Hi,

I have a two-folded question:

New Windows Laptop for my music hobby: Studio One, Bitwig, Kontalt etc.
Is it basically the question of the best CPU (Intel Ultra 7, 9 is too expensive) and enough RAM (32). I am really having CPU issues with my current Laptop (Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.59 GHz/ 32 GB RAm).

Can I use my current SSD with all the software installed?
Would it be possible to use my current SSD and install it into the new Laptop?



Thanks

 

You will need to remove/reinstall so much software on your current SSD to put it into the new machine, it will not be worth your time and effort involved. You would probably need to reinstall the operating system. You would be better off looking into getting an enclosure for the old drive; which would let you use it as an external drive, along with the newer laptop.

But you should investigate your CPU issues first and find out what is actually wrong. If it is audio software-related you will have to determine that yourself. By this I mean, do not expect a repair company to figure out your DAW and plugins. Unless you want to buy a new one anyway, because your specs are lower than a new machine will be. You could always use both. If both have ethernet ports, you can run an ethernet cable between the two machines to get all your stuff from the old drive if need be.

The best answer will depend on more details than you have included.

 

Its a geekbench of 4937, should be ok for audio as long as you aren't loading a ton of analog emulations.

Best thing to do is to bounce down cpu intensive tracks to audio.

wibawoba job job jobby out.

 

You have to be your own software support basically. so you have to figure out
is your computer process bound? (too much programs and services fighting for finite resources,ram,cpu processes etc)
is your computer disk bound (too many programs and services trying to read/write simultaneously)
is your computer Ram bound (too many programs and services trying to read/write into/out of ram at the same time)

you need to search this board for how to diagnose - check my name if you want I've explained how to use Process Explorer
to figure this out. its free. use it. learn how your gear works, or buy more and still not know whats going on.

its not that hard, it just takes effort and not as much as grinding on the same level of a video game for days with nothing to show but empty cans of redbull.

Be curious
be smart
understand what you own and how to make it work like it should.

everything you learn teaches you something that no one can take away from you,
that should be treasure enough.

 

Exactly. Even if you really do just want a new machine, figure out the first one. Maybe sell it, use 2, whatever. Once any needed files/data are backed up, I would do the normal testing and tinkering; but if selling it or buying a new one? I'd go as far as wiping the entire system disk and reinstalling Windows. Maybe even try using it with only 1 DAW installed.

 

likely you have one of 2 problems.

1.you are processor bound

or

2. your computer is full of dust and your heatsink is now being nicely insulated by all that dust and it keeps cycling up and down like an apple bobbing in a barrel, trying to get cool.

but I'm guessing based on what I've seen over the years.

If you get another computer, eventually you'll have the same problems. why not learn how to fix them, save some time and money and make some music?

 

I think one of 3. That processor is an i7 2.6 from 2019 right? That is basically the same spec as my macbook pro. It will run 60+ stem projects in Logic with decent amounts of plugins. It will run 10+ instances of Falcon. Like @ChemicalJobby mentioned, without a lot of analog emulations running; it's fast enough to do nearly all music tasks. Just with a little old school resources management like bouncing, freezing, and disabling/hiding synth instances after bouncing them.

@OP mentions having 2 DAWs installed, Kontakt (but 32gb is ok), and who knows what kind of plugins. Add possible realtime Malware scanner, firewall, network connectivity/wifi, maybe a poor choice of ASIO driver, bad software DAW build with cpu spikes, 80% full SSD, etc. You know the things people do that slow down machines. Bloated version of Windows with unnecessary services enabled. Improperly seated RAM modules to go along with 4 years of dust buildup. SSD issue? The possibles list goes on and on.

 

your spec should be fine, I'd suggest troubleshooting your current setup first,
either you're simply running too many plugins/instruments - in that case you really have to start making use of freezing/bouncing tracks
or laptop cooling is clogged from dust, dried paste etc.. - in which case you should consider complete cleanup and repasting heatsinks of the cooling,
if you're not sure which component is the bottleneck, then observe if it's cpu or ram or ssd (less likely) which is on its limits,
new Intel Ultra series is expensive and really only improves on gpu and npu (neural unit) so if you don't need those, then you can skip that series of chips completely,
technically yes, you should be able to - but I'd rather recommend cloning your current SSD to new laptop - that way you wouldn't have to dismantle new laptop (and void warranty eventually) and more importantly you'd have "untouched" backup copy of your current system - I recommend using Ventoy and Hirenboot to boot into cloning environment on a new laptop

 

I think you can migrate your entire SSD by cloning it onto another SSD and windows will automatically detect hardware changes.I have used minitool partition wizard for this purpose in the past

 

DAWs works better with cpus that have all core at the same power. Better more cores with less power then few cores more powered. I prefer amd's cpus

 

thanks. That gives me obviously a lot of food for thoughts.

 

it will depend on how "different" the hardware is, also the windows license is often in the firmware, so the release and the version may vary, you may windows 7 home on your old machine and the new might have a windows 10 pro licencse, usually it will work backwardly. ie w10 will accept a lower version o/s and authorize it, but not always.

also your drivers may be completely different and your wifi or ethernet won't work so you cant update from the machine.

I've had good luck swapping drives from same model to same model and working without a hiccup, swapping from hp to dell etc is much more hit or miss.

 

Hi all. Shout out to longtime contributor @tzzsmk . Hope all is well with you man.
So for the op, just what most pointed out. You really don't need another comp. Your current spec is perfectly fine for running audio ws. The 6 core cpu is adequate enough as it can boost up to 4.5 ghz. You make sure you do maintenance on your comp and if you don't know where to begin with the hardware visit a professional to do it for you. Otherwise, there's a ton of videos (and many times model specific) in yt that demonstrate how to clean and even upgrade your laptop if applicable.
One fact that has happened probably to most of us and will keep happening since it's human nature: You get bored of your older hardware and in the back of your mind you keep trying to find an excuse to get rid of it and buy new shiny thingies hehe. Nope! Fix the existing hardware if it fits your software spec and save money for when you will really have to move to a newer machine.
All the best,
Cheers