Most important laptop specs for Cakewalk

[jkoseattle]

I find myself suddenly in the market for a new laptop. I've been using a Surface Pro 7 for five years, which has been ok, not great, but good enough. Frequent audio engine dropouts I finally had to just live with, and CW typically used > 50% of my 16 Gb of RAM, with all the synths and plugins I am using simultaneously.

I'm looking at all the dizzying array of laptops and specs, and would really like to know which specs I should be looking at, and which specs I can skimp on.

I'm using the EastWest Composer Cloud libraries via an external SSD, and storing my data on an external HD which is slow as hell but big. (Some of my audio dropouts were type (5) because of this, though most were type (1).) 

I don't do gaming, but I do some graphics and video editing. It's mostly my Cakewalk machine though, so that's the critical path I need to follow here.

I've read a lot about the new Surface Pro 11 machines, but they talk about potential compatibility issues with the ARM chips they use. Is Cakewalk vulnerable to this?

Any thoughts?

Edited August 12 by jkoseattle

[Promidi]

There are more important things than mere laptop specifications.

Even more important than memory, disk space and CPU core count is getting the laptop tuned for Audio.

Decrapifying it would be the first move as soon as you get it - you know, getting rid of the junk that manufacturers just cannot resist installing.  

Make sure as little as possible is running at start up.

Make sure as little as possible is running in the background.

Make sure all windows updates and the latest drivers for all hardware are installed.

Also make sure you get a decent audio interface - one that comes with native ASIO drivers.  Sure, you could use WASAPI, but ASIO will be better in the long run.  Remember, ASIO is a batphone to your audio interface - that is, it bypasses much of the Windows audio subsystem.

Even a 64gig ram, 4TB SSD and a 16 core intel CPU laptop would still run like a sack of potatoes if is not tuned properly.

Note: All of this goes for a desktop or tower PC as well.

[Matthew Carr]

Using a modern laptop can be a minefield - there is a tendency from manufacturers to add BIOS level code that hampers performance in order to manage the thermals.

No 1 check would be that the laptop you are interested in passes a latencyMon test.  Generally that means finding someone on a music forum who has the same laptop and has run the test successfully, or sourcing the laptop from somewhere where it can be sent back without any quibbles - so you can test it yourself when it arrives.

No idea about cakewalk running on an ARM laptop, but that would involve a lot of emulation, which given how finely tuned Cakewalk is for x86 I can't think that would be a good idea.

This guide is good for optimising a PC for music production:

https://gigperformer.com/docs/ultimate-guide-to-optimize-windows-for-stage/index.html

 

[DeeringAmps]

Talk to @Jim Roseberry

you can thank me later…

t

[mark skinner]

 Screen size and resolution is also worth conidering.  I've got CbB on  Asus with a fairly small screen. I just use it for playing around when I'm away from my DAW PC . (and for offline activation). Lots of the CbB controls can't be seen on it without messing around with the resolution controls. Then everything becomes hard to see because of small size of the visuals.      ms

[Terry Kelley]

You might want to test cooling fan speed and noise when the CPU is loaded up. In a laptop, it could be quite loud.

[msmcleod]

One thing I'd say about laptops, is that any laptop capable of running a DAW at any reasonable level is going to be noisy. 

My home laptop  (6th gen i7) is manageable for mixing duties, but there's no way I could record anything with a condenser mic anywhere near it.

My work laptop has an i9 and is probably the fastest machine I have, but it sounds like a jet engine once the fans start going... which when running any decent size project, is pretty much right away.  Even an SM58 picks it up from the other side of the room.

[sjoens]

It depends on the unit and how they're set up tho. I have 2 gaming laptops that are whisper quiet most of the time.  Never hear 'em.  Drawback for this is they can run hotter than you'd expect and may need to be shut off now and then, tho this hasn't been an issue for me either.  OTOH they're pretty easy to isolate if necessary.

[veetek]

I am very happy with  Zenbook Pro Duo UX582ZW and have used it almost every day since purchased with no issues. Dual screen and lower position of keyboard, powerful processor, very quiet and reliable. After recent Sonar optimization works even better and smoother even with complex projects.

Edited August 26 by veetek