Music Production laptop for $150?? Affordable for everyone
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Today we're looking at the used laptop market, and how you can get a Lenovo T420 for very little money and spruce it up to be a reasonable music production machine, all for less than $150 or £150 depending on where you're living.
We upgrade ours with a new battery and an SSD, links to both below.
T420 Replacement battery:- amzn.to/2Xx3Er5
240GB SSD:- amzn.to/2XeXuMH
480GB SSD:- amzn.to/2JbP530
Original eBay search for Lenovo T420:- www.ebay.com/s...
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What gear to buy? We recommend interfaces, microphones, monitors and more at our Thomas (Europe) and Sweetwater (USA) links below
www.thomann.de...
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I am using the Lenovo T420 as my primary audio recording computer, I use it with Reaper and it works great. One thing I would suggest is getting an HDMI cable and a desktop monitor and hooking it up to that. That way you won't have to be looking at a small laptop screen. I'm using an HP Compaq LA2205wg which is big, works in 1080p and can be had for
Thank you. I was toying with the idea of getting a used W530 as I already own one and it's still going strong after being my main work laptop for six years (and counting) and taking some heavy abuse, including a bottle of sugared and caffeinated beverage. But: the T420 costs a third of the W530 on ebay and seems to take the same batteries and power supplies. I guess I'll get me one of those instead. This video was perfectly timed ;)
Please talk about software about this setup. Thanks!
I just finished the setup a used X220 Thinkpad with similar specs as my recording computer to go (otherwise I use an Intel I3 and one desktop with a noiseless 1037U for vocals and acoustic guitar). I am really impressed with the performance. For Travel and improvised field recordings this thing is great.
Lenovo put real Desktop I5s into these machines, todays notebook processors are a litlle faster (10-20%), but the internal memory management is castrated, so there is no real gain. In terms of sustainability older Thinkpads are also a good choice, everything replaceable, modular battery, nothing glued.
I am running a dual boot with Linux (for average computing and Bitwig) and Windows 8.1. for music and construction (I am an engineer).
I have a x1 carbon i7 8gb with arch Linux and reaper, perfectly fine!
Hi! do you know the generation of your computer? I want to get one myself but I don’t know which gen to get.
Do you have DPC Latency in the DAW or live recording ?
the Thinkbook Appreciator has logged on
Building a pc is still cheaper an better
110 pounds =
-8 gigs off ram + 120 ssd (used Mainboard bundles recommended)
-intel i3 4160 3,6 GHz Dual core comes with integrated graphics perfekt for work and only 12 pounds or even less
-Gtx 660 or even a 750 (BUT INTEL INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ALSO WORKS U DONT NEED A POWERFULL GRAPHICSCARD
TO MAKE MUSIC)
Used hdmi monitor + mouse and keyboard
Some random keyboard you can almost plug any keyboard with midi cable ( midi out port on the keyboard and usb to pc) to your pc
Some random free software like ableton lite that comes with almost any midi key or in case you don't have the money for it some random free software like Soundbridge
Free plugins/presets:
-Surrge wavetable synth (closest free alternative we can get to xfer serum )
-tal Filter II side chain (lfo tool alternative)
-spitfire labs
-izotope vinyl (free retro color alternative)
-ott ( must have!)
-reverb ( included in ableton lite or use any random plugin alit of reverbs are free online )
-The cymatics library (awesome presets !)
You never put a price
There are some exceptions to the rule "new Thinkpads are faster". Up to a point, these machines used relatively powerful CPUs and battery life was of secondary interest. But then the latter became more important and some machines were actually less powerful than their predecessors because they used low-power CPUs. Whether that is an issue for this use-case I cannot say. But it something to take into account. BTW: This comment is written on a Thinkpad T520 :-)
Great content, Adam! I’m about to pull the trigger on an ica4+ since my rig is based on an iPad Pro (10.5” ‘17), the goal being to bring my studio to my friends’ much larger studio (Logic in a canister Mac based, loads of outboard) for guitar tone sussing for prepro, access to my insane amount of softsynths etc.
