I’m a longtime MacBook Pro (mid 2013) user for music production. I work intensively with Ableton Live and do a lot of multitrack recording using the Soundcraft UI-24R. It’s worked well for many years but my MacBook is getting long in the tooth. I know it’s time to upgrade my computer and now I’m considering a PC laptop. I’m looking for some suggestions on a good workhorse laptop, hopefully something cheaper than the current crop of MacBook pros. So something that can handle recording of at least 8 tracks simultaneously and handle a VST like NI Reactor 6. Any input will be greatly appreciated.
If you plan to keep Ableton Live as you main DAW I would advise against using a Windows laptop as Live has a number of issues on that OS.
When I tried Live 9 on Windows I have been disappointed by the fact that Midi automation was choppy. This has been acknowledged by their support and has not been corrected since (I’ve got a helpdesk ticket that I ping every few months and the support from Live tells me that he can’t tell when or if it will be corrected). I’ve got no issue on MacOS. On Windows I kept FL Studio as my main DAW.
If you don’t automate external synths that might not be an issue for you.
1 Like
Wow!!! That does change the equation for me. I didn’t know Ableton was not optimized for PC. Thanks for the response. This is exactly the type of info I was looking for!
I’ve seen other issues with HiDPI screens and Windows native HiDPI settings (150%, 200%, …) but they have been at least partially solved with the introduction of Live 10.
Live is a fantastic tool, and so is Windows, but they don’t get along well IMO. There are workarounds though. i.e. for the issue I described before, you can use a DAW like FL as a Rewire client inside Live and use it to send automations (Live sends the automations to FL that sends the MIDI to the synth) but it’s far from ideal.
I rather stick to what I know. I’ll just save up a little longer and get a Mac. Again thanks for your advice.
I’m very happy using a PC desktop. Old school I know, but you can get immeasurable bang for your buck if you don’t actually use your computer live. As many USB inputs as you want!! big screen!! the luxury…
I have been using Ableton on windows machines for over ten years. Not had any issues. I have used a desktop, and toshiba laptops for gigs.
My current machine is a Lenovo something or other with a solid state drive. Works fine and is super fast.
1 Like
I would never presume to discredit any of the complaints above; but for the record, I’ve been using Live on Windows machines forever and have never had any serious problems. I did have some scaling issues with Live 9 on my HiDPI monitor, but that seems to have been fixed with Live 10. Then again, that’s software for you: i.e. everyone has different bugs to report, all valid, none repeatable (smirk).
I would, however, agree that Windows machines offer more bang for the buck in terms of customization, expandability, onboard connectivity, and fixability. But I take great exception to Apple’s business model in that respect, so admittedly, that’s a biased opinion.
Cheers!
2 Likes
I first used Live on Windows back during 1.0 release era. I’ve used it off and on since and haven’t had any major issues.
Well that’s encouraging. I’ve been looking into getting a PC laptop but it’s quite confusing considering all the options and processor types. Do you any recommendations on brands and processors?
Honestly, no, I don’t really have any hardline opinions or recommendations. I wish I did, but the truth is, I’ve always just gone for whichever laptop (usually last year’s model) has the connectivity, RAM, and processor speed (for whatever that’s worth in practice) that fits my needs and budget, and tend to worry about the rest later (sheepish grin).
To be fair, I do try to stick with known brands, and rarely go for the budget model. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever bought a top-of-the-line computer, and always try to remind myself how fleeting lofty specs are in this business.
It has been my experience that every machine can be made to perform well under stress; it just takes some tweaking is all. There’s a guy on YouTube (I think his name is Robin Vincent) with a channel called Molten Music Technology (as I recall); and he has several videos on how to get the most out of even the lowliest PC’s and cheap audio interfaces. The one that stands out in my mind is where he tests a Microsoft Surface Go (tablet) for latency, track count, plugin load, etc. using many different DAW’s. It’s a good reminder of just how over-specified modern machines can be, and how much can be done with a few gigs of RAM and some under-the-hood tinkering (wink).
Cheers!
