Looking For a New Laptop...

[Leavinh 313]

I'm going to preface this right now: I am a musician. I am dumb and know nothing of computers. But I'm going to ask this here because my friends have pretty much the same amount of knowledge as me and the people at my Best Buy are useless.

 

I'm looking for a laptop that is good for music production, maybe a bit of light gaming and just general screwing around on the internet. The main programs I use are FL Studio and Studio One and as for gaming, the most hardcore it would get is maybe running a Playstation emulator. I would prefer a PC instead of a Mac (mostly because I dislike its interface, but also because I have a budget of about $800). But I'm sure that anything I buy will be better than my 2005 Dell.

 

Anyways, any suggestions? I've been looking at the HP Envy, but it's mostly been "Hmm...yes those are seemingly big numbers" and because of that one Dr. Dre commercial lol

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

 

[silverreverb 129]

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cdetland.to?poid=2000045129

 

in my opinion toshiba is a good way to go. this one here is a base version of this model and can be customized if you need something else.

[Wonderbolt_Spitfire 235]

Honestly the best Laptops for Music Production are Macs (That's honestly all they're good for), but if you are dead set against a Mac then any Laptop with an i5 or i7 processor will be your best bet and you will save a ton of money over going with a Mac. Below are links to some choices.

 

 

i7: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%20600003982&IsNodeId=1&name=Intel%20Core%20i7

 

i5: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%20600003988&IsNodeId=1&name=Intel%20Core%20i5

 

Since you are not going to be doing any 'hardcore' gaming I didn't look too much into video cards because with the software you'll be using it will be all Processor and Memory usage (Mainly)

 

If you're uncomfortable with Windows 8 then I suggest buying a copy of Windows 7 and installing it onto the laptop.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Wonderbolt_Spitfire

[DashieLives 20]

I suggest Windows HP. Its like one of the fastest laptop for me. But it's really up to you, try looking for reviews on YouTube lol.

[Allosauridae 54]

The ONLY type of laptop I have found so far to take a pounding & still work like a dream have been Acer.   I know they have some higher up ones, I have one of the smaller.

 

My first laptop was an aspire I bought in 07, it took a pounding until I retired it to backup pc.  It would boot up when any other laptops most likely wouldn't have.  It didn't have the makings to really run Vista, yet it did it well.

 

 

But that's just me

[Luna's Husbando 61]

Hey guys.

 

Since I recently got a job and am getting some disposable income, I figure I'll get myself a better laptop than the one I'm currently using once I go off to college. I'll probably end up using it for internet, office, and some light/medium gaming and I want to get a laptop that gets the job done while not costing too much. I've heard good things about Lenovo's Thinkpad line, and I've heard that ASUS is pretty good as far as laptops go. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Milk Wave 454]

I'm going to preface this right now: I am a musician. I am dumb and know nothing of computers. But I'm going to ask this here because my friends have pretty much the same amount of knowledge as me and the people at my Best Buy are useless.

 

I'm looking for a laptop that is good for music production, maybe a bit of light gaming and just general screwing around on the internet. The main programs I use are FL Studio and Studio One and as for gaming, the most hardcore it would get is maybe running a Playstation emulator. I would prefer a PC instead of a Mac (mostly because I dislike its interface, but also because I have a budget of about $800). But I'm sure that anything I buy will be better than my 2005 Dell.

 

Anyways, any suggestions? I've been looking at the HP Envy, but it's mostly been "Hmm...yes those are seemingly big numbers" and because of that one Dr. Dre commercial lol

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

HP Envy's are a beats beast for computing, especially the ones with the core i7 quads. This one I found for $700 and it may be good for what you do.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+ENVY+15.6%22+Laptop+-+8GB+Memory+-+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Natural+Silver/7703056.p?id=1218858583403&skuId=7703056&st=1225dx&cp=1&lp=1$.fn.SIS.logMedia('HP ENVY m6-1225dx Laptop');#tab=overview

 

(( The link works for me even though its cut off a bit ))

 

This is the HP ENVY M6. A standard size laptop that will probably suit your needs.

 

Its a hyperthreaded Intel i5 dual core processor at 2.6 ghz, which means this thing can load stuff fast. It also can boost power to increase speed when it needs it but beware, it does get very hot.

