HP Z800 vs HP Envy

[Girl6]

Hello,

I am a long-time Mac user making the move to PC. I'm really not into building a PC at this point, and I notice that HP comes recommended.

I was looking at an HP Envy i7 6700 w/16 Gigs of ram (about *899 new, maybe $625 factory refurbished), but I notice many HP Z800 workstations on E-bay also. Which would be best to go with for PT 12.5? Of course the Envy doesn't have firewire for my interface, but has USB 3.0 (not on the Z series). Thanks!

Girl6

[JuanPC]

For Windows the best is 12.3.1
12.4 not recommended.
12.5 is almost the same, refreshed video engine code + Avid cloud collaboration.
12.5.1 not much, some improvements on the avid cloud collaboration.

Windows7 SP1 64-bit Pro or Ultimate is recommended.

Workstation all the way, if they have ECC ram.
Some modifications would be needed, like SSD for C:\ drive.
24GB or more ram recommended.
But not more than 32GB if Not Registered UnBuffered ram.

SSD benchmark.
http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/

Find the fastest CPU you can, a good reference is a CPU that can give over 100 points in single core test in Cinebench R15 Benchmark.
And over 1000 points in all cores test.

There are many brands of pcie USB3.0 add-on cards.
With Chips like Nec / Renesas or
VIA VL800 work fine.
Some can be upgraded with latest drivers, & firmware from station drivers.
But is more advanced.

[Girl6]

Thank you JuanPC. I thought the workstation was a better idea, even though it is older. It just seems more robust and expandable.

[Wizzoboy]

+1 for the workstation.

[VRW]

To add my 2 cents why not keep your music recording system on Mac and get a smaller, more affordable PC for all the other stuff you need?
From experience Pro Tools still does work better on Macs in general. More reliable, more stable, less picky behavior than with Windows/PC.
For PT12.5.x any i7 Quad Macbook Pro (2014 models with the dual graphic cards best at the moment) still is the best, most reliable solution.
So you could get such a one for the price of a Windows Notebook from the Apple Refurbished store for example.

Just as food for thought.

Anyway the best of success to you.

[chrisdee]

Originally Posted by JuanPC

For Windows the best is 12.3.1

That's my experience as well.
12.3.1 has been the most stable version on Windows for me.

[sw rec]

12.4 is working quite well here on Win 7. Don't know why it's "not recommended."

[feliponk]

Hi: I use a Z800 running OSX Mountain Lion and Windows 7 Pro 64.

Both run great so I use the OSX version for ProTools and the Windows 7 for Media Composer.

Regards.