laptop suggestions

Can anyone recommend a good laptop to use with Guitar Rig 3? Should I go for a mac or pc?

 

what's your budget?
I'm using an HP tx2500 touchscreen tablet with vista and it's great. plenty of power for $1300. It's also light and portable.
If you can afford a mac, I hear they're good. I've never used one with guitar rig, so I can't comment much.
With today's tech, you really can't go wrong. Vista is great, don't let anything scare you. Just get 3Gb of ram and 2+ GHz processing speed, and it'll handle GR with ease.

 

that is overkill.. I am running it on a compaq with a single core 1.6 turion, 512mb of ram (which Im upgrading to 1.5 gb), M-Audio mobilepre usb, and ASIO4ALL, and I have no issues.. so it can be done VERY VERY easily on ANY dual core laptop, with at least 1 gb... look on craigslist, and you can find a good laptop for a few hundred bucks... pretty much every laptop you buy in a store will have a dual-core cpu in it, and be able to handle GR3 just fine.. especially if you spend a bit more and get a "zero-latency" audio interface.. although, you can use ASIO4ALL on you onboard sound card and get great results with that.. if I can run it on my bucket laptop, then you should be able to run it on any that exceeds my specs..
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"Vista is great"

vista is NOT great... it has a very limited compatibility spectrum, mostly because MS decided to rewrite a perfectly good kernel, and made it garbage... lol

I tried vista on my gaming pc, with every vista driver for everything.. guess what didnt work, even with the drivers? m-audio interface, which is a BIG thing... even though on their site, they say its supported, its not.. take this into consideration when getting a laptop, as most places will "downgrade" to XP, which, in my opinion, is the most stable OS they have built... and I have been a computer tech for 12 years..

 

I stand corrected. However, RAM is cheap so max out whatever laptop you get. It mostly depends on the complexity of your rigs. My average preset has maybe 3 amps in it, multiple delays, and a load of other effects. My average preset runs at about 50% on my laptop with my specs.

and Asio4all is a beautiful thing.

 

hell yeah.. asio4all is great... ALWAYS max out your ram.. I cant run that much stuff... 1 amp, 1 cab, a few fx, gets me around 60% MAX... im sure it will help a lil when I get some more RAM, but perhaps not... its mostly the cpu, and I am at the bottom end of the requirements for hardware, but I get a maaaad crunchy tone just using 1 amp and a few fx...

but like I said.. if you go get a brand new laptop, you can spend less than 600 and get one with a huge hard drive, at least 2 gb of ram, a dual core, etc.., which will let you damn near run whatever you want..

I also HIGHLY recommend getting a USB audio interface, as it will make the computer ran better.. the USB interface will take load off the CPU because the interface is doing most of the work for the audio, leaving the CPU to more important things, like system calls, etc..

 

im also using a touchscreen hp tx2617ca with 4 gigs of ram and soon to upgrade to 16gb.

But needless to say 4 is good, but since im using vista 64 i could definately use extra ram... vista is a hog even with everything turned off.

 

There's an additional consideration: how many and what other audio programs will be on your computer.

Here's a case in point. . .

I run Guitar Rig 3 on a 3GB/2GHz laptop. It has always worked fine when running by itself.

When I run it with Ableton Live (either separately or as a plugin) my computer is wont to crash.

But this didn't use to happen. It only started after I installed TRacks, Philharmonik, and Melodyne. . . :|

So there's more to consider than just the computer itself, because presumably Guitar Rig will not be the only audio software you'll be using.

 

while I have to agree on that, I have run ableton since it first came out, and recently using guitar rig 3.. it DOES take up more cpu, but the thing is, if you installed stuff, and now it wants to crash, its the stuff you installed...

I mean, the audio driver should be the same, unless one of the plugins you installed changed it... another possibility is your running cracked software and one of the plugins is conflicting with the crack for it (which I hope isnt the case ..

but yes.. there is more than just the pc itself.. BUT, if you are using it for a live performance, running standalone, then you shouldnt have to worry at all..

"I run Guitar Rig 3 on a 3GB/2GHz laptop. It has always worked fine when running by itself.

When I run it with Ableton Live (either separately or as a plugin) my computer is wont to crash. "

That right there tells me you broke something or a crack/patch isnt working right.. I 100% bet every dime in the world its not your pc.. its something that is causing a conflict...

if you have a laptop with those specs, you could easily run multiple instances of guitar rig (depending on what you have in your rig) within ableton, with hella vsts and whatnot.. we do it all the time for our Live PA shows I do with our drum and bass group.. we use guitar rig as one of our main FX on my friends laptop, as his is about the same specs, and it holds it own.. although it gets VERY hot..

