though I don't understand the laptop market.
I don't know why two computers with almost the same specs cost differently. Today I've seen an HP Pavilion I7 9th gen 6 core, 16 gb RAM, 512 Gb SSD for € 1050 and a gaming laptop (MSI or ASUS TUF, I don't remember) I5 10th gen, 8 gb RAM and 1Tb HDD + 256 gb SSD for € 1550. Ok, the graphic card. But € 500 difference is a lot of money. Or is a matter of quality? Yet the former's performances should be better than the latter. It's not so easy to choose, if you don't want to buy an expensive one.

[MadDogE134]

yeah i have been driving myself crazy the last few weeks trying to decide. it gives me headaches lol i don't want to spend that kind of money... but if i cut corners and save a buck in the long run i feel like i will be disappointed. i must be finally growing up lol... when i was young i would not give it a second thought. now that i am an old man... it is hard to let go of just one dollar.