Desktop vs Laptop

[Sweaty Ear]

would love to have that much power in a laptop. heard that some daws work better with less cores. seems to not make sense if you're a software company who wants to stay relevant though. also, you'd think the computer manufacturers knowing this would make every laptop have a single core option.

[jmarcinik3]

I started out on laptop, and it was fine at first. As I learned more production tricks and started adding more tracks/instruments, my laptop began not to handle it too well. So I switched to a desktop and upgraded the RAM on it. My desktop can handle production well. It might also depend on which genre you want to produce. I also use a lot of sampled instruments, which can be pretty heavy on RAM. If you mostly do live performances, a laptop is probably the preferred route. All in all, it depends on what kind of production you want to do, but I think in most non-live situations, the desktop would be preferred.

[DogeSquad]

I started out on laptop, and it was fine at first. As I learned more production tricks and started adding more tracks/instruments, my laptop began not to handle it too well. So I switched to a desktop and upgraded the RAM on it. My desktop can handle production well. It might also depend on which genre you want to produce. I also use a lot of sampled instruments, which can be pretty heavy on RAM. If you mostly do live performances, a laptop is probably the preferred route. All in all, it depends on what kind of production you want to do, but I think in most non-live situations, the desktop would be preferred.

I agree. It is indeed highly dependant on what your situation is. Another major aspect is that you get more bank for your bucks when going the PC route. When it comes to high end hardware (or branding ..cough.. Apple ..cough..) laptops can get preeetty expensive and moreover dont last as long cause you cant e.g. exchange the CPU i.e. the heart of your system.

All and all said: I went the laptop route. Because for me the portability was important. And the music I am making doesnt consume a motherload of RAM.

[BONES]

How often can you actually change the CPU in a desktop system? Almost every new generation of CPU needs a new socket, which means a new motherboard as well. RAM gets faster, etc., etc. and in the end it costs you a small fortune, whereas I can sell a year old laptop for almost as much as I pay for it and have a whole new everything every year for around $300.

[Molochites]

How often can you actually change the CPU in a desktop system? Almost every new generation of CPU needs a new socket

As much as you want if you go amd. I have ryzen 1300x from 2017 that uses am4 , i can change it with new generation Cpu if i want to.

whereas I can sell a year old laptop for almost as much as I pay for it and have a whole new everything every year for around $300.

I can also sell a year old desktop, or parts of it. I can sell my 1050 ti gpu for more than what i payed for it. Laptops lose their value (and performance) a lot faster than desktops. I also have 12 years old desktop that can still run win 7, daw and plugins. Only maintenance needed was thermal paste and HDD replacement. I can sell that desktop even now, i cant sell or use 12 years old laptop.

[chk071]

How often can you actually change the CPU in a desktop system? Almost every new generation of CPU needs a new socket

As much as you want if you go amd.

I'll fix that for BONES then. "Almost every new generation of a proper CPU needs a new socket."

[BONES]

How often can you actually change the CPU in a desktop system? Almost every new generation of CPU needs a new socket.

As much as you want if you go amd.

That doesn't answer my question, which is how often do you actually do it? i.e. Is it a real advantage or just a possible advantage that most people won't utilise?

I have ryzen 1300x from 2017 that uses am4 , i can change it with new generation Cpu if i want to.

Yeah, that was one of the big reasons I went to AMD Athlon, back in the day, but it didn't work out any better than Intel because AMD also changed their sockets all the time, too, even though they said they wouldn't. So once bitten, twice shy.

[Molochites]

That doesn't answer my question, which is how often do you actually do it? i.e. Is it a real advantage or just a possible advantage that most people won't utilise?

Real advantage for people that wants to have best hardware. Possible advantage for the majority of people. There is not that much of a difference in performance between old and new generations of hardware. Unlike laptops, desktops generally don't get slower with time. New software may require more power but that is generally the case for games, not audio plugins. I used 3 laptops in the past 10 years, all from new to dead. They have really poor cooling compared to desktops, even with casual browsing in net they will get slower in a year, unusable after 3-5 years. I have 5 case fans in my pc (+cpu and gpu fans), it is literally silent because fans are large compared to laptops, and doesn't need to spin faster. Even when at max power CPU doesn't go above 45-50 C.

Yeah, that was one of the big reasons I went to AMD Athlon, back in the day, but it didn't work out any better than Intel because AMD also changed their sockets all the time, too, even though they said they wouldn't. So once bitten, twice shy.

Hopefully, those days are past. Current Amd socket (AM4) came in 2016 and it is still in use. AM5 will replace it at the end of 2022 and will be supported for as long as AM4 (According to AMD). Besides replacing the motherboard doesn't mean you drop it at the scrapyard. I can still find DDR2 Rams (both new and used) in my country. If there is a market for DDR2 Rams there is a market for a year-old motherboard.

[arkmabat]

Biggest problem with laptops is the lack of USB ports. You always end up using a hub and something always starts randomly disconnecting. If I had the space, I'd build a tower right now.

[BONES]

Hubs are actually really handy with a laptop because you can have half-a-dozen things plugged in but you only need to unplug one cable to take your laptop away from your desk, instead of 4 or 5. Mine has enough ports that I only need to put unimportant stuff on the hub - Cubase dongle, mouse and thumb drives. The important stuff, I/O device and controllers, are plugged directly into the machine. You need a good hub, though, not something from a corner store. Mine is only a 4 port jobbie but it was not cheap. Someone recommended the brand to me and it's been really solid -

https://www.amazon.com.au/Anker-4-Port- ... B00O0KISQE

I also have an Elektron Overhub but I only need that for gigs, when my bandmate needs to plug his stuff in, as well as mine.

[latenightmusic]

It truly depends on your needs, but i will say generally speaking, if you don't have a studio (home or professional) i'd suggest a laptop with 1 external SSD - a samsung t7 or one 4tb evo's for samples / kontakt libraries.

I cant count how many times just changing location (like editing vocals, working out a song arrangement, etc in a starbucks) helped my productivity / creativity. A laptop, combined with a pair of Airpods MAX headphones (for their superior noise cancelling) for outside use.. - hands-down winner.

An advantage to this is you can also do some on-site recording. If you're just beginning, with a portable interface and one condenser mic, you can sneak into your local university / college and use their piano rooms as a vocal booth.

[whyterabbyt]

An advantage to this is you can also do some on-site recording. If you're just beginning, with a portable interface and one condenser mic, you can sneak into your local university / college and use their piano rooms as a vocal booth.

Just to comment on this, if we find you onsite using our sound facilities without permission, we will call the police, and press charges.

[latenightmusic]

An advantage to this is you can also do some on-site recording. If you're just beginning, with a portable interface and one condenser mic, you can sneak into your local university / college and use their piano rooms as a vocal booth.

Just to comment on this, if we find you onsite using our sound facilities without permission, we will call the police, and press charges.

Understandable.. but some background on my comment- Im a university graduate alumni so forgot to mention, in my case, I'm visiting my college department. And yes they know me.

[whyterabbyt]

Understandable.. but some background on my comment- Im a university graduate alumni so forgot to mention, in my case, I'm visiting my college department. And yes they know me.

Well the background to my comment is that Im staff, responsible for running those facilities.
I know hundreds of 'graduated alumni,' though we call them by a less fancy name. Its 'ex- students'.
Access to our facilities is for current students and staff only.

[maybeblue]

If you can afford it, the new m1 macbooks are insanely well-equipped for any plugins I throw at it! I used to work off of a dell gaming laptop, and this one just blows it out of the water. Plus it's silent so recording audio in the same room is way better!