Another Laptop Spec Question

Well let me know if you see any issues.

I wouldn’t mind more ports, even if they are USB B (not high speed). I would go for a lesser graphics card, but Dell bumps if up if you bump up the processor. I was not looking for “turbo”, but hopefully it does not hurt anything. I like the HK abbreviaton for the Intel chip.

My big interest is lots of ram.

Any thoughts are welcome:

For some reason this:
12th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-12900HK (24 MB cache, 14 cores, 20 threads, up to 5.00 GHz Turbo)

is a lot cheaper than this:
12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12700H (24 MB cache, 14 cores, 20 threads, up to 4.70 GHz Turbo)

Tech Specs

Processor

12th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-12900HK (24 MB cache, 14 cores, 20 threads, up to 5.00 GHz Turbo)
Operating System

Windows 11 Home, English
Graphics Card

NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti, 4 GB GDDR6, 40 W
Display

15.6", FHD+ 1920 x 1200, 60Hz, Non-Touch, Anti-Glare, 500 nit, InfinityEdge
Memory 

64 GB, 2 x 32 GB, DDR5, 4800 MHz, dual-channel
Hard Drive

1 TB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD
Case

Platinum Silver exterior, Black interior
Microsoft Office

No Microsoft Office License included
Security Software

McAfee® LiveSafe™ 12 Month Subscription
Protect your purchase - View Support offers below

1 Year Premium Support
Accidental Damage Service

None
Keyboard

Backlit Black English Keyboard w/ Fingerprint Reader
Ports

1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C™ (with DisplayPort and PowerDelivery)
2 Thunderbolt™ 4 (USB Type-C™) with DisplayPort and Power Delivery
1 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack

FYI:

There should also be a base frequency. Intel processors use the turbo ‘when needed’. Workloads that need extra cpu are redirected to cores that can ‘do turbo’.

Turbo is dependend on the available power and thermal state of the cpu.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/turbo-boost.html

Turbo does not hurt (theoretically), but you can’t count on too much.

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With respect to your question, I don’t see any issues with the prospective specifications you have given. It looks like a good machine that should perform well with GP and give you years of satisfactory service.

With respect to the two different processor specs, the benchmarks I have seen in a number of shootouts give the edge to the i9 HK chip. Just because something is newer and faster does not mean it will be more expensive, fortunately, because there are improvements to the manufacturing processes and specifications that make the newer things less expensive to produce than the older technology. This is not exclusive to computers, and as a general statement, applies to a lot of things that people take for granted these days. So enjoy the advances in technology and lower prices. Either way it looks like a good choice for what you want to use it for, but the only one who can make that decision is you.

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Thanks. I really appreciate you checking out and posting.

This type of “check” reduces the chance I will walk into something that’s a problem. There is a lot of knowledge and experience here.

Jeff

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Personally, I would steer clear of Dell laptops for real time audio, unless you can find a latencyMon test result for the exact model you are buying.

Past models, including their flagship XPS models, have had massive issues with DPC Latency - the acpi.sys process causes interrupts in the region of 1600us which is no good at all.

Lots of ‘fixes’ suggested on the internet… yet to find one that works. And I’ve tried a lot!

Google “Dell DPC Latency” and you’ll see what I mean

There is a tool ThrottleStop for Dell users. Allegedly, it works great. LINK

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The link to a Throttlestop download on CNET is here: LINK

CPU throttling is a feature to protect CPU overheating for various reasons, a serious concern for laptops, so take note of the advice on power consumption monitoring and CPU heating. In the Dell cases, it sounds like the issue was caused by inaccurate reporting of CPU temperatures.

However, as for my own experiences, I have an ASUS ROG motherboard which includes an app that regulates CPU loading depending on how “green” you feel, how “power” conscious you are, blah, blah blah. There are default settings but you can also make your own custom settings. The tool is powerful enough that you can get yourself into a pickle. Good intentions, but the moral is if you do have CPU throttling it can be caused by any number of issues, including self-inflicted. The tool is a handy way to circumvent a lot of problems without extensive troubleshooting - but be aware of the trade-offs. Windows again. One of these days I might just buy a MAC and dedicate it to use as an AW.

I don’t want to scare anyone off, but what @Matt commented is really a thing. Has not much to do with cpu speed. It is a nasty problem in acpi support for the Dell-XPS series. So my advise would be: Check out with latencymon first before buying an XPS.