Knowing that I can get a dirt cheap laptop to do those few things that just feel better or work smoother in that environment vs iPad sets my mind aflurry with ideas.
Hope you’re taking care of yourself and may your wildest dreams come true.
This video what i want to watch! THANK You!!🤘
Will this work in 2020 please help
It’s working right now
Yes, very good of you to share the windows 10 update trick. That will save everyone another 100 or so. Thanks Adam
Will this work well on fl studios 20? Great content btw, only one out here that understands not all of us can afford proper expensive shit
Thanks! I figure FL Studio would work fine, especially with the SSD upgrade I was talking about :)
Hop Pole Studios Thankyou bro
Is a hp elite book suitable for music production
I am a starter at the music thing ran through 2 laptops already HP keeps crashing.
Now I have a Dell Latitude E7440 not sure if it was a good decision
Thanks brother
Perfect timing. Trying my 2nd time to build a bedroom music studio and actually start producing something. What about people saying you need a laptop with dedicated graphic card? Planning to try Ableton or Studio One Thank you!
I’m not convinced you need a separate graphics card for music production, you’re not doing anything demanding. Good luck!
@@adamsteelproducer Thank you. Saw a W530 for a good price, too! Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!
@@adamsteelproducer Hey Mister. Good news. Managed to fetch a Lenovo W530 i7 3720QM with 256 GB SSD C: and another 500GB SSD ( DVD rom out) and Windows 10 Enterprise on it for £236 last night on Ebay:D I would like to thank you by sending you some money and I hope I can use the Windows trick as well. Let me know of your paypal address or something. Thank you!
Will this work with fl studios and will plugins work well on this? Thanks for the video btw helps a lot words can’t describe
@@Holytrinitybelievers I am not sure. Try to access forums regarding Fl Studio. Had to to double check as well on forums related to Ableton Live.
What’s a good auto interface for Thinkpad?
To prove your point.. I use an even older, slower T61p. Dual Core centrino processor. 2GB ram, 7200 rpm disc and Win 7. I run Acid Pro 7, FL Studio 12. Waves Plug-ins. Addictive Drums 2 and various other bits. I can even use Vegas Pro 13 with it. Is it slow? Yes. Should I upgrade? I probably will when it goes bang. Does it prevent me from writing and recording anything I can think of? Absolutely not. I hope you don't mind me posting this link here but it does reinforce the point of your video. Check out this recording I did with 200 quids worth of gear:. Everything you see and hear was done on the T61.. th-cam.com/video/ea3Z8hllH00/w-d-xo.html
Great Video cheers..
Hey Adam! Could you please make a video on room acoustics and studio monitors for mixing. I am using a JBL LSR305 but thinking of switching to new generation adam audio stuffs. ^_^ TIA!
Did you recomend this for Adobe audition?
How good would this laptop be for using DAWs for making beats etc.?
Fine
Yo i just orderd a hp elitebook 840 g3 it has 16gb of ram im just starting recording that should bbolenty right im doing pretty basic level shit
T-420 Nice
can lenovo thinkpad110 do the job
Hello Adam, I’m not computer savvy mate
I have a Lenovo thinkpad T440 core i5 -4300/ 1.9 ghz, 8gb / 480gb 14” lap top 64bit
Windows ten, would this be good enough to use for recording. I will be running reaper, ezdrummer,
Impulse responses and vat lepoulin amps and assorted other amps also a midi keyboard, my interface is a focusrite scarlet 2i2 possibly going to use electric drum kit midi to ezdrummer, just found your channel, and love your reaper tutorials and product reviews
@hoppolestudio I got a:
T440p Thinkpad.
12 GB of ram/ 500GB drive
Using Reaper DAW (licensed)
Komplete audio 6 mk2 interface
Akai MPK 249 software controller.
I've had so many problems, recognizing the interface, sound comes from the internal speakers and not from the KA6.
I wanted to test something.
I plugged my MPK 249 into the hp and it was recognized and says ,your device is set up ,same thing happened with the interface. 🤳🤦🏼♂️🤷♂️
Are you using ASIO? If not, then of course sound will come from internal speakers- check your setup and drivers
@@adamsteelproducer my output and input in device manager are komplete audio 6, ASIO in Reaper preferences ?
