What is the best laptop for creative professionals?

>>61334613
unironically macbook pro

Macbook pro is great for everything

>>61334613
You mean code baristas?

>>61334660
no code.

>>61334613
What does that even mean... I'm a "creative professional" and I could need different laptops in different days

>>61334715
if you could only keep one, which one would you keep.

>>61334613
What do you create?

>>61334733
sounds. internal sound hardware is irrelevant however.

having a screen with decent adobe rgb coverage would be nice tho.

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>>61334613
> creative professionals
I have no idea what did you mean by that, but I'm pretty happy with my current Dell xps 13 laptop.

>>61334613
...and why is it a MacBook pro

>>61334752
If you're working with audio and asking what hardware to get I have serious doubts that you're a professional.

And I say this as someone who often attempts to evangelise linux to fellow audio professionals.

Dell XPS 13

>>61334854
the only concern i really have is cpu headroom on the intel U chips vs HQ. the machine's purely for production use and the projects themselves are somewhat difficult to gauge that with - it's not music, so simultaneously playing audio tracks rarely exceed 10, however, the project itself is usually around a 110/120 tracks.

I don't mind dealing with windows and ASIO, and like i said, internal soundcard is irrelevant as i'll be using an interface anyway.

also, i'll use the machine maybe 4 weeks out of the year when i have to travel.

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>>61334613
Probably this when it gets released. No need for meme infinity displays.

>>61334905
What software are you using? Are you using a lot of post processing effects on the fly? The usage of massive amounts of audio files will usually be more dependent on how well ram is utilised. I've seen shows with 15-20gb of audio data run without a hitch on relatively anaemic 2013 MacBook airs

if you mean graphic editing and shit just pick something with high res and high adobe rgb coverage, or atleast 100% srgb

>>61335010
ableton live is the primary DAW.
re: effects and external instruments, for the most part processing cost isn't very high. all tracks will usually have an eq (usually ableton's default devices), an external plugin for panning and width control, and send out to a couple of convolution verbs, but as mentioned previously.

rarely, however, there will be a 2-3 second chunk where you have multiple instances of demanding softsynths. ideally i'd like to keep them editable, but since the use for this machine is so limited, i'm willing to just fork the project and render those bits down to audio to reduce workload.

that's what makes me think i could get away with going down with a U series processor.

>>61334854
>linux for audio
just fucking terrible man

>>61334905
what the fuck are you making with so many tracks?

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>>61334613
Depends on what you do. I'm an industrial designer and I need to draw so for me it's this. Expensive as fuck but so far nothing else quite matches its feature set. I'm still waiting to see if there will be any updates before I buy one though (or if any OEM comes out with a decent copy), my current laptop is falling apart but still does most of what I need it to do reasonably well.

>>61335166
>what the fuck are you making with so many tracks?
sfx work for animated shorts. there are ways we can get that track count down, but it's easier to keep track of things if you just assign new tracks to elements as they appear on the timeline.

>>61334613
A desktop if you are serious.

>>61334715
My thinkpad x230 or a newer model

Now that wasn't the answer you wanted

>>61335221
cant you just dump multiple clips into one track?

>>61335293
xseries thinkpads are on the list, but i'd like something with nice srgb/argb coverage and they seem to be a bit lacking in that regard.

>>61335307
it's doable, but causes a couple of issues:
1. the projects are worked on by more than just me, so it can be a bit nightmarish trying to find a particular 0.5 second sound in a dense area if you've got shared tracks.

2. processing changes from track to track, so having shared channels would mean spending time organising sounds that share the same processing (relatively rate) or, alternatively, spending that time automating processing.

it's just faster doing it in new tracks. we do occasionally have tracks that run through the whole project e.g. footsteps for a particular character on a particular surface, in the same environment, where all that needs to change is volumes.

Depends what area of expertise you are in, personally I do a lot of web design and development where Sketch (MacOS only) is our main tool, if you're doing print stuff with Creative Suite MacOS isn't necessary and video stuff generally benefits from having more horsepower unless you use FCP.

I have a fully specced 2015 rMBP which I dock to 2 QHD panels and it works great.

HP Spectre X360

Lenovo Yoga 720

Thinkpad Yoga X1

Thinkpad Yoga 370

Dell XPS 13 2-in-1

Asus Zenbook flip ux370

Toshiba Portege X20W


all of these have a 360 rotation screen, they're 2 in 1 with Pen input

they are 1.3kg or lighter

>>61335384
what DAW do you even use for that?

and how can i get a job making fx for videos?

>>61335421
>what DAW do you even use for that?
whatever you're comfortable with and allows you to preview video. depending on the type of work sounds often have to be placed with frame accuracy. the work is relatively easy as long as you've got good fundamentals - half the guys i know doing it are self-taught via bedroom music production.

>and how can i get a job making fx for videos?
know a guy who knows a guy.