You should give some indication of what kind of price range you’re looking at. After my pretty extensive research the Dell XPS keeps popping up. Want to get one with a quad core at least.
I almost bought one of these but read around that some people were having realtime audio issues due to DPC latency.
Yeah, it’s a minefield that. And lots of conflicting reports. Seems the only good way of checking it is to buy it from somewhere with a good returns policy. Connect all your peripherals and run tests. So maybe just buy a macbook 
Read and copied from another post…
https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/3xs-scan-performance-15-music-laptop
1 Like
My tuppence worth…
I was a Windows user of 30 odd years. Maybe 20 of those dabbling with music software. Windows is fine if you don’t mind dabbling/mucking about a bit more to make things work and on the whole things are ok.
My last Windows laptop was a Dell XPS 9550 which worked great with Live up until about Christmas 2017. Whatever happened around about that time, be it a Windows update, Live update or some other driver issue, resulted in a fairly large performance drop that I could never pin down. I spent hours mucking about with BIOS settings, driver refreshes, reinstallations, version roll backs, etc, etc but performance still sucked. When the GPU started to get a little flakey last Christmas was when I decided it was time to jump ship to Mac OS.
So now on a MBP (2018). I think I’ve had one crash since I got it in January - pretty certain that was down to OB beta actually…! I don’t have to spend time fannying about to get things to work any more and performance is spot on. I can even do music for lengthy amounts of time without being tied to a wall socket - battery life in Windows machines is woeful on the whole.
I get why both systems have their supporters but I’m just done with the whole “spend time to make it work well” thing. I just don’t have the time for it any longer! Absolutely nothing worse than feeling in a creative mood but having to spend an hour working out why some vst isn’t loaded or because there is some random issue with the mouse not being recognised (etc, etc, etc).
Edit - one other thing that pissed me off with Windows laptops was vent placement. 99% of the time vent placement kind of prevented them from actually being laptops in my opinion! (ie. the intake and/or outtake vents almost always ended up blocked or covered in some way).
I tend to agree with you. I have a windows desktop which works fine. I’m on a 2011 MBP which is obviously getting a bit long in the tooth, so I want to upgrade. The price of macbooks is kind of prohibitive for me though, as I would need at least a quad core 15 inch or something. So I look to windows laptops, but they scare the crap out of me. Had a few earlier, loads of problems with dpc latency, and all the research I have done always leads me to some kind of thread about major problems with all the models.
I think the best part about macbooks is that they are very uniform in both hardware and software, which makes it easier to troubleshoot and hunt down bugs. But there are obviously issues with OSX and macbooks also, just doesn’t seem to be that many, and it’s easier to point out the culprit.
All in all, I like windows, if money was no obstacle I would max out a macbook pro and never look back.
Edit: Another plus with mac is coreaudio vs directx or asio4all or whatever driver you need to use if you’re not utilizing an audio interface. Same goes for iphone vs android.
1 Like
I use Ableton since years on notebooks, which had at least decent RAM and a quad-core CPU and had never a problem.
There is one important difference between OS and Windows though. We can use only one active audio interface on a Windows computer at a time.
1 Like
I’m a die hard Windows user. I like custom machines, I’m a gamer, etc.
But people saying that they have “used Live on Windows during 10 years without any major issue” have just not engaged with the software in ways that it produces issues.
It really depends on your usage of Live, i.e. if you don’t send MIDI automations you’re probably going to be fine. If you do, you’re definitely not. It’s important to know that (and once again, that’s not a bug I only encountered: they admitted the issue themselves via their support. So all the people saying they have no issue don’t send MIDI automations (and that’s ok - and maybe you don’t either so that’s not an issue)).
There might be other hiccups but this has to be tested so as @anokah says, if you buy a Windows laptop, make sure to have a good return policy and to test it extensively before it expires.
That may well be but it doesn’t make my statement dishonest. I have had no issues and I know a number of professionals that can say the same. I’ve always used Live in parallel with a real DAW since I find its midi support a little silly, irrespective of computer OS. Support for sysex or lack thereof comes to mind.
To your point, it comes down to use case doesn’t it?
1 Like