laptops

Just wondering whats more important ram or the processer?

Looking at a Sony vaio I like has an i7 processer but only 2gb of ram, then theres another with only an i3 but with 8gb ram, its for music production/dj'ing, my bro said I prob wouldn't ever need the power of n i7 what do u guys think?

ed wrote:Just wondering whats more important ram or the processer?

Looking at a Sony vaio I like has an i7 processer but only 2gb of ram, then theres another with only an i3 but with 8gb ram, its for music production/dj'ing, my bro said I prob wouldn't ever need the power of n i7 what do u guys think?

Any i (3,5,7..) series Intel will do good work. They have been doing them long enough heat isn't a big issue anymore on quads and the way they use"speed step" CPU Ghz scaling works pretty well.

8GB is going to be the max on most off the shelf laptops, unless a lot of new mobos are coming out that socket 16GB, I haven't checked lately.

You can easily max an i7, but not that your brother is wrong either. Normal usage you will have CPU headroom. Some apps/VST only single thread on one core, unfortunately it's generally the core your DAW and OS are mainly running off. At least your DAW will likely be able to dynamically pass off cpu load to available cores. That's usually the cause of the 40-60% meters when you don't have a lot going. (Looking at you Maschine )

If you have a 64 bit DAW/64 bits plugins and a lot of RAM, provided the plugins multi thread well (most 64 bit will) you can throw a lot in session before RAM or CPU runs out. But to take full advantage you need that scenario (8 core 2.4ghz/24GB RAM is what I have).

The main consideration is really this. A plugin like Omnisphere has 50GB of samples it uses in conjunction with it's synthesis engine. It's multitimbral so you can load a lot of GB of patches in it, so I have 24GB myself. But 2.4ghz is a slow processor and mine only speed step up to 2.58Ghz, so thankfully Omnisphere doesn't need a super fast CPU like 3Ghz+ one.

But if I use u-he Diva or D16's LUSH-101, very CPU intensive synths, there are patches that a 3 finger chord will 99% my whole ASIO meter. (CPU meter in PC DAWS is really that the ASIO measure available to the DAW based on how it is written to utilize your CPU's/Cores).

The top FX plugins also are going to favor a faster CPU over RAM due to the calculations necessary.

So it's a balancing act on CPU/RAM based on personal usage. I chose more RAM less CPU as I run Omni, Kontakt and use a lot of sample at 24 bit/96khz.

If you get the Vaio just max the RAM ASAP, I'm sure the slots take at least 8GB maybe more if you're lucky.

Don't forget about getting an Solid State Drive!
I will never go back to platter hard drives again!!

ed wrote:Just wondering whats more important ram or the processer?

What type of programs you plan on running out of interest?

My 2008 MBP isnt new by any means, but handles whatever is thrown at it.

ram.

go with i7 one, much stronger processor and you can expand ram yourself

Cheers for that very informative reply Metatron and everyone else who responded.

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to computers, you will probably laugh when I say I don't even know what DAW is though Iv heard term used for years.

I had no idea you could upgrade ram on laptops thought that was just desktops so that will really change my purchase decision, again my brother said Id be ok with just 2gb but that seems kinda low.

Metatron you mentioned Omnispher 50GB of samples, well the closest thing to that I'll be using is N.I Kontakt which I think is around 50 gb also, I would have thought that would be more of a memory issue or is it it requires a lot of ram/processing power to run these multi-sample programs more so then regular synth vst's.?

Only programs will be ableton n serato, do vsts count as programs? well then also N.I massive n kontakt.

Ok so reckon I'd be good with an i5.
Could start of with 2gb ram as long as that can be upgraded.
so what kinda memory am I looking at bearing in mind I will be storing all my music for dj'ing too.
Is there anything else I need to know?

So I guess I don't need nor can I afford anything high end although its always nice to own the top of the range, I just need that something that will work efficiently and look good.

Iv been trying to run ableton on a 5 year old dell inspiron with a broken fan that over heats and dies every hour with a single gb of ram.

if I shut down every other single program running including explorer I can can get it to work but just about.

