Looking for laptop for music

[aragorn723]

Hi,

My current laptop is getting old and out of date, so its time for a new one.  The primary use will be for playing lossless files, but it will also be used for web surfing and occasional spreadsheets and picture editing.  The budget will be 4-500.  What should I look for besides a good size hard drive?  One other thing, if possible i need optical out to get 24bit, 196hz from my dac.  Thanks,

Dave

 

[STURMJ]

Decoding music is a easy task, computing wise, especially if you are using direct digital out.
Optical out may be harder to find, many manufacturers are going away from "traditional" laptop models, and focusing more on tablet and notebook designs. The smaller profiles mean less real estate for features. There are converters (hdmi/usb to tos) and off board sound cards that have optical out. If you find a laptop with optical out ( usually it is in the headphone jack, you will need a cable with 3.5mm on one end and TOS on the other (obviously) or a adapter which are cheap and probably the best choice, since you can use your favorite TOS cable) that would be a huge bonus.
1TB is pretty standard for laptops these days (for hard drives) that would hold lots of music (my FLAC files are about 250GB (about 1000 cds). That is more than enough room, but i would recommend using a external HD of some sort( and a back up of all your files as well). I have never had a HD fail on me but I know plenty of people who have. If you are listening occasionally (3-5 times a week 1-2 hours) a usb HD should work just fine and last a long time (since it is not constantly on). The off the shelf NASs are notoriously unreliable, stay away from those.
In the end what you want is a computer that will handle your playback software, and preferably optical out.  Don't rule out keeping the old laptop and refresh the OS, uninstall everything but your music stuff, use that just for play back and enjoy your new laptop.

 

[Natural Sound]

Not to throw a monkey wrench into your plans but have you ever considered setting up a dedicated music server? If you are willing to venture away from Windows and plunge into the world of the Linux command line there are lots of options that open up. And it shouldnt cost a whole lot of money if you use recycled equipment such as slim clients and embedded hardware. Its not for the faint of heart however. If you are computer challenged then forget the whole thing.

 

[Bonzo]

What about a Raspberry Pi with a digital output i2s dac on it? It will cost only pennies compared to a new laptop.
You can use Rune Audio or Volumio, and it will provide hi-rez playback too

 

[aragorn723]

Bonzo,

The raspberry pi looks interesting, but I don't know much about it.  Does it have to have an external monitor, or can it be used with smartphone?

Dave

 

[Bonzo]

Take a look at "Rune" and "Volumio" distros.
All you have to do is connect Raspberry to the router and then you can command the raspberry from any other pc/tablet/phone connected to the same network.
If you need and optical output there are plenty of small digital dac (I'm using one from Geekro ATM, it's really good).
You can use the rest of the budget for a good (powered!) HD!
Ciao

 

[aragorn723]

Is there a way to get a toslink connection?  That would be the ideal situation since my dac puts out a 24 bit, 196 khz signal this way (24bit,96hz with usb).

Dave

 

[JamieMcC]

Converters like this one perhaps

https://sites.google.com/site/jkciunas/converter

 

[Bonzo]

Or maybe this one (optical and electrical output up to 24bit/192kHz).
http://www.geekroo.com.au/products/1664.
I have one of them hooked to my diy dac, in my opinion it's not bad at all and using GPIO connection instead of USB improve the sound "a bit"  ;D

 

[drewh1]

Get a decent
dac with USB input and you can use any laptop you want, digital hardrives are getting cheap too. JRiver is a great option.

 

[Yoder]

Not to throw a monkey wrench into your plans but have you ever considered setting up a dedicated music server? If you are willing to venture away from Windows and plunge into the world of the Linux command line there are lots of options that open up.

I agree. You can get a mid-2010 Mac mini for around $300-$350, maybe even less, on eBay. The headphone jack is also your TOSLINK output, and is supposed to have extremely low jitter. If you started with a mini, then you could expand upon it as you money will allow. Personally, I would (in this order): 1) upgrade to 8gb RAM, 2) get an external HD, and 3) upgrade the boot-drive with a small SSD (64-128Gb). You can even get kits that allow you to replace the DVD/CD player with an internal HD if that is your thing. Just a thought.