Would this windows laptop be "okay" with live 9?

[J.K.]

Someone I know is selling this laptop for $250.

It was purchased brand new in 2011, nothing wrong with it as far as I know.

Would this laptop be fine as is to start using ableton live 9 intro on?

HP Pavillion dv6-3210

Screen Size 15.6"
Built in Webcam
*3GHz AMD Phenom II Dual-Core N660
*4GB (2x2GB) RAM
Capacity: 8GB RAM
*500GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Graphics
15.6" LED Backlit Widescreen Display
Integrated Webcam and Microphone
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Or...maybe a ASUS touchscreen ultra book?

Would upgrade the i3 to an i5. or i7 if possible.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Q200E-11-6-500GB-Notebook/dp/B00AD9NRIK

Asus Ultrabook

11.6" Touch-screen
Windows 8 (with recovery partition)
Intel i3 dual-core processor
4GB DDR3 memory
500GB @ 5400 RPM hard drive

[J.K.]

Anyone?

Sorry for the such nooby questions but im buying a laptop today and just would like a little insight on whats a good idea and whats not...

[Tombot]

Honestly, i wouldnt buy either.

The AMD is underpowered and so are the ultrabook cpus.

Get a non-"u" i5 chip, turn wifi off and cross your fingers that it will work.
Realistically, you need to run Latencymon on the laptop to see if its going to be troublesome for audio.

[johnny h]

Honestly, i wouldnt buy either.

The AMD is underpowered and so are the ultrabook cpus.

Get a non-"u" i5 chip, turn wifi off and cross your fingers that it will work.
Realistically, you need to run Latencymon on the laptop to see if its going to be troublesome for audio.

Don't cross your fingers. Make sure you know what you are looking for and perform tests on the computer as soon as you get it. If there are any problems, send it straight back. With many retailers you are allowed to send electronic goods back within 30 days. Don't buy from anyone who won't agree to this.

[Martin Walker]

No need to be so abrasive johnny!

Tom is a professional who knows all about returns, and I knew exactly what he meant by cross your fingers in this case.

Stop sitting in the sun so much and chill a little

Martin

[johnny h]

No need to be so abrasive johnny!

Tom is a professional who knows all about returns, and I knew exactly what he meant by cross your fingers in this case.

Stop sitting in the sun so much and chill a little

Martin

I didn't realise Tom worked for Scan .. buying off them is fine as they know all about audio. I just meant if you were trying to buy something really cheap.

[Tombot]

Hey, don't worry about me! The cross your fingers remark is about the only thing you can do with buying notebooks for audio (unless you get an audio specific model).
TBH i agree with johnny's remarks that it could have been worded better!

Laptops are a nightmare though, so many (often un-announced) model revisions that mess with dpc times, that it's almost impossible to recommend a laptop model, as it will often be gone or changed within a few months.

Before i worked at Scan and was touring constantly (as probably the first professional laptop based DJ in the UK), I worried all the store assistants at Dixons by shoving my pendrive with DPC latency checker onto all the laptops to see what i could get away with. They were even more surprised when i took out the full bells and whistles, 5 year accidental damage cover (and happily made 3 claims, all resulting in a new laptop (as the previous one wasn't manufactured any more) during the policy).... oh the old days!

The irony in this nigh-on-double-posted thread is that the guy is now looking at five year old macbooks, so any advise that any of us give is pretty much fruitless!

[johnny h]

Hey, don't worry about me! The cross your fingers remark is about the only thing you can do with buying notebooks for audio (unless you get an audio specific model).
TBH i agree with johnny's remarks that it could have been worded better!

Laptops are a nightmare though, so many (often un-announced) model revisions that mess with dpc times, that it's almost impossible to recommend a laptop model, as it will often be gone or changed within a few months.

Before i worked at Scan and was touring constantly (as probably the first professional laptop based DJ in the UK), I worried all the store assistants at Dixons by shoving my pendrive with DPC latency checker onto all the laptops to see what i could get away with. They were even more surprised when i took out the full bells and whistles, 5 year accidental damage cover (and happily made 3 claims, all resulting in a new laptop (as the previous one wasn't manufactured any more) during the policy).... oh the old days!

The irony in this nigh-on-double-posted thread is that the guy is now looking at five year old macbooks, so any advise that any of us give is pretty much fruitless!

Yeah .. I wouldn't buy a 5 year old laptop, I mean, thats a long time ago. Macs hold their value so well I'm not sure its even worth buying second hand. If you don't have much cash, PCs are pretty good value these days.

For serious touring its worth getting a mac in my opinion. I've heard stories of them surviving 12 foot drops onto concrete with just cosmetic damage. Mine has taking a fair hammering and I've opened it up fearing the worst so many times, but its still with me working as perfectly as the day I got it...