Great video, Dom! To answer some of the questions I see below: - Beta ASIO drivers for Arm64 are available for Steinberg and Audient devices. Focusrite will have their betas early in the year. There are a couple others who will release soon, but it's not public info yet. Stay tuned. - For all the other USB Audio Class 2 devices, our in-box ASIO driver will be available next year, so that will solve the other 85% of devices. - Many DAWs that aren't native yet run under emulation just fine. Example: FL Studio, Bremmers MultitrackStudio. Others are native already: Cubase, Nuendo, Bitwig Studio, REAPER - Multi-client MIDI with automatic MIDI 1.0 to / from MIDI 2.0 translation, app-to-app MIDI, loopback, etc. is in our Windows Insider Canary channel builds, for developers at the moment. Coming to retail for x64 and Arm64 in 2025. I'll have a demo of it at NAMM along with the new Network MIDI 2.0. There's a video of backwards-compatible multi-client on my channel. - KVR has a page listing many plugins that support Arm64/Arm64EC. Most others, if they install, will work under emulation.
Hi Pete, thanks so much for chiming in! Thanks for all the info, I'll pin the comment so that all people can check all the useful insights you provided here! Highly appreciated :)
Thanks for this great explanation. It gives good hopes for next year. I'm composing mainly with Studio One, especially Orchestral mostly under Kontakt which requires a lot of RAM. Do you think a laptop with snapdragon with 16GB RAM is sufficient? I need more or less 80 tracks running simultaneously.
@@pinkpaprika Dom has real-world experience with this, so he may have a more solid opinion here. In my experience, orchestral libraries tend to benefit from as much memory as you can throw at them, regardless of operating system. You can do a lot with 16GB and can certainly make it work, but for this type of thing, I'd recommend 32 if you can swing it. Laptops don't have upgradable memory, so I always recommend to buy as much as you can afford to get and think you may need in the next years. We even have a Snapdragon X Elite Surface with 64GB of RAM, and I think so do some of the other OEMs.
@@ErixSamson I grabbed a OneXPlayer X1, intel 155h, 32GB RAM, for exactly that reason. Yeah, it's still not at Snapdragon levels of efficiency, but it's a step in the right direction - and without any compatibility issues that seems to go along apple silicone/Snapdragon, especially for legacy plugins. The emulation is still a bit wonky, compared to the native 155h.
Yeah, was looking into this recently, and it's pretty exciting if Windows will stick with strong Arm support. I'm not hopeful Native Instruments will do anything anytime soon unfortunately, since they still can't even be bothered to add 2FA after all these years.
This is so good I’ve been considering saving and switching to Macbooks, I bought almost every plugin I often use to get ready for switching but this somehow is exciting news. Thanks
Thank you so much for all your information and usefull tips & tricks for music production ! Polite & funny as always - you´re simply the best ! Thank you from Germany !
I've already tested several of them and no - they're not ready. I'm checking things frequently on my Vivobook S15 with Snapdragon X Elite, but as a Reaper user, working mostly with UVI instruments and UA plugins I can't do virtually anything on this machine. Although it's great that Cubase is working well (Reaper and some other DAW-s too), many plug-ins are not working at all, iLok is not supported properly, and worst of all, almost no audio interface is being fully supported at the moment (though there have been some software updates recently). Hopefully things will change next year, especially with the introduction of a native Windows-ASIO driver (at last!), but for now I wouldn't recommend it to anybody music-production wise. For general productivity it's great, though and lasts forever on a single charge. Shame, that it still loses around 30-40% of its performance while being unplugged, that's something I can't comprehend, especially if you compare this situation to Macs, where there's no difference in performance while a laptop is being plugged or unplugged.
Damn. The industry has always been a back seat driver for music production progress. We know we should have more standard and optimized tools but we just get charity or pro bono lol. I thought MIDI was supposedly outdated and needed replaced years and years and years ago. Also no developers adapted plugins to be powered by the GPU as we know how powerful GPU cards are now. But I digress because GPU will probably be a thing of the past like sound card aren’t used anymore like 18 years ago. Why cant we get a barebones 100% compatible OS with third party/native that allows us to fill a whole crap ton of ram on a motherboard (like 384 or 568gb).
Thanks Dom! I'm gonna try this with a new Asus Vivobook S15 and compare the results with Intel i9 PC & Mac Mini M4. Luckily using RME's hardware and those guys always handle the driver support well on time, other manufacturers should learn from them. It will be interesting to see how e.g. VST System Link will work across different platforms in the future... Merry Christmas!✨️🎄🎶
@notsure1135 'better" is subjective, wouldn't you agree? Bitwig definitely isn't better for recording bands, orchestral work, or client mixing / mastering. And even for general music production that depends on your setup, workflow and interests. It's crazy good for sound design, procedural or random stuff, live performance, etc. though.
Been occasionally using Cubase 13 Pro for some light projects on my Surface Laptop 7 along with a Steinberg UR22C which now works as well on ARM thanks to recently released beta/preview ASIO drivers. It all works really flawlessly and fast. Sure, ASIO performance is still a little weak for super low latency, but it looks very promising and I'm sure that Steinberg/Yamaha will get there. Here's hope that more and more devs are going to support this platform.
