Shoot! My laptop died. Need recommendations...

Lewguitar

Lewguitar

Old Know It All
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
3,539
Location
Paonia Colorado
I'm right in the midst of setting up a little home studio to record some of my acoustic guitar pieces so I need something that will work well with the Focusrite Scarlett Prina loaned me and which I'm interested in purchasing either new or from Prina.

I've been using a Lenovo Ideapad 3 but it's dead in the water. Took it to a computer repair guy and he said he couldn't fix it.

I never loved it. It's kind of slow and I don't like the screen.

Right now I'm using my cell phone so I'll probably not post much on the forum until I replace my lap top.

Any recommendations? I don't want to spend much. $500 maybe.

I have an old Dell desktop that's a good 15 years old. But I haven't set it up in at least 7 years. I'll dig it out and see if it still works.
 
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I bought a new Dell laptop about a year and a half ago. The first year with it was a nightmare. It was in their shop more than in my house. I had tons of issues with the touchpad going non responsive. The third time I sent it in it got damaged in shipping back to me and I had to fight with them to make them fix it. I don't know what all they swapped out in it that last time but it has been pretty solid since I got it back and that was around late November of last year. I used to sing the praises of Dell but this last go around with them has me rethinking that. The laptop runs great now and works like I expected it to in the first place but it took months to get it there.

I would probably recommend Lenovo or HP at this point. I have both of those brand of laptops for work and they have been solid.

I am not sure what is wrong with your current machine but these are usually repairable. Where they usually fall down is when they get old enough that they can't keep up anymore. Unless it is a display issue or something like the motherboard, it can usually be repaired. I have been building and repairing computers for decades and have rarely run into something that wasn't worth fixing. Getting parts may be an issue these days. That is one thing that drove my Dell being in the shop so long. They had issues getting the parts. A desktop is always easier to fix because the part are usually bigger and easier to get to.
 
JasonE said:
I bought a new Dell laptop about a year and a half ago. The first year with it was a nightmare. It was in their shop more than in my house. I had tons of issues with the touchpad going non responsive. The third time I sent it in it got damaged in shipping back to me and I had to fight with them to make them fix it. I don't know what all they swapped out in it that last time but it has been pretty solid since I got it back and that was around late November of last year. I used to sing the praises of Dell but this last go around with them has me rethinking that. The laptop runs great now and works like I expected it to in the first place but it took months to get it there.

I would probably recommend Lenovo or HP at this point. I have both of those brand of laptops for work and they have been solid.

I am not sure what is wrong with your current machine but these are usually repairable. Where they usually fall down is when they get old enough that they can't keep up anymore. Unless it is a display issue or something like the motherboard, it can usually be repaired. I have been building and repairing computers for decades and have rarely run into something that wasn't worth fixing. Getting parts may be an issue these days. That is one thing that drove my Dell being in the shop so long. They had issues getting the parts. A desktop is always easier to fix because the part are usually bigger and easier to get to.
Click to expand...
The computer guy I took it to said the keyboard is not replacable. I spilled a cup of coffee on it. It's completely dead.

He buys HP's and turns them into something better then sells them for around $500.

Claims they're as good as a $1500 laptop once he's finished with them.

Don't know whether to believe that or not.

Most people in our small town love the guy's work.

But not everyone.
 
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Lewguitar said:
I'm right in the midst of setting up a little home studio to record some of my acoustic guitar pieces so I need something that will work well with the Focusrite Scarlett Prina loaned me and which I'm interested in purchasing either new or from Prina.

I've been using a Lenovo Ideapad 3 but it's dead in the water. Took it to a computer repair guy and he said he couldn't fix it.

I never loved it. It's kind of slow and I don't like the screen.

Right now I'm using my cell phone so I'll probably not post much on the forum until I replace my lap top.

Any recommendations? I don't want to spend much. $500 maybe.

I have an old Dell desktop that's a good 15 years old. But I haven't set it up in at least 7 years. I'll dig it out and see if it still works.
Click to expand...

Did you call Lenovo customer support to see if they have a way to get the problem troubleshooted?
 
Lewguitar said:
The computer guy I took it to said the keyboard is not replacable. I spilled a cup of coffee on it. It's completely dead.

He buys HP's and turns them into something better than sells them for around $500.

Claims they're as good as a $1500 laptop once he's finished with them.

Don't know whether to believe that or not.

Most people in our small town love the guy's work.

But not everyone.
Click to expand...
oh crap... Death By Coffee... He's probably right. Unfixable.

I've been a computer industry professional for 23 years and counting now and I've always built my own towers, old school style. I do understand that people like laptops these days. My personal favorite store bought favorite laptop models are the Dell Latitude series. They have got sales engineers standing by to assist you with your purchasing requirements.
 
