pc processor specs new vs old

[aczlan]

If I'm spending close to $1k, I'm going Ultrabook

Meh. We have them at work and I dont like them, but that's because I actually use a LAN port and a VGA port... The 14" Latitude E6440 we recently ordered is $300 cheaper than the similarly speced Latitude E7440 that I will be ordering tomorrow (both with 128GB SSD, 4GB of Ram (to up upgraded with Crucial for 1/2 the price of what Dell wants), i5 4300u, Wifi, Bluetooth, backlit keyboard, etc).
Is the difference worth it? Not for a machine that will spend most of its life sitting on a table, but for one that will be on the road frequently? Yep.

Aaron Z

 

[Midniteoyl]

Dont forget the screen quality too.. I picked up a i5 Samsung 15.4" awhile ago that was 'cheaper' and thought 'what a great deal'... The screen is crap Otherwise great specs though..

 

[Soundguy]

all sounds good then. the 7200 rpm drive out when that core 2 duo spec was out sounds like it may not be any faster than the sata 5400 rpm drive in the envy I7 I looked at... and witht he comparison on processor.. that I7 looks like it will be way more capable than the core2duo.. etc.

looks like I may have narrows the machines down now. thanks.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

I wouldn't get too hung up on drive speed. In fact, it's kind of annoying that any sw supplier would require, as a "minimum", a 7200 vs. 5400 rpm drive. Like not having enough tractor hp, it doesn't mean it won't do it, it just takes longer, in some cases a lot longer. It comes down do how much waiting time you can tolerate and I doubt 7200 vs. 5400 makes that big of a difference in the end but just my opinion.

 

[troutsqueezer]

I wouldn't get too hung up on drive speed. In fact, it's kind of annoying that any sw supplier would require, as a "minimum", a 7200 vs. 5400 rpm drive. Like not having enough tractor hp, it doesn't mean it won't do it, it just takes longer, in some cases a lot longer. It comes down do how much waiting time you can tolerate and I doubt 7200 vs. 5400 makes that big of a difference in the end but just my opinion.

If you do video, you want the 7200 RPM's because you load the digital info from the camera in real time and you need a fast throughput for that or else you start dropping frames. The camera doesn't wait for the computer, there is no handshaking. Not sure about Cakewalk though, don't know why it would want fast throughput.

 

[RobertN]

Time for SSD?

If you do video, you want the 7200 RPM's because you load the digital info from the camera in real time and you need a fast throughput for that or else you start dropping frames. The camera doesn't wait for the computer, there is no handshaking. Not sure about Cakewalk though, don't know why it would want fast throughput.

 

[Soundguy]

If you do video, you want the 7200 RPM's because you load the digital info from the camera in real time and you need a fast throughput for that or else you start dropping frames. The camera doesn't wait for the computer, there is no handshaking. Not sure about Cakewalk though, don't know why it would want fast throughput.

the faster it is.. the lower the latency. I'm processing real time audio.. live sound. not studio bouncing.

However.. since the spec was for back with an older core 2 duo.. I'm guessing these new 5400 sata drives are plain faster anyway.

I see some machines. ( sony for instance ).. had hdd and SSD buffer.

lotsa options!

 

[Soundguy]

Time for SSD?

at least looking at it!

 

[pwright]

the faster it is.. the lower the latency. I'm processing real time audio.. live sound. not studio bouncing.

If you aren't actually capturing it then you don't really care about drive speed. Audio data is coming in, being processed and being sent back out. You want a reasonably speedy processor and sufficient memory. If you are doing real-time effects/processing of multi-track audio then the more cores the better. You probably want a 4th Gen. I7 like the 4700MQ or 4700HQ. Do not get something using the low voltage variants (I7-4550U) as their thermal management systems may not be able to handle continuous usage at the higher clock speeds. They are meant for lightweight ultras that mostly just do web browsing or documents.

Back to drives, any modern 5400 RPM drive is more than capable of capturing as much audio as you can throw it. The areal density of data on a platter has been doubling every couple years which means a lot more bits of data flying past the drive heads even at 5400 rpm. An SSD is nice but for raw storage the traditional spinning platter drives are gong to be quite a bit cheaper per GB.

 

[RobertN]

Every time I see you post(location), I think about La Posta. Only been there once, but it sure was good that one time.
La Posta Restaurant Old Mesilla New Mexico

If you aren't .

 

[Soundguy]

An i7 4700 is exactly what I'm looking at.

And yes. I do some audio capture, and I'm also using a few gigs of sample libraries on the drive.. so drive speed will play a factor.

Not only am I processing a midi file and sending midi data out to modules, but I'm also processing audio sample and using a few software synths. the audio output from the modules and the audio from the software synth from the usb audio card need to be locked or you will get flanging from acoustic delay.

If you aren't actually capturing it then you don't really care about drive speed. Audio data is coming in, being processed and being sent back out. You want a reasonably speedy processor and sufficient memory. If you are doing real-time effects/processing of multi-track audio then the more cores the better. You probably want a 4th Gen. I7 like the 4700MQ or 4700HQ. Do not get something using the low voltage variants (I7-4550U) as their thermal management systems may not be able to handle continuous usage at the higher clock speeds. They are meant for lightweight ultras that mostly just do web browsing or documents.

Back to drives, any modern 5400 RPM drive is more than capable of capturing as much audio as you can throw it. The areal density of data on a platter has been doubling every couple years which means a lot more bits of data flying past the drive heads even at 5400 rpm. An SSD is nice but for raw storage the traditional spinning platter drives are gong to be quite a bit cheaper per GB.

