Hi

have a choice of choosing one of these two laptops for a DAW and will like to know which you will choose and why....

notebook options

Acer 15.6-Inch Notebook

SPECS

Processor: AMD Quad-Core A6-3400M Processor(1.4GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
Memory: 4GB(2x 2GB)DDR3-1066 SDRAM memory, Max Capacity up to 8GB
Display: 15.6” WXGA (1366 x 768) Active Matrix TFT LCD, w/ LED
Backlight, support Acer CineCrystal Technology
Graphics Module: Integrated AMD Radeon HD6520G Graphics Controller, w/
512MB dedicated Memory
Hard Drive: 500GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive

DELL 15-Inch NoteBook

SPECS

Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache), 3 GB DDR2
SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
250 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM), 8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
15.6 WXGA Laptop Screen Display with TrueLife, Mobile Intel Graphics
Media Accelerator X4500MHD
Dell 1397 802.11B/G Wireless Mini Card, Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
4 Cell Primary Battery, 65W AC Adapter, 1Yr Ltd Warranty

thnx much

You are asking about laptops for DAW, it would be best get recommendations from the makers of the DAW you are going to buy. In general, it will really depend on how much you want to tax this device. If you are planning on tons of audio tracks - you want to look into 7200rpm drives (for heavy use). if you are not counting on really heavy use then a 5400rpm drive is fine.

In general the more ‘mobile’ a laptop the less audio ready it is… this is due to they trade-off power for battery life (they maximize everything so it runs on batteries - which is useless to you, because the computer is always about half as powerful when operating on batteries). You will not want to run most DAW software on batteries (trust me).

You want what used to be called a Desktop Replacement (that’s a laptop that is heavy-duty) - don’t skimp on your computer. Get the most powerful you can afford. Check with the product guys that are responsible for showing the software you are interested in using as your DAW. I find when you have to go out and show a DAW these guys/gals will have the proper laptop to do the job. Talk to someone that owns a laptop successfully running what you envision you want to do.

Then keep your fingers crossed because even getting the same model does not mean all the components are the same or that it comes configured the same (they change components all the time). Computers are not designed specifically to be DAWs, it is just one of the things clever programmers can make it do.

Also consider a Macinstosh computer unless your software is Windows only. Any way don’t rule it out - you pay more but you get what you pay for.

Pay no attention to software: MINIMUM SPEC - you want to go with RECOMMENDED SPEC (Minimum means “yes, you can actually get this to work… if you cross your fingers and everything is very basic”; Recommended Spec or better means, you have what they would like you to have in order to use their product like it was designed to be used.

Hope that helps.

As mentioned above, a Mac Book would be very interesting:
- no disk, but a high speed sold state ‘disk’,
- a very fast processor
- a battery that allows you to work without interfering power cord for many hours.

As far as I know all major DAW’s run on it (e.g. Cubase and Sibelius).
The DVD that comes with recent Motifs has software for both MsWindows and Apple.

;JOOP!

Bad_Mister - 13 January 2012 03:27 PM

Also consider a Macinstosh computer unless your software is Windows only. Any way don’t rule it out - you pay more but you get what you pay for.

From personal experience of running the same DAW on both Windows and Mac platforms, I had far less problems on the Mac.

If you check on the forums here, the majority of folks posting about problems getting a DAW up and running with their Motif and the associated Yamaha software are on Windows. On the Mac things to tend to work with less hassles.

Depending on how computer-savvy you are and your budget, the extra expense for a Mac might pay for itself in less aggravation.

My $0.02.

kabuchi7 - 12 January 2012 10:59 PM

DELL 15-Inch NoteBook

Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache), 3 GB DDR2
SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
250 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM), 8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic

That’s an old computer!!! Vista is a lousy OS for DAWs in general (upgrading to Win7 or downgrading to XP would work better). The Hard drive is too small and 3GB of RAM will be tight especially if you plan on streaming samples...you’ll want to upgrade both ASAP.

So on pure spec the Acer looks better.

But like Bad Mister wrote, it’s best to check with the DAW mfr and see what they tell you. Some DAWs will be able to take advantage of the Acer’s quad cores while some others might not.

From personal experience:

A Mac system just works. A Windows system might just work.

If you can, get a Mac - you’ll not regret it.

wow
wow

thanks to you guys a whole lot. this is some serious food for thought. It’s a good thing i wasn’t rushing into this.

Great stuff guys. Thanks alot, i will see how i can work towards the mac and or check out the guys for the DAWs. Was looking at sonar X1 .

bless

A little on the pricey side, but I highly recommend macs. DAW software requires a lot of power. Overall, macs just seem better suited for music production. Never really got into computer based recording until I switched to Mac.