which is the best laptop for running FL Studio properly! Im on mac & logic so I don't which one is the best ! Thanks!

 

I asked myself the same question a while ago...
Do you really need a laptop? I mean PCs don't cost that much for much more power.
If you really need a laptop, maybe a alienware or a HP EliteBook?

Google "Best Notebook / Laptop for FL Studio / Music Production", there are many people asking the same question.

 

FL Studio should run on any decent laptop that meets basic requirements. Other things to consider: Size of screen, because it's nice to be able to view this stuff easily. A large screen or running two monitors really makes your work flow easier. Put some extra cash into a quality interface, or buy a computer already designed for this kind of work (they usually have a built in interface and a better sound card) If you don't consider some of this stuff when you start, you will find yourself constantly adding things just to get your basic set up going. Everyone here has been on the learning curve, and it never ends, but by not taking short cuts at the start, you will save yourself some aggravation down the road. Plenty of info here, but also plenty of "opinions", and you know what they say about those. If I were starting all over again, I would get a tower designed for this stuff, and nevr put anything into it that I wasn't using for studio work.

 

Algae got an interesting point here. If you just start making music, learner, I'm not sure if it makes sense to buy a really good but also really expensive laptop. I started making music with a Medion MD98560, defiently not designed for this use. But it was enough to get started. If I were you I wouldn't put my money in an expensive notebook, but a good one for multimedia use, a notebook you would also use when you stop making music on it, and save your money for a good PC.
If you already learned and just search for a good Notebook to run FL, ignore what I just said *yes*

 

I only recommend a laptop if you quickly want to be able to put your musical ideas into FL Studio outside your 'studio' and work it out on your main system. For this you can take whatever laptop with decent CPU 2.0+ power and 4GB Ram. I've been working with my Alienware M17X for almost 2 years now. And it's a beast for music production. Even though Alienware laptops have one of the best ventilation (really low noise), but at pro level you need even more quiet gear. Maybe there's something interesting here Link

 

Here you go:

http://raincomputers.com/store/livebook-afx



Full custom built!!!

 

Wow, I didn't know that company. Interesting products... Thanks Bluespiral

 

I think their product infos could be useful for research. I mean they make some PCs and notebooks extra for audio production. Read through the stuff they used and keep it in mind while you look for other notebooks. Also helpful if you decide to build your own PC...

 

Dunno what the problem is, I found out everythin I wanted to know (also that the ION AFX have 4 USB 3.0 slots and 8 USB 2.0 slots, and two eSATA 3.0 slots, whatever that is and Optional PCI Express FireWire card with two (2) FireWire 400 ports... balblabla) You can look everything up. So as I said before, if you want to do a little research what you need for your PC if you build it yourself that is a good source. They make Audio-PCs professionaly, way to expensive but professionaly.

 

Here is the one I've settled on...
http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/qosmio/X870/X875-Q7380
check it out, seems like a good place between specs and price. But remember, if you use an audio interface, the quality of the manufacturers drivers will play a huge role in how everything functions. Focusrite has some awesome ones, I went with a Presonus Audiobox 44vsl and have had ENORMOUS amounts of problems with the drivers, so just something to consider.

 

A VERY IMPORTANT specification which is not usually printed on the box is "latency", measured with a tool like DPC Latency Checker.

Most off the shelf/commercial systems (laptop or tower) built for gaming will have lower latency than those intended for office usage.
That's half the reason they're a lot more expen$ive that non-gamers. The other half is a higher spec. CPU & GPU, & RAM.
For a DAW, the GPU is not really an issue if you won't run intensive 3D games, so you can get by with a lesser spec one.

But at the end of the day - latency is a result of hardware and software - the OS, unnecessary background services, bloatware etc.etc.
So after you have your 'dream machine' set up, you need to trim the OS and softwares to make it run lean.

 

Instead of naming specific things you need to understand the base components needed. Then look for a laptop that meets those requirements.

Unfortunately for laptop it can get kinda expensive compaired to the same in a desktop but the basics

8gigs ram [FL Studio Extended]

I5 Processor if you plan on throwing mastering plugins on the master channel for all instruments. You probably don't need an I5 but at the same time its a laptop so anything under you can expect to max out cpu easily.

Firewire [if you use an external UA device many need firewire and what sucks is a specific firewire. there tends to be a lot of on board firewire's that wont work with m-audio stuff and a few other companies that may requires specific models of firewire. If you have a UA device I'd check on the manufactures forum to check on this

If you not going out to a UA device do some checking on the on board audio. At most basic you just need it to be at least 24bit at 44100 for music. And most should do that. However I would warn you about getting suckered into Beats Audio crap. It's a gimick and it's like paying $200 for a product that is made like a $10 product. Seriously cheap stuff. Don't get suckered into that crap.

As for video I would only suggest to make sure it has an hdmi port in case you want to use an external monitor while at home.


Really other than than just make sure it doesn't come shipped with a crap harddrive and it is at least a 1tb [with plugins/libraries/etc] it can fill up but the speed of the harddrive will matter when it comes to latency and being able to write the information fast enough.

As for size, don't get a big laptop. It may seem like a good idea, but if you use an external monitor at home it just means you have a huge laptop. Get a small one, deal with the size when out, hdmi to a bigger screen when at home. Writing music and doing stuff while out with a huge laptop gets to be a pain. I suggest a 15inch, it may also cut some of the price down for being smaller.

And while touch screen laptops are nice, price aside LF Studio sucks on one. The midi editor is almost unusable compared to with a mouse. Maybe I just have big fingers but I found the program did not work well on Win8 touch screen.

So forget names and gimicks and look for what meets what you need.

 

anything dual core with over 3 gb ram will run fl fine get a usb sound card and you can record live also running windows xp is great for fl studios

 

No problem, you have to go to the specs page:
http://raincomputers.com/products/livebook-afx/specs
scroll a little bit down to I/O Ports. 1 USB 2.0 and 3 USB 3.0, and one eSATA 3.0

 

Nobody said that you have to buy it!!!! *no*

I always built my computers for audio by myself....also laptops...but not everyone is able to do it so this site could be useful for other peoples!!!

 

Here another site:

http://www.adkproaudio.com/laptop3.asp

 

Why the switch from Logic to FL?

 

why should that be sad? if somebody just like the workflow of FL better then why the hell dont use FL?