What's a good windows laptop for $600-$1000?

[3ptguitarist]

Can anyone recommend a good windows laptop for $600-1000? I already have a desktop for music production, but I want some portability to mess around once in a while. I'm going to be using ableton live 11 suite, u-he diva, and other VST's. I'll also be using it for general tasks, virtualization, and maybe some casual gaming. My requirements are Intel i7 (preferrably 11th gen, but 10th may work), 16 gb ram, 512 gb ssd minimum, and an rtx 3060 or 3050 in case I want to do some gaming.

I've seen some laptops here and there, but I'm unsure which brands and models work well with music production with minimal latency. I'm sure most of these laptops could work, but which have better latency handling. Is latency what an audio interface would take care of regardless of laptop brand/model?

[xbow]

Can anyone recommend a good windows laptop for $600-1000? I already have a desktop for music production, but I want some portability to mess around once in a while. I'm going to be using ableton live 11 suite, u-he diva, and other VST's. I'll also be using it for general tasks, virtualization, and maybe some casual gaming. My requirements are Intel i7 (preferrably 11th gen, but 10th may work), 16 gb ram, 512 gb ssd minimum, and an rtx 3060 or 3050 in case I want to do some gaming.

I've seen some laptops here and there, but I'm unsure which brands and models work well with music production with minimal latency. I'm sure most of these laptops could work, but which have better latency handling. Is latency what an audio interface would take care of regardless of laptop brand/model?

Notebookcheck have excellent reviews including DPC latency measurements. Here is their ranking by latency: https://www.notebookcheck.net/DPC-Laten ... 376.0.html

An audio interface will not magically bypass latency issues. Audio drop outs occur when the interplay of your OS, CPU, chipset, and drivers isn't smooth so some audio packets are not delivered to your audio interface at the right time. There are many factors that play into this, including your audio interface's drivers, the CPU's power management, other drivers that cause hickups in processing.

I just got a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 with a Ryzen 7 4700U for 999 € with 1TB SSD and 16 GB of RAM. It's excellent, no dropouts even on battery in power-efficient mode.

In comparison, I could not get rid of audio dropouts on a Thinkpad T14s with a Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U no matter what I tried (with NI audio interfaces). The specs look very similar (even the same manufacturer), but in this case the CPU power management and system drivers do not run smoothly enough for real time audio.

Based on my experience with two devices from the same manufacturer, I suggest you check out Latency Ratings for the specific product lines that interest you, not just the overall manufacturer. Generally, you would think gaming laptops should be optimized for real-time stuff, but I have seen terrible DPC latency ratings for some.

I hope this helps!

[Markus Krause]

I usually buy Acer Aspire laptops. They are good for multimedia, got a good value-for-money and you still can access/replace harddiscs and RAM without a hassle.
If you're into gaming you might check out laptops from ASUS which are very good but more expensive.

[3ptguitarist]

Can anyone recommend a good windows laptop for $600-1000? I already have a desktop for music production, but I want some portability to mess around once in a while. I'm going to be using ableton live 11 suite, u-he diva, and other VST's. I'll also be using it for general tasks, virtualization, and maybe some casual gaming. My requirements are Intel i7 (preferrably 11th gen, but 10th may work), 16 gb ram, 512 gb ssd minimum, and an rtx 3060 or 3050 in case I want to do some gaming.

I've seen some laptops here and there, but I'm unsure which brands and models work well with music production with minimal latency. I'm sure most of these laptops could work, but which have better latency handling. Is latency what an audio interface would take care of regardless of laptop brand/model?

Notebookcheck have excellent reviews including DPC latency measurements. Here is their ranking by latency: https://www.notebookcheck.net/DPC-Laten ... 376.0.html

An audio interface will not magically bypass latency issues. Audio drop outs occur when the interplay of your OS, CPU, chipset, and drivers isn't smooth so some audio packets are not delivered to your audio interface at the right time. There are many factors that play into this, including your audio interface's drivers, the CPU's power management, other drivers that cause hickups in processing.