My system is desktop driven with 5 ssd's, I love the ability to swap and maintain my stuff as I like, as you once did. I am scared that the investment in a laptop may not give the flexibility of a desk PC, however as I use win 10 soon to be defunked I am looking for a suitable updated replacement ... even though I am happy with CB14 which has never crashed , I am nowhere near your usage of peripheral gear, but I do stretch it sometimes without problems ... I will be watching with great interest on your views regarding Snapdragon as it progresses ... Thanks for your vid and time ... Great stuff as usual
It looks so very promising! I have to admit that I seem to be always a couple of steps backwards when I upgrade. Still, maybe it is early days for Windows on ARM. I would prefer a Windows on ARM on a form factor like the Mac Mini and use a portable touchscreen! One day... This is an exciting time for Computing!
I have to replace my W10 computer in the very near future, and I'm considering jumping ship from Windows to Mac because Windows keeps getting worse and worse. Can you give some examples of what you miss about W11 Pro for music production that you can't do on Mac?
@@nomore6167 I have used Windows all of my life. So familiarity for me. I prefer the look and I know how to customize it and optimize it. My PC is really fast and stable but it did fall short for mixing and mastering. Especially mastering. SO for now I got this little beast. EDIT: I do everything in the box, so I need to run plugins with 4x+ oversampling at least at 48,000khz at 526 buffer. Literally only turn the MAC on for making music and editing videos & pictures.
@@nomore6167 (1) Machine learning / AI: (a) If I'm not mistaken Steinberg Spectralayers only supports GPU acceleration on Nvidia GPUs. (b) At the moment PyTorch (framework for machine lerning, e.g., Demucs models, etc.) is better supported on Nvidia GPUs. (c) Nvidia just announced Fugatto AI model. I suspect it will only work on Nvidia GPUs. (2) RAM and SSD prices / upgradability. If you need 64/128+GB of RAM and 2/4+TB SSD, a PC will be 3-4 times cheaper. Both RAM and SSD is getting cheaper every year and is very easy and cheap to upgrade on a PC. (3) Driver installation. To install Yamaha USB driver (for MODX / Montage) on Mac you need to boot in recovery mode and downgrade system security. (4) Periferals support. (a) On a Mac I had constant issues with a KVM switch. (b) exFAT formatted thumb drive randomly disconnected. Required Mac restart to reconnect.
@@nomore6167 some software maybe incompatible because of apple silicone I faced this a lot with older vs2 another thing is the Mac OS filing system where it stores presets vst and etc is a little cumbersome there seems to be more workarounds and scripts people create to get windows up and if u do sail the high seas and do a little pirating I can tell u it’s way more stuff that works for windows now for the good I just recently bought a m1 air with 8gbs of ram and for my workflow it performs better in a lot of instances against my Xps with i7 64gb and a 3050 battery life freaking incredible also I own the whole Arturia suite there was patches in the augmented line on my dell would only play when connected to battery the base m1 did it with no sweat mind blowing I make beats I use about 20 tracks or more 8 instruments etc no issues I’ve mixed sessions with 40 tracks plus plugins on most tracks 8-10 fX tracks most on the bus channels and it still delivered I was using Studio One with the Waves fab filter and sound toys the only time I encountered heavy cpu I tried mixing at 192khz with my Apollo X mind u I’m just using a base m1 I love windows but I’m seriously thinking of just sticking it with apple also if u got a iPad it’s easy to use as a second display
Hey Dom, I happen to be a marketing representative for Snapdragon as well as a Mastering engineer using Cubase, Wavelab , and Dorico. I had heard that Cubase was beta testing on ARM computers (Snapdragon) so was pleased to hear your comments Like you, I hope that Qualcomm will expand to larger computers in the future. Have you tried using the Dell unplugged to see how long the battery lasts? I am getting 20hrs on the Microsoft Surface Laptop with the Snapdragon Elite X chip (12core). I also think of these as a windows version of an apple computer as both chips are similar in design. Bench-tests show Snapdragon performance equal to the Apple M3-M4. I look forward to updates For your followers in the states, Best Buy has Snapdragon laptops on display. These are great for a musician or composer needing a mobile computer.
When can we expect more entry and medium level prices for ARM computers ? because right now they seem to be solely focusing on high end prices at over a thousand bucks, I feel like it's not like this that they're going to gain any market share in the standard pc market. I think that there should be options to try out the tech in the 500 bucks range. Like the Mac mini for instance that provides a M4 chip for 500 bucks
Thanks Dom for doing this and great timing; for a while I thought I was the only one thinking about this stuff. Everybody on VI-C gave me the advice to hold off on buying a new Surface (my dog sat on my current one, no joke) for mobile production because of all the (supposed) cons/issues. 👍🏻
I'm a mac dude but you've made me very intrigued with this Windows Laptop... This could change the game if it's cheaper than a man pro silicon. Thanks Dom. 😊laptop 💻
Thank you for this. Sounds promising. Just as I played with the thought of switching to a MacMini in 2025, it is definitely good news to have an option. 👌👍
I have a dell precision 5560 with and i9 processor running studio one and I enjoy the percs of a Dell touchscreen laptop specifically. Im really excited for snapdragon and I really hope developers and manufacturers choose to support it. Id hate to have to ditch certain hardware and software for the sake of having a better laptop but I will because ultimately the laptop is the hub of my entire studio setup. I hope the developers understand this as well.