>>61334613
Macbook Pro. I don't even mind Windows but most creative professionals will think you're incompetent if you show up using Windows. They're not wrong either. Even simple things like mockups and preparing print work is very difficult on Windows since the font rendering is terrible and most fonts don't render accurately. Basically every highly respective designer/artist/musician uses Macs for good reason.

Linux is not an option since no professional creative software supports Linux.

>>61335126
U series should be fine.

>>61335166
It's a better option than Windows.

>>61336678
are you fucking retarded? name one worthwhile DAW for linux that isnt buggy shite and isnt just a windows app running on WINE.

>>61336783
What windows exclusive DAW is worth using windows for?

>>61334613
A desktop

>>61336971
FL Studio
Ableton
Kiketools
Cubace
Studio One

and lets not forget about the hundreds of windows only plugins out there.

all linux has is Shitwig and LMMS which is like a buggy version of FL.

>>61337077
FL studio is the only one of those that's windows exclusive at the moment (it has a mac beta).

>>61337185
point still stands there is nothing good for linux and once you factor plugins into the mix there are shitloads of them which havent worked their way over to mac yet.

>>61335173
isnt the drawing on that display absolute shit compared to a wacom tablet ?

>>61337243
Exactly which plugins are windows exclusive?

>>61334613
Any laptop with Gentoo

>>61337298
none of the major commercial ones but there are shitloads of free and experimental plugins that only exist as windows VSTs. even OSX is better for audio than linux.

>>61337337
neo-/g/ is unable to use Gentoo, it's an ipad iphone monkey generation.

>>61334885
I work in the music industry. 99% of the time someone has a problem with software or their laptop dying, etc it's always a MacBook. Apple knows creatives think they need them, don't take the bait.

>>61337379
You can run many windows only VSTs on both macOS and linux.

I never implied that macOS wasn't better for audio than linux, just that linux was more worthwhile than windows.

macOS > linux > windows. If you're serious and require features such as aggregated audio devices and easily configurable network MIDI OOTB go with a mac.

If you don't want to pay the apple premium and are happy to forego the software support that comes with it go with Linux with an RT kernel and customise your distro for pure production.

I can't recommend windows which offers nothing worthwhile and whose audio development is an afterthought by microsoft.

>>61337487
of course it's always a macbook. everyone in the music industry uses them.

>>61334613
does shitposting count as creative work? if so, i say the MBP is the best choice

>>61334613
macOS X is the best operating system for music, fwiw

>>61337533
I have been seeing more and more PCs, since people can't afford to keep buying macbooks. Only the bankrolled keep buying apple products. It's like buying a $500 distortion pedal.

>>61337663
Yeah this is true. I'm one of these people, worked in the industry since 2001 and last year I didn't buy a mac when it was time to replace my touring laptop. It's always been the case that the video guys have a fair amount of windows machines floating around for the beefy GPUs for projection mapping multiple video layers etc. but the audio world is almost purely apple.

In the past that's been with good reason but the cost is getting ridiculous especially if you're refreshing an entire touring rig with backups too.

>>61337782
who do you Tour for?

>>61337782
There is no need to use Apple products for music. It's a fucking scam, seriously. Plus you get better support. Toured with a band that used some high end Toshbia-manufactured thing, accidentally left the propriateary charger in a different city, contacted Toshiba, they sent him 4 chargers and a new laptop for free.

>>61337850
"proprietary" for fucks sake, my bad

>>61337850
I agree 100% that it's not a necessity any more, it is deeply entrenched though and until recently it was with good reason. My main hope is that this price gouging will see small to mid sized acts move away from macs and that over time (as these artists grow bigger) the notion that you need apple will disappear in the industry. Musicians are stupid though, one of my clients pays a guy 250 euros every time he buys a plugin or updates a piece of software so that the guy will install it for him.

I will say though that I've experienced great apple support too, I think if you've got a big set up with a lot of money invested you'll get good support anywhere though. short term cost for 20 years of loyalty is a good decision.

>>61337810
Worked with all sorts, I'm wrapping up touring now I have a kid though.

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>>61334631
>>61334650
>>61334850
>>61334885
>>61337533
>>61337593
>>61337661
2 rupees have been deposited in your Apple Evangelism Account Pradeep.

>>61337965
yeah if you have a massive setup Apple will help you, but otherwise they tell you to "find an Apple store near you". basically "fuck off". I'm glad a sea change is coming though. a bad example, but when Girl Talk used some shitty Dell Inspiron laptop in 2006 people were shocked. his music didn't really make a good case for PCs though.

>>61334613
> creative professionals
Those words have no meaning. You could've just as easily asked "What's the best laptop for goat fuckers?"

>>61337281
No it's just as good (if not a little better) from my experience with it. Supposedly it will be even better when microsoft puts out the new lower latency pen some time this year.