I have been playing with windows notebooks for 20 years and I switched recently to a Mac. I don’t agree with you. On Windows you have to keep control on drivers and latency. Sometimes it is impossible to have good audio performance.
With new processors this can be very frustrating.
With Mac you pay a lot but you connect your board and audio works perfectly.
Why? Simple. Audio routines inside operating system are intrinsic to Mac OS. In Windows you must install a driver from audio board manufacturer. Sometimes this driver collides with other drivers. And sometimes this is extremely hard to be solved.
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How about a Mac MINI, even a used one? If you are still thinking of getting a Windows machine, I suggest that you look into a mini PC. My Surface Pro that I had used as a desktop PC finally died on me. It served as my GP test machine also. It’s a good machine, but it gets pretty expensive with more RAM and storage. Also, it has an issue with the battery. Since I have to use a Windows machine (I also run GP on my Macbook Pro) for some Windows only music applications, I am thinking of getting a Windows mini PC. I looked at the Minisforum HX90 barebone; For around $1,200 USD, I can have a 64gb ram, 4TB storage, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX. I looked at my “needs” as others mentioned here on this thread. I still have my Lenovo touchscreen laptop 16gb RAM 2TB ssd that runs my plugins well plus an MB PRO, and I thought I would wait for the next gen CPU either Intel or AMD. So for now, I purchased a light desktop duty mini PC Windows 11 - 16gb ram, 1TB ssd for $369 that I will take delivery in April.
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That’s just ~322 euro - a superb balance of specs/cost.
my2cents:
if funds ever allow: M1mac ! nothing below, respectivly older.
( its not worth the money in comparison, since the M1s are cheap, especially the M1mini / even not, if we talk second hand prices on a intel mac)
You not necessary have to go for one of the newer M1macs ( pro, max) for what i gather you´re doing.
for very quick roundtrip playing, with very little latency, is a TB3 AI ideal.
for example the presonus quantum2626.
This makes a difference vs. the latencys you can get.
i run several audio interfaces at once. common USB units are slower.
Though, the quantum more picky on (higher) CPU loads, when using GP. ( when going above 50% CPU load, …it reaches the point quicker where audio drop outs would begin to occour, vs. slower Audio interfaces)
if i´d be short in funds:
allways take a M1mini vs. a M1 laptop.
even if transportability for live gigs IS an issue. just use a small 16" screen or so, with it.
its the M1mini, which can be considered to be a bargain within the mac world ! …everything M1mac above the mini…makes things looks different vs. “the bargain aspect”.
and things begin to look worser ofcourse if you go above the minimal config.
Though, the M1mini look still good pricewise with a 512SSD.
personally: i´d NEVER go windows computer again for music making.
and i´d never would look anything below the M1macs.
i used to use (older) intel macs.
also for daily computer tasks:
i´d NEVER would want to go back to anything slower than a M1mac.
if it HAS to be a laptop:
the M1macbook Air is for our audio tasks as fast as the mini !
a minimal config, 256SSD/8GB RAM will do, if funds would not allow for more ( i have such one in fact). a M1 macbook pro, not required.
Also: the new M1mac pros and max, have quasi the same single Core CPU speed.
so, these are for “common GP uses” not exactly faster at all.
future proof thinking ?
i´d not do that at this point in tme.
the upmargin to the better M1macs is not worth that amount of upmarging, imho
edit: but the SSD ? whenever possible, go bigger than 256GB !!