High-end laptop

iParanormalx

The strange one
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Ok Techist crew its laptop time.

For a while I was selling myself on a Macbook pro, planning on waiting until the details are released on the 2018 models but I'm not all heart-set on it quite yet and I wanna talk through some of the pros and the cons for me going either way. Maybe factor in some of what you think about either side so I can consider things I maybe haven't considered yet.

My goal is to use the new laptop as a portable workstation for recording music and using it has a music source for my new PA system for playing music at events (not calling it DJing because that severely discredits the live music jockey performers of the world). I had apple in mind as a two-pronged approach to both learn OSX a bit (because I've never owned a mac computer) and to get Logic Pro X for 200$. Plus Mac in general is revered as best for multimedia with many designers and audio producers acclaiming them as better than the best.

For about the past 10 years I bust out all of my studio gear and record music a few times each year and I have been using a pirated copy of Cubase primarily to learn and grow. (Pirated because prior to Cubase's licensing changes it was about 6 grand to buy) But Cubase is now a lot more affordable now both because I make more money and the price was lowered to 600$.

So now I'm opening myself to the idea of getting a really nice laptop, maybe crazy nice laptop that could be used to game, record music, and run Cubase 9.5 pro with a digital mixer and run some software to use for music playback on my PA system.

Because I already know Cubase, and Windows, and digital audio interface configuration in windows it makes a lot of sense for me to go with Windows but I still can't shake a few ideas that really had me going with a Mac.

First of all, a Mac wouldn't be used to play/game on. I cannot stress enough how much I like the idea of the separation of church and state so to speak in regards to casual time spent gaming versus serious time spent developing music or working on projects in general. So that's a major plus to go toward apple. Secondly, another plus for a mac is that I would really like to have a dedicated apple computer to manage all of my other apple gear: ipad pro, iphone x, apple watch g3. It would be nice to have the unification and connectivity that all of the apple apps provide centralized in one place.

There are a few factors make me inclined to go with Windows, too.. For example the macbook pro I'm looking at is almost 4 grand with apple care, logic pro, and some usb-c accessories. Thats a **** ton of money for a computer! Whereas, with a windows machine, I could literally get the best alienware laptop, not be limited to usb-c, and be spending even less. Speaking of usb-c, I really don't own any gear that has a usb-c interface so I would be buying adapters for literally everything. That's a major turn-off - like a hairy gooch - its really not useful at all and it can just make things nasty and get in the way.

I have major factors for pros and cons and I cant tell how long this internal battle will wage on for. In a few more months I'll see news on the new macbook pro 2018 lineup and that might sell me or if I see a deal on a windows laptop I just can't pass up I might just pull the trigger. Literally just now I went to dell, clicked alienware, and went to the most expensive 15" laptop and its fu*kin 4 grand has 2 1tb SSDs, 1 1tb HDD, a 120hz screen, an rbg keyboard, and ofc a killer GPU.. Apple's 4 grand doesn't take me that far and at the end of the day makes me wonder if what I want is really what I want. I might just shoot off 3 grand to alienware and sport that gimmick of a brand just because its better bang for my buck than apple.

Not really being sincere about alienware.. But since they're overpriced junk might as well compare them with other overpriced junk (mac).

Alternatives, please?

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,
Discouraged consumer
 
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Plus Mac in general is revered as best for multimedia with many designers and audio producers acclaiming them as better than the best.
This is pretty much brand marketing/ gimmick/ myth. There is some audio/video (only some) hardware that is specifically made for Mac for whatever reason but other than that most software can be found for WIndows these days. A PC will always have more power for the same money regardless of software.

Secondly, another plus for a mac is that I would really like to have a dedicated apple computer to manage all of my other apple gear: ipad pro, iphone x, apple watch g3. It would be nice to have the unification and connectivity that all of the apple apps provide centralized in one place.
I wanted a Mac for this reason, and after having one it's not really that simple now. I actually wound up selling my iMac because High Sierra (or whatever the new one is) was having all kinds of issues connecting with Facetime, iMessage, and iCloud. After Google this appeared to be a common issue. Really glad I didn't drop cash on a Macbook only to have this ugly horse stare me in the face.

So I'm kinda perplexed as to why this needs to be a laptop besides maybe portability. I personally would prefer a monster workstation for all this like how I have my render / DAW / VR rig.

Either way, if portability is a requirement I definitely wouldn't go with a Mac or an Alienware. I'd get a Eurocom.
 
Just found this

Lenovo Legion Y520 Gaming Laptop
Core i7-7700HQ
16GB RAM
2TB HDD + 256GB SSD
1050Ti 4GB
15.6" 1920x1080
$949.79

Its not bad... But I'm leaning towards 4k. Plus i'd like a single large SSD.
 
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I love Macs, but I have to admit that they lost a lot of luster when Apple decided to ditch the PowerPC architecture in favor of x86. Now, a Mac is not much different than any other PC with a Unix/Linux OS. However, I still like their products. I think you can do just as well with audio processing and video editing with either a Mac or a Windows PC. I am not a fan of Lenovo's anymore since they were bought by an oversea company and have been caught doing some sneaky things in the hardware. I would look for a high end HP or Dell laptop.
 
Just found this

Lenovo Legion Y520 Gaming Laptop
Core i7-7700HQ
16GB RAM
2TB HDD + 256GB SSD
1050Ti 4GB
15.6" 1920x1080
$949.79

Its not bad... But I'm leaning towards 4k. Plus i'd like a single large SSD.
I wouldn't get 4k on a tiny laptop screen. Max I'd go is 1440p and even then you'd be using some scaling which makes things wonky. FR though, check out Eurocom.

Eurocom

I love Macs, but I have to admit that they lost a lot of luster when Apple decided to ditch the PowerPC architecture in favor of x86. Now, a Mac is not much different than any other PC with a Unix/Linux OS. However, I still like their products. I think you can do just as well with audio processing and video editing with either a Mac or a Windows PC. I am not a fan of Lenovo's anymore since they were bought by an oversea company and have been caught doing some sneaky things in the hardware. I would look for a high end HP or Dell laptop.
As the owner of 3 HP laptops and an HP work laptop, I wouldn't get an HP laptop.
 
I wouldn't get 4k on a tiny laptop screen. Max I'd go is 1440p and even then you'd be using some scaling which makes things wonky. FR though, check out Eurocom.

Eurocom

As the owner of 3 HP laptops and an HP work laptop, I wouldn't get an HP laptop.

I checked out Eurocom.. That many customization options are bad for my wallet lol
 
An Alienware is bad for your wallet, at least these offer desktop class hardware and upgradeability.

tbh this entire venture is bad for the wallet

Bang for buck what did you think of this

Lenovo Legion Y520 Gaming Laptop
Core i7-7700HQ
16GB RAM
2TB HDD + 256GB SSD
1050Ti 4GB
15.6" 1920x1080
$949.79
 
Eh, not a fan of Lenovo. Decent hardware for the money, just not a fan.

Xeon Kaby and Quadro M.
EUROCOM Tornado F5W Configure

Wish I could upgrade the display to 120hz

Holy **** that doesnt even have the OS or storage at that default price of 1600. This site's customization is sooo bad for my wallet hahaha.. I made a few clicks and its already 3 grand

I should really get a macbook pro
 
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