Music production on laptop question

[mingus]

Been playing guitar for over a decade and want to be able to record some of my music on my laptop. Searched the Internet but haven't been able to find definite answer on if my laptop will allow me to cover the bases. I've got a Dell Inspiron 7000 13 inch (the hybrid one that you can fold back). I don't know about computers, so I don't know if the specs on it (Processor : 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-5200U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz), Operating System: Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English, Memoryi: 8GB Single Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (8GBx1), Hard Drivei: 500GB 5400 rpm SATA Hybrid Hard Drive with 8GB Cache) are sufficient.

I'm not a pro, I just want a set up that's good and hassle free for amateur recording.

I don't know if there's anything I can do myself to upgrade the specs on it myself that will make a difference. Like I've looked into adding more RAM but 8 is the most it will allow.

So yeah basically want to know if I can record music with those specs, and separately, what I can do upgrade wise (if anything) to enhance performance.

Thanks

[baseline bum]

Been playing guitar for over a decade and want to be able to record some of my music on my laptop. Searched the Internet but haven't been able to find definite answer on if my laptop will allow me to cover the bases. I've got a Dell Inspiron 7000 13 inch (the hybrid one that you can fold back). I don't know about computers, so I don't know if the specs on it (Processor : 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-5200U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz), Operating System: Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English, Memoryi: 8GB Single Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (8GBx1), Hard Drivei: 500GB 5400 rpm SATA Hybrid Hard Drive with 8GB Cache) are sufficient.

I'm not a pro, I just want a set up that's good and hassle free for amateur recording.

I don't know if there's anything I can do myself to upgrade the specs on it myself that will make a difference. Like I've looked into adding more RAM but 8 is the most it will allow.

So yeah basically want to know if I can record music with those specs, and separately, what I can do upgrade wise (if anything) to enhance performance.

Thanks

Ask TeyshaBlue, I think he's a professional musician.

[TeyshaBlue]

Dont know bout the "professional" part.
But the specs mingus posted are more than adequate. I once had a mobile rig that ran on a Celeron @ 2 ghz, 4 mb of ram and a 5400 rpm drive. Worked great but rendering mixes took a while.

Recording audio is not that taxing. When you start using alot of fx or soft synth plugins is when you can run into trouble. But your rig should be fine for that too.

[baseline bum]

Dont know bout the "professional" part.
But the specs mingus posted are more than adequate. I once had a mobile rig that ran on a Celeron @ 2 ghz, 4 mb of ram and a 5200 rpm drive. Worked great but rendering mixes took a while.

Recording audio is not that taxing. When you start using alot of fx or soft synth plugins is when you can run into trouble. But your rig should be fine for that too.

OK fine, you're an unprofessional musician, gfy tb

[TeyshaBlue]

Unrepentant as well. Gfy.

[mingus]

Alright that's great to hear. Was worried I'd have to look into a MacBook or something--that was what a lot of people recommended from what I read. Never could get used to that OS and they can get pretty damn expensive too.

[Slomo]

More than enough to run Adobe Audition which is a great recording tool.

Also the free version of Avid Protools will run on this and might be enough to get you started and also to learn how to use the industry standard for audio recording. That woudl be my recomendation and go from there.

[TeyshaBlue]

Good recommendations. I would add Reaper as well. Cheap with tons of user forum support...small footprint too. , I used to run it off a thumb drive.

Personally, I use Cakewalk X3. ..been on that platform for decades.

[mingus]

Thanks, I'll look into those programs for sure. I've heard about a few of them. Came across a lot on Audacity. I'm new to all of this so my ears are open to anything. , my medium for recording has until now has been with my iphone using the simple ty recording feature. But now that my library is too big and I want better sound quality and more features I want to get into this.

[DJR210]

Yup, Core i5 and 8GB of RAM will run all of your music apps just fine. You should go into your task manager and kill as many processes as you can as well to make sure you don't get any audio drops.