low end laptops?

[GaryG]

Anyone using anything particularly low end laptop-wise?

Just pondering getting something a bit more powerful (blame Reaktor Blocks...) than my ageing i3 for when I do get out and about. Can't justify a massive outlay so was looking at refurbs (based around 3rd gen i5s). Then I noticed a new 7th gen i5 wouldn't be that much more... I know the 'U' processors are more for mobile/low power usagebut it seems with gen 7 the benchmarks (for what they're worth audio-wise) have leaped on a bit. And if they did perform well enough then I'm all for less energy consumption (only one planet yada yada... ;))

Cheers.

[warrendaly]

Hi,
I use a laptop with a i5-4210U, I run Ableton Suite, and it will run most things I throw at in Reaktor. However, I just bought Softube Modular, it appears to be on the verge of falling over.

I found my older laptop that uses a i7-720MQ is able to run the same bunch of software, so in fact, I didn't really 'upgrade'.

I will keep looking for MQ or HQ designated chips in the future. Where I live there are some nice secondhand laptops with Intel i7-4710MQ and some affordable Intel i7-7700HQ options.
or I'll consider buying an older refurbished "compact desktops" system, these will still beat many new laptops.

Good luck.

[noise_construct]

Basically the only CPU spec that matters in audio, especially for Reaktor use, is single core clock speed. Do you hit 100% CPU in Task Manager?