I spilled a glass of wine on my ASUS laptop. That fried the motherboard. I sourced a used motherboard on ebay and had it replaced. The shop did a lousy job of opening and and sealing the laptop, it looked very amateurish. Anyway it worked well for a while, eventually the laptop screen shorted. It worked fine with a monitor. Eventually it died.

Replaced it with a Lenovo Yoga. Very Happy with it.
 
I have had Dell laptops for my last two work laptops. They've both been trouble free. I just got a new one last week. Four days in, and no issues. My wife had an HP that she HATED from day 1. Just a dog. I bought her a Microsoft Surface over the winter. She really likes it.
 
bodia said:
I have had Dell laptops for my last two work laptops. They've both been trouble free. I just got a new one last week. Four days in, and no issues. My wife had an HP that she HATED from day 1. Just a dog. I bought her a Microsoft Surface over the winter. She really likes it.
Click to expand...
I’m a Mac guy at heart, but replaced my sometimes-work-sometimes-play laptop with a Dell 9720 17” and it’s been great. I did a music show with it last week and it was glitch free, even at extended wireless ranges. I’ve used Dell computers professionally for many years, and they’ve always been of good quality. You might look for a used one in your price range. My bet is that it will hold up well.

For music stuff, MacBooks are super but in your price range you’re only likely to find support for older OS models which might not support newer software. My beloved iMac 27 is in that camp now, which is a shame.
 
A Mac Mini with an 8 core M1 CPU, that will run circles around most non-apple machines (as well as the $4000 loaded iMac I bought only 3 years ago), will support as many plugins and tracks as you can dream up without slowing down or crashing, and comes with Garage Band, a free DAW, is $599, new.

Add most any monitor, keyboard and mouse - plenty of inexpensive ones out there - and you're in business. It'll run any Mac DAW as well as any of us, myself included, need to get recording work done.

However...

If you're simply recording your acoustic guitar songs and don't have big plans for editing, plugins, or releasing music into the wild, a stereo Zoom or Tascam handheld recorder with built in stereo mics AND XLR jacks for external mics, for under $200 will do the job admirably.

It will take you one half hour at most to learn how to use it instead of months.

For a hundred or so bucks more than a basic model you can get them with multiple tracks, multiple mic inputs, and they'll also serve as a computer interface (!).

I use a stereo Tascam hand-held for field recording sound effects for ads, mostly using the built in mics. I had to get the most expensive model thinking I can't afford to have something fail under time constraints, but later I found out that my son's company has been recording SFX using the $200 Zoom H4N Pro for their high end releases.

Does the same stuff, but it's plastic, which is fine if you're not going mountaineering with it. These things will fit in a guitar case or gig bag and record with excellent fidelity, especially using external mics.

The cost of these things is incredibly low, given what they do.

www.sweetwater.com

TASCAM Portacapture X8 32-bit 8-Channel Multitrack Field Recorder

32-bit/192kHz, 8-track Portable Recorder and USB Audio Interface with 2 Detachable Condenser Microphones, 4 XLR/TRS Combo Inputs, Phantom Power, Onboard DSP, and 3.5" Full-color Touch Display
www.sweetwater.com www.sweetwater.com

Just sayin'.
 
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I just bought this and couldn't be happier.
ideapad_slim5.jpg


IdeaPad Slim 5 16ABR8 - Type 82XG​

$658

Processor
1x AMD Ryzen™ 7 7730U Processor(Ryzen™ 7 7730U)
Memory
1x 16GB DDR4 3200
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64(EN:English)
Hard Drive
1x 512 GB SSD PCIe
Wireless Network
1x Wi-Fi 6 2x2 AX; Bluetooth® 5.1 or above
Ports
1x Combo of 3.5mm Stereo Headphone Output; SD Card reader; 2x USB-C (PD+DP+USB 3.2 Gen 1); 2 X USB 3.2 Gen 1 (the rear hinge one support AOU)
Camera
1x 1080P with Dual Array Microphone
Graphics
1x AMD Radeon™ Graphics
Monitor
16" WUXGA
 
If I had my life to live over again, I would not have sold my open-reel analog multitrack tape machine and mastering machine, or my analog console.

I got bupkis for them, and they sounded wonderful.

Granted, I needed to work in the box to meet client deadlines that grew shorter and shorter, but for my own projects and personal amusement, the hardware was terrific.

There are times I think the computer stuff is unnecessary if you don't need all the editing capabilities.
 
Once I Went Mac I Never Looked Back. IMO They Are The Best For Anything A Person May Use On The Creative Side. All Of My Mac's Have Lasted Far Longer Than The Others I Had And Far Less (None) Issues. Far More Efficient And Practical Once You Get The Hang Of Them. I Would Never Go Away From Them Now. YMMV
 
Whatever you get, make sure to upgrade the heck out of it. You do it to your guitars… you owe it to yourself to do the same to your laptop. :cool:
 
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