Anyone using an HP ZBook for PT?

[audiobob]

Looking for a laptop to run PT at home and on the road. The Avid approved Windows laptop is an HP Zbook G2 which is not new from what I can see. I'm particularly looking at a newer Zbook G4 with a Xeon E3-1505MV6. Saw a pretty good deal on one.

Would I be safe with this? Still unsure in the Windows world since I'm moving over from Apple.

[audiobob]

I'll change the question. What Windows laptop are you running successfully with 2018.7?

[Benoni]

I personally wouldn't worry about the "Avid Certified" label for the PC side of things. There are way too many PCs for Avid to test. Just go by the hardware. If it is a good cpu i5, i7, etc... with 8-16GB ram +, a fast HDD or SDD, and dedicated graphics chip, it should work.

A laptop with 2 internal bays is also nice.

I don't use a laptop for PT, but do use an HP Z820 tower and it is super powerful. HP makes VERY good high end PCs. The latest Z series are even more powerful.

[audiobob]

Exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks Benoni. That opens up quite a few options. Looking at the ZBook for sure. Thanks again.

Bob

[Darryl Ramm]

By "on the road" what interface are you planning on using? If you are hoping to mix just using the laptop the PC world is a bit more complex than the Mac world with its Build-In Audio you may be used to.

It would take a lot to get me off my MacBook Pro for Pro Tools use, but in general I'm still like high-end Lenovo ThinkPads for other work, owned multiple of them. Whatever laptop I purchased I'd be sure it has PCIe/NVMe SSD and plan on using that for the boot/system and audio/session drive. If samples can fit on that as well then great, or maybe that ends up on second internal or external SSD or HDD. If you have current Mac drives you will want to use to use think about compatibility issues. Without third party software your Windows laptop will not be able to directly read those drives.

[audiobob]

Thanks Darryl,

I'm in post production so the road means a mix or edit while on vacation, which is not that often. No interface, no VI's, no midi, no samples....maybe a movie for playback. Have a USB external drive, plug in headphones and do an edit in the car or hotel room. So basically my laptop would not be used for PT that often but it still needs to run it reliably when I need it. I have Paragon HFS+ software now that will read apple formatted drives.

I do have a MacBook Pro from '17 but I absolutely HATE the keyboard. I dislike it so much that I'm willing to go get a windows machine. I'm using Parallels anyway for Quickbooks and Apple stuff for email so a Windows machine makes sense. My son is eyed my MBP anyway.