1) Best computer under $500 for Cakewalk? 2) Or Acer Switch computer modifications?

[Bob David]

1) Any suggestions for a computer $500 or less that really works well with Cakewalk?

I hear 512 gb hard drive is good for DAW. 

Can you get that at $500 or less? 

 

2) I've been able to produce three songs with Cakewalk on a free, new Acer Switch - kind of a tablet/keyboard hybrid.  (I have it hooked up to a big screen w/mouse for production.) The Acer Switch has been glitchy at times though in Cakewalk, and I've had to save my work often,  plus be very careful with tasks, so I don't lose them.  I have few, if any other, things running on it that I know of besides Cakewalk DAW. 

With the latest song though, I'm running into many issues. It started well, getting six tracks uploaded from my TASCOM-008 portable recorder. But it fell apart after that -- the cursor arrow blinks with a spinning blue circle around it.............when I click on a track to move the timing line, tracks disappear.............. and now I can't open up the project in Cakewalk - it says it is not there, or that something else is running and I need to switch to it. But I cannot switch to what is running because the box is locked up. 

I checked and I have (only?) 14gb free on the Acer. I imagine that's a problem?

The Acer Switch runs on Windows 10 pro 64-bit.  58gb hard drive.  Intel 1.44 GHz processor.  Intel HD graphics. 

Network device 1 is  Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4A Wireless Network adaptor.  Network device two is RealTek USB GbE Family Controller #2

Can I upgrade this Acer Switch with 512 gb hard drive to make it work better for Cakewalk? 

Or are there other modifications that would help?

Or is it kind of useless with a computer/tablet of this sort, and I should pop for a better set-up.

I do not have alot of tech background, but I am pretty good at following directions. 

 

Thanks, You Very Smart Dudes. I really appreciate the help I have received here in the past!!  

Edited June 7, 2020 by Bob David

[RobertWS]

You could walk into a Micro Center or Best Buy and ask them for their best computer under $500.

 

[Bob David]

yeah I could.

[Will.]

An MSI or AMD computer is your best buy.

It is build primarily for the purpose to take the punch of today's video games amongst the youth with its speed, graphics, memory, heavy cpu usage etc. - which cakewalk will demand by making its platform available for plugins to be used within. A strong, speedy motherboard such as AMD or MSI should be considered. 

This is my opinion from my past experiences with DAW's. Obviously with your quickest "i7 generation CPU you can afford, with Ram cards, (Cossiar) and SSD drive."

Edited June 8, 2020 by Will_Kaydo