Posted 2 days ago

Laptop recommendation!

Hi everyone, I'm in the market for a business laptop that can handle my music production needs, but my budget is limited to £800 or it can be more. I'm looking for a laptop that has a fast processor, at least 8GB of RAM, and a solid-state drive with at least 256GB of storage. I'll be running music software like Ableton Live, so the laptop should be able to handle multiple tracks and effects processing without slowing down.

In addition to these requirements, I'd also like the laptop to have a good screen with accurate color reproduction for working on graphic design projects. Portability is also a factor, as I'll be carrying it around to different studios and venues.

Can anyone recommend any models or brands that would fit these specifications and budget? I've been considering options like the Dell XPS 13 or Lenovo ThinkPad E14, but I'm open to other suggestions as well. I'm also curious about any deals or discounts that may be available for buying a laptop in this price range.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice!
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  2. ChAdOx1's avatar
    I have a family member who is a quite famous DJ. Their opinion regarding machines for music production is to get a mac but the lack of upgradability will stop majority from being able to afford one due to high initial cost.

    For windows it would be better to avoid consumer grade laptops and try to find a business grade machine. HP Zbook/elitebook, Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell latitude are the main three. Personally I would advise ThinkPad L or T series. They are affordable and upgradable to a degree. ThinkPad E series are the budget grade and while they are better than consumer grade in terms of build quality, you will quickly notice the difference between E and L/T series when you handle them both at the same time.

    For your budget I would personally try to get a ThinkPad T14 Gen 1 or 2 AMD on ebay. Make sure the model has a screen with 72% NTSC colour gamut which is equivalent to 100% sRGB.

    T14 has 14 inch display and is moderately upgradable. It has 8GB RAM soldered with one SODIMM slot.

    NVMe SSD is also easily upgradable.

    I would try to find a model with screen mentioned above but RAM and SSD capacity doesn’t really matter because you would want to upgrade it yourself. You can put the money you saved into buying a 16GB or 32GB RAM stick and a PCIe 3.0 NVMe with 1TB or 2TB capacity.

    You will be able to buy the laptop for £400-500 and then rest of your budget for the upgrade. 32GB RAM will be about £60 and 2TB NVMe for less than £100.

    One other point to consider, music production is doable with one screen. graphic design you really shouldn’t be working with one screen. You should also consider a larger monitor to plug your laptop into or at least a portable monitor of same size.

    psref.lenovo.com/sys…PDF
    psref.lenovo.com/sys…pdf
  3. Beamish's avatar
    I'm not sure about the music production but, if you're going for a Windows laptop, I wouldn't go for less than 16GB. Windows needs 8GB to run these days and any sort of extra work will slow down if you don't have enough RAM. Unless you're going to use an external hard drive then I'd go for at least 512. To be honest, any decent laptop these days should have those sort of specs
    Dealhunter_Pro's avatar
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    You are right but my budget is low and these types of specs is very high price nowadays.
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