For Gaming it is actually a good pick since the processors and the graphics card are fairly powerful, since they're ment to play low-mid power games like you said above.

 

8GB of the DDR3 RAM is good for multitasking since it allows you to keep tabs open for later usage. To be honest 6GB is good enough but for what you may be doing its actually good.

 

The Hard Drive allows you to save everything which is amazing for the more you have. 750GB allows you to store many many things before it fills up space, but it spins at 5400 RPM so it takes a while to load up.

 

Beats Audio in the system is good in my opinion, since it lets you alter the settings of what you want emphasized or if you want a flat sound. Yes, it does have a built in equalizer so tuning wont really be a problem. The only major thing about this is on my HP, it will have volume fluxuations, going from 90% to 50 then back to 100. I don't know why this happens, but it tends to react to a bassline sometimes. Headphones reduce any volume flux from what I notice.

 

Battery life varies on what you're doing. If I can remember, it has a 6 cell lithium Ion battery in it which can either range from 1.5 hours to 7.5.

 

A few other minor features include 3 USB 3.0 ports, and 1 USB 2.0, a fingerprint scanner, HDMI port, webcam and microphone, and an LED backlit screen at 1366x768 which means its better looking then LCD.

 

This is what I got for now, but take your time to look at this before deciding~

 

_______________________________________________________________________

 

@@Luna's Husbando

 

It seems like 2 people are in distress. But for starters, reading your post got me thinking.

 

The Lenovo line is good for school, business, and everyday computing but not so much for gaming. Though my friend got a gaming laptop for his school n stuff, it still costed him about $750-800.

 

Asus is an above average for computers. Its usually easy to find a laptop that has good everything and doesn't excel in any others at the same time doesn't fall back. I would go with one of those since for you they are good in general.

 

I found this while looking through Asus's website.

http://www.asus.com/us/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/X75A/#overview

 

This is the Asus X75A. A computing notebook for travel purposes and everyday computing. Although this is a very heavy computer to take around since it's 6.6 pounds, it shouldn't affect you too much.

NOTE: Since this laptop can be customized with many different things, I would try to find it with the Intel i5 Processor and not the i3.

 

It has the Hyperthreaded Intel i5 Dual core processor, just like the HP ENVY above. At 2.5ghz, this is sure to run very fast and load programs quickly.

It excels in loading things by Microsoft (like word and office), and is technically made for that general purpose. In gaming, the Integrated Intel HD 4000 performs well for low-mid power games so if you want to play something then it will most likely work for you.

If I can think, I believe in comparison to my laptop it can also play Fallout 3/New Vegas on mid/high with optimal FPS.

 

The DDR3 RAM is good since its the best and fastest type RAM as of now. It has 4gb which is the standard for these days, but if you don't run a lot of programs then you'll probably be fine. The Lenovo's that my dad uses at his work have 4gb of RAM, and they hold lots of heavy files onto it before ever crashing.

But, I do say I have 6gb of RAM in my computer, and it uses 2.5-3 gb while running Skype, Steam, Razer Comms, uTorrent, Beats audio, Minecraft, Clownfish for Skype, and some internet browsers.

 

The Hard Drive is a main concern to me, since if you save a lot of files then its going to take up a lot of space. If you don't save many things, go with the 500gb. If you do save many things, then look for one with a 750gb hard drive for more storage.

I have 750gb in my computer, but I only use about 150-200 of it since I don't save a lot of files on there.

 

The Battery is a 6-Cell Lithium Ion battery which ranges depending on what you use it for. Of course with the more things you do it drains the battery faster but I don't know too well on how long they last. Like I said above, its usually 1.5-7.5 hours.

 

That's all the major stuff for there, now for some Minor Specs. This comes with a Webcam and Microphone, 1 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0 ports, A VGA and HDMI port for doing what you want (like hooking up to an external monitor), and a 17.3 inch LED backlit display at 1600x900.

 

So that's probably both covered as of now. I would be very happy for you to take your time and look at this since it takes me a while to find the right stuff for people.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Funny Snout

[A Blithering Div 247]

For the love of whatever it is you love, wait a week or so. Intel's new microarc is launching the 3rd of June and you'd be better off with it. It also brings better battery life and stronger graphics to help with the "light" gaming among other things.

 

So, I'd wait a bit longer and wait for them to start shipping. Next Monday isn't that far away.