Matt.

Ive been on a quest for some time now for a suitable new more flexible beast of a pc to run my recording rig.
hopefully some folks in the market for a new or upgrade of pc will find the following of interest.

I just took more days from my love for writing songs and away from these forums in the quest, and this week talked to even more retailers of pc tech. sigh.

The basic issue for moi is laptops lack internal expandability (unless i plop for a laptop from a custom builder of laptops for recording studios….but outside my budget…)...eg…this laptop allows 4 drives i believe.

https://www.adkproaudio.com/adk-regulus-gx30

otoh desktops have the internal expandability ie can stuff multiple m2nvme and older ssd’s in them..a need of mine…but lose portability.

It shows retailers lack of understanding of needs of recording studios when they say ‘you need 3 ssd’s in a laptop !! huh ?’ until one explains.

A typical reply i get is sorry ‘mate’ we only sell one drive laptops.
Pipelines brilliant dvd replacement idea is one solution for a second drive.
But i want 3.

Otoh ya gotta be careful with new desktops …sigh and ensure one has the right pcie version and number of ‘lanes’ to support the latest m2/nvme ssd tech.
Yes the new tech m2’s will work in older pcie 3,...but it looks like at decreased data rates.
There is another ‘wrinkle’ as it were… in that if one wants to use m2/nvme with more lanes one needs to use a 11th generation or above processor...which has the 'more lanes' support i understand.

HOWEVER , now i’m reading articles saying the new processors consume more power…sigh.

As i like refurbs cos of cost savings i think the only solution for a beast of a recording system is to stuff multiple ssd’s // m2’s via pcie adaptor into a off lease hpz workstation (or dell or lenovo equivalent) for a total cost of 800 buckies. And eat the small performance hit of older pcie 3 rather than pice 4 or above, as well as the portability.

I’m laptop currently , and its been a v good beast of a i5 refurb with even an external sata port, (and ive done 90 songs with it using reaper/biab/realband combo)...but still i need more flexibility than it offers.

To anyone considering a one drive cheap laptop i would suggest caution cos it might not meet ones future needs.
you might rapidly outgrow it.
as one will see if one peruses many pro audio user forums.


peace out.
om



Last edited by justanoldmuso; 06/19/22 01:56 PM.
New Song "PRETTY GIRL" for my wife...Dec 2023
(my vocs....mixed for good earbuds.)
https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs/prettygirlrbfinalcalfsongsdec2023mp3
(and rock song THE STALLION and bluegrass song... BANKER MAN....90 songs useing bb/rb.)