Hey Dom, been monitoring ARM for a while, DaVinci also has a ARM version now, I switch last summer as last machine to AMD also on Notebook, have now a Ryzen 9 7xxx with a GTX 4060 and it last intel in so many ways, but still the battery is a issue 2 max 3 hour. So ARM is the solution, now all we need are the major plugin vendor following this move. I'm 110% ARM, next notebook will be ARM by then all required vendor should have hit the floor, "be there or be square", I use to be a Intel fan, not anymore
interesting! I was always Team Windows, but two years ago I bought a Macbook Pro M1pro out of curiosity and I'm still impressed. I'm quite happy with my current studio PC (AMD 7950x), but the reasons you mentioned for switching to MAC full time have me waiting for the next MAC studios and then I actually want to switch. However, thank you for sharing this development with us, I will definitely follow it with interest and maybe the oven for Windows is not yet 100% out. :-)
To be honest if RME wouldnt exist i would use Mac too. But as an Advanced hobbiest i am using my windows pc without issues so far (thanks rme) because price performance is just so much better if you spec it right. My old PC is now a VEPRO server 😅
RME is amazing. I started with a mixer and audiophile card in 2006, then switched to a Focusrite USB interface, then an Apollo MkII, then a Prism Sound Lyra 1 (it was very amazing but didn't have enough outputs). Now, finally, I have an RME UCX II. It has everything I wanted-enough inputs and outputs, super stable drivers, and the best support. I'm really happy with RME. The new uad is q joke they come with the new auto gain think 😂 lmao the for rme is this nothing new 😁
I was an Archimedes user back in the 90s, as ARM was kicking the arse of PCs and Macs. There's a certain satisfaction from seeing it come back around again. Now we just need a return of RISC OS...
If AISO or another program can bring the same performance and flexibility as MacOS's AudioMIDI app on WinPCs, we'd have some good options. Better soundcards (looking at you, Realtek) wouldn't hurt either.
1:44 small correction, Reaper added support to ARM on windows first, like before it was announced and on the launch event, they mentioned Reaper already supports arm on windows while Cubase was in preview later/ was in development on the livestream.
We only found out about Reaper on day of the event- Do you have any other information I might have missed when you say “first”? Cubase was already up and running with audio interface drivers and a bunch of instruments on the day -I was there :)
@@DomSigalas Solid video, the only misinformation was when you said "there was no daw was supported until October when Cubase announced their preview version", where Reaper has had their beta version since May 2024 after I asked Justin (main dev of Reaper) on his website about Reaper's support on arm on Windows and after seeing a lot of people agreeing with me and Cockos being a pro consumer company, they decided to release an early version with everything working right after, so basically many months before the Snapdragon event, way before Cubase released their beta. My guess is that since Snapdragon was working with Steinberg, that's why they showcased and advertised Cubase on the event.
@@ranajoyshilinteresting I admit I didn’t know this- when I saw the announcement at the event I thought this was the official announcement too. I wasn’t surprised to see Reaper get up and running to be honest. The other thing was that there were Reaper users at the event and they didn’t mention anything either so I thought this was news for everyone. By the way, when I say about my research I make it clear I am talking about Cubase , not every other DAW- i want my primary DAW to be available on any platform - so I hope this clarifies as well. Thanks for sharing this! Let’s see what happens with plugin developers now :)
The only reason I have a Mac is for its battery life and performance and I blame Windows, Intel and they rest of that family for that. I have been looking into these Snapdragon laptops and I am very excited as to where this is going. I am fully away of the current software compatibility issues for some apps but all the essential apps are use are supported. I will definitely pick up one soon. Thank you for the video.
Sounds good Dom! One of the main reasons I switched to apple silicon is the almost non existent fan noise, so I have to ask, have you experienced any fan noise during working on a CPU intensive project on Cubase?
Oh bless! If i've been waiting for this to happen. Now it won't take much time before the major VST devs will compile the plugins for the snapdragon! I will for sure aim for this solution together with RME interfaces.
Awesome development...BUT for the first time of my life I was already happy with a i13900K Intel based computer, finishing my recording while keeping insert/sends/mastering options available at all times....Mac was too expensive for me as an amateur...not an option...(if only I had been born 25 years later with the same musical fantasies 😁)
The most important message is in the last few minutes: I, too had built my audio machines before I bought a Mac some 20 years ago. And last spring I bought a dedicated 'built for Linux' Linux machine, because I was tired of the extra cost for the Apple ecosystem. Low and behold, I had no idea what a hassle it is to just keep the machine running. The time (and sttress) that goes into system admistration will never outweigh the few hundred $ I pay extra for an Apple machine that just works. And besides, I don't like being a sys ad either.
I _like_ being a sys admin! Having said that, I like it to be optional, and not a requirement. I don’t think anyone could pay me enough to ever use Windows again; however, there _have_ been other areas in my life where “never say never” rears its (sometimes ugly) head. I use Debian on Raspberry Pis, Proxmox/Mint on a Framework, and MacOS (OCLP/Sequoia) on a 2013 Mac Pro. Both the Pis and the Mac “just work”; so does Linux Mint, but I’ve chosen to make it more complicated.
