Oh No! My PC just died.

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So my music PC still running XP just shuffled off it's mortal coil.
I will have to get a replacement, may go for a laptop so does anybody have any recommendations for a good one to go for at a reasonable price point?
Don't touch that dial.
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Comments

  • spark240spark240 Frets: 2073
    What software you using?


    Mac Mini M1
    Presonus Studio One V5
     https://www.studiowear.co.uk/ -
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     Facebook - m.me/studiowear.co.uk
    Reddit r/newmusicreview 
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  • FezFez Frets: 499
    Reaper, EZ Drummer Amplitube3 mainly.
    Also got a stealth plug and an Alesis multimix 4
    Don't touch that dial.
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26451
    edited July 2014
    I'm half-heartedly selling my Toshiba laptop, which has been running exactly that software for some time. Depends on whether you think 2.53GHz dual core, 3GB RAM and 120GB SSD will do it for you, really. The bonus is that it's a 14" screen but with 1440x900 resolution, which is much better for DAWs than the shitty 1366x768 resolution you get on most consumer laptops these days.
    <space for hire>
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    edited July 2014

    So, Fez what are you talking to us with?

    If it is going to be a dedicated music computer I would strongly advise against a laptop unless you have an overwhelming reason?

    Advantages of a desktop:

    You already have keyboard mouse and monitor!

    £ for £ you will get a much more powerful machine, e.g in a CPC flyer they list an i5 tower (win 7 with a n 8.1 disc) for £379+vat  but an i5 laptop is £399. The tower has a 3.1G processor, lappy? Just 1,8G!

    You can fit a second hard drive cheaply and easily as back up for your music.

    Lots&lots&lots of USB and other ports. Lucky to get 3 USB ports on a laptop.

    Batteries die on laps

    I also strongly advise you to go with Win 7 and must be 64 bits to take advantage of extra memory. Most towers come with 4G these days and that is enough for almost all uses but another 4 G cannot hurt!

    Dave.

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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    I'm half-heartedly selling my Toshiba laptop, which has been running exactly that software for some time. Depends on whether you think 2.53GHz dual core, 3GB RAM and 120GB SSD will do it for you, really. The bonus is that it's a 14" screen but with 1440x900 resolution, which is much better for DAWs than the shitty 1366x768 resolution you get on most consumer laptops these days.

    Sorry DS! Din't mean to queer your pitch. I had a Toshy lappy for a while, ran my KA6 splendidly even tho' it was cursed with Vista bizz!

    Still stand by my general points but if you can cut a good deal????


    Dave.

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  • xmrchixmrchi Frets: 2810
    I have to agree with ecc83, a desktop will beat any laptop like for like, plus you don't really have to worry as much about overheating, if anything dies it's easy and a hell of a lot cheaper to repair or replace.
    I have a desk top I made myself it's amazing, I can produce, edit and game on it and it takes it all in its stride.
    One requirement these days tho is an ssd, it's not a must but you will see a huge difference in speed,
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26451
    ecc83 said:

    Sorry DS! Din't mean to queer your pitch. I had a Toshy lappy for a while, ran my KA6 splendidly even tho' it was cursed with Vista bizz!

    Still stand by my general points but if you can cut a good deal????


    Dave.

    Nah, no worries - I don't have a particularly desperate need to sell it, just thought it could help. No pitch here :)

    I've found that it always helps to have an audio-capable laptop hanging around for those times when you want to get out of the house and do some recording - say, if you've found a room which is great for vocals - and lugging a desktop around isn't a practical possibility. Given the choice, I'd always go for a desktop when heavy processing is required.
    <space for hire>
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  • BellycasterBellycaster Frets: 5833
    ecc83 said:

    So, Fez what are you talking to us with?

    If it is going to be a dedicated music computer I would strongly advise against a laptop unless you have an overwhelming reason?

    Advantages of a desktop:

    You already have keyboard mouse and monitor!