I know that at least in the past this problem was never solved by Dell, so I steer away from Dell laptops, although I’m normally rather a fan from Dell…

Another one that has already been mentioned on this form somewhere: https://coderbag.com/product/quickcpu

How about this one?

(If you have a link for a 64 gb ram machine with good specs, decent number of fast ports (don’t need/want large screen), I am interested…)

Jeff

Sorry for being negative, but I would not buy this one. Check out

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/processor-numbers.html

The cpu-type-number ends with G7. G == optimized for Graphics.

You should have an ‘H’ or ‘HK’ cpu.

And I think 4 cores is rather low nowadays depending on the number of GP instances you plan to run.

It’s not a bad laptop, but probably not for you :cry:

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Thank you. Yes, I am looking for a relatively high end laptop…

But I was thinking the G7 meant the processor handled graphics. So, unlike a computer made for high end graphics (which I do not have any need for) you are not paying for the additional graphics card.

If I am not using high end graphics, I thought that a “G” chip was okay.

I have never used multiple instances of GP and I do not think I would. So, I don’t think I need a lot of cores for my purposes. But, maybe i am wrong.

My biggest issue is lots of ram. I really do not want to use predictive loading and I love the flexibility of having all my rackspaces readily available. Over time, I will tend to steadily increase the amount of ram loaded. Actually, if I could spend some more $$ on 128 GB of ram, that would be a good option. But, at this point you are paying a huge premium for this (what some people would consider overkill). I am guessing the prices will come down, but…

In terms of CPU speed, I think I am okay. I suppose (if more ram was not an option) I would spend a couple of hundred more for an even more powerful processor (I guess) but I don’t think I need it. Unlike a DAW am am not running multiple CPU draining VSTs at the same time. I am sort of limited by the fact I only have two hands (I resist anything with a click track).

Anyway, I definitely appreciate the input on this forum. Thanks!

I’ll keep researching.

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PS, you were not negative. I think you’re right.

I may try to hold on for a few months to see if 128 GB ram machines become less exotic and prices become a bit more accessible.

You think right: it has an inbuilt gpu: Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics.

It has a TDP lower than 30W, a base clock close to 3GHz, RAM can reach 64Gb, 4 cores is not that bad for a small laptop. Many laptops don’t have such a « good » CPU. So, which CPU for a laptop would you advice? (And I would say a reasonable Laptop, because for some laptops the power supply is as big as small desktop PC :grimacing:… e.g. Clevo)

Thanks, David and everyone, it’s not quite the right one.

But, do we agree Lenovo has fewer issues than Dell with this (audio) use?

Jeff

Ok. I use a laptop myself, but because I’m rather nearsighted, I go for at least 17”. So I do not care about the size of the powersupply, because the laptop is rather heavy anyway.

About the cpu: until the 10th gen intels laptop I7 cpu’s not being an ‘H’ or ‘HK’ performed rather average, especially the ‘U’ version. An mobile I7-xxxxU performed comparable to a desktop I5 (experience figures), so thats where my tendency to only go for ‘H’ versions originates from.

Some Gen 11 cpu’s do still follow that naming scheme, but I admit: more than 4 cpu cores is not very common. So, :flushed: maybe the cpu proposed by @jeffn1 is really not bad. But (to my humble defense) the laptop itself is a thinkpad and that range focuses primarily on reliability, long battery-life and other aspects that are important from a business perspective. This range focuses not so much on sheer power (unless you’re willing to pay >= $3000,00).

My laptop has an I7-10750H @ 2.6GHz. 6/12 cores/threads.

I think the “U” is the one to avoid. But, I agree H or HK seem good.

https://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/support/articles/000058567/processors/intel-core-processors.html

I think I want to look for a Lenova laptop with a higher end processor and 64 GB of ram that can be expanded to 128 in the future. (Right now the $$ premium for 128GB ram is nuts).

So, I think I need to be able to confirm that my prospective laptop can definitely be upgraded in the future to 128 GB of ram.

I’d love to avoid paying for multiple cores (more than 4, I think), a high-end graphics card, a larger display, a touchscreen, more than one TB of internal storage, etc.

Jeff

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I actually bought an external touchscreen: It saves me buying a fixed midi controller: I created a gig file with all the buttons and texts I need.

Not usable as foot-controller though :boom: :slight_smile:

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Okay, I went with a Lenovo that I think includes everything I want, without the things I did not need (no separate graphics card, etc.)

64GB ram upgradeable to 128 GB.

It is a bit larger than I would have preferred, but I don’t think I could get the specs I got with a smaller machine.

(If someone is interested in the details, I will post it).