Laptop Requirements for Ultimate

[Media Man]

Hi all,

My old laptop bought the farm and am shopping for a new one. I like Lenovo stuff, so I'm looking there first.

My question is in real world operation, will an i7 laptop processor carry the load for Ultimate. The Avid requirement page only claims to support PT standard on an i7 laptop, but in the real world for a medium size music session with an audio interface handing off the USB port, will a powerful i7 get the job done.

Media Man

[nsureit]

Think longer down the road. An i7 might support 40 or 50 tracks and a few dozen plugins (if you have enough RAM), but it will be pushing it if you increase your number of voices. You want enough power and processing capacity so you aren’t taxing the computer’s resources to the limit. Make an investment in hardware that you can grow with. I’d say i9 and 32GB RAM minimum with a very good video card. Two or three years from now, you won’t regret stretching your budget.

[albee1952]

From my own experience, an i7 can run 100 tracks, but the real question is; do you really need a laptop? A desktop machine will give way better performance over a laptop for the same investment. And I agree that an i9 should outperform an i7, but that's not the only detail that matters. Speed matters more than the number of cores. In any case, get the best you can afford because that tends to give you longer service

[JFreak]

I could run 100 tracks on a laptop two decades ago, that is not a problem. Your real problem is you need fast enough storage for the amount of tracks you need to record/playback, and you need enough memory for the virtual instruments you are going to run. CPU is rarely the issue anymore.

If ancient 667MHz G4 can do it, any current CPU can do it. Focus on something else than the processor. More powerful processor only adds to heat and as you need to get rid of it you also will experience more fan noise.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Media Man

... old laptop bought the farm ...

I use an ancient laptop ... still works ...

If it died today, though, I'd probably get a maxed-out Dell XPS 17. If I could wait a year or more, I'd probably get the next-gen "M1X" MacMini (+monitor/kbd/mouse) or else the next-gen "M1X" MacBook Air.

[Media Man]

Originally Posted by albee1952

From my own experience, an i7 can run 100 tracks, but the real question is; do you really need a laptop? A desktop machine will give way better performance over a laptop for the same investment. And I agree that an i9 should outperform an i7, but that's not the only detail that matters. Speed matters more than the number of cores. In any case, get the best you can afford because that tends to give you longer service

My main PT rig is a dual xeon server, but I need a laptop for other reasons, and having PT on board for portable work would be a plus, particularly for light sessions here and there. Maybe cutting guitars or vocals at someone's house, that sort of thing.

I think the consensus of option is an i7 would get the job done for what I need to do.

Media Man

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Media Man

My main PT rig is a dual xeon server, but I need a laptop for other reasons, and having PT on board for portable work would be a plus, particularly for light sessions here and there. Maybe cutting guitars or vocals at someone's house, that sort of thing.

I think the consensus of option is an i7 would get the job done for what I need to do.

Anything can do what you want to do. Just bounce your main session, import the bounce to a project on your laptop running PT|first, then record your guitars or vocals. You do not even need to hassle with licenses.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Media Man

My main PT rig is a dual xeon server, but I need a laptop for other reasons, and having PT on board for portable work would be a plus, particularly for light sessions here and there. Maybe cutting guitars or vocals at someone's house, that sort of thing.

I think the consensus of option is an i7 would get the job done for what I need to do.

Media Man

I forgot to mention, you need speed as part of the i7 choice. By that, I mean look at the CPU Clock speed. An i7 2.2GHz is going to be a poor choice. An i7 3.5GHz, is going to be a good choice. Then for RAM, 16GB is the minimum(and if you upgrade that after purchase, make sure that all sticks match exactly). Then there's the hard drive; get an SSD only(no spinning drives). That is something that can be upgraded after the purchase(but its an upgrade you need to do). If you can find a laptop with dedicated graphics, so much the better(nVidia is preferred). Lastly, consider connections and what interface you plan to use(or buy). While you might be able to run PT without a dedicated interface, you won't do any decent recording that way. A Thunderbolt 3 interface would be the best option, but finding a laptop with a TB3 connection might be tougher to find(though a USB3 or USBc interface is an option).

[EGS]

Originally Posted by albee1952

... you need speed as part of the i7 choice. By that, I mean look at the CPU Clock speed....

+1.
You want buffer 64 for tracking & overdubs, and a faster CPU lets you pile-on more plugs at 64. Be aware of CPU base clock vs boost clock. Budget? I'd check out Dell XPS 17/15/13 New. Intel 10th gen (or 11th gen) i7 (or i9) CPU. The XPS 17" has better thermals than the 15 or 13.

[Media Man]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Anything can do what you want to do. Just bounce your main session, import the bounce to a project on your laptop running PT|first, then record your guitars or vocals. You do not even need to hassle with licenses.

Late getting back to this thread. My plan would be to install my current licensed version of Ultimate on the laptop, and then move the iLok when I need to use the laptop.

Media Man