This Laptop suitable for pro audio work?

D

deadletter

Member
Hello!

I have been looking to purchase a laptop to be used exclusively for music work and would like to know if the following laptop would be suitable for this use...

17" StyleNote 17i
Intel® Core™i7 Mobile CPU i7-720QM (1.60GHz) 6MB Cache (Special Offer)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 2GB)
512MB ATi RADEON HD 4570 + HDMI & VGA
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

I've been looking around the internet (making many forum posts mentioning pcspecialist!) and pcspecialist certainly seem great value compared to companies such as Dell, and I think the specs on this laptop should serve my needs but there is one thing I can't check... to see if it has low DPC Latency (very important for my needs!). You can check this by: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml but I wouldn't personally be able to check this in advance, and I am worried that as my laptop will be custom, I won't be able to return it if it does suffer from high latency.

Is there any way somebody could check this beforehand, or reassure me in some way!? :confused:

Many thanks,

Rich
 
Raydon

Raydon

Moderator
Moderator
The Spec definitely looks good, one thing tho, what audio software will you be using and what sort of music work would that be? making music or dj ing using usb decks? I will be sure to check out the latency for you and post a quick reply later on today.
 
Gorman

Gorman

Author Level
still waiting for that exact model to come up so we can run it but heres a very similar model

4793101506_c181923028_b.jpg
 
D

deadletter

Member
Thanks for the reply!
I am planning on using a M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R on Reaper to record music with my band - mainly audio, maybe a little MIDI, with a few plugins but nothing too extravagant!
I realise there can be latency issues with the interface/drivers etc but I gather this setup can work ok... I'm just trying to cover all bases.

I look forward to hearing your test results!

Much appreciated,

Rich
 
D

deadletter

Member
Oops, I think you replied whilst I was writing my reply! Those results look very promising! :) If you can check the exact model that will reassure me 100% and I should put the order in today!!

Thanks again!
 
Gorman

Gorman

Author Level
The chassis was 17" StyleNote 17i. The Cpu was an i5 i believe. Will post another if orders allow.
 
D

deadletter

Member
Cheers! If the results are similar on an i7 I think that should be fine, and hopefully I could get the results even lower by disabling any unneeded devices (wireless etc)!
 
Raydon

Raydon

Moderator
Moderator
Also to be fair this is a lot to do with the sound card which will be used. whilst recording your band and for audio playback you will be using the external m-audio sound card rather than the built in card, this is usually the most common issue for latency and the CPU speed but the CPU which has been listed is definitely enough and the external sound card will be more than enough as long as you have all the buffer settings correctly setup.
 
Raydon

Raydon

Moderator
Moderator
1 more thing, use the asio 4 all drivers. This is what i use at home and you can adjust buffer setting as needed. (no latency at all)
 
D

deadletter

Member
Cheers Raydon,

Yeah, I realise the sound card is a major factor, but I'm just trying to cover all my bases by checking the Laptop also.... some new laptops get terrible DPC results out of the box but this looks like it should be fine!
I will remember to try the asio drivers also!

Thanks again,

Rich
 
D

deadletter

Member
I gather my laptop is currently in the testing phase... If it hasn't been sent off to me yet, is there any chance you could run the DPC Latency test for me?

Cheers
 
Gorman

Gorman

Author Level
I tend to say the prayer when there a big pile of them waiting to be shipped at the end of the day.
 
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