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Advice on Basic Dedicated Desktop Computer?
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:16 pm
by Pohutukawa
Hi there, I'm a Mac user but need to buy a dedicated machine to go with my Casio Privia + Playground Sessions, and not a Mac because $$$$! Can anyone recommend a machine that's not wildly expensive that might work for that, so JUST for my music learning. I'm totally ignorant about anything other than Macs (and not even wildly knowledgable about them really)... Thanks!
Re: Advice on Basic Dedicated Desktop Computer?
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:58 pm
by Moreless
Pohutukawa wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:16 pm
Hi there, I'm a Mac user but need to buy a dedicated machine to go with my Casio Privia + Playground Sessions, and not a Mac because $$$$! Can anyone recommend a machine that's not wildly expensive that might work for that, so JUST for my music learning. I'm totally ignorant about anything other than Macs (and not even wildly knowledgable about them really)... Thanks!
I have a Dell Inspiron 7352
Specs:
It's less $$ than a MAC. No lag issues. That should give you a starting point.
Here is a pictures of my setup:
https://imgur.com/a/ViQFbOK
I have a key on my keyboard macro'd to switch between monitors when I'm ready to play. Before I had the monitors, I would set the laptop on top the keyboard. The screen felt small so I upgraded. Plus, I hated disconnecting and re-connecting all the cables, so I got a docking station.
Re: Advice on Basic Dedicated Desktop Computer?
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 2:11 am
by Pohutukawa
Many thanks @Moreless for the suggestion, which I'm gonna look into. What a great looking set-up you have. Mine is totes Michael Mouse compared to yours...but I have definitely learned that messing about plugging, unplugging devices blah blah blah is an impediment to practising, so a situation like yours (at least, within the confines of my tiny room and crappy piano stand) with a dedicated monitor etc. is a goal...
Re: Advice on Basic Dedicated Desktop Computer?
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 10:33 am
by andrewwegierski
I would say in general, look for these requirements:
-A large, HD display monitor (almost a given these days, anyway).
-8 GB of RAM
a side note about this: I have a 4 gb RAM laptop computer from 2015, and I frequently get messages like "there is not enough memory available for this task" when running complex programs like Sibelius, Playground, Google drive, etc all at once. In a nutshell, RAM (Random access memory) is the memory or "Brainpower" that your computer has to run multiple tasks at once. Otherwise, it won't be able to keep up with all the processes and it will be overloaded and very slow.
-USB ports, headphone inputs
-AMD 12 or intel i7 processor - i3, i5 and i7 all came out around the same time, but the i7 core processor is definitely better than the others. AMD is more of a gaming processor, so it can definitely handle complex operations like Playground.
Re: Advice on Basic Dedicated Desktop Computer?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 2:05 am
by Pohutukawa
Oh dear... Thanks. I'll take all the info from this thread with me if/when I pluck up the courage + $$ to spring for something. Many thanks!
andrewwegierski wrote: ↑Fri Jun 15, 2018 10:33 am
I would say in general, look for these requirements:
-A large, HD display monitor (almost a given these days, anyway).
-8 GB of RAM
a side note about this: I have a 4 gb RAM laptop computer from 2015, and I frequently get messages like "there is not enough memory available for this task" when running complex programs like Sibelius, Playground, Google drive, etc all at once. In a nutshell, RAM (Random access memory) is the memory or "Brainpower" that your computer has to run multiple tasks at once. Otherwise, it won't be able to keep up with all the processes and it will be overloaded and very slow.
-USB ports, headphone inputs
-AMD 12 or intel i7 processor - i3, i5 and i7 all came out around the same time, but the i7 core processor is definitely better than the others. AMD is more of a gaming processor, so it can definitely handle complex operations like Playground.
Re: Advice on Basic Dedicated Desktop Computer?
Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:05 pm
by andrewwegierski
No problem!