Very similar to my M1 Max MacBook Pro - but keep in mind my MacBook Pro is 16” so it has way more space for cooling so in order to compare apples to apples I would need to get my hands on a 16” snapdragon laptop which I intend to do :)
Defo wonderful news, Dom. I've been using my HP OMEN laptop for 5 years without a single complain and if this tech is gonna be better and faster workflow, I'll be embracing it for sure. But I got to ask how many tracks in your orchestral project? Did you use CPU-intensive orchestral libraries? I mean how far did you push your test on it? It will help more if you make a thorough testing (like the one you did a couple months ago) by gradually adding more tracks until we hear audio dropouts and to see the max track count that the Snapdragon supports. Thanks for sharing :)
I use all the machines all the time (mac, Win)(intel, Arm, M) and I know that not all is compatible on all. Mac is great for controlling other macs without being an IT graduate, and sharing inhouse files. I buy workaround programs to get windows to do the same thing. With music Abelton link fixed a lot of that. Curious if the Arm future is going to lose or gain some abilities. To date, Arm has been the hardest to use outside of simple tasks. (Producing for Live Entertainment)
Are we able to see some comparisons soon? - rendering time on finished projects, VST performance, buffering & latency, cpu, ram & battery comparisons? Any other favourable comparisons to Apple? (Like audio-handling? ) Thought seriously about going over to m-series for the last hardware upgrade but having to re-download & install a vast library of plugins and sample libraries kept me on the PC platform. Is there any sign that the transition from Windows installations to ARM could/will be made easy & quick?
Yes I’m planning to do this once this is properly released and not preview. Nobody would take a test seriously if one side is fully developed for 4 years (Apple) and this is still under preview. It’s not fair to make comparisons right now. I didn’t do comparisons between my i9 Intel and the MacBook Pro M1 Max when I bought it either. When I bought my M1 Max this platform was simply not ready for proper real world comparisons.
I bought an Asus Zenbook recently which has an Intel 7 155 processor and it is has way more power than I will ever need. The battery life is far better than previous gen Intel cpus and it also has an OLED touchscreen. The Snapdragon chips look really good but my £850 laptop should last me for a few years yet.
Different planet. We were under direct sunlight in Maui and it never throttled. My Intel MacBook Pro would have its fans spinning like a jet ready to take off 🤣
I was so close to getting the Yoga Slim 7x I belive was the name with 64gb RAM, 1TB SSD for like $1200 bucks. But I realized there's not enough support yet
Apple forces developers to re-write all their software from scratch. It was very painful for the developers but now Apple M chip is RAD! ARM on Windows will be great when developers will support it natively. So in 2025 professional audio is still impossible to make on PC ARM. But if you are a beginner or just a beatmaker, you can use Cubase with it's own plugins and instruments to make great music. PS By the way, how about NI Kontakt and it's PC ARM support?
Though I have moved to apple now but I am eagerly waiting for the compatibility on snapdragon... I NEED POWER ... AND STABILITY AND MOBILITY.. Thanks Dom
Waiting for the M4 Mac Studio to come out to abandon Windows for good. But I’m glad for Windows folks to finally get a performance boost. I hope for you that all the driver issues will be resolved.
When is enough, enough? I think computers and chips in general, got fast enough for audio applications years ago. The problem for manufacturers of equipment both software and hardware is, how can we sell something that may improve the user experience by only 10%? My Quiet PC, NI library and NI Keyboard gives me a platform that if it keeps working will see me into my grave. The software is ten years old and the PC, four. My last MI purchase was an Akai MPC Key61 which is a substantial improvement on other workstations AND now with BETA v. 3 software is a dream of a standalone unit which again I will keep, the only downside being the keybed itself.
Good video. The only problem i see is microsoft with its updates which can crash your system at anytime or lets you waste hours for fixing the issues of it.
Kudos for Steinberg! I’m a longtime user of Samplitude . Only X86 compatible. Wondering how viable Intel Lunar Lake is? Considering a M4pro Mac Mini instead because of the size and how quiet and efficient it is. I would have to switch DAWS.
1:30 You showed a laptop with Cubase in operation. After launching Cubase 14, there is no room for tracks on the laptop, the mix console took up all the space. Why did you change the mix console window selector? The full mix console could be opened as a separate window anyway. You used the Ableton solution.
Namah Shivay, Sir it's a great development in Technology, Hassle free PC WITH GOOD PERFORMANCE & CONNECTIVITY FOR PROFESSIONAL RECORDING & MIXING, GOOD LUCK FOR R&D TEAM, AND MANUFACTURING, THANK YOU NAMAH SHIVAY
Nvidia may want to build ARM CPUs, according to rumors. Perhaps AMD and Intel will realize that these technologies from ARM and Apple are the most advanced and hope to take to this direction. That would of course be the icing on the cake. Apple programs almost perfect drivers, ARM probably does too, another plus point. This development is exciting; and thank you very much for this video; great as always
I will be going to a Dell Touchscreen Snapdragon X laptop over my M1. I use Viewsonic Touchscreens and this laptop is the perfect mobile solution for touch. Apple looses by not keeping up with Touch Laptop.
