Old 11-27-2020, 04:25 PM   #1
glynndub
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Default Replacement DAW... DELL Laptop

Hi all, I know so little when it comes to hardware and wondering if this would be a good replacement for my aging machine?

https://deals.dell.com/en-au/productdetail/6ih3

Thanks
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Old 11-27-2020, 05:33 PM   #2
valy
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Tell us a little more about your needs. What kind of music do you make? What are the specs of your current machine, as best you can tell?
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Old 11-27-2020, 07:57 PM   #3
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Quote:
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Tell us a little more about your needs. What kind of music do you make? What are the specs of your current machine, as best you can tell?
I have a desktop for studio editing. Laptop will be for OTG field recording with a Scarlett 18i20.

My desktop PC is...
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700 CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz with 16 GB Ram.
I can run plenty of tracks, soft synths like addictive Drums. Plus Ozone 9 Advanced, Nectar and Neutron
Desktop serves my needs well apart for when editing 4 to 5 videos tracks at once and then videos lag behind. I manage this by muting what ever section of video at now time I can. So would like something similar in a laptop as new Lappy will be for recording as many track as possible in a live environment.
Mostly Gyuto Monks throat-singing when I get back to Tibetan... Joking of cause

Here in Australia Dell has a great black Friday deal going with like 40% off so want to make the most of that before it ends
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Old 11-28-2020, 03:57 AM   #4
valy
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Thanks, that helps.

I don't have personal experience with this laptop. But it has 16 GB of memory, an i7 that goes up to 4.7 GHz, and a 1-TB NVMe hard drive. It should be lightning fast with REAPER.

I don't do video so I can't comment on how it will handle video editing and the like, but you should have zero problems with REAPER, virtual instruments, recording audio, etc.

FWIW, I recorded an acoustic drum set in a mobile setup with a Scarlett 18i20 and an i5 Dell Laptop manufactured in 2010. It was like 12 simultaneous inputs of recording and I experienced zero problems throughout the multi-day process.

This laptop blows that one out of the water in terms of specs.
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Old 11-28-2020, 04:46 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by valy View Post
Thanks, that helps.

I don't have personal experience with this laptop. But it has 16 GB of memory, an i7 that goes up to 4.7 GHz, and a 1-TB NVMe hard drive. It should be lightning fast with REAPER.

I don't do video so I can't comment on how it will handle video editing and the like, but you should have zero problems with REAPER, virtual instruments, recording audio, etc.

FWIW, I recorded an acoustic drum set in a mobile setup with a Scarlett 18i20 and an i5 Dell Laptop manufactured in 2010. It was like 12 simultaneous inputs of recording and I experienced zero problems throughout the multi-day process.

This laptop blows that one out of the water in terms of specs.
Cool, thanks for your input
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Old 11-28-2020, 01:45 PM   #6
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On a similar note I have just been trying to work with video (an old amateur recording) that needs a lot of work to "de glitch" for want of a better expression in both audio and video.

My Dell is a slightly lower spec (tower unit) and working on that 40minute video in Reaper it sort of ran a bit slow whilst trying to adjust some compression on audio. (There were a few other things going on on audio effect too but not many tracks) I think CPU limits were being met!!

If doing anything complex or long I believe in using the ideal software for each aspect so used Lightworks (free version') for the video and will keep going in Reaper for the audio to get the best of both worlds
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Old 11-29-2020, 05:58 AM   #7
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Looks like a no brainer but....
I'll never buy another laptop where replacing the CPU thermal paste involves spending pretty well all day taking the whole thing apart.
Lots of laptops run hot (and crash) after 2 or 3 years because the thermal paste is low quality. SSD doesn't help this, the heat I'm talking about comes from the processor itself.
Anyway, worth researching I think.
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Old 11-29-2020, 04:52 PM   #8
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Quote:
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Looks like a no brainer but....
I'll never buy another laptop where replacing the CPU thermal paste involves spending pretty well all day taking the whole thing apart.
Lots of laptops run hot (and crash) after 2 or 3 years because the thermal paste is low quality. SSD doesn't help this, the heat I'm talking about comes from the processor itself.
Anyway, worth researching I think.
That's why it's always best to go the Desktop PC route. Like a Micro or Mini ITX at least with those you can move them with easy over the regular ATX style Mid Towers and full towers.
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Old 11-30-2020, 05:02 AM   #9
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Wow that is a good deal though. Well under 800 UK pounds!
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Old 11-30-2020, 08:27 AM   #10
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Quote:
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That's why it's always best to go the Desktop PC route. Like a Micro or Mini ITX at least with those you can move them with easy over the regular ATX style Mid Towers and full towers.
"I have a desktop for studio editing. Laptop will be for OTG field recording with a Scarlett 18i20."

I mean, you could lug around a small desktop case, monitor, keyboard, etc. But it's kind of a pain in the ass.
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Old 11-30-2020, 09:57 AM   #11
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I own a Dell laptop, myself, against my normally better judgement (I heavily prefer ASUS laptops, or even Samsung). I bought it I think 3 years ago, so it's not at all top of the line now. One important note: remove all the Dell bloat when you can. The only thing I left on there was their update utility, as I think it's good to have that for pushing out firmware/driver updates. Once the bloats gone, the latop runs a lot better. Before doing that, my Samsung with an older i3 was outperforming the Dell's i7. This laptop wasn't cheap either.

As mentioned, I typically don't buy Dell, but I can say I heavily prefer Dell to the other common big box store brands like HP, however. I am probably not buying another Dell again though. But don't let my dislike for Dell sway you. The laptop you are considering is significantly better than mine.

I see the laptop comes with an M.2/NVMe drive. I'm a huge fan of those. I don't know which one it comes with, but I'm sure you'll be fairly happy with your drive performance.

Another note, I didn't even know 11th gen Intels were out already (actually, looks like early 2021), so that's great this comes with one. However, I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the mobile CPUs, so I defer to benchmarking sites for that, and when I look this up it benches fairly low for an i7 (cpu mark of 10,968 - higher is better). Closer to a 9th gen i5. Not a deal breaker, but just saying don't expect top end i7 performance. It actually benches reasonably higher than your desktop's i7-7700 (8,642) and even the higher end version, the i7-7700K (9,726). This is still a good benchmark, just realize it's not close to on par with a newer desktop i7.

Benchmarks don't tell the whole story, of course, but I still like to use that as a quick guide when judging a CPU. So bottom line is if you like your desktop performance, chances are the laptop will be as good or better.
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Old 11-30-2020, 12:36 PM   #12
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Thanks everyone for the replies. I found it all helpful and looks like I'll place order today
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