I just got a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 with a Ryzen 7 4700U for 999 € with 1TB SSD and 16 GB of RAM. It's excellent, no dropouts even on battery in power-efficient mode.

In comparison, I could not get rid of audio dropouts on a Thinkpad T14s with a Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U no matter what I tried (with NI audio interfaces). The specs look very similar (even the same manufacturer), but in this case the CPU power management and system drivers do not run smoothly enough for real time audio.

Based on my experience with two devices from the same manufacturer, I suggest you check out Latency Ratings for the specific product lines that interest you, not just the overall manufacturer. Generally, you would think gaming laptops should be optimized for real-time stuff, but I have seen terrible DPC latency ratings for some.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for the advice. The laptop I've been eyeing isn't on the dpc list. Lenovo legion i7 11800h with rtx 3060 gpu.

Do you think variants of laptops listed on that dpc latency list have the same or similar latency?

[GaryG]

I usually buy Acer Aspire laptops. They are good for multimedia, got a good value-for-money and you still can access/replace harddiscs and RAM without a hassle.

I had an Aspire 5 for a while, nice machine, never had a problem with latency and I found it ran quite even when under stress. Only time the fans really kicked in was during Windows updates...

I'm currently looking for another mid-range laptop, been recommended the MSI Modern series, all metal, easily upgradable etc. I checked the DPC and seems around the same as the Aspires (which was fine) though some reviews made a point that is was above average. I think you just have to try it for yourself if possible, these specs don't always tell the whole story.

[ghettosynth]

I dunno, I have more windows machines than macs and more linux machines than windows machines, but this is one of those applications that I would by a mac for. Quiet, light, small, and gets the job done.

On my latest pc, it's too thin for the built in NVIDIA card and so the fan spins almost constantly when I do almost anything with it. I suppose it would be ok if I had headphones on.

Of course, I wouldn't bother with a discrete GPU for a music machine, but still. PC laptops seem like such a minefield for audio.

I had an Acer Aspire, years ago though, terrible build quality. I also had an Acer desktop for a bit, same terrible build quality. I've had a consistently good experience with Lenovo and hit or miss experience with Asus. I've only ever had one recent Dell, there's a reason that I've only had one.

I agree with the previous poster though, brand alone isn't enough. The specifics matter and almost every manufacturer seems to have some quality variance across their product lines that reflect the price point that they're targeting.

[xbow]

Thanks for the advice. The laptop I've been eyeing isn't on the dpc list. Lenovo legion i7 11800h with rtx 3060 gpu.

Do you think variants of laptops listed on that dpc latency list have the same or similar latency?

Tricky, because the "Legions" on the list range from 1761.5 (which is worrying) to 502.7 (which looks great). The lower latency models that they tested all have AMD CPUs. That doesn't necessarily mean the Intel CPUs are bad, there just aren't many data points.

This one has a RTX 3070 but a AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, latency 1153.7 μs (still a bit high for my taste)
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Le ... 931.0.html

This one has a RTX 3060 but a Ryzen 9 5900HX, latency 502.7 μs (looks great)
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Le ... 861.0.html

You can click on "Show Restrictions" on the list to add columns to the table (CPU and GPU). Again, the i7-11800H is all over the place, the RTX 3060 as well (but with a tendency for lower latencies, which is promising).

So the data isn't very clear. And by the way, latency ratings may be a good indication, but no absolute guarantee that a laptop will perform good or bad with real time audio.

I think chances are best with the RTX 3060 Ryzen 9 5900HX model, but if you have other reasons to prefer the i7, there's a good chance it will be fine. Whichever you get, make sure you can test it yourself and return it if it doesn't work out. Sadly, it's a bit of a gamble.

[kingozrecords]

hp are good, you could not use them for gaming, nice for daw work. Any promises of webcam clarity will be lies. Same goes for any brand, including mac. The envy look nice.

[GaryG]

On my latest pc, it's too thin for the built in NVIDIA card and so the fan spins almost constantly when I do almost anything with it. I suppose it would be ok if I had headphones on.

