Laptop Recommendations ($2.5k)

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So many options and configurations, and general lack of understanding in computer specs, I fear will inundate me to inactivity for quite some time without some help here. I know what I need it for and a few of the basic specs. Budget is 2,5k. What goes through your guys mind when you are buying a laptop. What do you look out for?

Use
  • Primarily for music production
  • Secondarily for dj/live performance
  • Also Heavy video/photo editing for promotional material/fun
  • Of trivial importance, gaming
Specs
  • Atleast 16GB
  • Atleast 2TB SSD (optional hdd split)
  • Great Graphics Card (recommend me one please)
  • Antiglare screen so I can edit outdoors
  • Best possible latency
My number one concern is latency. It needs to be as small as possible. I know least about good graphics cards, a good recommendation would be welcome.
High Quality Soundsets for Lush-101 | Hive | Electra 2 | Diversion | Halion | Largo | Rapid | Dune II | Thorn | and more.

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High Quality Soundsets for Lush-101 | Hive | Electra 2 | Diversion | Halion | Largo | Rapid | Dune II | Thorn | and more.

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Whenever i play such videos, i immediately turn the volume down, because i KNOW that the guy will introduce himself like " HEY WHASSUP GUYS!! THIS IS ME!!! YEAH!!!!". Edit: Whoops. Noticed you replaced the video now. That's better. :lol:

Not sure if i like device though. TBH, i wouldn't go for thhat extra screen, and compromise the keyboard so much. OK, might come in handy for DAW's and virtual instruments, but... might come less handy for anything else.

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High Quality Soundsets for Lush-101 | Hive | Electra 2 | Diversion | Halion | Largo | Rapid | Dune II | Thorn | and more.

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Just no apple .

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I have a Razer Blade Stealth.. love it. The one that Linus actually uses himself, lol. Great laptop.. as in, unlike those extremely powerful gaming laptops, it's actually good at being a laptop. It is expensive though, because of the luxurious spec and build. It's definitely not the fastest, or even interested in trying to be. This thing won't game, but it's well balanced and works well for music.

That's the general trade-off.. raw performance vs. portability, useability, battery life, thermals, etc. A crazy powerful laptop is usually pretty terrible at being a laptop. It's a so called desktop replacement. At which point you gotta ask yourself if you're not better off just getting a desktop, which will always be more powerful, cheaper, have a longer lifespan, can be upgraded, etc.. etc.

Also keep in mind that guys like Linus look at gaming performance which has almost no bearing on how it'll perform in audio tasks.. I know there's people here that can explain that much better than me, and have done so.. if you browse around this forum a bit there's a lot of good info here.

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Was also looking at the dell XPS 15 highest spec'd out model, but at this point, that zenbook has really drawn me in. It is a first version so it might not be the best time to buy it. That is my first worry. Maybe next year will be better. I like it so much, I'll probably buy it anyway though the 1 TB SSD maximum is a frekin bummer. I NEED 2TB atleast. Think this is up gradable?
High Quality Soundsets for Lush-101 | Hive | Electra 2 | Diversion | Halion | Largo | Rapid | Dune II | Thorn | and more.

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tf does "x4" mean here, 1TB PCIe® x4 SSD

Does that someone mean 1 TB X4, so 4 TB max? (wishful thinking)
High Quality Soundsets for Lush-101 | Hive | Electra 2 | Diversion | Halion | Largo | Rapid | Dune II | Thorn | and more.

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lwj wrote: Tue Jun 25, 2019 1:24 pm I have a Razer Blade Stealth.. love it.
Looks nice, how is the latency? If that dude also has it, there must be something behind it. Looking more into it, but at this point, I'm already in love :D
High Quality Soundsets for Lush-101 | Hive | Electra 2 | Diversion | Halion | Largo | Rapid | Dune II | Thorn | and more.

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What I really don't like with those Zenbooks is how the backside stands on the edge of the screen.. that's a nice cooling solution, but it makes it unstable on anything but a flat surface and it just seems like the kind of construction that would go bad after a while. With my kind of use, definitely. You have to treat these with care, and keep a piece of cloth on hand for any fingerprints.

You also want to look up some thermal results for this thing. That's a very beefy, very hot processor in a very slim case. A lot of laptops that have it throttle pretty badly or at least did when they launched.. this has the extra screen on top of the case, adding more heat and providing less surface area for heat transition. So unless ASUS did something really special with the cooling here, that may be an issue with the i9 version.

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Touch The Universe wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 5:07 am Was also looking at the dell XPS 15 highest spec'd out model, but at this point, that zenbook has really drawn me in. It is a first version so it might not be the best time to buy it. That is my first worry. Maybe next year will be better. I like it so much, I'll probably buy it anyway though the 1 TB SSD maximum is a frekin bummer. I NEED 2TB atleast. Think this is up gradable?
If you like it, i'd get it. :) I might have been a bit negative above, actually, i like the Zenbooks. It's just that i'm not sure about that extra screen space, especially when it sacrifices a part of the keyboard.

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lwj wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:31 am What I really don't like with those Zenbooks is how the backside stands on the edge of the screen.. that's a nice cooling solution, but it makes it unstable on anything but a flat surface and it just seems like the kind of construction that would go bad after a while. With my kind of use, definitely. You have to treat these with care, and keep a piece of cloth on hand for any fingerprints.

You also want to look up some thermal results for this thing. That's a very beefy, very hot processor in a very slim case. A lot of laptops that have it throttle pretty badly or at least did when they launched.. this has the extra screen on top of the case, adding more heat and providing less surface area for heat transition. So unless ASUS did something really special with the cooling here, that may be an issue with the i9 version.
Both good points, I actually do a bit of work with the laptop on my bed, so on a pillow on my chest. Wonering how that will play out with a pillow suffocating the air that is needed to cool it, hmm.

Also, luckily, there is also a 6 core i7 option which might run cooler and be better value for money, especially if there is any significant throttling occuring. Will wait for detailed reviews come out before I buy it, namely watching out for the thermal issue, throttling, latency, and general bugs.
High Quality Soundsets for Lush-101 | Hive | Electra 2 | Diversion | Halion | Largo | Rapid | Dune II | Thorn | and more.

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Touch The Universe wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 3:56 pm I actually do a bit of work with the laptop on my bed, so on a pillow on my chest. Wonering how that will play out with a pillow suffocating the air that is needed to cool it, hmm.
I'd only do that with passively cooled devices. If there's a fan, and there's slots on the back, you will block the air needed to cool, when you put it on a pillow. I wouldn't even put it on the bed.

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Check out SCAN computers. I got a great laptop from them a few years back ... 17" screen, i7, 3x 1TB SSDs, 32gb RAM for around £1800 iirc

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