Dedicated Laptop for Music Production

[Koey]

Sup y'all! So right now I'm running FL Studio on a Lenovo Y50 (specs below). I've been running into CPU load issues lately with the program which is starting to become pretty fucking annoying lol and limiting creativity-wise. I'm thinking about purchasing a new laptop dedicated to music production, but I'm not too well versed in the computer specs world and knowing what I need to look for to make sure I'm able to smoothly run all the plug-ins and effects I have in one project. I've done some research but the reason why I'm a little skeptical of the hits Google has given me is because I bought the Lenovo Y50 based on a "Best Laptops for Music Production" list a few years ago lol.

I'm looking to stick with something mobile so I'm not trying to build my own desktop which seems to be the best option available.

I was looking into purchasing an old model of the Macbook Pro, but I'm not too familiar with Bootcamp and how it'll run with FL.

Price range I'm looking for is around $800-$1200. I'm willing to go a bit above that if there's enough value in spending that much more.


Any guidance would be helpful. Appreciate it fellas!

Lenovo Y50 specs:
• 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4700HQ Processor (2.40GHz 1600MHz 6MB)
• Windows 8.1 64
• 15.6" FHD LED AntiGlare Backlight (1920x1080)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB
• 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
• Hybrid 500GB 5400 RPM+8GB SSHD
• None
• Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
• Bluetooth Version 4.0
• One year
• 4 Cell 54 Watt Hour Lithium-Ion

 

[Fade]

Actually, I'd like to know what's good too.

From my experience with Lenovo laptops, they're not good. I'm sure there's plenty of people that have good ones but not for me.

What I do know from what I've heard is Macbook Pro is excellent for music production. But I'd like to know what others think are good.

 

[Koey]

The Lenovo I have isn't bad. A lil heavy and my fan is getting a bit loud. It's just annoying creatively having to bounce to audio due to CPU usage spiking. I know the MBP is a super powerful machine, but the price tag is swaying me away from it. Plus, I'm running FL. I don't really care much for the Apple brand - I just want something comparable specs wise that isn't as expensive so I'm not limited creatively.

 

[thedreampolice]

Lenovo was formerly IBM so they are decent. Honestly that CPU you have is not bad and a used Mac will not be an improvement. AND if you use FL studio I would stay away from Apple. Although personally I prefer Mac's.

What audio interface are you using? It could be as simple as that.

 

[OGBama]

@Koey I have an MBP since 2016 and you can't go wrong with that for music production.

 

[mod_m@tr!xx]

Mac Pro all the way, Thats at least what they say in school for any entertainment. Also the fact of the virus protection and all the specs that come with it. Its a pretty good top. For gaming you would want a windows. Also on Mac you can run boot camp to half windows and mac on the same computer. Mac pros are a little heavy though.

 

[Zakwan Small]

My DAW FL Studio is currently on my custom built desktop. I'm in the market for a Laptop also to be portable. I'm checking out the Razer gaming laptops.

I like the design and appeal of Apple Mac Pros, but I'm not a fan of the OS. I prefer Win 10 and a PC setup. If I do get a MAC it's just for learning purposes.

CPU, RAM and Hard Drive. 3 most important things. Get all 3 with a brand name computer and you will do fine.

 

[mod_m@tr!xx]

My DAW FL Studio is currently on my custom built desktop. I'm in the market for a Laptop also to be portable. I'm checking out the Razer gaming laptops.

I like the design and appeal of Apple Mac Pros, but I'm not a fan of the OS. I prefer Win 10 and a PC setup. If I do get a MAC it's just for learning purposes.

CPU, RAM and Hard Drive. 3 most important things. Get all 3 with a brand name computer and you will do fine.

