Best DAW for 14" laptop?

[apoclypse]

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1080P can be really tight if your DAW doesn't support UI scaling internally imo.

Then your opinion isn't worth much.

1440P gives you more room to work with, 4K give you more flexibility to scale to whatever you prefer (with some caveats on Windows).

It just doesn't work like that, you can't scale somethings and not others. Either everything is scaled, except maybe some plugins that aren't designed for scaling, or nothing is scaled. So if you are scaling everything, why not just get a lower res screen in the first place?

I would never buy a 1080P screen if I had a choice for DAW work. I would rather have the space.

And I've worked on nothing other than 1080p or 1200p laptop screens for the past 17 years and never run into any problems at all.

Anyway, to answer the OP's question - it won't matter in the slightest which DAW you choose and you should not make it a consideration. Just get the DAW you want to use and it will be fine. I promise.

Your opinion has no value (or anything you do really) to me so not sure why you think I care if you value mine.

[sQeetz]

BONES is the guy who does not understand pixel density and scaling at a fundamental level. (and he works in graphics FFS ) So his advice on on that matter would equal to none at all. It's anecdotal at best

[apoclypse]

Reading is fundamental.

100% Scale on my 14" FHD Ryzen Laptop is about the same as "More Space" on my 14" MacBook Pro (the smallest stock scaling setting most people are going to be using).

The difference between the two displays - ignoring the display tech itself (which can be a deciding factor - is the pixel density; how sharp the display looks at normal viewing distances due to the panel's native resolution.

On a 14" display, there is practically no difference in visible sharpness between the FHD Panel on my PC Laptop and the Retina Panel on my MBP. These displays are too small. I'd have to put my face on the screen to see the pixels in the FHD display. I cannot see pixels on either one, and the MBP would not be usable if it were scaled any smaller than "More Space," while also wasting too much screen real estate if scaled up beyond that (looks like a 768p display).

I have a 15.6" Laptop here and I basically can't see the Pixels on it at a normal viewing distance, either. I think you are overestimating how "tight" things are on a 14" FHD display at 100% scaling. That, or your vision is ~20/20. The latter is more of a personal consideration, and not generic.

On 14-15.6" Laptops, I always opt for High Framerate FHD displays (that don't use PWM, as it gives me migraines within 10 minutes of looking at them) because I simply set it to 100% scale and move on with my life.

Of course, whether or not that works for anyone else depends on how good their vision is, which is independent of these facts and will sway their decision appropriately. This is why I inferred that the flexibility in scaling is valid. Because people with less than optimal vision may want to scale up without the display looking pixelated.

I wouldn't even bother getting a QHD panel on a laptop unless it was some 16-17" Juggernaught, and even then I'd still end up scaling it up to look equivalent to a FHD panel because QHD resolution on a 15-16" Laptop is too small to be usable. I'd probably still opt for a FHD panel at that size, since any machine like that is likely to spend 75% of its life docked on a desktop, anyways.

Also have to factor in how the UI assets in the DAW are created. If they're low res bitmap assets, then that comes with its own issues when using any HiDPI displays.

Maybe we talking across each other. I’m in no way shape or form talking about dpi. I’m specifically talking about UI elements when the daw is displayed at native resolution. At 1080P the UI elements take up more space on your screen so you fit less mixer channels, less rows of tracks in the arranger, plugins take up more space on the screen, you have less room to have multiple panes open, etc. Especially if the DAW has no scale factor option (like Ableton and Bitwig does). Logic for example has a lot of chrome taking space so if you open the inspector you’ve taken up a significant portion of your screen at 1080p. At 1440P the chrome is smaller and you can fit more elements on the screen.

I prefer to see more elements on the screen. 1440P is the sweet spot for me. I recommended 4K only because it gives you the option to change resolution from 1080P all the way to 2160P and everything in between, so you can change res depending on your preference. In my scenario dpi isn’t important it’s the size of the UI elements and how much room they take on screen that’s important to me.

[halcyon68]

I'm using a 12.5 inch laptop with a FHD screen. Didn't know which DAW I'd like to use, so I tried Pro Tools, REAPER, FL Studio, Live and Mixcraft - with scaling *all* of them are perfectly usable, and the performance on the old dual-core is adequate for smaller projects, too. And no, I don't have eagle eyes, quite the opposite.