Hi Dom. Been watching your channel for ages but didn't realise you had so many peripherals. I am seriously considering switching to MAC but I have a few peripherals (less than you but enough). Can to either tell me what you use to connect all these or maybe do a short video. I am worried that the number of Thunderbolt 5 connections on the new MacBook Pro 4max won't be sufficient. Many thanks in advance. Jon
Hey Jon! I wouldn’t worry about the peripherals. If the system is behaving it will work. At the moment I have 2 Caldigit TB4 Element docks and a Caldigit TS4 dock. No issues whatsoever everything works every single day :)
@@DomSigalas Thanks Dom. Thanks for the reply. I've been a PC user for years. With your video about the snapdragon CPU do you think I should wait until the these CPU's become more commonplace or does the Mac pro 4 max still work better than these new Snapdragons. I know it's sort of impossible to say but I would value your opinion. Cheers Jon
Stability/performance/efficency/compatibilty will be the judge..i never use mac..but from all the test i saw..i m start thinking that for cubase , (without speaking about the hardware) mac os is more performant than windows..(maybe because mac os is based on unix) + as a windows user since..1993..i m a bit fed up to need to setup and re-setup/re tune windows to fix problem or regain performance..just hope that windows on arm is more streamlined and under control (fed up of forced update that mess my dpc latency/peak)..on the other hand what apple do is sexy..but the price of added ram and ssd..on a macbook pro...hurts my feeling :-) cubase + my plugin + my device working on linux is my hidden dream
Question, does the new Snapdragon processor allow for the users to be able to upgrade the memory and add storage to the their computers and will they have an equivalent to the Mac Mini but allow the user to be able to add memory and Storage?
PC's modularity is the best part. Once you learn to isolate functionality, performance is not only great but customizable, laptops are inherently slow and stupidly expensive. That means, a dedicated GPU, a dedicated Sound card, utilize Dual Channel RAM, invest in SSD's - anything to take the strain off the CPU.
Yes I’ve tried this for 25 years. Like I said, it depends on what you do. For a professional environment you want to minimize any room for problems or maintenance issues that can arise from many factors coming from each part (all the parts you mentioned). ARM processors (Mac or PC) offer the peace of mind that if it works- it works. I don’t have to worry if my mobo will be incompatible with the GPU or if the GPU driver is going to mess up my audio performance on the next update . Get the best ARM machine you can afford and you don’t need to worry. And as you can see, there are incredibly powerful ARM machines right now that cost much cheaper than custom PC builds. This has never been the case before. In my opinion, for professional audio work, this is the future. The whole tech community is attesting to this - if you’re a gamer building a custom PC is still the best option though :) And if you watch the video until the end, I said I am interested in a desktop version of this. This will be amazing. See what’s going on with the Mac Mini at the moment. 500 bucks and even the base model is fire. Imagine if Snapdragon comes up with a desktop machine- you bet I’m all ears. Is it going to be for everyone? No, many people like to build their own custom systems. But this is the first time that you will get a PC and know in advance if your DAW will play nicely with it l- and in audio that’s paramount.
that's an interesting development in laptop and it would be nice to see well performing daws in laptops but i don't think the arm processors will go far in desktop use. the sheer power of the x86 ones and the more complex instruction sets as well as the incomparable backwards compatibility just can't be beat when you don't take power and heat generation into account. and the majority of high power computer owners also have gaming in their mind when building their systems
Hmmm, check what Apple have done with the Mac Studio and Mac minis (even devoted anti-Apple channels cannot disregard how good these machines are). My experience so far with Snapdragon is that if they decide to go the desktop route, it will be blazing good 😊
@@DomSigalas it could be the case that they develop them to that point but currently the compute/watt is higher in x86 chips. hope they improve them though because cooling a high power pc is starting to hit a ceiling
that's great new for PC users ! how is the Fan noise though ? one of the big advantages of ARM MacBook's is the low to no fan noise for DAW works. also the current SD Arm CPUs strong as the Apple M series or latest intel/AMD CPUs for DAW use ?
I just built a new video / audio computer with 128 Gb ram, Ryzen 7 and 7 SDD drives. I once bought a iMac to do,video,editing but how can it handle everything with one hard drive? Right now, I have dedicated drives for the OS, video, rendering, Audio, media content, cache, etc. works great. I don’t understand how a single drive system could handle 10, 20 tracks of audio and video, effects, etc. can it really be done?
Yes it can be done in several ways. First of all the built in drives on the new Macs are blazing fast (5000-6000MB/s). What I do for multiple drives is use a Blackmagic Multidock. I can swap SSDs super easily and it’s compatible with Mac and PC.
Thanks Dom, interesting video? To be honest, I don't fully understand all the jargon and technology. l wonder if it would be beneficial to me at some point? I do have many performance problems at times as I am running cubase on a very old 4th gen PC!! But I have just plodded on as I make music as a hobby. One thing you did not mention ( which you may not know when you did the video?) is PRICE? I gather these may end up with similar prices to a Mac? Time will tell I suppose. Thanks again Dom.
Great video, Dom! To answer some of the questions I see below:
- Beta ASIO drivers for Arm64 are available for Steinberg and Audient devices. Focusrite will have their betas early in the year. There are a couple others who will release soon, but it's not public info yet. Stay tuned.
- For all the other USB Audio Class 2 devices, our in-box ASIO driver will be available next year, so that will solve the other 85% of devices.
