Laptop Choice Recommendation

[John Ludlow]

I'm going to be doing some professional studio work in someone else's studio this year. This is always an issue for me because I have saved setups within SAC, with various VSTs that work well with my guitar, and that I rely upon. I've spent lots of time tweaking them and, when I'm in my studio, I can sound exactly the way I want. BUT - when I go somewhere else I either have to rely upon whatever happens to be available there, or else I need to haul my entire studio setup with me. That's easier than it used to be for me, but it's still a lot - and it isn't always welcome at my destination as it's bulky. And - I don't really need all of it. In those situations I'm not going to be mixing anyone but myself and I won't be tracking at all. I don't need 20-some physical channels in and out, just one or two. But I want for them to be ultra-reliable. So, I'm thinking that I'd like to have a guitarist travel kit for myself that would be limited to a laptop, a high quality 2 channel (or so) converter, and some cables. Plus, my guitar, of course.

The choice of a new laptop is the thing I need recommendations for. The computer is always the tricky bit with SAC and SAW. And, I'm thinking I'll go with an RME converter, so it should be compatible with that. My first thought was to try to maximize the single core score as reported for cpu's at this site: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/. That invariably leads you to gaming machines. But, of course, gaming machines are also maximized for video, which I don't need. I don't mind paying for capability that I don't need if I also get what I want, but maybe there are extra processes that might butt into my audio stream on a gaming machine that wouldn't be an issue on a lesser computer? As usual, I don't want to make an expensive mistake and I only want to do this once which means I"ve been sort of frozen in place.

So - I thought I'd see whether the group could give me ideas. I use several SAC channels that are all pointing at the same physical input. I can quickly turn them off or on and use SAC to mix them to arrive at different sounds and feels. Sometimes I'll be running one output channel with the mix, and sometimes I'll be running that plus a dry output channel to give the engineer more options.

Can anyone recommend a laptop suitable for this purpose? Thanks.

[cgrafx]

Unless your doing high-track counts or need heavy plug-in support any modern laptop should work just fine.

A high-performance gaming laptop is not really the right direction. Lots of wasted heat driving graphics you'll never use.

You want something that runs a decent clock speed and generates as little heat as possible. The more heat, the more likely you will see thermal throttling.

So, in this respect a core i3 or i5 is better than a core i7 which will have a higher power requirements and generate more heat. Fewer cores are your friend.

[John Ludlow]

Unless your doing high-track counts or need heavy plug-in support any modern laptop should work just fine.

A high-performance gaming laptop is not really the right direction. Lots of wasted heat driving graphics you'll never use.

You want something that runs a decent clock speed and generates as little heat as possible. The more heat, the more likely you will see thermal throttling.

So, in this respect a core i3 or i5 is better than a core i7 which will have a higher power requirements and generate more heat. Fewer cores are your friend.

Thanks Phillip. Sorry for the delay. I do indeed have some cycle-eating plug-ins. But I suppose that I can compare single-core scores against the processor I'm using in my 'desktop' to know whether it will be enough.

[RobertV]

Having a separate numeric pad helps greatly as well, and a high resolution screen to my mind is a luxury I very much prefer.

Cheers

[John Ludlow]

Having a separate numeric pad helps greatly as well, and a high resolution screen to my mind is a luxury I very much prefer.

Cheers

Yeah, I could see that although I don't think I use a numeric keypad that often with SAC so it might not be worthwhile for me to attach a separate keypad. Normally, when I ordinary-travel with a laptop, I bring a separate full-size keyboard and mouse - and maybe even a monitor for nights in the hotel - because I despise laptop IO. But, this is about brevity in an environment in which the player usually only brings his acoustic guitar and maybe an acoustic guitar FX box. I want to be able to sort of surreptitiously setup without adding a lot of requirements to have me there (like a separate table to mount all my gear on). I'm a little nervous about becoming a distraction. I'm imagining myself mostly just making use of saved SAC 'patches' rather than fooling with them much. So, making quick choices, closing the lid and putting it down in front of me or under my chair. I'm with you on the hi-rez screen though - as long as it wouldn't add excuses for the processor to delay my stream.

How do you use SAC on a laptop, Robert?

[John Ludlow]

Having a separate numeric pad helps greatly as well, and a high resolution screen to my mind is a luxury I very much prefer.

Cheers

I just listened and watched Paintings and Music by Vince Pulo (below...). That's very nice work, Robert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3QdfNmGCJs

[Cary B. Cornett]

For my road rig, I went with a laptop with a 17" display, 1600x900. It also has a separate numeric keypad (internal to the laptop, not a separate plugin), which I considered a must-have.

[RobertV]

I just listened and watched Paintings and Music by Vince Pulo (below...). That's very nice work, Robert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3QdfNmGCJs

Thanks John, Vince and I had a studio together for more than 40 years, more for our own enjoyment then anything else, a real luxury that's for sure! It's always interesting, Vince always wants to add more, more track, more reverb etc. (Mediteranian Ethnic backgound) I'm always trying to simplify and take things out, less is more approach (Northern European Background) an never ending dilemma!

Even if you do not use the numeric pad you can program the unused keys (using autohotkey) to be whatever you like.
We do not use Sac, only Sawstudio (&Reaper for Midi stuff) very seldom use the laptop for Audio work, but I've got an Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon G4 (I7) with a 2560x1440 display I purchased 2nd hand lovely machine, but no numeric pad, and I miss it!

Cheers...

[mr_es335]

Hello,

Lenovo first...Dell second. Both should be corporate-grade and with either Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 LTSC - preferred.

8GMB's-16GB's RAM - be nice if you could have two drives, one SSD and one HDD, integrated Intel video is perfectly fine...so fully Intel chipset is preferable.

Integrated number pad is essential for working the SAW and SAC - so at least a 15" screen.

Most of these can be obtained for around the $300.00+ point used.

[John Ludlow]

Hello,

Lenovo first...Dell second. Both should be corporate-grade and with either Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 LTSC - preferred.

8GMB's-16GB's RAM - be nice if you could have two drives, one SSD and one HDD, integrated Intel video is perfectly fine...so fully Intel chipset is preferable.

Integrated number pad is essential for working the SAW and SAC - so at least a 15" screen.

Most of these can be obtained for around the $300.00+ point used.

Thanks Del - what would the second drive be used for in my circumstance? What is it about Lenovo that makes it superior for SAC?