In need of a new laptop

[bryan_kilco]

Ok, so my crappy Dell Inspiron 1525 has been on its way out for some time now, and crashes randomly. AC power supply not charging battery, dead battery, etc....and I'm just getting fed up with the hassle and worrying about if/when it's going to work properly.

I want a laptop for portability and my main use will be for recording. I'm trying to stay away from DELL as I keep hearing bad things about them, and the comp I have now is all falling apart, literally.

Can anyone recommend a good laptop in around $1,000-1,500 range that would be suitable for recording audio?

 

[AdamG94]

For that money, you could get a MacBook Pro. Just putting it out there.

I've had good experiences with Acer laptops in the past. So I'd go and check out what they've got on offer in your price range.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Looking at the HP ENVY 14 Beats ..... not sure if I want to go Mac either....I hate making these kinds of decisions....

 

[AdamG94]

I moved over to Mac last September and I love it.

Have a look at benchtests for different laptops, often what looks good on paper isn't always the fastest.

 

[Fbarre]

Have a look at the macbooks. They're stable and run without problems. Even windows runs better on mac systems than any other pc system.

 

[AdamWathan]

+1 to getting a MacBook Pro, the 2011 models are insane computers. I am doing just fine in big projects on a core 2 duo MBP and the new ones are faster than last years Mac Pros.

 

[jangoux]

Macbook pro, man. Really.

 

[JeffTD]

MacBook Pro for the hardware design alone. No PC laptop comes anywhere close to matching the design of Apple laptops, especially in the hinge department.

 

[LydonB]

2011 13" MacBook Pro with i7, sir. You will be very happy.

 

[AdamWathan]

I would get the 15" personally, resolution is crappy on the 13"...

 

[JoergieN]

Is there a difference between the 3 different screen sizes as far as the hardware is concerned? I mean like, is the 17 inch faster than the 13 inch?

 

[JeffTD]

^^bigger = more room for heat dissipation = faster processors and GPU's available as options.

At some point it gets a bit ridiculous, though. Good luck opening your 17" MBP on an airplane!

 

[TheDriller]

Another vote for the Macbook Pro,

Just so you know, the HP Envy line are reported to have hideous DPC latency, very bad for recording.

EDIT: in fact, you'll be hard pressed to find a non-custom PC laptop that doesn't suffer from this sort of problem.

 

[ahjteam]

Since I got my MacBook Pro, I haven't opened my PC once.

 

[LydonB]

If his limit is $1500, the 15" MBP isn't an option. Though, the 15" model really jacks up the performance. They are pretty damn fast.

 

[bryan_kilco]

If his limit is $1500, the 15" MBP isn't an option. Though, the 15" model really jacks up the performance. They are pretty damn fast.

Well, I don't really have a set limit.....was just trying to not blow a ton of $, but probably make a payment plan.

Thanks for the input all, the MBP seems the way to go. I was unaware that you could run Windows on an Apple machine....doh!!



EDIT:

Ok, checking these MBPs out.....seem pretty sweet. I think I might give this a shot. I'm mostly looking at the 15" as the 17" is is just a bit out of my price range.

Is the difference between the two types of 15"'ers going to make or break it for me?

 

[HandsOfDespair]

I was in the same situation as you a couple of weeks ago and I finally went with a refurbished mac book pro. I don't regret it at all, really stable and never crashes. I didn't test it for audio purposes yet though. Anyway I'll only use it for tracking, I'll still use my PC desktop for mixing.

 

[LeSedna]

I'm interested in this topic as well since I may have to travel and relocate a lot this year. I would definitely go the mac route if I'm sure I can have all my plugins in RTAS.

I would go more for the 13" cause it's easy to travel with such a little screen, but I'm a bit concerned by the i7 dual core. Is there somewhere a way to find a benchmark that would compare it to something like the i7 quad on my PC ?

 

[JeffTD]

Is the difference between the two types of 15"'ers going to make or break it for me?

Both have powerful processors - the biggest difference is in the graphics card and that they charge for the 7200rpm drive upgrade. Once you add that and the high-res antiglare screen (you want the high-res screen, trust me), it's about the same price as the stock "higher end" 15".

Do you plan on gaming or doing much image/video editing type work on the machine? If not, the cheaper should be fine.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Both have powerful processors - the biggest difference is in the graphics card and that they charge for the 7200rpm drive upgrade. Once you add that and the high-res antiglare screen (you want the high-res screen, trust me), it's about the same price as the stock "higher end" 15".

Do you plan on gaming or doing much image/video editing type work on the machine? If not, the cheaper should be fine.

Nope, mainly just for recording and occasionally watching movies.