KVR Audio

AaBs · Post by **AaBs** » Sun Feb 23, 2025 9:38 am

Hi everyone!

I'm considering to upgrade my current laptop, which I bought in 2013. My current options are these below (pretty much the same specs and only a subtle difference in prices, they're both a bit lower than 1000 USD). Please tell me if they will serve me fine. I'm particularly interested in single-core performance and if in general these Lenovo machines are well built and have no known issues and will serve me for, say, 7-10 years.

I use FL studio most of the time, sometimes Ableton for mashups and DJ sets. I also use a lot of Serum, Massive and NI Kontakt plugins. And yes, I don't want to buy Mac, just because I'm restricted on the budget side and I can buy better specs on PC for this money.

Okay, so here are the options:

1) Lenovo Legion 5 (i7-13650HX/RTX4060): 15.6'' FullHD IPS 144Hz, Intel Core I7-13650HX (2.6 GHz - 5.6 GHz) (14-core 20 - thread), NVIDIA GeForce™ RTX4060 - 8GB/GDDR6,
RAM: 24GB DDR5
Hard disk: 1TB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD

2) Lenovo Legion Pro 5 16IRX8: 16" WQXGA IPS 165Hz, Intel® Core™ i5-13500HX (2.5GHz - 4.7GHz) (14-core; 20-thread), NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4050 - 6GB/GDDR6,
RSM 16GB DDR5
Hard disk: 1TB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD

Thanks in advance!

uOpt · Post by **uOpt** » Sun Feb 23, 2025 4:32 pm

Are you sure that you want a self-defense class laptop with big GPU?

FWIW, I buy Thinkpads with AMD CPU these days.

The only hard data you can find out about audio suitability is a good return policy.

AaBs · Post by **AaBs** » Sun Feb 23, 2025 4:41 pm

uOpt wrote: Sun Feb 23, 2025 4:32 pm Are you sure that you want a self-defense class laptop with big GPU?

I don't care much about GPU, the other specs are way beyond official FL requirements.

uOpt wrote: Sun Feb 23, 2025 4:32 pm FWIW, I buy Thinkpads with AMD CPU these days.

Give me an example?

uOpt · Post by **uOpt** » Sun Feb 23, 2025 6:47 pm

Thinkpad T14 with AMD CPU. I do not have a new model, though.

As for the GPU, are these things using optimus (switching between integrated and dedicated graphics)?

AaBs · Post by **AaBs** » Sun Feb 23, 2025 6:53 pm

uOpt wrote: Sun Feb 23, 2025 6:47 pm Thinkpad T14 with AMD CPU. I do not have a new model, though.

As for the GPU, are these things using optimus (switching between integrated and dedicated graphics)?

Thanks
I have no idea to be honest.

ROTMetro · Post by **ROTMetro** » Sun Feb 23, 2025 7:55 pm

I'd go with #1 of the tow. 16Gb is kind of low especially for large DJ sets with Kontakt libraries. If you can find a 32Gb config as 24 isn't going to be dual channel (it's probably 16 soldered and 8Gb dimm so mis-matched) so a bit slower for memory intensive stuff like music making.

Are you taking this laptop to DJ sets? I wouldn't choose a gaming laptop for that like uOpt said something more heavy duty and ironically less heavy would be a better solution. If you just are changing rooms at home the gaming choice is fine though. I have an Asus Zephyrus and it's fine, though I wish I went desktop for better performance.

Slug (37,2°) · Post by **Slug (37,2°)** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 5:31 pm

What Zephyrus you have ROTMetro? Kind regards, Slug

ROTMetro · Post by **ROTMetro** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 11:14 pm

Slug (37,2°) wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2025 5:31 pm What Zephyrus you have ROTMetro? Kind regards, Slug

I have a 2021ish G15 with 5900HS/40Gb. The audio driver supports ASIO for when I'm on the go. But I have the memory issue as it only supports 40 Gb so the last 8 aren't dual channel. Did have to swap out the horrible wifi that came with it for an Intel card.

Slug (37,2°) · Post by **Slug (37,2°)** » Wed Feb 26, 2025 10:39 pm

thanks ROTMetro!

vitocorleone123 · Post by **vitocorleone123** » Sun Mar 02, 2025 4:07 pm

The only great laptop for music at this time is a Mac (maybe that'll change with Windows for ARM). If you get a PC, you get worse battery life, lower performance (new Intel laptop chips may be competitive on performance), and a high chance of DPC latency issues. But you do save some money.

As uOpt said: get it somewhere you can send it back if you can't iron out the DPC issues if it has them.

mixtur.se · Post by **mixtur.se** » Sun Mar 02, 2025 11:06 pm

Gaming laptops are not worth the hassle with doc spikes etc. buy a media/creator type laptop.
Dell XpS works well for me

AaBs · Post by **AaBs** » Mon Mar 03, 2025 6:56 am

mixtur.se wrote: Sun Mar 02, 2025 11:06 pm Gaming laptops are not worth the hassle with doc spikes etc. buy a media/creator type laptop.
Dell XpS works well for me

Which model exactly and what DAW/plugins do you normally use?

Lazarus451 · Post by **Lazarus451** » Mon Mar 03, 2025 7:41 am

I used to buy the cheap/powerful combination, but not anymore. It's almost always cheap plastics, noisy fans, flickery built and other annoyances that put me off. So, now I check that the laptop has aluminium built (partially), low weight and proper cooling. Some cheap Acer or Lenovo are totally diffferent compared to my HP Probook and Mac Air M1. With these prices I would definitely go Mac...

I use Thinkpad at work and it's ok. Plastic but not the worst crap. Quite expensive though.

t3toooo · Post by **t3toooo** » Mon Mar 03, 2025 11:34 am

Personally I would choose a higher base clock although I don't know how the mentioned CPU's perform.
I have a Asus Zenbook 14 and I turn off overclocking and let it run at base speed. This way it's not getting too hot.

AaBs · Post by **AaBs** » Mon Mar 03, 2025 12:51 pm

t3toooo wrote: Mon Mar 03, 2025 11:34 am Personally I would choose a higher base clock although I don't know how the mentioned CPU's perform.
I have a Asus Zenbook 14 and I turn off overclocking and let it run at base speed. This way it's not getting too hot.

Now I'm considering a slightly lower in specs Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Pro 16IRX8, i5-13500HX with specs as follows:

Total Cores: 14 Cores, 20 Threads.
Performance Cores: 6 Cores, 12 Threads, 2.5 GHz Base, 4.7 GHz Turbo.
Efficient Cores: 8 Cores, 8 Threads, 1.8 GHz Base, 3.5 GHz Turbo.
CPU Mark: 3618th in Single Thread rating and 29775 in Multithread rating

Choosing a right laptop