    £ for £ you will get a much more powerful machine, e.g in a CPC flyer they list an i5 tower (win 7 with a n 8.1 disc) for £379+vat  but an i5 laptop is £399. The tower has a 3.1G processor, lappy? Just 1,8G!

    You can fit a second hard drive cheaply and easily as back up for your music.

    Lots&lots&lots of USB and other ports. Lucky to get 3 USB ports on a laptop.

    Batteries die on laps

    I also strongly advise you to go with Win 7 and must be 64 bits to take advantage of extra memory. Most towers come with 4G these days and that is enough for almost all uses but another 4 G cannot hurt!

    Dave.

    This is very helpful @ecc83

    Sorry for going off at a tangent @Fez

    This might be a daft question, but would you also consider a Mac Pro to be only as reliable as a standard Windows based laptop for a dedicated music computer in a recording guitar/music sense? I'm only asking as I thought Macs were more reliable and hardier than windows based laptops.

    Would you still go "Desktop" for recording?

    Thanks.
    Only a Fool Would Say That.
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    ecc83 said:

    So, Fez what are you talking to us with?

    If it is going to be a dedicated music computer I would strongly advise against a laptop unless you have an overwhelming reason?

    Advantages of a desktop:

    You already have keyboard mouse and monitor!

    £ for £ you will get a much more powerful machine, e.g in a CPC flyer they list an i5 tower (win 7 with a n 8.1 disc) for £379+vat  but an i5 laptop is £399. The tower has a 3.1G processor, lappy? Just 1,8G!

    You can fit a second hard drive cheaply and easily as back up for your music.

    Lots&lots&lots of USB and other ports. Lucky to get 3 USB ports on a laptop.

    Batteries die on laps

    I also strongly advise you to go with Win 7 and must be 64 bits to take advantage of extra memory. Most towers come with 4G these days and that is enough for almost all uses but another 4 G cannot hurt!

    Dave.

    This is very helpful @ecc83

    Sorry for going off at a tangent @Fez

    This might be a daft question, but would you also consider a Mac Pro to be only as reliable as a standard Windows based laptop for a dedicated music computer in a recording guitar/music sense? I'm only asking as I thought Macs were more reliable and hardier than windows based laptops.

    Would you still go "Desktop" for recording?

    Thanks.

    In a word, yes!

    Now I have NO experience of macs, only ever seen one a couple of times and never used one so I cannot say how much better than PCs they might be (if any these days, there are many top studio people who only use PC)

    I think you must ask yourself "What do I want a laptop for?" What is the advantage OTHER than portability? *

    As I said, with a lappy you are paying for things you already have, screen, mouse,kbd  and worse, smaller ones at that! Expansion is limited/impossible in a laptop. In DTPC you can have N drives. Most folks suggest at least two and these day the system drive, OS and DAW on an SSD with nice big 1-2TB spinner for music data and backup (just bought a USB 3.0 2TB Seagate from Maplins, 60quid!) . Can't do THAT with a laptop OR a MacBook pro!

    *In fact if I were doing even faintly serious location recording I would jus bolt a guitar amp handle to the top of this Asus new build and rock off with that. Knowing how much stuff there is to rig for even a fairly simple band recording, plugging up a screen, mouse and keyboard is a trifling extra effort.

    Don;t think macs are any more reliable than good makes of PCs? I KNOW they are more expensive to get repaired! Then, PCs are pretty easy to maintain yourself.


    Dave.

