Originally Posted By: Notes Norton
I've been using ThinkPads on the gig since 2002 and have only had 3 failures. I do one-nighters for a living and they are notoriously hard on gear.

I highly recommend them, they are almost bulletproof.

I keep two on stage, the second one powered up and ready to go, so in all 3 instances (out of thousands of gigs) I just switched over to the second computer and nobody but Leilani and I knew there was a problem.

If you don't want to worry about the PC crashing, get rid of all the apps you don't use for music performance - no office - no browser - no games - no anything else.

My work computers never go on-line and therefore never even need anti-virus or anti-malware software, as they slow down your system and are only a couple of more apps to cause a conflict and crash.

And not having them go on-line is the best way to keep them from getting a virus.

All the files I transfer to them are fist scanned on my office computer with up-to-date Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware apps, and then ported over via a flash drive.

Playing music for a living is a lot of fun, but it is also serious business. Making sure everything runs smoothly and having a booted up backup computer is essential for a "the show must go on" person. And IMHO if you aren't a "the show must go on" kind of person, you shouldn't be in the entertainment business.

BTW the 3 ThinkPad problems in 15 years were (1) CMOS battery -- $5.00 replacement I could have manually set the date and time, but I went to the backup computer because it was easier (2) hard drive making a grinding sound - didn't stop the show but going to the backup computer was the safe thing to do - I replaced the drive the next day (3) Screen went dark - definitely needed the backup computer for that one.

That's my take on it.

Insights and incites by Notes


You are using three ThinkPads on stage? I was thinking about just getting one for BIAB and Real Band because I want to just us my iPod to play my backing tracks.

Computer: Macbook Pro, 16 inch 2021
DAWs: Pro Tools, Logic, and Maschine
plays drums, percussion, bass, steel pan, keyboard,
music producer/engineer