Recording With a Laptop

[James Quillian]

I have always recorded with a PC.
What specs must a laptop have to effectively replace a PC?

I generally record one track at a time, never more than 2.

I typically do about 6 tracks.

[mtulbert]

Any modern pc will work fine. I did a 16 track recording in Pro Tools about 10 years ago with a Dell Laptop. Input was from Presonus mixer. Laptop handled it with no problem at all. Your needs are much less. Just use a good interface with it and you should be fine.

[Nicholas Cox]

I agree with Mark. Any decent laptop will be able to record multiple tracks at a time, let alone the one at a time you require. Just make sure not to get a Chromebook or other such laptop that can’t support a major DAW.

[Mike Neer]

Two things I’d recommend: external storage and at least 16gb of RAM. It’s not necessarily the recording process itself that taxes the system, but playbackof all tracks with plugins and effects will.

My setup is pretty advanced with a lot of RAM and I still end up having issues at times when using certain plugins. I also use a RAID array for storage—its best not to have your DAW and all your files running from the same drive and also good to have a 3rd drive for backup.

[Dale Rottacker]

Two things I’d recommend: external storage and at least 16gb of RAM. It’s not necessarily the recording process itself that taxes the system, but playbackof all tracks with plugins and effects will.

My setup is pretty advanced with a lot of RAM and I still end up having issues at times when using certain plugins. I also use a RAID array for storage—its best not to have your DAW and all your files running from the same drive and also good to have a 3rd drive for backup.

My very first venture into recording was with Garage Band on a 2014 MacBook Air ... later moving to PreSonus Studio One ... I don't use it for that anymore, (though wouldn't be afraid to even with its lowly 8GB) opting for my iMac instead. Its a 2017 5k that I upped to 64 GB with an internal 3TB HD ... Like Mike EVERYTHING is run from external HD's and even after 7 almost 8 years I still have 2.65TB available on my internal. I bought a CalDigit 12TB RAID in 2018, and surprisingly only set that up late last year or early this year. Don't even remember how I did that now may need some RAID tips from Mike

[Dave Grafe]

Just be aware that many laptops are throughput limited to keep them cool with minimal internal airflow. The same processor that rips through huge files in a desktop may hang you up in its laptop iteration. This is not always made evident by marketing departments so research carefully before you buy.