I thought this while browsing recently, can't we have the option of a chunkier laptop with better performance. I appreciate the students always on the go and business people who value image above performance but we don't all need wafer thin ultrabook wannabees. I think a thicker body with todays processors should allow great ventilation, easy bays for memory and drive upgrades etc.

[seangm]

Not sure if you would consider a Ryzen laptop, but I bought this one last year and it's awesome. Slightly above the price range you mentioned for 32GB/2TB SSD (+$149) but it was worth it for me. I bought one at the end of last year and I've had no trouble with latency or any issues at all running Cubase with tons of high CPU plugins:

https://www.newegg.com/p/1TS-000D-0KFS0

[ghettosynth]

On my latest pc, it's too thin for the built in NVIDIA card and so the fan spins almost constantly when I do almost anything with it. I suppose it would be ok if I had headphones on.

I thought this while browsing recently, can't we have the option of a chunkier laptop with better performance. I appreciate the students always on the go and business people who value image above performance but we don't all need wafer thin ultrabook wannabees. I think a thicker body with todays processors should allow great ventilation, easy bays for memory and drive upgrades etc.

In fairness, I had other requirements that made a fatter alternative a challenge. I think that the better choices, if you want a discrete GPU, are the gaming laptops. I wanted a laptop that could be folded so that it can be placed in a stand and used as an additional monitor when used on my desk with a larger monitor, but that I could take with me when needed. I needed the GPU for reasons that don't apply here.

[ROTMetro]

Not at all what you asked for as it's more expensive and non-Intel, but I have a 2021 Asus Zephyrus G15 and it works great with Ableton. Make sure to update the Realtek drivers to the ASIO 6 ones. One strange thing for me is I have to use a 48000 sample rate for the built in audio but I normally use an external audio interface when not on the go. Was super easy to add an additional NVME drive and bump the memory to 40GB (unfortunately the max supported, and only the first 16GB will be used as dual channel, but that hasn't that been an issue). It's really powerful and ultra portable.
Side note, if you are using Ableton and have any laptop with a gaming GPU you need to use -_forceGDIbackend in the options file so it won't use Ableton's horrible GPU code. This will keep the fans dead silent and maximize battery life (and save energy).

[3ptguitarist]

I dunno, I have more windows machines than macs and more linux machines than windows machines, but this is one of those applications that I would by a mac for. Quiet, light, small, and gets the job done.

On my latest pc, it's too thin for the built in NVIDIA card and so the fan spins almost constantly when I do almost anything with it. I suppose it would be ok if I had headphones on.

Of course, I wouldn't bother with a discrete GPU for a music machine, but still. PC laptops seem like such a minefield for audio.

I had an Acer Aspire, years ago though, terrible build quality. I also had an Acer desktop for a bit, same terrible build quality. I've had a consistently good experience with Lenovo and hit or miss experience with Asus. I've only ever had one recent Dell, there's a reason that I've only had one.

I agree with the previous poster though, brand alone isn't enough. The specifics matter and almost every manufacturer seems to have some quality variance across their product lines that reflect the price point that they're targeting.

I probably won't play games that often on the laptop, but want the ability to do so. I still want a rtx 3060 at the minimum. I'm leaning towards a Lenovo Legion 5 laptop.

My main rig for music production is my desktop since this is where I play with music. The laptop will be a secondary and occassional device.

[3ptguitarist]

Not sure if you would consider a Ryzen laptop, but I bought this one last year and it's awesome. Slightly above the price range you mentioned for 32GB/2TB SSD (+$149) but it was worth it for me. I bought one at the end of last year and I've had no trouble with latency or any issues at all running Cubase with tons of high CPU plugins:

https://www.newegg.com/p/1TS-000D-0KFS0

I may consider ryzen, but I'm concerned about how well virtualization works with ryzen compared to intel.

[arkmabat]

You can't go wrong with Lenovo. My Legion and ThinkPad are beasts that have survived a lot.