Been checking out the Sony site some great deals to be had if you buy refurbished, just gotta keep looking out for the right one.

ed wrote:I don't even know what DAW is though Iv heard term used for years.

i'm no wikipedia / google but it means digital audio workstation

get the best processor you can afford then max the ram out. it is by far the most bang for your buck improvement you can make. imo processor speed has kind of plateaued in the last decade where the gains are very minimal unless you are running like serious number crunching rendering stuff (vst / audio units don't come close).

yes vsts count as programs.

the memory will vary depending on your motherboard but newegg.com or similar can help you find what you need and will almost always be cheaper than the computer manufacturer itself.
memory has nothing to do with storage - when you talk about storing your music you are talking about hard drive space, not memory.
re: hard drives, the solid state drives are more expensive but apparently faster and way more robust (you will know when your hard drive dies, and make no mistake IT WILL DIE!).

ed wrote:Iv been trying to run ableton on a 5 year old dell inspiron with a broken fan that over heats and dies every hour with a single gb of ram.

if I shut down every other single program running including explorer I can can get it to work but just about.

that my friend is the quintessential 'turd polishing'

tapedeck wrote:imo processor speed has kind of plateaued in the last decade where the gains are very minimal unless you are running like serious number crunching rendering stuff (vst / audio units don't come close).

Word.

But some cats will try to convince you that you need, the latest and greatest. Whats a few milliseconds really gonna do to your workflow, seriously. Get as much RAM as you can afford and be easy.

ed wrote:I had no idea you could upgrade ram on laptops thought that was just desktops so that will really change my purchase decision, again my brother said Id be ok with just 2gb but that seems kinda low.

Metatron you mentioned Omnispher 50GB of samples, well the closest thing to that I'll be using is N.I Kontakt which I think is around 50 gb also, I would have thought that would be more of a memory issue or is it it requires a lot of ram/processing power to run these multi-sample programs more so then regular synth vst's.?


Ok so reckon I'd be good with an i5.
Could start of with 2gb ram as long as that can be upgraded.
so what kinda memory am I looking at bearing in mind I will be storing all my music for dj'ing too.
Is there anything else I need to know?

Yeah you'd want to dump the 2GB for 8GB ASAP. You'll have to make sure it takes 8GB (most do in the last 2-3 years) and just see if it takes DDR2 or DDR3 RAM and if it's one slot for a 8GB stick or two slot for 2x4GB. RAM is relatively cheap nowadays so the investment won't be too bad.

Most i5's are in the same performance range as their i7 counterparts, but can't hurt to get an i7 if it's available.

You say storing music as far as memory, that's the HDD stuff. You can store on the laptops system drive but personally I never would. I always desktop or laptop use a 2nd HD for my sounds/songs/samples. Your apps run on the internal system drive and the sounds/songs/libraries stream or load to RAM from a second HD. This will always improve performance, track counts and even low latency operations of your audio interface as the secondary HD leave more "juice" for the system HD to do it's stuff.

If you can't afford an external (7200RPM is best) HD you can run your sounds off the system HD, but externals are not too pricey so it's worth maybe putting the Kontakt sounds/Serato/Itunes stuff on one. Of course your laptop on it's own will always need the external plugged in to work on stuff, which can be a pain at times.

To clarify I used the Kontakt/Omni example as plugins that need RAM over CPU. They both either stream sounds off the HD or load all the sound into RAM (you choose in the preferences), so that's a reason many get 8,12,16,24,32GB of RAM for the 64bit versions of plugins like those two. So a slower ~2.5Ghz cpu is no issue, but a synth emulation that is not samples and all heavy CPU calculations will appreciate a CPU a little faster.

So like myself and others mentioned RAM probably wins out overall.

That's pretty much it I think. Modern PC laptops are 99% a no go for firewire but it sounds like you don't need those ports.

For when you do get the laptop here's a page to help know some system tweaks to maximize performance and another link to a 30 day full demo of Reveo Uninstaller Pro. It is perfect for excising all that bloatware Windows laptops ship with. (Norton, Corel crippled LE versions, Adobe PDF bloatware, try Foxit Reader instead, all that useless crap...)

http://www.blackviper.com/2009/10/01/bl ... er-tweaks/

http://www.revouninstaller.com/

Enjoy whatever you get man.

Learnt an awful from that Metatron you obhviously know your stuff.

Cheers for all that makes sense to Store all sounds on an external, didn't know you could have the program files from installed programs on the external too.

I already signed up for a 30 day free uninstaller which cleaned out the Dell nicely and then used the program to uninstall itself Lol

Metatron72 wrote:At least your DAW will likely be able to dynamically pass off cpu load to available cores. That's usually the cause of the 40-60% meters when you don't have a lot going. (Looking at you Maschine )

What's interesting is that I've found Maschine in standalone mode to be much better at resource allocation than running as a plugin, even though it doesn't have multicore support yet. For example, loading the same exact Maschine project with identical plugins struggles in Live as a plugin (with nothing else loaded) but runs smooth in Maschine standalone.

See what happens when you mention the "M" word. Smh.

clint246clint wrote:See what happens when you mention the "M" word. Smh.

thought sanctions was in place