Mini computers

[Jeffrey Hurley]

Hi. New to the forum. I'm still learning my way around CW but I've already seen that my tired old Win10, i5, 12GB laptop isn't really going to work out for anything other than experimentation. 

I was wondering if anyone had any experience working with mini computers running CW or another DAW?

I'm retired from IT, so I know my way around computers, but different platforms have different advantages. I admit, mini computers are new to me, so I'm not yet aware of any "gotchas", but I'd rather not buy one to find out. 

I'm an Intel fanboy so I'm leaning i7, 11 or 12 gen rather than Ryzen. I could talk myself into a new i5, but I've run older generation i5s and i7s, and the i7s were done before the i5s finished booting.

I'm also thinking ideally 16-32GB RAM, but I know that there's often a sweet spot with the optimum amount of RAM. I've found that too much RAM can actually slow down certain applications. 

This next workstation would be Win11 Home and dedicated to CW. I'm thinking a 500GB-1TB SS HD for the OS. Storage would be off board. 

Any comments or ideas, especially from those with experience with these components would be appreciated! 

[Jack Stoner]

The general consensus on other forum threads are a "desktop".  It will have needed I/O ports, room for expansion and needed cooling.

No hard drive for OS and DAW, only a SSD, and an M.2 NVME is the fastest.

Whether you need all the cores of an i7 depends on what you will be using in a DAW.   I recently built a new desktop for a friend and used a 10th gen i3 and was surprised how fast it ran (and 4 cores).

My background is also IT, I'm a retired LAN/WAN Network and hardware help desk manager.

 

[Jeffrey Hurley]

On 10/24/2022 at 6:22 AM, Jack Stoner said:

The general consensus on other forum threads are a "desktop".  It will have needed I/O ports, room for expansion and needed cooling.

No hard drive for OS and DAW, only a SSD, and an M.2 NVME is the fastest.

Whether you need all the cores of an i7 depends on what you will be using in a DAW.   I recently built a new desktop for a friend and used a 10th gen i3 and was surprised how fast it ran (and 4 cores).

My background is also IT, I'm a retired LAN/WAN Network and hardware help desk manager.

 

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. I've never used a mini computer, but I've looked at several online. Physical limitations for ports and/or cooling was a big concern for me. There are some I've seen with lots of ports but the only reason I was considering one was as a cost saving. The ones I saw with ample ports cost about the same as a desktop. 

I don't need portability and space isn't an issue so I'm probably going to go the desktop route.