What Drives Your DAW - Laptop Or Desktop?

[THE INTRANCER]

You see? I kind of just made some joke about most people's phones have more CPU power than your CPU - that was only meant to illustrate just how outdated your machine is, but if you need that kind of reality check...

I wouldn't even have brought it up in the first place had you not said you initially didn't say what you use because otherwise people might accuse you of bragging about your system.

You could just have said something along the lines of "some older i7 based desktop that still does the trick nicely for me" and be done with it - but instead you needed to go all boastful on us again in true Intrancer fashion, as if your system was the most state-of-the-art instead of the ancient steam-powered turd it actually is.

I would take those comparison measurements on geekbench as a pinch of salt. You start comparing true sustained performance between desktop CPU's and Mobile CPU's and you would have a different result and one that actually matters.

In any case with water cooling, you can run a I7 920 CPU at 4.5 Ghz

[whyterabbyt]

I would take those comparison measurements on geekbench as a pinch of salt. You start comparing true sustained performance between desktop CPU's and Mobile CPU's and you would have a different result and one that actually matters.

Its not the case that all desktop CPUs are faster than all Mobile CPUs. It may be the case for specific comparisons of each, but its not a case that holds true no matter what, and gets less likely the older the desktop CPU is in comparison to the mobile CPU. That's a simple fact.

[whyterabbyt]

Whilst playing Project Cars 2, Battleield 3 or 4 at 1080P at max settings, there is virtually no perceptible negative impact in game by using the Sapphire RX 570

Your metric for your system being powerful is that it can run an 11- or 13- year-old videogame at HD with almost no perceptible impact?

Sigh.

[jens]

I would take those comparison measurements on geekbench as a pinch of salt. You start comparing true sustained performance between desktop CPU's and Mobile CPU's and you would have a different result and one that actually matters.

In any case with water cooling, you can run a I7 920 CPU at 4.5 Ghz

Yes, obviously.

However: your CPU has a TDP of 130W, while the (e.g.) A13 Bionic (again, five years old as well already) that's in the iPhone 11 has a TDP of 6W - which means your CPU produces a WHOLE LOT (and the some) more heat that needs to be cooled away in the first place.

Your CPU has been produced with a 45nm process, while the A13 Bionic has been produced with 7nm (there's no measuring standard though, so these numbers aren't really absolute) and that's where most of the difference regarding heat is coming from.

Your CPU packs 731million transistors, the Apple one 8.5billion (of course the latter also includes the GPU etc.).

So yeah, OC and possibly higher throttling on the uncooled Bionic is going to make some difference - but let that be 25 to 30, or let's say even 35% (unlikely) and your CPU will still be a lot slower - again the iPhone 11 scores more than 2.5x as many multicore-points on Geekbench as the i7 920 - you won't get that huge difference away with OC.

Even the hightest tier Bloomfield (Your CPU's generation) - the 975 Extreme - scores only about 35% more multicore points on Geekbench than yours - that's the maximum Intel managed to squeeze out of that same architecture with the best chips they managed to produce.

Take the most recent iPhone and the performance difference is even a lot more dramatic.

[jens]

Whilst playing Project Cars 2, Battleield 3 or 4 at 1080P at max settings, there is virtually no perceptible negative impact in game by using the Sapphire RX 570

Your metric for your system being powerful is that it can run an 11- or 13- year-old videogame at HD with almost no perceptible impact?

Sigh.

In all fairness that was in reply to me mentioning that he put a PCIe 3.0 card in a 2.0 slot.

[whyterabbyt]

Whilst playing Project Cars 2, Battleield 3 or 4 at 1080P at max settings, there is virtually no perceptible negative impact in game by using the Sapphire RX 570

Your metric for your system being powerful is that it can run an 11- or 13- year-old videogame at HD with almost no perceptible impact?

Sigh.

In all fairness that was in reply to me mentioning that he put a PCIe 3.0 card in a 2.0 slot.

Either way, its a bit Dunning Kruger to say that folk would consider it a 'brag' that you're running a GPU which is only slightly struggling with a 13-year-old game.

