Recommend me a desktop for production

-oRnein9-

Hi all recently been trying my hand at some production fl studio / ableton, really enjoying it. However seshions just don't feel comfortable on my laptop with 13" screen, so looking for a recommendation of a desktop with decent soundcard processor ram ect, say bout 600 to spend, thanks in advance

Neurojazz

Check out somewhere like http://www.scan.co.uk/ if you can build your own.

They also specialize in audio computers, but you pay a bit more - you could also ring them and give them your budget and make sure the person your speaking too knows what you need for an audio pc and they can build to your budget.

I'm on my second scan machine now, both run fine and the build quality is awesome. If something goes wrong they also pickup from your door (even in Eire) - so support is good also. I think the guy i spoke too was called Paul Moss, he really knew his stuff and can get you the best for your cash.

Hagakure_irl

Scan is decent,

But to be honest what you want the most if a good processor, good ram and good hard drive space. You have no need for a fancy graphics card.

http://ireland.dell.com/ie/en/home/Desktops/desktop-studio-mini/pd.aspx?refid=desktop-studio-mini&s=dhs&cs=iedhs1

and the third option, 2.8 ghz processor, 3 gigs of ram which is all you need. Not 4 gigs because Vista 32bit only uses 2.5 or so of the 4. And a 640 Gb hard drive which comes at higher read/write speed, something that is also important. It's 550 for everything and it even has a 18.5" monitor!

crowdcontrol

Dell PC's are gay....

Dragan

crowdcontrol wrote: »

Dell PC's are gay....

Dell PC's are very affordable and decent spec for people who don't have huge budgets, no?

Of am i not cool enough to not hate Dell?

crowdcontrol

ah yes, but seriously, they suck....

old gregg

if it were the case that the biggest problem was the 13" laptop screen then you could just buy a 21" monitor or something from the likes of Lidl/Aldi assuming you have the facility on your lappy to plug an external monitor in and use some of your remaining 600 to get a decent audio interface like the Fasttrack Pro and maybe a RAM upgrade.

600 will hardly/barely buy a new entry level PC and decent Audio Interface.

2c inserted

crowdcontrol

Maybe its from personal experience but I went Dell initially and had my fair share of problems. Dell support is absolutely dire (unless you go business). Dell tend to use cheap parts etc to get their prices down.

Fair enough if you are on a budget, they will do the job (the higher spec models) but if you can spend then look elsewhere.

Hagakure_irl

crowdcontrol wrote: »

Dell PC's are gay....

That's some great advice there.

To be honest people can moan and whine about horror stories all day about a company, but to be honest were ever you go a company will have its hiccups and that desktop is quite affordable for what you get. The real budget choice is to build your own desktop, it would be higher spec than what you would buy from a company like Dell. Also Dell support isn't the best, but I could post poor support here from Dell, HP, Alienware etc. So who do you go with in the end?

I'd agree with what old gregg posted.

crowdcontrol

Well OK, not the most helpful but I still stand by what I've said. If you are on a budget Aldi are selling a high spec PC from this Thursday 23rd July. Its a quadcore with 4G's of ram for less than €500.

That would be a beast of a machine and more than enough for the apps you have mentioned. I use a similar spec machine with Cubase 5 and I never have any trouble. I can load a ridiculous amount of plugs and VST's without getting performance issues.

Hagakure_irl

The ram is essentially the exact same as they both include 32 Bit versions of Vista. So the extra 1 gig is not used.

There's no mention on the HDD speed, I suppose you could ask in store but the Dell is definitely 7200 RPM, something you'll want when you have a lot of VST and plugins loaded.

And the Quad is very decent, its AMD and the Intel E7400 which comes with the Dell is a solid processor, neither are future proof as the Quad is too low for that.

So with all that aside, they are about equal, the Dell however coming with a decent monitor for an extra 50 euro.

empirix

i run protools using a dell xps mini desktop - tis a good spec though and cost about a grand(no monitor) a couple of years back, still excellent now though. i now use a 13 inch macbook connected to a 24 inch monitor - again excellent, so if your laptop is a good spec get a big monitor and maybe a wireless mouse and keyboard and your sorted for fairly cheap

Neurojazz

I think there is even a dell refurb site to get extra cheap units (in Ireland) - like here.

The only things I would check would be the compatibility with the motherboard and your audio card/breakout box - it's rare, but sometimes there can be problems the two items working well together.