- Many DAWs that aren't native yet run under emulation just fine. Example: FL Studio, Bremmers MultitrackStudio. Others are native already: Cubase, Nuendo, Bitwig Studio, REAPER
- Multi-client MIDI with automatic MIDI 1.0 to / from MIDI 2.0 translation, app-to-app MIDI, loopback, etc. is in our Windows Insider Canary channel builds, for developers at the moment. Coming to retail for x64 and Arm64 in 2025. I'll have a demo of it at NAMM along with the new Network MIDI 2.0. There's a video of backwards-compatible multi-client on my channel.
- KVR has a page listing many plugins that support Arm64/Arm64EC. Most others, if they install, will work under emulation.
@@Psychlist1972 let's Go windows
Hi Pete, thanks so much for chiming in! Thanks for all the info, I'll pin the comment so that all people can check all the useful insights you provided here! Highly appreciated :)
Thanks for this great explanation. It gives good hopes for next year. I'm composing mainly with Studio One, especially Orchestral mostly under Kontakt which requires a lot of RAM. Do you think a laptop with snapdragon with 16GB RAM is sufficient? I need more or less 80 tracks running simultaneously.
@@pinkpaprika Dom has real-world experience with this, so he may have a more solid opinion here.
In my experience, orchestral libraries tend to benefit from as much memory as you can throw at them, regardless of operating system. You can do a lot with 16GB and can certainly make it work, but for this type of thing, I'd recommend 32 if you can swing it. Laptops don't have upgradable memory, so I always recommend to buy as much as you can afford to get and think you may need in the next years. We even have a Snapdragon X Elite Surface with 64GB of RAM, and I think so do some of the other OEMs.
@@DomSigalas Thanks Dom :)
ARM PC and touch screen, that is going to be super cool for music production.
@@ErixSamson I grabbed a OneXPlayer X1, intel 155h, 32GB RAM, for exactly that reason.
Yeah, it's still not at Snapdragon levels of efficiency, but it's a step in the right direction - and without any compatibility issues that seems to go along apple silicone/Snapdragon, especially for legacy plugins. The emulation is still a bit wonky, compared to the native 155h.
Ah, yeah. Bitwig with a touchscreen is super fun.
Yeah, was looking into this recently, and it's pretty exciting if Windows will stick with strong Arm support. I'm not hopeful Native Instruments will do anything anytime soon unfortunately, since they still can't even be bothered to add 2FA after all these years.
Leave it to you Dom. You are on top of everything. Thank you for the great info!!!!
This is so good I’ve been considering saving and switching to Macbooks, I bought almost every plugin I often use to get ready for switching but this somehow is exciting news. Thanks
Thank you so much for all your information and usefull tips & tricks for music production ! Polite & funny as always - you´re simply the best ! Thank you from Germany !
this is very interesting, Thanks Dom
I've already tested several of them and no - they're not ready. I'm checking things frequently on my Vivobook S15 with Snapdragon X Elite, but as a Reaper user, working mostly with UVI instruments and UA plugins I can't do virtually anything on this machine. Although it's great that Cubase is working well (Reaper and some other DAW-s too), many plug-ins are not working at all, iLok is not supported properly, and worst of all, almost no audio interface is being fully supported at the moment (though there have been some software updates recently). Hopefully things will change next year, especially with the introduction of a native Windows-ASIO driver (at last!), but for now I wouldn't recommend it to anybody music-production wise. For general productivity it's great, though and lasts forever on a single charge. Shame, that it still loses around 30-40% of its performance while being unplugged, that's something I can't comprehend, especially if you compare this situation to Macs, where there's no difference in performance while a laptop is being plugged or unplugged.
Damn. The industry has always been a back seat driver for music production progress. We know we should have more standard and optimized tools but we just get charity or pro bono lol.
I thought MIDI was supposedly outdated and needed replaced years and years and years ago. Also no developers adapted plugins to be powered by the GPU as we know how powerful GPU cards are now. But I digress because GPU will probably be a thing of the past like sound card aren’t used anymore like 18 years ago.
Why cant we get a barebones 100% compatible OS with third party/native that allows us to fill a whole crap ton of ram on a motherboard (like 384 or 568gb).
Very interesting times are ahead, thank you for bringing attention to this topic.
A true mobile platform for music production, yes pls:)
Thank you Dom - great video! You are the best. Cheers
Wow, this might solve all my upcoming problems. Thanks. Keep us informed .
Great, honest review like all the reviews you do for us. Thank you 🙏🏾
Thanks Dom! I'm gonna try this with a new Asus Vivobook S15 and compare the results with Intel i9 PC & Mac Mini M4. Luckily using RME's hardware and those guys always handle the driver support well on time, other manufacturers should learn from them. It will be interesting to see how e.g. VST System Link will work across different platforms in the future...
Merry Christmas!✨️🎄🎶
This is seriously impressive! Also Bitwig in current 5.3 beta supports ARM PCs natively and it's a great side-DAW to Cubase ;)
Once DAWProject works good, but Steinberg are making good progress
Bitwig is better. I swapped and never looked back. I do like Cubase though.
@notsure1135 'better" is subjective, wouldn't you agree? Bitwig definitely isn't better for recording bands, orchestral work, or client mixing / mastering. And even for general music production that depends on your setup, workflow and interests. It's crazy good for sound design, procedural or random stuff, live performance, etc. though.
@ I have done band stuff on it. It’s fine.
