Current top of the line Windows Laptop for Protools

[CME]

Well mine showed up yesterday. Had time to install the newest bios, download geekbench 4, and start a clean install of windows 10. Anyone have any guides they like for optimizing it? More than the recommended tweaks by avid? And fwiw it scored around 4200 single-core, and 14444 multi-core.

[JCBigler]

Got mine Monday. Updated the BIOS, reformatted and reinstalled Windows, got all the device drivers installed, and my Focusrite Scarlet 18i20 installed and set up.

Got the Protools base software installed. Now begins the long and tedious process of getting all my plugins installed (and I still have to finish a symphony mix by the end of this weekend). Ran a couple of test sessions and so far so good (after a couple of stumbles with the playback buffer and ASIO buffer size)

I was happy to find that this machine shipped with a Samsung 850 Evo SSD in an M.2 PCIe form and not the SATA3 SSD that I expected. Still going to get an 950 Pro NVMe SSD to put in here.

I was able to shut off the SpeedStep and disabled the CPU Power Management (which I think are the C states?) and set thermal management to maximum performance in the BIOS. The Lenovo BIOS are very thorough and have as many options as any desktop BIOS that I have seen.

One thing that I am happy about is that my Scarlet 18i20 now actually runs on the USB3.0 ports on this computer, which it didn't on my Sony VAIO.

[The Weed]

Originally Posted by CME

Well mine showed up yesterday. Had time to install the newest bios, download geekbench 4, and start a clean install of windows 10. Anyone have any guides they like for optimizing it? More than the recommended tweaks by avid? And fwiw it scored around 4200 single-core, and 14444 multi-core.

Try the first post in this thread.

HTH

[JCBigler]

Holy crap this computer has some horse power!

Got most of my most used plugs-ins installed. Loaded up this symphony mix that I am working on. Running this session at a 64 buffer. I have never in my life been able to run Protools at a 64 buffer without getting glitches and CPU errors. Have disk cache set to 8GB and this computer just chews it up.

I haven't even finished optimizing it yet per Avid and Weeds's guides. Just disabled SpeedStep and the CPU power saving etc. in the BIOS.

I even loaded up a jazz big band session I have been working on with 28 tracks and 4 separate reverb units. Not a single hiccup. Running both session from my external USB3 7200rpm spinner.

I EVEN loaded up two separate Sketchup models, one a 71MB jazz club and a recording studio design that I am working on. Ran both Sketchup Windows and Protools flawlessly--at the SAME TIME! Both applications were just as responsive as could be, no lag or stuttering from any of them.

Windows reports total CPU utilization between 26-30%, and 12GB of RAM in use.

[groundcontrol]

Nice.

[mjslakeridge]

JC: Sounds like you have a beast of a system! I thought the conventional wisdom was to track at the lowest stable hardware buffer size to reduce latency, but to exit and mix at a large buffer size? I don't even know what the buffer size really is, or what system specs limit the ability to use a low buffer size. I sometimes can track/overdub for hours at 128 buffer (48k, 24 bit session), other times I will get the error message and have to switch to 256 or 512, even on the same session.

[JCBigler]

The buffer setting determines the latency of the playback versus incoming audio signals (in samples?). A lower latency is easier for playerys to play along with the recorded tracks. Lower buffer settings put more pressure on the CPU and can cause stability issues, if you don't have a system that can handle it.

Because most of what I do is live recordings of symphonies and jazz groups, I'm not overdubbing anything, so I usually just keep the buffer set at 1024 so I have more CPU power available for tracking and stability.

It's interesting that when I first started up Protools on this laptop after the initial install, Protools wouldn't play or record at all until I lowered the buffer from 1024 to 512. Then I could go back to 1024 without issue. So I started lowering the buffer setting to see how low it could go. And I ended up at 64, the lowest available in my 48k session. I couldn't percieve a difference in CPU utilization as indicated by Protools between any buffer setting from 64 to 1024.

Granted, I don't use a ton of plugins or VIs or heavy automation in my sessions. But I'm still impressed with this computer compared to what my last two would do.

[The Weed]

Better change your signature

And welcome to a new world of power

[CME]

Good to hear JC. I just finished reinstalling windows yesterday. Then had to do some updates. Still checking to make sure I have the latest drivers from dell installed. Have some other things I have to do today first. Before I can play with it some more. Ive already downloaded pro tools. Haven't installed it yet. I'm excited to see what mine can do. Overall this thing already seems super smooth and responsive. And while maybe a bit bulkier than my 2011 MacBook Pro, it definitely feels just as, if not a little more, robustly built. I can see this lasting me a long time. Next I need to order a secondary hard drive. Contemplating which one to get. I'd like the capacity of a spinner, but an ssd would be sweet.

[mjslakeridge]

CME: Why not get a moderate-sized SSD for your active sessions, and an external spinner to offload (archive) sessions you are finished with.