 

[pwright]

Every time I see you post(location), I think about La Posta. Only been there once, but it sure was good that one time.
La Posta Restaurant Old Mesilla New Mexico

Yup. Good food. Went there not long ago for a retirement party.

 

[RobertN]

What do your contacts in the sound industry use? It seems you are looking at something pretty application specific?

Have you considered a higher end performance system?
Alienware Gaming Laptops

Or

Workstation oriented
Top 10 Workstation Laptops - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

An i7 4700 is exactly what I'm looking at.

And yes. I do some audio capture, and I'm also using a few gigs of sample libraries on the drive.. so drive speed will play a factor.

Not only am I processing a midi file and sending midi data out to modules, but I'm also processing audio sample and using a few software synths. the audio output from the modules and the audio from the software synth from the usb audio card need to be locked or you will get flanging from acoustic delay.

 

[pwright]

And yes. I do some audio capture, and I'm also using a few gigs of sample libraries on the drive.. so drive speed will play a factor.

Not only am I processing a midi file and sending midi data out to modules, but I'm also processing audio sample and using a few software synths. the audio output from the modules and the audio from the software synth from the usb audio card need to be locked or you will get flanging from acoustic delay.

All of that is way more dependent upon CPU and system memory than drive speed. Even 16 tracks of 192k bits/sec audio is only 384K bytes/sec. These current drives are doing a 100x that and more.

You know those required system specs for the software? Let me tell you how they came up with those. Some marketing wank went back to the cube farm where the programmers live and said, "what are the minimum system specs for this software?" The programmers said, "it depends" and then went in to a long technical discussion of how many tracks, at what bit rates and what effects and so on. The marketing wanks head then exploded. When the next marketing wank came back to the cube farm the programmers - wishing to avoid any more exploding heads - just looked at each other and said, "what were the specs on that old laptop we took to the last NAMM show?" They gave those specs to the marketing wank who returned to his plush office no smarter but happy because he could pass the specs onto the web designers.

I know this because I've been on the programmer end of those discussions many times.

Having said all of that getting a system with a 7200 rpm drive wouldn't be a bad thing it just shouldn't be driving factor in the decision IMO.

 

[aczlan]

An i7 4700 is exactly what I'm looking at.
And yes. I do some audio capture, and I'm also using a few gigs of sample libraries on the drive.. so drive speed will play a factor.
Not only am I processing a midi file and sending midi data out to modules, but I'm also processing audio sample and using a few software synths. the audio output from the modules and the audio from the software synth from the usb audio card need to be locked or you will get flanging from acoustic delay.

While we are spending your money , might this be a case where it would work well to have a laptop that handles 2 drives? One a SSD and one a monster storage drive?


Aaron Z

 

[Midniteoyl]

All of that is way more dependent upon CPU and system memory than drive speed. Even 16 tracks of 192k bits/sec audio is only 384K bytes/sec. These current drives are doing a 100x that and more.

You know those required system specs for the software? Let me tell you how they came up with those. Some marketing wank went back to the cube farm where the programmers live and said, "what are the minimum system specs for this software?" The programmers said, "it depends" and then went in to a long technical discussion of how many tracks, at what bit rates and what effects and so on. The marketing wanks head then exploded. When the next marketing wank came back to the cube farm the programmers - wishing to avoid any more exploding heads - just looked at each other and said, "what were the specs on that old laptop we took to the last NAMM show?" They gave those specs to the marketing wank who returned to his plush office no smarter but happy because he could pass the specs onto the web designers.

I know this because I've been on the programmer end of those discussions many times.

Having said all of that getting a system with a 7200 rpm drive wouldn't be a bad thing it just shouldn't be driving factor in the decision IMO.

LOL!

:thumbsup:

 

[Larry Caldwell]

and still i need to see these processor speeds to see if they match up to the software specs.

I assume I'll have to go to each display computer and get system properties from my computer to see what windows is reporting as process and speed.. etc...

looks like if i limit myself to looking at I% and above it will be easier. IE.. any I7 will likely be faster than any I3 etc...

thanks

If you are shopping off the store shelf, just open All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Information. It will tell you.

 

[troutsqueezer]

If you are shopping off the store shelf, just open All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Information. It will tell you.

One more click once in System Information:>Windows Experience Index.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Took out WEI in Win8.1

 

[Soundguy]

That's the issue.

Many types of software were running under XP.. when vista came out.. almost no sound software or hardware liked it. win 7 offered some hope.

the super high end software like protools steeped up first followed by lesser, but still high end software like cubase sonar.. NI etc...

Many peopl are just now swapping out of XP systems.. looking at win8 systems as they are more compatible than vista/7.

heck.. some of the midi controllers i have ONLY had drivers thru XP. midisport JUST a couple months ago came out with a 7 driver!!!! and then people were using it under at.. and now they finally have an 8 driver out. Vista 64 was the most cruel. many usb devices would not detect correctly under it.. The heavier systems usually had vista 64, not 32 home. thus if you bought a bulldog pc.. it had vista64 and then caused problems. we had SOME luck with vista 32 home.. but those pcs at the time were usually low end.. celerons.. low configured. so not much improvement.. if ANY over a heavy xp system.

I've been in contact with a couple midi producers here in fl.. and am picking up NI komplete 9 as well as a newer ver of sonar and a roland module.. plus the pc by the end of this year. the komplete9 is a chunk o' change..

What do your contacts in the sound industry use? It seems you are looking at something pretty application specific?

Have you considered a higher end performance system?
Alienware Gaming Laptops

Or

Workstation oriented
Top 10 Workstation Laptops - NotebookCheck.net Reviews