@@notsure1135 Sure, it's fine just not, better than Cubase - you said it's better without qualifying that for some stuff :)
Thanks Dom, really interesting stuff! Cheers Dave
Thanks for the info, awesome video editing btw!
Thank you ❤️
Been occasionally using Cubase 13 Pro for some light projects on my Surface Laptop 7 along with a Steinberg UR22C which now works as well on ARM thanks to recently released beta/preview ASIO drivers. It all works really flawlessly and fast. Sure, ASIO performance is still a little weak for super low latency, but it looks very promising and I'm sure that Steinberg/Yamaha will get there. Here's hope that more and more devs are going to support this platform.
Having option is always a good thing
thanks for sharing
My system is desktop driven with 5 ssd's, I love the ability to swap and maintain my stuff as I like, as you once did. I am scared that the investment in a laptop may not give the flexibility of a desk PC, however as I use win 10 soon to be defunked I am looking for a suitable updated replacement ... even though I am happy with CB14 which has never crashed , I am nowhere near your usage of peripheral gear, but I do stretch it sometimes without problems ... I will be watching with great interest on your views regarding Snapdragon as it progresses ... Thanks for your vid and time ... Great stuff as usual
Thanks 4 the new info on Win PC. BUT can you do a video on any tweaks or settings changes when using the Mac M2-M3-M4 macbook Pro & Cubase Pro? Cheers
It looks so very promising! I have to admit that I seem to be always a couple of steps backwards when I upgrade. Still, maybe it is early days for Windows on ARM. I would prefer a Windows on ARM on a form factor like the Mac Mini and use a portable touchscreen! One day... This is an exciting time for Computing!
I miss W11 Pro for music production. But my Mac Mini M4 Pro is working wonderfully
I have to replace my W10 computer in the very near future, and I'm considering jumping ship from Windows to Mac because Windows keeps getting worse and worse. Can you give some examples of what you miss about W11 Pro for music production that you can't do on Mac?
@@nomore6167 I have used Windows all of my life. So familiarity for me. I prefer the look and I know how to customize it and optimize it. My PC is really fast and stable but it did fall short for mixing and mastering. Especially mastering. SO for now I got this little beast.
EDIT: I do everything in the box, so I need to run plugins with 4x+ oversampling at least at 48,000khz at 526 buffer. Literally only turn the MAC on for making music and editing videos & pictures.
@@nomore6167 (1) Machine learning / AI: (a) If I'm not mistaken Steinberg Spectralayers only supports GPU acceleration on Nvidia GPUs. (b) At the moment PyTorch (framework for machine lerning, e.g., Demucs models, etc.) is better supported on Nvidia GPUs. (c) Nvidia just announced Fugatto AI model. I suspect it will only work on Nvidia GPUs.
(2) RAM and SSD prices / upgradability. If you need 64/128+GB of RAM and 2/4+TB SSD, a PC will be 3-4 times cheaper. Both RAM and SSD is getting cheaper every year and is very easy and cheap to upgrade on a PC.
(3) Driver installation. To install Yamaha USB driver (for MODX / Montage) on Mac you need to boot in recovery mode and downgrade system security.
(4) Periferals support. (a) On a Mac I had constant issues with a KVM switch. (b) exFAT formatted thumb drive randomly disconnected. Required Mac restart to reconnect.
@@nomore6167 some software maybe incompatible because of apple silicone I faced this a lot with older vs2 another thing is the Mac OS filing system where it stores presets vst and etc is a little cumbersome there seems to be more workarounds and scripts people create to get windows up and if u do sail the high seas and do a little pirating I can tell u it’s way more stuff that works for windows now for the good I just recently bought a m1 air with 8gbs of ram and for my workflow it performs better in a lot of instances against my Xps with i7 64gb and a 3050 battery life freaking incredible also I own the whole Arturia suite there was patches in the augmented line on my dell would only play when connected to battery the base m1 did it with no sweat mind blowing I make beats I use about 20 tracks or more 8 instruments etc no issues I’ve mixed sessions with 40 tracks plus plugins on most tracks 8-10 fX tracks most on the bus channels and it still delivered I was using Studio One with the Waves fab filter and sound toys the only time I encountered heavy cpu I tried mixing at 192khz with my Apollo X mind u I’m just using a base m1 I love windows but I’m seriously thinking of just sticking it with apple also if u got a iPad it’s easy to use as a second display
Hey Dom, I happen to be a marketing representative for Snapdragon as well as a Mastering engineer using Cubase, Wavelab , and Dorico. I had heard that Cubase was beta testing on ARM computers (Snapdragon) so was pleased to hear your comments Like you, I hope that Qualcomm will expand to larger computers in the future. Have you tried using the Dell unplugged to see how long the battery lasts? I am getting 20hrs on the Microsoft Surface Laptop with the Snapdragon Elite X chip (12core). I also think of these as a windows version of an apple computer as both chips are similar in design. Bench-tests show Snapdragon performance equal to the Apple M3-M4. I look forward to updates For your followers in the states, Best Buy has Snapdragon laptops on display. These are great for a musician or composer needing a mobile computer.
When can we expect more entry and medium level prices for ARM computers ? because right now they seem to be solely focusing on high end prices at over a thousand bucks, I feel like it's not like this that they're going to gain any market share in the standard pc market.
