Hi guys
For a DAW what OS would you advice for faster and smoother running?
Windows 7 or Windows 10 ltsb?
I'll install it on an SSD for a Dell Latitude M4800, with i7 and 32gb ram.
I am used to windows 7 but eventually I'll have to switch in a future when the developers will drop the support for windows 7.
Any advice would be very welcome.
Thanks in advance
Cheers

 

"I am used to windows 7 but eventually I'll have to switch in a future when the developers will drop the support for windows 7."

When I realized I was approaching same situation, and after testing Windows 10 for more than a year, I finally made up my mind and decided to switch onto MacOS year ago, I went the hackintosh path for my desktop workstation (6-core i7 at 4.3GHz, 32GB DDR4 ram), later bought also a pristine-condition MacBook Pro 13" mid-2012 (i7, 16GB ram, 500GB SSD, 1TB HDD) for a really great price, and I have no reason to move back to Windows anytime soon.

 

I have macs too but as a DAW unless you are using Logic PCs are in my opinion better much more stuff available.
Windows is what it is but Apple stuff hardware and macOS not getting any better.
I have the MacBook Pro 13" mid-2012 too with mavericks on as Sierra was slow and not so compatible.
This dell I got it really cheap and could be great windows workhorse...
Still undecided between W7 and W10_ltsb as few forum members say that it's a great OS better than seven...

 

I'm using Win10 LTSB since years, IMHO the best Windows platform for music, at the moment. of course, you still have to optimize the system.. if you don't, you can't expect to work without issues. ;)

 

Any optimization tips and tricks or some links to get me going please. Thanks

 

just google "windows 10 optimization", there are tons of material. and, tons of material about music optimization.

 

Thank you JudoLudo

 

Been using Windows 10 from day one and not had any issues on multiple pcs. Would never go back to 7, it looks too dated, can't fault 10.

 

black viper can give you some clues

 

win7 is fine but dead soon , you d better learn about win 10 optimisation tricks

 

Win 7 is not dead, as long as the equipment works, I did not install windows for 7 years, works perfectly, I do not intend to change for cosmetic reasons.

 

LTSB is very good. With modern computers you won't gain much in term of performance compared to Pro, of course it's a little bit lighter/not "bloated" with store apps and those background processes, but its main force imho is it's rock stable, and without major update every 6 month (and you can totally disable telemetry on Enterprise versions, like this one...)

No need to do much sincerely for optimization, most of them are similar to w7, or "cosmetic".
I rather use gpedit to tweak also, powerful tool.

You can start here :
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/repo-windows-10-telemetry-repository.63874/
https://www.tweakhound.com/2015/08/10/my-windows-10-tweaks/
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/windows-10-tweaks-fixes.62516/

MDL forum is the place to go for windows related informations, tools etc.

 

i switched back to win 7 from 10 a couple of months ago and im happy with my decision cause everything works fine unlike 10, win 10 updates is a pain in the ass.
besides when they stop support for win 7 you can then switch to win 10, its not like things work differently in win 10, just looks better if u ask me

 

Windows 10 LTSB is your friend...

Optimizing your PC for Audio on Windows 10
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10

Windows 10 2016 LTSB ISO
https://the-eye.eu/public/MSDN/Windows 10/en_windows_10_enterprise_2016_ltsb_x64_dvd_9059483.iso

To activate
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/kmspico-official-thread.65739/

To create an updated Windows 10 LTSB ISO
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/windows-10-ltsb-2016-iso.74013/page-6#post-1387468
I prefer to use the MSMG ToolKit v7.9 to update and tweak the installation ISO
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/msmg-toolkit.50572/
Copy the updates files to X:\ToolKit\Updates\w10\x64\
http://download.windowsupdate.com/c..._086bd10d344a5bb614725135a1589cd784d1e768.msu
http://download.windowsupdate.com/c..._09ed30fbf734047d0e31f131b776eeca91ff09c5.cab
http://download.windowsupdate.com/d..._6fccbf0ed11c9dfbc8d13e50d81ccfe97d1e2b82.msu
http://download.windowsupdate.com/d..._f92abbe03d011154d52cf13be7fb60e2c6feb35b.msu
http://download.windowsupdate.com/d..._9239d872b1bcc0eab8bbe01fa608f7677652497d.msu

 

Last edited: Nov 16, 2017

thanx guys will dig it asap

 

i tried ltsb version2016,but i ran back to win 10 entreprises, with some tweaks run fine for audio producing and live play , cortana is needed for start menu but is isolated,ltsb was lacking of dôme important multimedia dll to run my config smoothly

 

Why is everyone acting like WIndows 8 doesn't exist? It's got the speed of W10 but without the funny business

 

this is from experience: been running windows 7 for years. i had tried windows 10 but didnt like it,the way it looks,the app thing,i dont know.you can use windows classic shell to make it look normal but thats not the point. i for some reason(never satisfied with what i have),gave windows 10 another go (DOWNGRADE!). all ran smooth,etc. until it installed this "windows 10 fall creators update" . so basically the update screwed things up,computer was stuck on a boot loop and /or the update wouldnt go over 88%. tried updating through an iso of the update, and no go.same issue. good thing i had all my files backed up.

finally ended up actually "UPGRADING" back to windows 7 x64 ultimate. hope i never look into a newer version of winodws anytime soon. windows 7 is simple,just like XP. no bs.

 

if you can find all the drivers on DELL website available for Win10 64bit, as well as all the peripherial devices Win10 drivers (audio interface for ex.), then I'd say there is no reason not to get Win10 with that M4800 beast,
since you cannot really obtain Win10 Enterprise LTSB legally, I assume you wanna go "test things out" way, best optimization you can do is entirely disable network, indexing, prefetching, pagefile and plenty other things which make zero sense to use in modern world nowadays

 

I do not have Cortana installed and the Start Menu runs just fine.
Cortana was removed from the installation ISO.
No DLL is missing here, maybe you were using the N version
http://www.itprotoday.com/windows-server/what-are-windows-10-n-and-kn-editions
but there is multimedia pack for the N version
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...edition-of-windows-10-version-1703-april-2017