Quote:
Originally Posted by Amether
Aw no, don't say that. I'm was hoping someone would say I'll be fine with a little steam engine...
i7 > i5 in every case? New i5 vs older i7?
Use a few sampled instruments but never more than half a dozen at a time. My old MacBook handled that fine.
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If you intend to stick with a few sample instruments only then a top end i5 (desktop) will give you plenty of headroom, even a new i5 Laptop will probably be fine for several years.
OTOH if you wish to use CPU hungry soft synths (and not all the good ones are CPU hungry by current standards) then you should think i7 only for Laptop or top end i5 or i7 for desktop.
It all depends on how many tracks. Many users would even get away with an i3 or modern desktop Pentium if say only using 8-10 tracks with a couple of modest CPU soft synths, 2-3 instances of sample instruments and the rest as live recording/wav files.
For future proofing a top end i5 or i7 will last longer even then;
who knows what will come with future virtual instruments.
OTOH if you were into serious orchestral mock ups (pro grade with high tens or hundreds of tracks) or big soft synth tracks with the most CPU hungry synths then get the most powerful i7 your wallet can cope with.
Orchestral guys will want lots of ram too. Proper soft synths do not benefit from lots of ram, just CPU power.