Welcome to the forum, Band-in-a-Box and RealBand!

Do you have a spot you normally go to when your creating music? If so then I suggest purchasing a desktop tower instead of a laptop. Desktop hardware is cheaper than the equivalent hardware in a laptop. A desktop is also easier to maintain, repair and expand than a laptop.

If you decide on a desktop think about having two storage drives. Consider getting a 250 to 500 gigabyte (GB) solid state drive (SSD) to use as the primary (C) system drive and a 1 or 2 terabyte (TB) mechanical hard drive for use as a secondary drive. Two drives means less wear and tear on the drives plus your computer will boot up MUCH faster than you're presently accustomed to. A 500 GB solid state drive is less than $100 US and 2 TB hard drives are available for $60 US.

The computer operating system will likely be 64 bit Windows 10. If given the choice between the Home or Pro editions, choose Pro. One of the main issues with Windows 10 Home is you have little control when updates are applied. Windows 10 Pro gives you more control over when updates are applied. Likewise if given the choice between 32 or 64 bit, choose 64 bit. Every 32 bit application I'm aware of, including Band-in-a-Box and RealBand, work fine in a 64 bit operating system.

Last, 8 GB of system ram memory should be the least amount of memory you consider.


Jim Fogle - 2025 BiaB (Build 1128) RB (Build 5) - Ultra+ PAK
DAWs: Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8
Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD
Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD
Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home