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I have a monster PC desktop that I do most of my 'real' work on, as well as my music work.

However, I need a new notebook and am looking at my options. I'm thinking I need 16GB RAM and can probably work with 512GB hard drive space. I usually use 8-12 instrument tracks in Studio One. I currently have a 17" gaming laptop with an 8th gen I7, with a battery life of < 1 hour. Not good. LOL

I have always been PC guy and have been a fan of Surface devices since their inception. But I am hearing some not-so-nice things about battery life for the new Surface Laptop Studio, and that it may have throttling issues. I had an i7-based Surface Laptop 3 but had to give it to my college-bound daughter when her Dell laptop died before I could install Studio One on it.

I've never run Studio One on a Surface tablet, I only have the original Surface Pro tablet and am not going to bother installing it there. LOL The Surface Pro 8 sounds interesting, but it is about the same price has the new MacBooks (more on that below). . I am not a fan of Alcantara keyboards. I am curious about it, but don't want to spend big bucks to find out it doesn't perform well.

I have been intrigued by Macbooks although I have never actually used one. I bought my son a MacBook Pro to take to college and he loves it. That might be enough for me too; I heard that the M1 chip was amazing, then a few days ago...

The new Macbooks sound amazing but have a starting price of $2000. Ouch! I imagine that I could get by with the base 14" unit. The problem is they won't be out for another 2 weeks so it's actual performance is unknown at this point.

Outside of Studio One on I would only use the computer for the basics (word processing, browsing, email, RDP into other computers in AWS, Azure and my office, ,... etc.). I am a software developer by trade, but can access Visual Studio from remote computers,

I welcome your thoughts on the current state of laptops suitable for mid-range Studio One use. I just hope this thread doesn't go too crazy. lol
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by j0001s on Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:05 pm
My main S1 machine is a loaded I9 PC. But the best PC laptop I've ever owned is my 2014 MacBook Air. I run Parallels on it (lets me run Windows), and I still use it today. I've never had a PC laptop that hasn't caused me grief in some way, either with cracked cases, dodgy keypads, flaky ports, etc. I'm sure they are out there, but my luck has been poor.

The M1s are scary fast, and I don't think you would have to limit yourself to mid-range Studio One use. The M1 Air is more than enough machine for that.

The question is around cooling. The previous Intel generation of MacBook Pros have fans that kick in hard with load, and they are loud. The M1 Air is passive cooled only, and silent. Hopefully, the new MacBooks keep the noise down. There's enough people on the music forums that already have their orders in that you'll get real-world reports soon enough.
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by GMHague on Thu Oct 21, 2021 4:29 am
I've been using google a Toshiba Satellite for a few years as my "second" DAW by having an external. SSD "Audio" drive that I easily swap between machines, so I'm not constantly transferring files. It works, but between having to also swap over dongles with plugin licenses, and my Alesis mini-controller if I'm serious about programming, AND a small USB interface, I usually don't get too serious about any mobile DAW sessions.
My advice; don't invest too much. It's not as practical a concept as you might think. But dabbling with arrangements and such is okay.

Windows 11 64 bit, 12th gen i5 eight core CPU, 32GB RAM, 1810C interface, SSD drive (system) and USB SSD for audio and samples.
Studio One 6.5, Latest UC driver
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by mycbeats on Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:16 am
I was in a similar boat. 12 Core Ryzen at home, Windows die hard, but I'm spending more time out of town on work assignments so I was looking for something to build a mobile rig around.

I had also recently gotten new 11th gen i7 Dell laptop from work which was around $1500 CAD.
After spending sometime with it I determined I personally would not pay more than $600 for it. Performance was good but the 1080P screen made it claustrophobic to work on music with, the battery life wasn't great, and you couldn't slam the lid and throw it in your backpack and go (sometimes it would wake up in my bag). My biggest problem with Windows laptops is the lack of support from manufacturers, good luck trying to find a OEM replacement battery in 3 years.

So I decided to get my first Mac, a 13" 16GB/500GB M1 macbook pro $1700 CAD, and it resolved all my issues.

Running S1 under x86 emulation (because melodyne still does not support native M1), it performs about the same as my old home rig which was an i7-4790k and battery life is superb. The lack of ports is occasionally annoying, but at the same time its nice to just have unplug one cable and go.

My purchasing philosophy is if it plugs into a wall, get it from others, if it has batteries, go Apple.

Toronto, Canada
Project engineer by day, sound connoisseur by night.

Main Rig: Windows 11 (21H2) 64-bit, Ryzen 3900x, 32GB RAM, RTX 2060, dual 4K Monitors
Presonus 192, Faderport v2, Atom SQ, Akai Advance 49, Keystation 61 mk3, 2x Behringer X-Touch Mini + way too many synths.

Mobile Rig: MBP M1/16GB, Atom SQ, IOstation
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by tpittman on Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:28 am
[quote="lousyracuse"]I have a monster PC desktop that I do most of my 'real' work on, as well as my music work.

However, I need a new notebook and am looking at my options. I'm thinking I need 16GB RAM and can probably work with 512GB hard drive space. I usually use 8-12 instrument tracks in Studio One. I currently have a 17" gaming laptop with an 8th gen I7, with a battery life of < 1 hour. Not good. LOL

I have a 17 inch 2011 MacBook Pro that is still alive and kicking it very well. I had to have the CPU or processor replaced several years back and thats about it. I did install an SSD around the same time.

At some point this computer will just simply be outdated because of its hardware and cannot be updated to new operating systems. Meanwhile I will use until that day.

One things for sure, when the time comes to lay down this 2011 MacBook Pro I will be getting another Mac. No need to even bother looking at anything else period!

Studio One Pro 6.5.2 Mac mini Monterey OS Midas 32 Board / Interface

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