Are the newer Centrino laptops really too slow for audio production?

[-groovatious-]

I need to purchase a new computer. I'd be happy to go the desktop route, however I really need something portable as I'm getting into using softsynths at gigs and will be travelling a lot in the next 2 years.

 

Most of the software I use at the moment is PC based, however if I had to i could switch to Mac.

 

Basic requirements of the system would be hard-disk recording (probably up to a max of about 16 tracks or so) in the studio and something capable of being able to run 3 or 4 softsynths simultaneously for live use.

 

I've noticed now that most of the Notebooks available are centrino based, which as i understand, is not so crash hot for audio production.

 

Also, would the built in soundcards in the mac or pc be of a high enough quality (low latency) to be able to output straight from them without an external IO for live softsynth use.

 

Cheers guys - any other suggestions would be appreciated as well.

 

Mike

[-groovatious-]

Ok, let's cut that down a bit. Simple question, would a 1.6 GHz Centrino with 512 MB RAM run reason or 3 sofsynths adequately?

 

Similarly, would a new G4 iBook do the job?

 

Cheers

Mike

[WhinyLittleRunt]

I'd add at least another 512 to the Centrino laptop, just because Reason is a complex program. There really is nothing wrong with the Centrino, but just remember it's a little less than a P4, in the way that it makes laptops a little lighter weight and holds a longer charge; that's what makes the Centrino good. But for audio production, as long as you kick up your ram and turn off resources I don't forsee it being a problem. You probably can't use the built-in soundcard anyway.

 

On that same note, the G4 iBook would be along the same lines as the Centrino PC notebook, in that you'd want to bring up the RAM just a bit and use a different soundcard interface. I know the Mac would be much better than the Centrino but this is mostly from word of mouth (I know iBooks pretty well, but not for audio recording). I know that if you sprung for a Powerbook you'd be all set.

 

I'm really not sure of the latency for the souncards - but I think you'd need an external interface anyway, right? The iBook for example only has firewire and usb. It's not like you're gonna plug into a mic jack or anything....

[cyanhue]

a centrino should be fine for your needs, although it may not be a great idea to get the really tiny ones unless you need the portablility, because they usually come with slower processors (a G4 based mac portable would probably work as well but you don't have to move to a MAC just for laptop perormace)

 

some things you should consider:

1. a centrino is NOT a slow processor, in fact at the same clock speed it kicks the P4's ass , the centrino processors are just currently at around half of the clock speed of the P4s. the main advantage of centrino laptops is the long battery life, making them very protable, they also run cool, and are relatively powerfull. if portablility (battery life) is not your main concern and you crave more power you can buy a P4 based laptop or even better an amd athlon 64 one (I have one, and I'm very happy with it, dont use it for music though).

 

2. extra ram is very helpfull, however you can make do with 512MB initially and upgrade later if your budget is tight (make sure you can upgrade the laptop using standard - non proprietary memory)

 

3. if you can avoid it don't run music software from batteries, when you run on batteries the power management kicks in, and that can really degrade performance, becasue the machine is trying to give you maximal battery life.

[Ed A.]

 

Originally posted by -groovatious- Similarly, would a new G4 iBook do the job?

 

 

I use a 12" G4 1.2Ghz iBook with Logic Pro 7 and it works great since Logic is tightly optimized for Macintosh.

Before I got LP7 a few months ago, I was using Ableton Live and Reason along with NI Absynth on the same iBook. Although this combination isn't as efficient (and doesn't sound as good as LP7, IMO) the iBook performed very well with this software. If you're going to use an iBook or PowerBook, just make sure the processor speed is set to "highest" in the system prefs for best performance.