Best Laptop for Audition

[wheeler8807]

Hey everyone, I'm in the market for a new laptop. I've been told more than once that I should buy a Mac, but I'm not familiar with the OS. I just wanted to know what kind of PCs are out there that are worthy of purchasing and pricing is not the biggest issue. I just want a good machine that I know can do more than keep up with the system requirements.

Thanks

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

I've had Audition running fine on a HP ProBook for ages. Just get the fastest processor you can afford, and make sure that there's plenty of RAM on it (8Mb min, 16Mb preferred). Most machines come with oodles of HD space on them, but it's also easy to connect external storage. Are SSDs worth it on a laptop? You gain speed, but lose space. On the face of it, a hybrid drive might be a better bet as a compromise, and there are plenty of machines fitted with these, I believe. One thing that's worth checking on any machine is the number of USB ports it has - I wouldn't purchase a machine with less than four. You'd be surprised at how fast you can use them all up, especially if you're like me and prefer mice to touch pads, etc.

As for whether it's a Mac or a PC, then your reason for making the PC choice is sensible - there's no physical difference, nor reliability difference these days, so familiarity with the OS is as good a reason as any, and indeed better than most. Despite several attempts, I really don't get on with the Mac system, so I won't ever be using it.

[ryclark]

Also it partly depends what you are wanting to do with Audition. You may need a more powerful laptop if you are going to be doing large scale Multitrack sessions with zillions of tracks and loads of reverb effects. For most normal sort of general purpose audio of fairly simple editing or a few tracks of Multitrack recording then any decent middle of the range laptop should do as Steve says. I have a fairly ancient, by today's standards, Lenovo T510 with an i5 processor which is perfectly OK for most things audio. My preference is for Intel processors which are probably better suited for Audition due to the code being optimised for Intel based systems. But it probably doesn't make that much difference these days.

[emmrecs]

SteveG(AudioMasters)  wrote

make sure that there's plenty of RAM on it (8Mb min, 16Mb preferred). 

I think Steve meant 8 ​or 16 ​G​b!

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

emmrecs  wrote

I think Steve meant 8 or 16 Gb!

So do I! Not enough coffee yet...

[Bob Howes]

I'm using a 5 year old Lenovo Thinkpad for Audition and it's still performing well.  However, as per recommendations above, I lashed out on an i7 processor and 16GB RAM.  I don't have an SSD (they were expensive and small back then) but do use a USB3 external drive for archiving.

Two small details to bear in mind:

Make sure the video system on your laptop gives you a second, different, output.  For anything complex I hook up an external 19 inch VGA monitor.  Most laptops have this facility but it's worth making sure.

Second...and this applies to ANY computer...keep your system as clean and free of other "junk" as possible.  Not having a ton of stuff running in background can make all the difference.

[philippas80382009]

HI Gary

Hope you don't mind me emailing you. I've got a new Lenovo ThinkPad laptop but since I have I'm having problems with the feed on Adobe Audtion. If I turn the gain knob up to normal levels I can hear interference noise. If I turn it down I can record but then need to Amplify in Effects afterwards. This is ok shorterm but not longterm. Any ideas please? Thanks very much, Philippa