NOTE** I recommend getting a laptop fan or some sort of cooling device for your laptop, as it can get very very hot during a performance..

 

In case you are still searching, I just can add my two cents: I used GR2 on a 5 year old laptop, no multicore, and it ran perfect. Now I own a HP pavilion 6770, an AMD Turion dualcore 2.20GHz, with an Edirol UA 25 (the older one, USB1.1), and it still runs perfect on a Vista home premium machine.

Guitar Rig even runs very well on my main PC, a 5 year old AMD AthlonXP3000+... the software is just well built concerning cpu use, I would say.

Unless you don't run some umts internet device (which drove me mad because it constantly de-activated all NI software and other challenge response programs...) with Vista and Service pack 1 you won't have many bugs. If you still got an old XP lying around, Vista would not be better - but with a very bit of tweaking not worse in my opinion, and I run a lot of VSTis and hosts.
So I would say - only if you plan to build extreeeemely difficult rigs with tons of stomps and so on, all in hi quality, you would have to worry about your laptop not being fast enough.

Concerning the m-audio interface mentioned - I have an old 2496 pci card on my old XP-main computer, and by now m-audio should have vista-drivers for that;-). If you plan to buy an m-audio external soundcard for your laptop, I would simply take the new laptop with me and test it in the shop!

 

No, I don't use cracked software, never have. I have, however, been using an older version of Live, version 5, which apparently is the cause of my computer crashing. Version 7, which I've just tested out, doesn't crash, so Ableton seems to have updated the audio engine.

Guitar Rig 3 uses alot of CPU power, whether in stand-alone or plug-in version. So if there are other audio programs and plug-ins running consecutively then there might be problems. One has to consider all the programs & plug-ins that will be running on a computer (esp. at the same time) in addition to the computer itself.

Cheers.

 

exactly

well, they do have drivers, but they dont function as they are supposed to on every version on vista..

I have tried.. vista, just as XP was when it came out, is still a couple of years away in terms of allover compatibility... thats just the nature of the beast when it comes to MS and their OS's when they come out.. every single version of windows has been buggy when it came out, until a few years later... we can all thank Bill G. for that.. lol

 

The new MacBook looks great, and it has lots of RAM out of the gate. I'm sure some will disagree, but I'll never go back to PCs.

 

Yep, I disagree . Only a bit, he he. Because that's not to say macbooks were bad, it's just that laptops with windows or even Linux are great for professional and semi-professional work too. In my case it is simply that I heard 1000 times too much that "only macs are da ****", from people who never had a PC, because it's more posh to sit in a café with your mac .
Stating the contrary ("I would never use a mac") would be wrong of course.

T'was just the question if someone could recommend a good laptop for GR3, and nearly all not too shabbily built, mac or pc, will be good friends for GR3.

 

macs are very expensive for what you get, and they are as safe as any intel/AMD based laptop running linux.. no virus, free software, etc... really, its all about personal taste, but I agree with klemperer on this one.. macs are pretty much for people who are scared of pcs, so they blow hella money on a mac, not realizing there are other OS besides Windows and Mac OSX...

The only reason I like windows is for gaming and making music, although, i have had alot of success running most of my music production software through linux..

if you got the money, get virus' all the time on windows pcs, and are just generally not a "computer guy", then get a mac..

if you are serious, stay with windows, and save money that could be spent on great things, like Guitar Rig 3! haha

although, again, this is just opinion.. I love macs, but I wouldnt ever purchase one, when I can run linux and have the same thing..

Mac OSX = pay for linux, Linux = get for free... haha.. but I have yet to get guitar rig to run on linux yet, but I keep my hard drive dual-booted with ubuntu 8.10 ultimate, and windows xp pro sp3.. xp for music ONLY, ubuntu for everything else..

I couldnt agree more.. LOOK AT MY SPECS! haha.. my laptop is f***ing bucket... it serves its purpose though.. anything with a dualcore cpu (amd or intel) and at least 1 gb of ram, can run gr3 with no issues..

 

Interesting. . . Do you run any software, like Parallels, to accomodate two different operating systems on one computer? And can you go from one to the other without having to reboot?

 

no.. you cannot dual boot with out rebooting.. lol

I use a program called GRUB to control which OS I use.. it installs by default when you install ubuntu...

look it up.. it does EVERYTHING that you can do with windows, but for free.. just dont plan on running games or your whole studio off of it (although it is possible)...

look up the following sites

ubuntu.com
kubuntu.com

and search for dual booting windows and ubuntu.. its very simple...