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  • FezFez Frets: 499
    Talking on my downstairs PC which isn't near any music equipment. My IT/computer wiz tested the PSU said it was OK got it back Wednesday worked for a couple of days but just died again.
    It appears that the arguments for/agin laptops haven't changed so if the old girl is beyond economical repair then a new build PC looks like the way forward. As for Macs I haven't any real experience with them and the price of admission is quite high, I guess I am just used to PC's
    Don't touch that dial.
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  • BellycasterBellycaster Frets: 5833
    Cheers @ecc83
    Only a Fool Would Say That.
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  • FezFez Frets: 499
    Well my buddy is going to re-build it in a chassis he happened to have lying about. Then I just have to negotiate with the good Mrs Fez for an upgrade to a quad core win8 beastie.
    Don't touch that dial.
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    Fez said:
    Well my buddy is going to re-build it in a chassis he happened to have lying about. Then I just have to negotiate with the good Mrs Fez for an upgrade to a quad core win8 beastie.

    Get it in Win 7 64 bits if you can. I have not tried w8 but it has not enamoured itself to the recording community. I suggest you go and waste a salesman's time at PC World and have a play with "hated eight"...MAYBE you will like it?????

    Dave.

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  • FezFez Frets: 499
    Why is it people seem to really hate every third version of windows? Or why do microscoff screw up every third version of windows?

    But seriously going over to PC World for a play is a good idea. Also there is a make 8 like 7 widget if I really can't get on with 8. Actually I don't even like 7 much, XP seemed sensible (mostly) then they moved everything about like a supermarket manager with ADHD.


    Don't touch that dial.
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  • FezFez Frets: 499
    Looks like I need Quad core decent speed CPU
    Min 4g ram
    500g HD
    and hope it allow re-use of sound card
    I will be looking at getting it sorted in a couple of weeks.
    Anything else I should think about adding to the spec?
    Don't touch that dial.
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    Fez said:
    Why is it people seem to really hate every third version of windows? Or why do microscoff screw up every third version of windows?

    But seriously going over to PC World for a play is a good idea. Also there is a make 8 like 7 widget if I really can't get on with 8. Actually I don't even like 7 much, XP seemed sensible (mostly) then they moved everything about like a supermarket manager with ADHD.


    Yup, I now have to use W7 for most things (still got an XP machine in my living room running into a Sony 32" Bravia. Nice. Also convenient to have the printer/scanner in there.

    I am mostly ok with W7 now except one thing really bugs me! If I download a manual say, it gets saved in a folder called "downloads" That is not a problem BUT! Try as I might I cannot organise the files as "last modified" which I can in XP and makes them SO much easier to find!

    If anyone knows how to fix this..DO tell! Oh! and BTW if you save a.pdf file by "save target as" it sticks it in Pictures!


    Dave.

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  • wave100wave100 Frets: 150
    ecc83 said:

    I am mostly ok with W7 now except one thing really bugs me! If I download a manual say, it gets saved in a folder called "downloads" That is not a problem BUT! Try as I might I cannot organise the files as "last modified" which I can in XP and makes them SO much easier to find!

    If anyone knows how to fix this..DO tell! Oh! and BTW if you save a.pdf file by "save target as" it sticks it in Pictures!

    I just did this by right clicking the downloads folder, get the properties, go to the customise tab, then "optimise this folder for general items". You can then organise them by date modified by clicking on "date modified" as long as you are viewing the details in the view menu. Whew!

    Can't help with the PDF problem, mine seem to go into the downloads folder!



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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    wave100 said:
    ecc83 said:

    I am mostly ok with W7 now except one thing really bugs me! If I download a manual say, it gets saved in a folder called "downloads" That is not a problem BUT! Try as I might I cannot organise the files as "last modified" which I can in XP and makes them SO much easier to find!

    If anyone knows how to fix this..DO tell! Oh! and BTW if you save a.pdf file by "save target as" it sticks it in Pictures!

    I just did this by right clicking the downloads folder, get the properties, go to the customise tab, then "optimise this folder for general items". You can then organise them by date modified by clicking on "date modified" as long as you are viewing the details in the view menu. Whew!

    Can't help with the PDF problem, mine seem to go into the downloads folder!



    Thanks Wave, will give that a do.

    Sorry for the tardy reply but this forum does not update threads I have posted on.


    Dave.

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