Looking for a new musicmachine laptop (high end)

[Slug (37,2°)]

Hi all, looking for a new musicmachine laptop. I did some research a few years ago, but it never got to the point of effectively buying a laptop (for reasons unrelated).

-large screen, 16 or 17"
-price say €2000,- or £1.667,67 (10% margin is ok)
-gpu not relevant (that is, will not produce video or play games. Your average mobo-gpu is more than enough)
-will stick to Intel (don't understand how it works, but read that AMD is - slightly - less suited for making music). True?
-a few years ago i7 or i9 would not make a difference for making music (or a i7 would even be a better choice technically speaking as I understood it). How's that today?
-Back then I read about an index (a number) that scores performance by laptops/pc's that is indicative of the power with which your machine will be able to perform its tasks. I can't find information about that index now. Anybody knows what I'm talking about?

-what is more relevant according to you: the number of cores, the clocking speed, turbo-clocking speed, cpu-generation or type of RAM and speed of RAM? Please share your ideas, highly appreciated.

Kind regards, Slug

[Raketenbauer]

This is a price range where you could consider buying a MacBook Pro.
When it comes to music production these are in a league of their own and their build quality is exceptional. Apple sells refurbished ones with official warranty from time to time, these should fit your price range.
However, this makes most sense when your software is already MacOS compatible.

[Haptix]

This is a price range where you could consider buying a MacBook Pro.
When it comes to music production these are in a league of their own and their build quality is exceptional. Apple sells refurbished ones with official warranty from time to time, these should fit your price range.
However, this makes most sense when your software is already MacOS compatible.

Just no.

[uOpt]

-will stick to Intel (don't understand how it works, but read that AMD is - slightly - less suited for making music). True?

No.

-a few years ago i7 or i9 would not make a difference for making music (or a i7 would even be a better choice technically speaking as I understood it). How's that today?

You can't just rate things by i-ness, you need to look at the details of the processors. The i9 usually doesn't just have more cores but also turbo speed.

You didn't say what exactly you do, but chances are that even an i7 is overkill for you.

-what is more relevant according to you: the number of cores, the clocking speed, turbo-clocking speed, cpu-generation or type of RAM and speed of RAM? Please share your ideas, highly appreciated.

Turbo clocks should rate highest, RAM speed doesn't matter much for music.

A PC laptop is a crapshoot, though, so get something with a liberal return policy.

[Slug (37,2°)]

Hi all,

Raketenbauer, thanks for the suggestion, but everything I own when it comes to software (musically and otherwise) is for the WIn-platform. I use Apple-stuff and find it great, but will stick to Win for all else. Thanks!

uOpt, thanks, will consider AMD too then.

You can't just rate things by i-ness, you need to look at the details of the processors. The i9 usually doesn't just have more cores but also turbo speed.

You didn't say what exactly you do, but chances are that even an i7 is overkill for you.

Thanks once more. How could I measure this beforehand?
I've been making music for 20 odd years and owned 3 high end Asus (and a Dell) machines through the years (tweaked them for music making). After a while I always ran into the restrictions imposed by the specs of them. What I'm trying to say is that, apparently, I do make a type of compositions that get to require more than a machine can deliver.

Turbo clocks should rate highest, RAM speed doesn't matter much for music.

Great, thanks a lot.

A PC laptop is a crapshoot, though, so get something with a liberal return policy.

I guess you mean that cramming so many components in such a small space not seldomly generate big problems. Would a liberal return policy according to you mean a policy that extends the normal x months to return a machine?

Regards, Slug

[uOpt]

A PC laptop is a crapshoot, though, so get something with a liberal return policy.

I guess you mean that cramming so many components in such a small space not seldomly generate big problems. Would a liberal return policy according to you mean a policy that extends the normal x months to return a machine?

No, I mostly mean hard blockers such as inability to play music on external soundcards without clicks and pops. That is common with PC laptops, especially the really powerful ones. You don't need much time to find out.

I kinda have to second that you might want to check out a Macbook Pro with the Pro or Max processor. Apart from a better chance of smoothly working Apple also has a liberal return policy.

[seafire]

-will stick to Intel (don't understand how it works, but read that AMD is - slightly - less suited for making music). True?

Not true

[thecontrolcentre]

Get a quote from SCAN Computers. They will custom build whatever you need. I had a 17" WIN laptop built by them a while back, to my spec, for around £2000 (prices have come down since then). I also bought a WIN desktop system for audio from SCAN last year for about £1600. Both builds have been solid and reliable.

[Slug (37,2°)]

... thanks controlcentre! I checked their website, but it appears they do not sell 3xs laptops anymore.
Anybody another suggestion

[Pictus]

Hi all, looking for a new musicmachine laptop.

I can't help with laptop, but look for some rugged model, preferably without any extra GPU.
Check some reviews:

http://www.notebookcheck.net
https://laptopmedia.com/review/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/laptop-reviews/



The first thing I would do with a laptop would be to wipe out the
default Windows installation and install a less bloated one with this.
https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator/
(Do not disable UAC and do not enable WDAC policy!)

The video guide


And do some tweaks viewtopic.php?p=8820694#p8820694
But the tweaks are for desktops and will make the CPU hotter and consume more battery.

[Kaine]

... thanks controlcentre! I checked their website, but it appears they do not sell 3xs laptops anymore.

We're between generations as we ran out of stock over xmas and they announced all the new chips in January.

First units due in March, but only with the 5070/5080's that were announced when the CPU range change was introduced. I would expect the second batch to be the affordable ones with the lower level graphic options, but we're probably still a few months off there.

[ROTMetro]

I'm curious with everyone saying don't worry about graphics. My laptop has a 3070 and I'm routinely at 20-30% GPU utilization in Ableton. Does everyone just not use OpenGL (and doesn't that use more CPU)?

Slug I would definitely look at AMD. It's not like the old days. I have an AMD laptop and have had zero issues.

[Kaine]

Slug I would definitely look at AMD. It's not like the old days. I have an AMD laptop and have had zero issues.

Same here, last generation AMD was ahead performance wise, whilst offering better power usage, running cooler etc... bought one myself fwiw.

Intel's next gen incoming CPU's look like they'll take back the crown performance wise given how the 275HX/285HX are benching, but the power draw is still notably higher than AMD to achieve it. Not really a big deal if your going to be plugging it in anyway, but it also means that cooling won't be their strongest selling point.

[Slug (37,2°)]

thanks guys!
Contacted scan and got the same message as you gave above Kaine. They'll be back in laptop-business soon.

[keyman_sam]

You’re on the right track with specialized daw builders if PC. If Mac, you don’t have to think about it.