Specs dammit! I need specs!

August 31, 2013 6:34 AM

My current computer (a Dell desktop from 2008 or so) has served me well, but is about to shuffle off of its mortal coil. I'm looking to get a new laptop that will support some pretty resource intensive work, specifically Pro Tools/audio work and perhaps like, Sony Vegas/Final Cut Pro/Aftereffects video stuff. I'm wondering if you guys could help me spec out a new computer based on these needs - both the best Mac and the best PC I could potentially get, given my needs. Budget = $2500
posted by to sir with millipedes to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

The new Mac Pro (if you can wait) is tempting. Certainly a different beast than anything else out there. Have you seen it? I think it's a 4th quarter availability, but it kinda makes me want to start looking for problems only it will solve so I can justify a purchase.

Haven't seen anything in the PC world like it.


edit... whoops! you said laptop. still.....
posted by FauxScot at 6:55 AM on August 31, 2013

Have you looked at some of the Lenovo towers aimed at gamers?
posted by oceanjesse at 7:22 AM on August 31, 2013

I'd wait for the Macbook Pros to get the new Haswell chips (which should offer a little more CPU power for less battery usage) and get one with a retina display + topped up RAM + as much flash storage as you can afford.
posted by bluecore at 7:36 AM on August 31, 2013

The Mac Pros do no yet list price, but considering they have two $1,500 graphics cards in them I doubt you'll see it come out in your budget (I could be wrong).

I go with bluecore's advice. Then throw bootcamp on it and you have both the best mac and the best PC within your budget.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:07 AM on August 31, 2013

Do you have a preference as to lightweight/portable vs large screen size? If low weight is a priority, either the new Sony Vaio Pro 13 or the new Acer Aspire S7 are great machines. They are light-weight (under 2.5 lbs) with a Core i5 or i7 (Haswell) CPU, fast SSD, and true HD displays on a 13.3 inch screen. I have the Vaio and love it.
posted by ElDiabloConQueso at 12:03 PM on August 31, 2013

15in retina MacBook Pro when the new ones come out. You want the quad core for audio stuff, trust me. Max the ram too even if that pushes the budget.

The base model will be fine other than the ram. If I had the money right now I'd be ordering one the instant the new revision comes out soon. To do very similar stuff on as well...
posted by emptythought at 2:27 PM on August 31, 2013

I don't think you're going to need to spend anything like $2500 to get what you want, if you're willing to settle for a PC.

I own one of these, for which I paid $1500. Now it's $1000. About the most CPU intensive thing I do is run Handbrake, and it really screams through that. It's got 4 cores, but each core is hyperthreaded, so to apps that are multithreaded it looks like 8 CPUs. (Pretty much; I omit a discussion of hyperthreading.)

The display is 1920*1080 and it looks gorgeous. For whatever it's worth, the "Windows Experience Index" says:

Processor: 7.6
RAM: 7.6
Graphics: 7.4
Gaming graphics: 7.4
HD: 5.9

I'm not a gamer, but it was designed for gamers, so CPU power and graphics performance were optimized.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:47 PM on August 31, 2013

You can't afford a top-of-the-line Mac Pro in your budget, and you'll have a tough time spending that much on a Windows machine unless you add peripherals or overpay for marginal performance improvements.
posted by blue_beetle at 2:13 PM on September 1, 2013