Moving From A Desktop To A Laptop Based Setup

[THE INTRANCER]

Currently, I have an I7 920 system with 20 Gigs of RAM which has been plenty enough for my graphic design purposes as well as music productions thus far. Also with an 8 Gig AMD Radeon RX 570 Sapphire graphics card in there, it has enough power for most games to run.

The thing is though, I don't tend to spend as much time as I used to playing computer games, probably due to many of them not being installed on my Windows 10 OS such as Battlefield 3 which I had played for over 2000 hours over the years from 2012. With the cost of electricity, I've cut down my desktop usage and currently, I spend more time on my old 1.73 GHz dual-core laptop during the day for web browsing.

So I'm now at a bridging point of considering a new alternative which is certainly going to pose a few problems of its own as a complete replacement for everything I wish to do from music production to designing high-resolution instrument GUIs, supporting 2K / 4K sizes.

My current desktop graphics card supports super-resolution up to 4K on a standard 1080P screen. Yes, it makes things smaller but its practical advantage is just to have more screen estate available to work with in Photoshop. I'd need a laptop which will be able to output that to an external monitor. I don't know if a mid-priced laptop of around £600 would be able to do that. From the laptops I've seen, many have a screen resolution of around 1920x1200 for that price range. I don't know if a laptop with a dedicated graphics card built in will allow for a higher resolution to an external monitor as opposed to those that have the GPU built into the CPU itself.

Other issues such as connecting USB devices with so few ports available for all the external hard disks and USB connection of keyboards are going to quite limiting. Powered hubs are an option but I've often found that many devices prefer being connected directly to computer ports. I've also got a Focusright Pro 14 audio interface connecting jack leads and midi cables and that's Firewire-based.

With the I7 920 currently back to its standard clock rate of 2.66 instead of 3.56 where I used to have it and with it being a 2008 model, I'm going to assume that more modern laptops are going to be a lot faster and more power efficient when it comes to the CPU's having potentially more cores and higher clock speeds.

My other issues:
My desktop system is a quagmire mess of wires and devices housed in a big box my monitors sit on. It's as tidy as I could get it on my large desk where almost everything resides but it needs sorting out again or a completely new studio setup design. I'm trying to make more space but keep access to my windows and my computer system stuff accessible at the same time. There's far too much stuff in my room including another desk.

[BertKoor]

> My current desktop graphics card supports super-resolution up to 4K on a standard 1080P screen.
I guess that's a rare feature nowadays. Does Windows offer scaling to 50%? That would be the same. Or invest in a proper 4k screen.

> connecting USB devices [...] mess of wires and devices
Consider a docking station.

[maanga]

A notebook you buy now must come with you for 5-10 years
If you are going for dual screens at a later stage, then go with notebooks with one HDMI and one thunder bolt 4 ports.
Look for notebooks with 13700/13900 H or HX cpu. They are cheaper now as new Ultra series CPU are more newest.
Don't bother with graphics cards. Any lower level card will do.
You will also find 15" and 16" notebooks have provision for second SSD and socketed memory.

Most thin notebooks lack enough ports for audio production, Also the two ports are available on the sides.
Many do not have HDMI port also. Most of the thinner models have soldered memory. Beware of this.

Always talk to the supplier to know the limitations of your model.
Regards.

[chk071]

Look for notebooks with 13700/13900 H or HX cpu. They are cheaper now as new Ultra series CPU are more newest.

The budget is ~600 pounds. That would rather be a low mid range laptop.

[THE INTRANCER]

A notebook you buy now must come with you for 5-10 years
If you are going for dual screens at a later stage, then go with notebooks with one HDMI and one thunder bolt 4 ports.
Look for notebooks with 13700/13900 H or HX cpu. They are cheaper now as new Ultra series CPU are more newest.
Don't bother with graphics cards. Any lower level card will do.
You will also find 15" and 16" notebooks have provision for second SSD and socketed memory.

Most thin notebooks lack enough ports for audio production, Also the two ports are available on the sides.
Many do not have HDMI port also. Most of the thinner models have soldered memory. Beware of this.

Always talk to the supplier to know the limitations of your model.
Regards.

Well I've spent a few days looking around, and the laotops I've looked at with a 13700 cpu are around £750 plus. I'm hesitant to not buy a laptop without a decent enough graphics card, as when it comes to doing any video work it's going to be a bit of a potential bottleneck.

Not sure of the implications of soldered memory but I'll assume that it's directly on the motherboard itself and not removable.

Thunderbolt 4 on laptops have been difficult to find specified.

I will probably need to chat with a laptop specilist supplier to see if I can find a sutable laptop for my needs. I think my highest budget could stretch to £700 at the max.

[THE INTRANCER]

Just posting this video for reference, there are a few things I didn't know about, or perhaps long forgot about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H71Ixqm ... eriousTech