You can run both windows and os with mac but hard drive wise i always buy external hards because of computer crashing and never know when it could happen. A good friend of mine in the industry keeps his top blank and has everything on his external hard drive. But its not bad on mac i would recommend learning all shortcut key

 

[Zakwan Small]

You can run both windows and os with mac but hard drive wise i always buy external hards because of computer crashing and never know when it could happen. A good friend of mine in the industry keeps his top blank and has everything on his external hard drive. But its not bad on mac i would recommend learning all shortcut key

Yea I know Mac has the bootcamp. My question is how difficult is the learning curve to use the Mac Book Pro Keyboard (Command Shift Options ) with Windows in Bootcamp? Does everything works the same as a regular PC keyboard?

And definitely an external HDD is necessary.

 

[Koey]

Lenovo was formerly IBM so they are decent. Honestly that CPU you have is not bad and a used Mac will not be an improvement. AND if you use FL studio I would stay away from Apple. Although personally I prefer Mac's.

What audio interface are you using? It could be as simple as that.

I've got a focusrite scarlett. Idk if this has much of an effect on it, but I do have a bunch of things connected USB to my laptop. Not sure if that slows it down. I do notice some crackles/pops when I'm just playing stuff from YouTube. Not sure if it's the internet or my audio interface.

 

[thedreampolice]

Have you updated the drivers for that interface? Also are you using the ASIO driver in FL?

 

[mod_m@tr!xx]

Yea I know Mac has the bootcamp. My question is how difficult is the learning curve to use the Mac Book Pro Keyboard (Command Shift Options ) with Windows in Bootcamp? Does everything works the same as a regular PC keyboard?

And definitely an external HDD is necessary.

That i am not sure i only stick to pro tools and logic but that would require some research to find out but i would think the commands should be the same if not you could connect a windows keyboard

 

[Ozmosis]

@Koey
Since FL Studio is your primary DAW you should stick with PC. image line is still working on the MAC version for flstudio. Find a PC that the manufacture is trying to advertise to gamers as a gaming PC. Those specs should work fine. If possible look for 16 GB of RAM.

 

[PYVS]

I second the above reply. One of my boys is using FL Studio on a Mac through some wine interface. It gives him quite a bit of trouble; for instance he can only use native plugins...so yea. He's saving up for a PC.

 

[Koey]

Have you updated the drivers for that interface? Also are you using the ASIO driver in FL?

Well the Focusrite is a lil different and uses a software instead of actual drivers. I just updated it, but I still get some crackles/pops/lag when playing audio through the interface even when just watching stuff on YouTube so that's a lil concerning.

And yes I do use the Focusrite ASIO in FL.

 

[thedreampolice]

It DOES use drives and specifically ASIO drivers. Sounds like your latency is set too low. Try turning up the latency in the focusrite control panel.

PS I sold and supported these for years and own one myself.

 

[Koey]

It DOES use drives and specifically ASIO drivers. Sounds like your latency is set too low. Try turning up the latency in the focusrite control panel.

PS I sold and supported these for years and own one myself.

Oh word ok I've never even messed with the Focusrite control panel prob cuz I didn't understand what all the controls were lol. I thought it was a plug and play type of thing, but I'll check it out after work.

Might shoot you a PM as well if I run into any questions.

 

[thedreampolice]

Sounds good!

 

[DJ Anonymous]

If you are looking at staying with FL Studio then upgrade the laptop to a gaming laptop and build the OS from scratch. Never use an already installed OS. They have extra software running in the background that slows down the OS when creating music or just generally working on it. You want a Windows laptop with the most GB of RAM you can find and at least 1TB of hard drive space. The hard drive space is not for you to put your songs, but for the OS and FL Studio to work properly and not slow down. As the hard drive fills up the processing speed slows down. If you don't mind changing your DAW to something more MAC friendly then get a MAC. They are faster than any PC, due to the lack of extra software having to run in the back-end. MACs are almost like Pro Tools. It's somewhat of industry standard. If you get a MAC Logic Pro is not hard to learn and the price is not bad. The MAC will last you a lot longer than the Windows Laptop. Windows laptops lag over time, but MACs seem to stand the test of time, less viruses and the OS updates are free.