[Monsieur_FyP]

Not a chance lol, I think even a single core 64 Bit AMD Athlon 3500 CPU desktop processor would trounce any modern phone phone today. My current PC would certainly blitz it into the stratosphere

[BONES]

Why only two options? I don't use either, I use a handheld computer (see my signature block).

[BONES]

The main disadvantage of Windows laptops is that you cannot fully close them up when a monitor is attatched because of cooling issues.

Says who? I used to do it all the time, 12 years ago, and I daresay I live in a hotter climate than you.

I have seen so many windows laptops with random problems that affect a DAW running smoothly that I would prefer going the easy route.

I've seen a lot more problems from MacBooks on the road than we've ever had with our Windows laptops. At our last gig, my laptop fell off the keyboard stand, fell a metre to the stage without any problems. All the cables got yanked out but the laptop didn't care, it just kept going. Cheap Windows laptops can be rubbish but if you spend a bit more, you can get much better machine than any Apple krap.

They are also Cheaper if something breaks or if I decide to upgrade my system

False economy. I buy a new laptop every year and I reckon, on average, I lose $300-$400, whilst keeping up with the latest tech. Twice I've actually made money on them. OTOH, when you upgrade a component, what can you do with the old one? It's dead money.

[D-Fusion]

The main disadvantage of Windows laptops is that you cannot fully close them up when a monitor is attatched because of cooling issues.

Says who? I used to do it all the time, 12 years ago, and I daresay I live in a hotter climate than you.

I have seen so many windows laptops with random problems that affect a DAW running smoothly that I would prefer going the easy route.

I've seen a lot more problems from MacBooks on the road than we've ever had with our Windows laptops. At our last gig, my laptop fell off the keyboard stand, fell a metre to the stage without any problems. All the cables got yanked out but the laptop didn't care, it just kept going. Cheap Windows laptops can be rubbish but if you spend a bit more, you can get much better machine than any Apple krap.

They are also Cheaper if something breaks or if I decide to upgrade my system

False economy. I buy a new laptop every year and I reckon, on average, I lose $300-$400, whilst keeping up with the latest tech. Twice I've actually made money on them. OTOH, when you upgrade a component, what can you do with the old one? It's dead money.

Seems like you don't know what you are Talking about.
There are no problem with selling your cpu, Graphic Card or Motherboard after you put in a new one in your case.

Some of the parts you already have does also go into the new build like ram and HDD, SSD or M.2 drives and sometimes a new Cpu is the only thing you need to upgrade.

I also have a hard time believing that you get so much money back from your older Laptop that your new one is free.

[rod_zero]

I have seen so many windows laptops with random problems that affect a DAW running smoothly that I would prefer going the easy route.

I've seen a lot more problems from MacBooks on the road than we've ever had with our Windows laptops. At our last gig, my laptop fell off the keyboard stand, fell a metre to the stage without any problems. All the cables got yanked out but the laptop didn't care, it just kept going. Cheap Windows laptops can be rubbish but if you spend a bit more, you can get much better machine than any Apple krap.

I am quite anti apple, I personally don't own anything by them and I am very happy using a desktop PC. But when I had to use windows laptops it never runs as smoothly as in Mac ones, maybe I haven't had luck with the particular laptop models but the fact is that run quite worse than my PC desktop.

[pekbro]

Unix is actually a lot more secure and efficient than windows, aside from apple
moving the goal post every so often, there
are some advantages with unix over win.
Programatically, there are a lot of shortcuts
and workarounds also bugs in win, which can cause problems.

Anyone who really understands how the 2
systems work can attest to this. Tho no
doubt many dont see it that way.

[BONES]

Maybe if you compile your own kernel but if you just install any old distro, you'll get all the same bloat as Windows, probably even more. And a lot of applications run terribly on both Linux and macOS, as most software is coded for Windows, then ported to other OS.

But when I had to use windows laptops it never runs as smoothly as in Mac ones, maybe I haven't had luck with the particular laptop models but the fact is that run quite worse than my PC desktop.

