So I'm going to be straight here, I can't afford a macbook pro. I want like a Dell, but will it be okay to run fl studio 10 live on it? like for shows? I have like 220 I can spend, thanks guys
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hiding under your bed
I can't really suggest anything for $220, but if you can save up some more I'd definitely suggest getting one of the cheaper laptops from Dell's Insprion line. The basic ones are around $400, IIRC.
That's my go-to laptop for anyone who doesn't know exactly what they want and don't want to go through the trouble of building their own.
IMO it's probably the best prebuilt lappy you can get for that kind of money. Not exactly top-of-the-line stuff, but it'll have a decent video card and a decent amount of RAM. My dad gave me an Inspiron n5010 about two years ago and I still use it for FL Studio and Ableton, as well as Adobe's premium web suite CS4 (photoshop, illustrator, flash, etc.), and Vocaloid. The specs are also good enough that I've played Bioshock, Portal 2, TF2, and emulated a few Wii games on it with without any problems.
But yeah, there's not a lot you can get for 220.
All I can think of for around 200 is a little "eee pc" (this is a brand?) netbook my sister has. It's pretty much a piece of crap and the only thing it gets used for is Facebook. Some of her Facebook games don't even work properly on it.
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Chicago IL
PianoGameboy wrote:
All I can think of for around 200 is a little "eee pc" (this is a brand?) netbook my sister has. It's pretty much a piece of crap and the only thing it gets used for is Facebook. Some of her Facebook games don't even work properly on it.
Asus is the brand, Eee is the model. It's not great for music outside of trackers.
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Riverside, CA
Either an Asus netbook or a Thinkpad T61.
I use the Eee PC 1001PX for my music stuff.
It can run FL okay so long as you don't go crazy with it.
Although I am running Arch Linux on it which is a gazillion times more efficient than Windows 7.
I can get the latency down to about 12ms with only playing wav files and a few effects (part of my live setup).
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shanghai
it really depends on how many vst plugins, both synths and effects you will be using. I dont know about doing a live with fruit loops - i imagine you'll use ableton. it does need something decent to run smoothly, otherwise you'll find yourself very limited in audio tracks and effects.
But at the same time, its very dependent on what you're processing when you play. mine i have m4live running, normally a sequencer in reaktor as well as all the clips being triggered by mpd, and playing vst synths so it rapes my cpu pretty bad.
if your set up isnt that complicated it should be ok on a basic laptop. just stay away from 'netbooks' cos they aint gonna run shit except for trackers.
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Austin, TX
I recommend going on NewEgg and looking at what Asus offers in the ~$500 range. Since you'll be using it for music, make sure it has a good CPU and a healthy amount of RAM. Laptop hard drives can be replaced if they only offer you a 256GB one, but replacing CPUs is a hassle. Even if you one of Asus' lower end ones in this line (mine still only has a Centrino processor), it'll still do most of what you need it to do. Unless you're getting into really complex stuff (like Downstate described), it shouldn't matter that much. I can still run Fruit Loops pretty well on this thing.
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Medina, Ohio
Glitch Militia wrote:
220 USD will get you nothing really..
Unless you buy used 
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Orange County,CA /Las Vegas NV
dsv101 wrote:
Glitch Militia wrote:220 USD will get you nothing really..
Unless you buy used
I like this guy^ Really though guys, you woke me up, I'm just gonna save for the mac, or for an alienware
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England
go second hand? a 5 year old refurb will probably still do everything you need as long as you don't have to have completely up to date software.
Last edited by Jellica (Apr 23, 2013 6:06 pm)
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IL, US
Cuddle Television wrote:
dsv101 wrote:Unless you buy used
I like this guy^ Really though guys, you woke me up, I'm just gonna save for the mac, or for an alienware
you can get a pretty solid pc for less than half the price of a macbook, just not for $220... you can get something pretty good for around $400-450
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SLC, UT
Cuddle Television wrote:
I'm just gonna save for the mac, or for an alienware
Cuddle Television wrote:
alienware
Please no. Please please please no.
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Finland
No gaming laptops and no Eee PCs (I have one, can't do much with it so I assume this isn't what you want). Buy one for the average user and go from there. Can't recommend any really, I just know that the two options I (and many others before me) mentioned are worthless. So unless your keen for a new paperweight you choose something else.
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Abandoned on Fire
I got this Toshiba on sale for $300 a few weeks ago. Seems legit so far but I've always had extremely low end computers so I impress easily. 
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shanghai
you dont need to drop shitloads on a mac or an alienware - you just need to spend a bit more than 200 bucks which is bascially nothing. im sure for 500 quid or so you can get a perfectly powerful - enough laptop
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Auburn, WA, US
My sis bought this HP 2000 Notebook with 4GIG of RAM, AMD E-300 APU with Radeon graphics, dual core, for about $350. It's running Windows 8 which actually isn't all that horrible once you get used to it. Personally, I still miss the XP days but you know...
I haven't tried running FL on this thing but it ran some basic games pretty well. My shit old HP Pavilion from '06 with 1GIG of RAM couldn't even handle running Proteus (an incredibly serene but very low demand game). This comp ran it fine as well as some other simple 3d games.
You definitely DEFINITELY do not need one of those "high end" consumer knee-jerk PCs. Get something between $350 and $500 and you will be fine, trust me. All you need to do beyond that is TAKE CARE of your little computer. Some people treat their computers like trash and it makes a huge difference. Only install the bare necessities (~the simple bear necessities~) and don't let it burn itself up.