PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums RealBand What Laptop & Configuration Do you Use?

simon. re any reasonable laptop.
(my background is working in tech for many years, finally i have free time to comment on this topic
which always interests me. wont bore you with my medical stuff. but all good now.)

you are correct sir that biab will run on pretty much anything.
BUT the problems arise when people are useing slow computers AND then load them up with plug ins that demand lots of computer resources. which is why some big studios
invest in very high end computing resources.

if one peruses various recording forums one will see that even high end computers sometimes have problems handling high resource load.

as i said in a thread recently frankly i am not happy with current computer architectures.
this is the nub of it.
for what a lot of people REALLY want to do, the processors are still too slow imho.
i want much faster cheaper processors.

the sad part is that biab/rb and/or pg might get blamed because the users computer cant handle the resource needs of the plug ins. eg slow drives and/or processor etc etc.

the other issue is obsolescence. how much life will one get from a major computer investment ??
which is why i stay a bit behind the curve , and invest in refurbished computers.
i have yet to have a problem with one yet , and ive bought more than a few for family and friends. ive yet to have one failure and saved a bundle.

in summary here are my personal rules for success.
1. test out the new computer or refurb before buying. look for it to boot fast. get a warranty.
2. cpubenchmark.net is your friend. before buying look up the rating of the processor.
i use an i5 refurb rated around 4500 on there. but i dont use resource heavy plug ins.
remember , the higher the rateing the more youll have to pay for the computer.
3. i use only low cpu useage plug ins in biab and/or my daw.
and before i commit to useing a new plug in i test it out to see the cpu useage.
i also use ssd's.

there are some great deals around. ive seen refurbs that cost new several thousand dollars for 500 dollars. so one can save lots of money that can be better spent on say a nice audio interface or mic etc etc.
just remember to test before buying or make sure
there is a return policy.

now i'm sure someone somewhere will disagree with my comments.
so be it. i'm just trying to save some people operational heartache.
biab is a wonderfull product and i love 2020. but one has to be prudent on plug in choices imho. it all comes down to resource useage.

simon, like everyone else i would like more realtrak channels in biab.
(per the wishlist) which would cut down the number of times i need to transfer traks to my main daw.
but the question remains , will our computers be able to handle it , particularly if people load up on plug ins ?

ps. if people new to this really want to delve further there are lots of computer configs posted on various recording forums eg gearslutz.com music computers section.
thousands of posts includeing building yourself a computer.
often audio interface manufacturers have their own forums also regarding this topic.
also daw multitrack software forums.
my advice to readers is dont overspend in ones search for computing nirvana because of the possibility of obsolescence.
(good wishes in your search voxbox.)
respectfully.
mysterymuso.