 

well that's rubbish. i have a degree in computer science and program windows computer for a living. i've built myself innumerable pcs from components and installed windows far too many times to remain sane. so you can't say that i'm not a computer guy, or i'm not "serious"

a few years back i got my first mac and have been happily using em ever since. yep, you'll often get the best bang for the buck, especially with cheap, low-end machines if you go pc, but the mac experience makes it entirely worthwhile imho. smoother and slicker than any of my experiences with linux, and far nicer than windows. the main problem with apple's pricing is that they don't update prices often after a model is released so what starts as good value gets more expensive relative to pcs just by staying the same price. but when the mac pro first came out i recall it being significantly cheaper than an equivalent pc from hp, dell or compaq, and using xeon processors i doubt that you'd get stuff much cheaper building your own as small sellers won't get economy of scale on that sort of kit.

 

a degree is good and all, but im talking in opinion.. ive done the same thing with computers.. lets put it this way.. for nerds sake, i run an active directory in the house with all the pcs (linux and windows) and laptops together.. I wasnt trying to bag... lol.. sorry if I came off like a prick..

the "mac experience" is just a thing that gets people to want to try something thats "not windows".. lol.. thats why I finally tried a home desktop version of ubuntu, fedora core, and a few others, and was wellllllllll satisfied... linux offered EVERYTHING that 90% of computer users need, and it runs wonderfully.... its all in the config.. granted, not everyone is a computer geek, but linux will give you everything that a mac has to offer, and then some.. plus, no matter what, you can always dual boot..

I have built many a pc (both 32 and 64 bit), and have quite a decent installed base of ubuntu 8.04.1 on computers, and everyone loves them.. just as they would a mac..

BBUUUUTTTT... mac can run ALOT of software that linux cant, so that is a MAJOR drawback... plus, if you work with vsts, then you are all good for a mac.. I just dont think its worth the hype, just cause it looks pretty... lol.. I always set my desktop to classic.. very simple, and gets it done... better computers can obviously handle more...

all in all, as i ramble, try both, and see what you like better... no one can tell you what is better than the other to YOU, as you are the consumer... just feel it all out, and go from there.. you will find what you like.. but you shouldnt need to pay over 700 for any sort of new laptop for gr3...

 

apart from the mentioned "fashion guys" (which of course would run no MUSICAL software anyway ;-) I know a lot of people who are happy with a mac, a few that are not (funny little videos about this can be found unter "putorial" in youtube; okay, the musician has had problems with mac, but still uses macs ). There are lots of professional studios running windows happily, and there are many not so happy with win. (Part of the internet- impression our hype-society even in intellectual circles is full of comes from the fact that windows is still more used, by the way. His jokes are more about Logic than about macs, if I remember right, still, he has had serious problems making professional music with macs some time ago, like others have experienced with windows.).

For me it would be like this - would I have my well-balanced setup with a great working host, my vstis, effects, and would be happy, it wouldn't matter at all to me if I used a mac or a win PC. (say I were a tad richer than I am of course ).

My few tryings to get a Linux system running sadly enough failed due to lack of knowledge on my side. I know a few people who run vstis with Linux successfully, and make great songs. Seems they don't always use the latest soundcard, as Linux developers have to make them compatible first with their OS.

My humble beginnings with making music were, surrounded by crack-kids and being the do-gooder I funnily enough am (Gutmensch in german, the word is used 3 billions of times by intellectuals since 10 years at least in all papers and mags; seems the worst thing on earth for "Spex"-readers is someone who for example doesn't use cracked software or helps 96 year old granny to cross the street) - was using share- and freeware. In this department windows still is far better for musicians. You get so many great things and can see what you like, and what not so. In fact NI and many other companies get thousands of customers like me, starting with sometimes superb synthedit-software and later finding out about Reaktor...

The same thing seen from another point of view changes things a bit of course - the freeware around can of course distract you from making music, and if you bought a mac in say 2003, your choice was a bit limited compared to Windows - still, you had plenty of things to choose from...

Great information in this thread, by the way, for example would I have met eviltobz accidentally in some computer-shop, maybe I would have watched him/her;-) buy and would have ended using a mac...
As things are, I'm happy with Windows, and my only problem now with all software I have is Kontakt3 going into demo mode sometimes, for no apparent reason (if cpu hit is high, but then no other software I own goes into demo-mode if you run as many tracks as you can...)

 

My personal taste is the Macbook Pro (4 GB Ram/Duos). I also have GR 3 on my tower PC as well. As to dependency on not having a computer that may crash or freeze-up during live performances, Mac is the most stable to depend on. Never had ANY operational failures during rehearsals or live performances (running smooth for up to seven (7) hours straight).

It was worth for me to spend the extra bucks for peace-of-mind. I also use it for business – a very versatile machine. My IMB laptops are now stored!