[BONES]

On a 14" screen? You must have eagle vision. I already have big difficulties with 100% scaling on 15.6" displays.

And what's the f**king resolution of your screen? If it's an HD screen and you scale it to 150%, it will be barely above SVGA resolution. People were using 11.9" and 13" laptops long before screen scaling was even possible and it all worked fine. My new 14" laptop has a resolution of 2880 x 1800 and I definitely have to scale that to be able to use it. At 150%, it is the exact equivalent of HD and everything is completely manageable. Every other laptop I've ever owned has had an HD screen running at 100% and it's always been fine.

Your opinion has no value (or anything you do really) to me so not sure why you think I care if you value mine

My only concern is that you are providing really poor advice to someone else, advice that seems to have no basis in experience whatsoever. OTOH, my last four computers have had 14" screens, so I am able to speak from first-hand, personal experience. OK, sure, my 14" laptops have two screens, which is kind of cheating, but my ROG Flow Z13 doesn't and I used that to produce our new album and it was perfectly fine. This guy doesn't want to do anything half as intensive as that, and you want to tell him a 14" screen running at HD resolution will be too cramped. It's patently poor advice.

BONES is the guy who does not understand pixel density and scaling at a fundamental level. (and he works in graphics FFS ) So his advice on on that matter would equal to none at all. It's anecdotal at best

For 6 years I worked for Autodesk and part of my job was to advise people on shit like that. I've forgotten more about it than you will ever know.

But let's pretend for a minute that you are not the clueless f**king idiot you present as here. How can the OP know which advice is useful if people are telling him about screen scaling without providing any info on screen resolution? Answer that question satisfactorily and maybe you won't continue to look like a clueless f**king idiot.

[apoclypse]

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Your opinion has no value (or anything you do really) to me so not sure why you think I care if you value mine

My only concern is that you are providing really poor advice to someone else, advice that seems to have no basis in experience whatsoever. OTOH, my last four computers have had 14" screens, so I am able to speak from first-hand, personal experience. OK, sure, my 14" laptops have two screens, which is kind of cheating, but my ROG Flow Z13 doesn't and I used that to produce our new album and it was perfectly fine. This guy doesn't want to do anything half as intensive as that, and you want to tell him a 14" screen running at HD resolution will be too cramped. It's patently poor advice.

LOL. Sure I don’t have experience. It’s not like I own A 14” MBP and a 14” Latitude for work. Both are never connected to external displays when working from home.I’ve owned 13” and 14” laptops for close to two decades at this point.

I never told the user they had to buy what my personal preference is. I just stated that to me 1080P is too cramped.

Here is what I wrote btw:

I think it depends on the resolution of the screen really. If it's 1080P, that's a little too small (or big I guess if we are talking about the UI elements) imo

Where do you see me telling the user what to buy?

[sQeetz]

But let's pretend for a minute that you are not the clueless f**king idiot you present as here. How can the OP know which advice is useful if people are telling him about screen scaling without providing any info on screen resolution? Answer that question satisfactorily and maybe you won't continue to look like a clueless f**king idiot.

You're so funny. I like you, too

[BONES]

Just as I thought, no f**king clue.

[sQeetz]

Because even if given the right details you would have given the wrong shitty advice you always give regarding this specific topic, you graphics expert..

[Harry_HH]

Most of the comments are off the topic.

DAW isn’t just the sequencer software.
The digital audio workstation, as the name refers, is the whole package, computer, audio interface, software, midi controller, keyboard.

Much more useful for the OP to think the DAW as entity, not just try to suboptimitze one part of the system.

[juanpablo]

Ableton live, because you can hide almost every panel or expand them according to your needs a the moment... for example you can have a fullscreen view of the arrangement without actually closing panels, just hiding them, and access them very quickly. Also, it has the most minimalist desing, very useful specially on the mixer side, which is tiny!

[El°HYM]

MuLab fits the best.

[sQeetz]

I actually kinda hate the absolute minimalism of Live's interface. It's ugly. If it wasn't for the Push controller, which I really love... I would have left it a long time ago.

[Trensharo]

Minimalism is good in avoiding distraction. Sometimes, less is more. I do like Live's interface, probably better than any other DAW, but I need a full mix console.

I couldn't stand mixing in Live, so I sold it off.

But the UI, in general, is amazing.

[Shinizzle]

Bitwig works well on my FHD 15" however that is what I am used to.