I am considering having a second, light laptop for music needs, that’s strictly for music.
My main laptop is functioning as a desktop workstation for e-mails, work, studies, games and entertainment with additional keyboard, external Display and mouse. My brain just associate it with work and entertainment, not so much with production.
And I don’t want to go hardware/dawless - as I already don’t have enough space for gear and synths.
If you want something cheap I would recommend looking at a used T series ThinkPad, since you can find a lot of spare parts and new batteries for them.
Anything newer than a T420 should be quite usable depending on your workflow and needs. Check ebay for cheap ones, and local stores if they have something already refurbished. Look for something that has the CPU power you need and a 1080p display. Older models can also have a 1080p display with an LCD controller board in between.
Right, yes, the T420 looks nice, it has the old school keyboard and mouse buttons, plus the trackpoint
I am a corporate refurbished lenovo fanboi to save money and waste and to be able to repair these things myself. I of course own an T420 for the puffs, it is a cheap office machine, no build quality, no power. The keyboard is oldschool, but I’ve gotten used to the newer ones quite fast and I can type better with them now. I’d rather advise you get a better machine with some more processor power (i7) and build quality like a P-series like P50, P51, P52 etc. If you want some workstation power, don’t go with a crap consumer or office machine, but a workstation device. P50s go cheap here currently, also own one driving it with linux, it is a very nice machine…if it breaks and I cannot repair it, I’d get a P series again. But looks dire like the monolith from 2001, and it’s also got that weird red LED on the “i” of the “Thinkpad” logo on the lid, that would fade in and out like some cheap ass HAL feeling…
I thought the T series was the tough, real n business stuff. Thanks for the info, I’ll check some of that out!
Yeah, T series is for mobile office tasks or thinks like sales agents or representatives, things like that, low power CPU no GFX chip, build quality is rather rough. W series are more powerful laptops with GFX chip, and can be used as workstation - I’ve a W series here, and it is not as nice quality as the P series, which are workstations for all kinds of pro tasks like audio/video/cad/3d or engineering or whatever task needs a powerful laptop.
Oh, and “P50s” is actually another model like entry level P series, didn’t mean that, actually I meant P50. But should be good, P series has similar traits, and there’s also 17" if you want a larger screen.