Looking to upgrade my laptop - my previous one just died. Was wondering what people use for music production. I use a lot of quite heavy plugins like the arturia stuff and omnisphere, and quite often quite a few instances of them at once. Anyone know what minimum specs i should be looking at?
Thanks!
I know two other producers with years(sssssss) of experience that also share Rob's preference towards MAC's for audio production. I can't argue. I just hate Apple. Even my Surface Pro CAN'T hold a candle to my custom-built desktop...
But that said, they would all tell you to buy a Mac. 16 Gig minimum for RAM, 32 Gig would make life easier by a LARGE amount, 64 Gig would make you do a happy dance. The moral? Never skimp on RAM.
I would say build a mini-tower with 64 Gig of RAM, ASUS motherboard, and special M.2 lightning quick hard drives that are are the next gen of SSD (with something-like over 300 Mbps transfer rate), and the fastest processor you can afford. But, I'm super biased... and I'm not giving up my PC games.
Thanks for your advice - but a mini tower would probably take up too much space in a backpack right?
Then make sure you get a cooling pad. Heat is your enemy. I know people do trust laptops for performance, but they are also streamlining their processes as much as possible, prerendering and automating whenever possible to reduce CPU load. Actually, a great method for performing and limiting any possible mistakes in a live show. 100% believe in it.
BUT for raw creation, I prefer more horsepower and stability so I can throw everything at a composition as it develops, without hiccup or crash (98% of the time). I have a mobile setup with a Surface Pro with 16 gig, but it just doesn't hold a candle to my main system and overheating is a real issue when I'm stacking Kontact VST3's... and even WORSE when I start adding Izotope plugins... the important ones take serious CPU power to run I believe.
Hey, sorry I forgot to reply. I hea what you're saying - super helpful advice, I'm still choosing which setup to go for but have taken your words on board