@@adamsteelproducer When I plugged everything into an old hp ,it instantly recognized the interface and the mpk 249 by name ,input monitoring is the reason I was getting feedback, or so I thought ,its always feeding back! even tho Komplete is setup,in recording something, the computer mic is doing the recording and with feedback, Yikes!
Even tho its disabled.
Thanks
@hoppolestudios if it has a 1.60 ghz processor is it still viable?? Is the i5 and it has 12 gb ram.... Would it affect the latency?? Or overall performance??
For acoustic instrument recording what are the fan noise levels?
You probably had to tweak windows a bit to get it up to speed for audio didn't you? (I'm thinking power plans, turning off some of the i/o intensive processes like indexing, etc)
Good find, those off-lease business machines are golden !
Nope!
Just replaced the crap old hdd with an SSD. Makes all the difference. I’m sure I could tweak it in the future but it’s the storage that’s the real slowdown
@@adamsteelproducer That's true. An SSD and using Reaper (other than certain resource-heavy daws) generally negates the 'need' for that kind of stuff anyway.
Sandy bridge is probably Intel's best generation of chips, got a desktop with a i7-2600k still chugging away. They're still good after a decade, I'm not sure Intel is happy we're not replacing them!
What would you use if you had the current choices available? Staying with the same budget/parts friendly setup
Probably a lenovo t450 or t460 depending on what is in your price range
Can a thinkpad T440 i7 4600u 8gb ram is enough for fl studio and music production?
I had a X270 with i5 6200U
It was horrible.
Try to get the T440p with Quad Core i7 (QM not U)
Or a T480 with 8 Gen i5 or i7
Hello adam, its Tim again.this computer is a toshiba sattelite with a i3-3120m processor with 4 gigs of Ram. if I get a solid state drive for it and possibly up the ram, how much better would my latency be on amp sims. I'm not really sure what helps with the latency. If the i5 is that much better over my I3 I may wait a bit and not put money into this machine. Thanx so much for your channel and your dedication to all of us.
Hi Tim- the latency would likely be no different to what you have, the biggest factors in latency (until you’re getting to really low numbers) is the interface itself, and the design of the drivers
ok, so at the moment I use my yamaha thr10 as an interface running amp sims from Lepou. If I still do the upgrades, solid state HD and another 4 gig ram for total of 8. I can count on a boost over what I have surely. I can get a focusrite 2i2 third edition and maybe that would be better drivers than the THr10.
Hi, i have a t410, would this be too old or would it do the job?
Depends what you want to do, for basic recording and some stock plugins it would be just fine
So does it really matter what kind of laptop I use for recording what about a regular lenovo laptop from beat buy and a focusrite interface
Does it have a boot SSD? In that case, it should be fine for basic recording. It might slow down or struggle with a full mix though
just wondering but what are your thoughts on band labs buying cakewalk and putting it out for free, ive been trying to find good training for it, but its few and far between.
You need i5 ,2,4mhz minimum ...but I suggest 2,6 MHz for Calkwalk
I have a T440s
-- but how do you deal with the Graphic card aspect of the t420-460?
Deal? It works fine for audio production, nothing to deal with
@@adamsteelproducer i wanted to buy a t460, but I read everywhere that the Graphic 520 card in T460 cannot be used to install prologic or other music software, etc.. Can you add an external graphic card to it, or how do you get around the graphic card issue?
Does this computer have 2 harddrive bays?
No
never bought from ebay, could you tell us who sold it to you. Thank you adam.
Honestly I forget, it was a small private seller I think. I’m in the uk so it’s largely useless, and each seller will only have a limited amount of these laptops. I’ve not had many bad experiences with something like this on ebay
@@adamsteelproducer Thank You Adam for your help. love the information.
Damn I have the T430 rocking with 4gb ram
Me too :-)
Lenovo Thinkpad t420
Smoke weed 420 man
Is this laptop good for FL studio? Making beats and recording vocals wise?
No
LOL 420