cheapest used portable laptop for VSTs DAW and soundcard?

least expensive used non-mac laptops to run Cubase or Fruity Loops with VST softsynths and effects? Using 1or 2 complex synths and probably a drum and orchestral and FX one.To avoid buying something powerful enough to run many VSTs simultaneously, I

Save yourself from Cubase and try Reaper, it will use your system resources in a more efficient way.

Search on the computer forum at kvraudio.com and you will find lots of info and discussion concerning laptops. Be aware of the possibility of a hard drive failure on a used laptop and what it will cost for hardware and your personal (or payed) labor time to replace the drive.

I think you are risking money in a used laptop. On top of hard drive failure, replacing a duff battery could set you back near the cost of the computer. If you have a laptop dedicated to your music set up that does not go onto the internet and get bloated with updates, it'll last you a heckalong time.

That said: if you check on eBay you will find sales of leased returned business computers. I did this a few years ago but back then the old IBM T-series were pretty much bullet proof and could do what you are asking. Dunno what the build quality is like under Lenovo but you can get a mid-range one or two year old computer for under $300.

As for FL Studio: have you tried using ASIO4ALL as the driver? I've gotten some decent performance from Fruityloops on some pretty miserable computers.

^ ty.

i didn't try ASIO4ALL, or it wasn't included with FL when i bought a soundcard around 2002. i asked around and credible people said i needed a soundscard. im gonna dig into all the threads next to pick a laptop.

I've used Live and VSTs on a netbook - I'm not going back to that - though apart from screen size it wasn't any less painful than my old mac was in 2006.

Asio4all did not work right on it though. I either just used the built-in soundcard with windows drivers or my audio interface.

How cheap is cheap? If you are reasonably handy and dont mind taking chances you can get a laptop with a busted (or no) HD and put in a new one. I see them all the time on craigslist for like $50 or free. But if you end up having to buy parts like screens and batteries it can get really expensive and you might as well just buy a whole new laptop.

I've bought a few used laptops, its a risk because a LOT of people don't treat them well. I take my laptop everwhere and still its really mindboggling the condition some people's are in, like WHAT are they doing with them? I'm pretty handy and fixed some pretty issues with 2 I got, still a pain in the ass but a good deal for me. I know you specified no Mac and used Macs do command a premium but often you can get one still under Applecare (which can be transferred) and you can load Windows on it if you really want. I'd get an Intel model 2ghz or higher.

Besides Apple, I like Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, Asus and Lenovo. All of these (Besides Sony and Apple) have cheaper models you can buy new. You can get an i3 which is more than good enough for

edit: I see battery life is a concern. Its best to buy new, or a refurbed battery. i3's are great for battery life.

Lenovo's business class laptops have a good reputation. They cost more though, and you don't see them at big box retailers - you have to order online. I would personally buy a laptop only if really necessary. I tried to convince my 13-year old of this, but he was adamant for portability to friends' houses, school computer club, etc. I decided to just stick with the work laptop and use a home-built PC with choice parts at home.

For a family guy like me, once you get into a cycle of building and upgrading a couple of boxes at home, the cost goes down as well.

Regarding Thinkpads, I've used T-20, T30, T42p, T62p, and now W510 for audio. Except for the T62p, all worked great, though of course the older models wouldn't be up to it for today's bloatware.

The T62p was a miserable piece of hardware, even after a MOBO replacement. Actually, I think it was the firmware that sucked, or something in the glue between OS and hardware. It's really too bad, because the processor was fast (for the time) and on paper it should have rocked. No end of nuisance problems, though, and I totally gave up any hope of using it for DAW or VSTi host. Snap, Crackle, and Pop -- could have been in a Rice Krispies commercial.

The best of the lot is the latest, W510, especially running Win7/64. I still run all audio in 32 bit, because not all the stuff I use is available in 64 bit, and it's far better to run them all in 32-bit mode than to use jBridge on anything. I'm not a heavy user, though, at the moment, simply because I now use hardware for live playing and don't have any serious studio projects going.

I used ASIO4ALL on all my laptops and it worked great (except for the T62p as mentioned above, which nothing worked on). I also used MOTU 828 ASIO.

In the long run, you will want an aftermarket audio interface (soundcard). For starters and keeping expenses down, though, if you end up getting a laptop with line in and out, USE THEM! (with ASIO4ALL)

The main benefit to aftermarket audio interfaces is that they do 24-bit audio. In that case, once you set up your gear so that all the analog gain structure is "in the green", and get your soundcard's gain set right to work well with your other analog gear, you don't have to sweat level-setting. If you do a take and it peaks at -12dBFS, you're good! With 16 bits, at -12 dBFS you've just wasted 2 of the precious 16 and you might consider increasing the gain and re-tracking. But if you crank it up a bit and then clip, you have to redo it. Peaking at -18 or -24 dBFS you would too. But with that 24-bit soundcard, you'll nearly always get a good 16 bits of significance, or better. No more "peak paranoia".

Don't let anyone fool you into paying lots of money for a fancy soundcard. Your money is far better spent elsewhere -- especially monitors, mics, and mic preamps. Those items vary much more dramatically than does soundcard transparency. And that's assuming you don't need to spend money on quality instruments!

So, put off the soundcard, unless you need the mic preamp anyway. But if you have a mixer already, use its mic preamps and a laptop's line inputs.

Don't waste your time on laptop built-in mic inputs. They're not worthy.

"cheap" = cheapest that'll do what i'm asking i guess.Changing out a HD is prolly a sinch especially with youtube vids.Portable laptop's a must, no tower.I can get a spare battery, and hopefully my controller keyboard has rechargeable batteries.

I got a lot of Googling to do but will keep in mind the suggestions. thanks.

I have a 1.8ghz 1gb RAM P4 "centrino" made by Sony that works just fine. Its about 10 years old and running XP. I use Live, FL and some VSTi's. 2GHZ/2GB would be my minimum for anything newer. Native Instruments stuff liek Maschine is starting to demand that (and apparently thats being generous) and NI also seems to require Windows 7 for some newer stuff.

also if you're getting a controller, look at the Novation ones that can be powered via USB, mains or batteries. Used ones are cheap.