Asus C201 as studio notebook

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r30
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Asus C201 as studio notebook

Post by r30 »

Hello there! I'm planning to purchase an Asus C201 and use it as a notebook for music production.


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It has an ARMv7 processor, 4GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.

What do you think about its specs? Is it good for music production in general? I know that this depends on the genre and musical goals, but at least I want to know if it's good enough for non-ultra-heavy processing or what limitations I may encounter.

Some more information here: https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Laptops/ASUS ... fications/

I like this model in particular as it lets me install Libreboot, making it more free than most notebooks. Besides, the long battery life is a big plus.

Thanks in advance, any information is welcomed :D
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Re: Asus C201 as studio notebook

Post by sadko4u »

I don't think ARM is the good idea to start with. Most of software is written and optimized for x86.
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r30
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Re: Asus C201 as studio notebook

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sadko4u wrote:I don't think ARM is the good idea to start with. Most of software is written and optimized for x86.
Hi sadko4u, I'm thinking about this aswell. A good idea might be to check Raspberry Pi projects as, if I recall correctly, they rely on an ARM processor too.

The laptop would be used for production mainly because it has 2 more GB of RAM than my current one, so if the processor is an issue I might discard the option (although the Libreboot feature is very nice).

Thanks for your input!
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Re: Asus C201 as studio notebook

Post by wjl »

Hi r30,

I don't know - define "music production". If you want to record a voice or a guitar with Audacity, this might be enough. But for a full-fledged DAW, together with some virtual instrument samples, plugins like eq and compressor etc. - I don't know.

These things are made to save battery power, therefore the ultra low voltage processors. I recommended such a "netbook" to a(n older) neighbour, and she's only surfing and processing a few photos from her older digicam, but even for her the machine isn't really enough.

So think twice before spending money.

(Edit: just looked up https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/C201 which says:

"Audio

Do not play with ALSA mixer - you may fry your speakers!"

Hm - if all you can get is pulseaudio (even jack maybe wouldn't run on a chip like that), then it doesn't look like a proper "audio"-centered hardware to me. Just my 2 (Euro-) Cents...)
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sadko4u
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Re: Asus C201 as studio notebook

Post by sadko4u »

r30 wrote:The laptop would be used for production mainly because it has 2 more GB of RAM than my current one, so if the processor is an issue I might discard the option (although the Libreboot feature is very nice).

Thanks for your input!
4 GB of RAM currently is too low amount of RAM for audio processing. I would better prefer 8 GB or even 16 GB.
You won't mix something serious with this laptop.
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r30
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Re: Asus C201 as studio notebook

Post by r30 »

First of all, thank you guys for your time! This thread is very useful for me as I don't quite get what specs I should consider for my task.
wjl wrote:Hi r30,

I don't know - define "music production". If you want to record a voice or a guitar with Audacity, this might be enough. But for a full-fledged DAW, together with some virtual instrument samples, plugins like eq and compressor etc. - I don't know.

These things are made to save battery power, therefore the ultra low voltage processors. I recommended such a "netbook" to a(n older) neighbour, and she's only surfing and processing a few photos from her older digicam, but even for her the machine isn't really enough.

So think twice before spending money.

(Edit: just looked up https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/C201 which says:

"Audio

Do not play with ALSA mixer - you may fry your speakers!"

Hm - if all you can get is pulseaudio (even jack maybe wouldn't run on a chip like that), then it doesn't look like a proper "audio"-centered hardware to me. Just my 2 (Euro-) Cents...)
"you may fry your speakers" ← Not cool, thanks for the information. I was planning to install Debian too. This notebook might be useful to make some musical sketches, then I can get a better PC.
sadko4u wrote:4 GB of RAM currently is too low amount of RAM for audio processing. I would better prefer 8 GB or even 16 GB.
You won't mix something serious with this laptop.
This was what I was looking for, as I don't understand how much RAM is really necessary to produce something decent. Thanks a lot for your advice, I'm actually reconsidering not to buy this model. I may use it to compose, but definitely will need something better to produce (and I really would like to be free and use all the processing I may need).

Cheers :)
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Re: Asus C201 as studio notebook

Post by r30 »

UPDATE: Final decision.

I decided NOT to purchase the Asus. I will stay with my loved Samsung Chromebook and use that for my daily tasks. In the meantime, I will look for a 16GB RAM notebook that allows me to work freely (I may invest on a Latitude E7470).

Thanks a lot for the guidance :D
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