I'd suggest that's because you haven't done it in a while or you have chosen poorly. My laptops over the last 10 years or so run at least as well as the 10 grand PC workstations I use in my job. In fact, in the days of using Macs, my PC laptops always felt even slicker. The big workstations render like lightning but in general use my laptops always feel at least as slick. You know, things like moving an After Effects window around or panning around a 3D model in a viewport. Applications open and close as fast and it doesn't take any longer to initialise plugins or any of that kind of stuff. It mostly feels exactly the same to me, even my new Legion Go.

Seems like you don't know what you are Talking about.

Gee, do you think, maybe, that's why I asked a f**king question? Thanks for answering.

sometimes a new Cpu is the only thing you need to upgrade.

It used to really piss me off that a new CPU almost always had a different socket, which also meant a new mobo. Even when I tried to future-proof it, they always f**ked me over.

I also have a hard time believing that you get so much money back from your older Laptop that your new one is free.

I look for "reconditioned" factory stock on eBay, which are usually just corporate customer's overstocks, i.e. brand new computers, with a full factory warranty. So I buy them for as little as half the retail price. A year later they are still a current model, which means they are still worth good money when I sell them.

It's getting much harder, because eBay seems to be in terminal decline - it often takes weeks to sell an item and you don't get nearly as many bids as you once did - but it's done me well for the last 15 years or so.

[D-Fusion]

Maybe if you compile your own kernel but if you just install any old distro, you'll get all the same bloat as Windows, probably even more. And a lot of applications run terribly on both Linux and macOS, as most software is coded for Windows, then ported to other OS.

But when I had to use windows laptops it never runs as smoothly as in Mac ones, maybe I haven't had luck with the particular laptop models but the fact is that run quite worse than my PC desktop.

I'd suggest that's because you haven't done it in a while or you have chosen poorly. My laptops over the last 10 years or so run at least as well as the 10 grand PC workstations I use in my job. In fact, in the days of using Macs, my PC laptops always felt even slicker. The big workstations render like lightning but in general use my laptops always feel at least as slick. You know, things like moving an After Effects window around or panning around a 3D model in a viewport. Applications open and close as fast and it doesn't take any longer to initialise plugins or any of that kind of stuff. It mostly feels exactly the same to me, even my new Legion Go.

Seems like you don't know what you are Talking about.

Gee, do you think, maybe, that's why I asked a f**king question? Thanks for answering.

sometimes a new Cpu is the only thing you need to upgrade.

It used to really piss me off that a new CPU almost always had a different socket, which also meant a new mobo. Even when I tried to future-proof it, they always f**ked me over.

I also have a hard time believing that you get so much money back from your older Laptop that your new one is free.

I look for "reconditioned" factory stock on eBay, which are usually just corporate customer's overstocks, i.e. brand new computers, with a full factory warranty. So I buy them for as little as half the retail price. A year later they are still a current model, which means they are still worth good money when I sell them.

It's getting much harder, because eBay seems to be in terminal decline - it often takes weeks to sell an item and you don't get nearly as many bids as you once did - but it's done me well for the last 15 years or so.

Sorry
Didn't see the Question part since it was late and i was tired so my Fault and i got hung up on the "False Economy opening Part", when i replied

So yes you can sell individual parts that are not going into your new build and when it comes to the Different socket part there is usually Intel that does that and Amd has usually very long support for their new Platform before they Move to a new Socket system and they have even released new Cpu's for their Previous Socket this year that is already over 5 years old

What has suprised me this time is how long Intel has Supported the 12th gen by giving us 13 and 14th gen cpu's for that Socket too and i guess they had to do it to compete with Amd this time.

And sometimes the cpu on my desktop or my setup ends up being so good that i can keep on using it for 5-7 years before i need to upgrade and then it usually ends up only needing a new Motherboard and Cpu and the rest can still be used with that build.

[4damind]

Desktop, i7 with Windows 10 and a Mac Mini M2. However, laptops are so powerful these days that it doesn't necessarily have to be a desktop computer. But if I had to choose one option, it would be a desktop computer because I rarely work on the road or when traveling. A Mac Mini or Mac Studio would be my first choice.