Looking to upgrade from Pro Tools 11.3.1, need advice

[unkJE]

Have you considered a Windows laptop?

I occasionally check eBay UK, eBay USA and eBay Australia

Here’s one like mine –
£250 (about AUD $460 + Postage and !0% import duties) - LENOVO THINKPAD W520 i7 Quad, 16gb RAM, 500gb Samsung EVO SSD

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144092555...4AAOSwBvBg2efH

USA eBay often has Lenovo WE520s for US$200 to $300 with 16GB RAM
My W520 (model 427637U) can hold 4 @ 8GB RAM (as albeee1952/Dave mentioned, the RAM must be identical)

eBay Caveat:
Look for Sellers with lots of Sales a high % eBay Feedback
Ask questions before purchase and keep a Screenshot of the Seller’s reply, that includes both date and time
Pay via PayPal (costs slightly more) – because PayPal will arrange a Refund if you don’t get “what was advertised”
Refunds can take 2 to 3 months – and Buyer must pay the Return Postage

Good luck!

[unkJE]

FWIW – I have Pro Tools 2021.6 running on a 2nd laptop that only has 8GB RAM

It’s an Intel(R) Core (TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz - cost US$200 + shipping and 10% Import Duty

Hobby muso – “one track at a time – bounce as I go” – Pro Tools 2021.6 hasn't crashed yet, but I do use another DAW and laptop for VIs - no big Sessions, though I do have Vienna Ensemble Pro 7 for a "light footprint" ...

[Tubthumper]

Bloody hell, that's cheap.


Do you use more than one hard drive?


I still follow the old Pro Tools mantra: one system drive, one audio drive. Who knows, maybe that's no longer necessary with snappy SSDs?


And for me, I run an additional drive to hold a shyt-load of sample libraries.


Will a laptop have enough guts to run 2 external drives?

[unkJE]

Originally Posted by Tubthumper

... Do you use more than one hard drive?

Lenovo W520 has Samsung 860 Evo SSD

I use 2 external Samsung (1TB) T5's - one for Samples, one for Songs/Sessions
(Harvey Norman's got'em for AUD $178)

(The Samsung T7's are twice as fast - but so is the price!)

Originally Posted by Tubthumper

Will a laptop have enough guts to run 2 external drives?

Yes - no worries!

The T5's are both USB3 and C (plug'em into your phone, too!)

The W520 has 2 USB3 and one USB2 (for iLok) port
The W520 sits in a Dock providing 6 extra USB, extra Monitor and more:
https://c1.neweggimages.com/ProductI...991-448-07.jpg
Seen these on eBay, too - same rules apply!)

[unkJE]

If buying a W520, get a quad-core (there are 5 models: 4 quad-core and one dual-core)

Specs:
https://support.lenovo.com/au/en/sol...-thinkpad-w520

Caveat:
Lenovo W520s are now quite “ancient” – but, “taking a punt” at these prices – I’m chuffed!
Think my 2012 W520 (427637U) 16GB cost USD$1600 .....

[Tubthumper]

Thanks mate, really appreciate it.


It's interesting that you're able to run the latest version of Pro Tools on 8GB RAM, especially given AVID recommend a minimum of 16 GB.



That's got me thinking..... I might clone my current system drive, then upgrade Windows and Pro Tools, and see how things run.


I've heard mixed reports on whether the 002Rack driver runs on Win 10, but I'm prepared to give it a crack.


Thanks Dave also, having a clone of my current system drive takes the stress and uncertainty out of attempting this upgrade.

[unkJE]

Originally Posted by Tubthumper

...I've heard mixed reports on whether the 002Rack driver runs on Win 10, but I'm prepared to give it a crack.

If it worked in Win 7 and you migrate "with all files intact" - you should be good to go!

[unkJE]

One more thing:

Type (any topic – site:duc.avid.com) in the URL space to search the DUC for some great tips

For example:
Processor Affinity
processor affinity - site:duc.avid.com


It's worth searching Top Tips by Author-name, too:
albee1952 (Dave) - site:duc.avid.com
The Weed - site:duc.avid.com
BScout - site:duc.avid.com
Sardi - site:duc.avid.com
Top Jimmy - site:duc.avid.com
JFreak - site:duc.avid.com
Darryl Ramm - site:duc.avid.com

[unkJE]

Originally Posted by Tubthumper

...I've just purchased a Pro Tools Reinstatement license.

Don’t register or redeem your Avid Reinstatement code until you are ready to use it, as the clock starts on your Reinstatement as soon as it’s in your Avid account




https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...nstatement-faq

Q: If I purchase a reinstatement and do not immediately redeem, will it expire?
A: No. When you purchase a reinstatement from a reseller the code does not expire and you are able to use it at a future time. (Important to note that the clock on your Software Updates and Support Plan starts when you redeem the code in my.avid.com/products/redemption.) Avid will continue to honor reinstatement redemptions after we discontinue selling them.

[unkJE]

Great W520 extra that I forgot to mention:

On the RHS, the CD/DVD-ROM drive is easy to remove

Replace it with a Caddy to hold a 2nd drive