Home recording studio

[technovice]

ryanmusic, thankyou for researching and posting all the questions I had. I am shopping around for a laptop for vocal recordings, video editing, photos, gaming and college for my daughter. What is important is speed, memory, performance, portability and long battery life. Our budget is below $2000. I know Asus is highly recommended, is this the best? What Operating System is recommended and accessories. I would like to purchase something and receive ASAP. Her birthday is nextweek. So what ever I buy needs to have all the bells and whistles. Is there a laptop with a midi keyboard to learn how to play piano or other instruments, with very good sound and speakers?

 

[frozenlead]

You're asking for it all, which just isn't possible.

First, what programs will your daughter be using for editing and gaming? This will determine what OS and hardware she needs.

There are no notebooks with MIDI support. You need an external device for that (which you should have anyway if she does any type of serious recording).

Notebooks do not have good speakers by definition. They're just too small to get good drivers and cabinets in there. You will not find any notebook that even approaches a reference quality audio system.

 

[technovice]

We are starting from scratch she just moved into her own home and does not have a computer. We only have this acer desk top in my home. I am trying to keep this as a surprise gift. My thinking is if I get a top performing fast computer with standard software to get started she can add on software she likes. I think gaming/ video editing and clipping is the most important to her. She is finishing her last two years of Mechanical Engineering. Her birthday is July 31 but her school start August. So we have to get something real soon. I do not want to spend more than $1500 dollars for everything.

 

[frozenlead]

Still, I really can't recommend you anything until I know what she plays. You don't want a top end machine to play Starcraft.