Alienware x14 laptop - bad for music production? (DPC latency)

[rubez]

I was keen on a portable laptop and liked this one but I found this about DPC latency on the machine

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienwar ... -p/8216214

Does this mean it is unwise for running a DAW / VSTs?

Is it fixable?

[chk071]

It's really unfortunate that the manufacturers always decide to put all that shit software on their computers which nobody really needs, but will slow down and bloat your computer.

Not too long ago I bought a 14" laptop, and noticed that it takes a lot of the 8 GB of RAM it had out of the box, and the CPU was running at 10 or 12% in idle. I decided to reinstall Windows 11, without installing all those "nice" Lenovo additional software, and it used about 1.8 GB of Ram and 1 or 2% CPU in idle after that.

[lfm]

Do you need to be online while doing music production?
- then I would pick RJ45 cabled ethernet connector on laptop
- wifi usually has high DPC latency

But laptop I am writing this on turn power off wifi card alltogether if putting it in flight mode. So both saving battery and no network activity. So listening to downloaded stuff that works well.

I also use external monitor on hdmi, that I would not be without. Both ergonomically and battery wise. So you can pick smaller screen size and more portable when on the go.

[FranklyFlawless]

It's really unfortunate that the manufacturers always decide to put all that shit software on their computers which nobody really needs, but will slow down and bloat your computer.

That is how they subsidize the costs of production. If you want significantly less bloat, Linux distributions are a great answer overall, except Ubuntu and its derivatives.

[chk071]

I can't do anything with Linux. Neither my software nor my games, nor my audio software run on it. And, I frankly strongly dislike Linux, and always found that it's much more buggy and unstable than Windows. That's my experience from 8 years of running Linux (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, Open Suse) on some of my computers.

Installing a clean Windows would be the much better (i.e. the only) way for me, if I want to run my software.

But, maybe the OP wants to run Linux on his Dell instead. Or Chrome OS. Or make a Hackintosh. Who knows? First and foremost, I'd think you buy a Windows computer to run Windows on it.

[rubez]

Yes it comes with windows 11 so I will figure out how to wipe it and do a fresh install.

[rubez]

But laptop I am writing this on turn power off wifi card alltogether if putting it in flight mode. So both saving battery and no network activity.

Great tip, thanks.

[Pictus]

The bloatware installed by DEll and other manufacturers, plus Wi-Fi stuff
and the Windows tweaks to economized battery are bad for realtime audio
and DPC latency.

Do a clean Windows installation free of DEll/Asus/lenovo stuff or at least
disable the crap stuff like you see
https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Dell ... rue#M59853

Disable Wi-Fi and do the Windows tweaks and it should be fine
viewtopic.php?p=8667750#p8667750