I think that there should be options to try out the tech in the 500 bucks range. Like the Mac mini for instance that provides a M4 chip for 500 bucks
Great news! Looking forward to update my Windows laptop in some time and I would love to stick to the platform.
Great news !!
Hi dom, great vid - please make another studio tour video 🙏
This was the video that made me like/subscribe :)
Great video Dom! Thank you 🙏.
I am hoping thunderbolt 2 interfaces like the focusrite clarett will work with these windows arm macines in the future.
Thanks Dom for doing this and great timing; for a while I thought I was the only one thinking about this stuff. Everybody on VI-C gave me the advice to hold off on buying a new Surface (my dog sat on my current one, no joke) for mobile production because of all the (supposed) cons/issues. 👍🏻
I'm a mac dude but you've made me very intrigued with this Windows Laptop... This could change the game if it's cheaper than a man pro silicon. Thanks Dom. 😊laptop 💻
Proud PC user here and can't wait to try one out 😌
It’s an interesting new alternative👍🏻
Thank you for this. Sounds promising. Just as I played with the thought of switching to a MacMini in 2025, it is definitely good news to have an option. 👌👍
I think price is going to play a key factor here, and if Apple will lower their prices if Snapdragon completely undercuts them.
Totally off topic, but does anyone know what hoodie brand Dom usually wears? He’s crushing it with these on a regular basis.
I have a dell precision 5560 with and i9 processor running studio one and I enjoy the percs of a Dell touchscreen laptop specifically. Im really excited for snapdragon and I really hope developers and manufacturers choose to support it. Id hate to have to ditch certain hardware and software for the sake of having a better laptop but I will because ultimately the laptop is the hub of my entire studio setup. I hope the developers understand this as well.
I'm a big fan of Dell Laptops. I will have to heck this out for sure! Thanks Dom!
I never heard of Snapdragon. Thanks for sharing, Dom!
Most Android phones have a snapdragon CPU for years.
Hey Dom, been monitoring ARM for a while, DaVinci also has a ARM version now, I switch last summer as last machine to AMD also on Notebook, have now a Ryzen 9 7xxx with a GTX 4060 and it last intel in so many ways, but still the battery is a issue 2 max 3 hour. So ARM is the solution, now all we need are the major plugin vendor following this move.
I'm 110% ARM, next notebook will be ARM by then all required vendor should have hit the floor, "be there or be square", I use to be a Intel fan, not anymore
Well done, Dom for having such a great experience in the Summit! 👏 Very curious what Apple will launch to compete it.🤔
I mostly use my iPad to sketch ideas because I can tweak as many parameters as I have free fingers. It is the best.
interesting!
I was always Team Windows, but two years ago I bought a Macbook Pro M1pro out of curiosity and I'm still impressed.
I'm quite happy with my current studio PC (AMD 7950x), but the reasons you mentioned for switching to MAC full time have me waiting for the next MAC studios and then I actually want to switch.
However, thank you for sharing this development with us, I will definitely follow it with interest and maybe the oven for Windows is not yet 100% out. :-)
wow
To be honest if RME wouldnt exist i would use Mac too. But as an Advanced hobbiest i am using my windows pc without issues so far (thanks rme) because price performance is just so much better if you spec it right. My old PC is now a VEPRO server 😅
RME is amazing. I started with a mixer and audiophile card in 2006, then switched to a Focusrite USB interface, then an Apollo MkII, then a Prism Sound Lyra 1 (it was very amazing but didn't have enough outputs). Now, finally, I have an RME UCX II. It has everything I wanted-enough inputs
and outputs, super stable drivers, and the best support. I'm really happy with RME.
The new uad is q joke they come with the new auto gain think 😂 lmao the for rme is this nothing new 😁
I was an Archimedes user back in the 90s, as ARM was kicking the arse of PCs and Macs. There's a certain satisfaction from seeing it come back around again. Now we just need a return of RISC OS...
My studio runs on Windows and Reaper. Works incredibly well, and I get a LOT more processing power per dollar than is possible with a Mac.
If AISO or another program can bring the same performance and flexibility as MacOS's AudioMIDI app on WinPCs, we'd have some good options. Better soundcards (looking at you, Realtek) wouldn't hurt either.
arm on pc is cool... I have one as htpc, one for work, as developer/architect, and one older, surface x, as hotspot :)
1:44 small correction, Reaper added support to ARM on windows first, like before it was announced and on the launch event, they mentioned Reaper already supports arm on windows while Cubase was in preview later/ was in development on the livestream.
We only found out about Reaper on day of the event-
Do you have any other information I might have missed when you say “first”?
Cubase was already up and running with audio interface drivers and a bunch of instruments on the day -I was there :)
@@DomSigalas Solid video, the only misinformation was when you said "there was no daw was supported until October when Cubase announced their preview version", where Reaper has had their beta version since May 2024 after I asked Justin (main dev of Reaper) on his website about Reaper's support on arm on Windows and after seeing a lot of people agreeing with me and Cockos being a pro consumer company, they decided to release an early version with everything working right after, so basically many months before the Snapdragon event, way before Cubase released their beta. My guess is that since Snapdragon was working with Steinberg, that's why they showcased and advertised Cubase on the event.
@@ranajoyshilinteresting I admit I didn’t know this- when I saw the announcement at the event I thought this was the official announcement too. I wasn’t surprised to see Reaper get up and running to be honest.
The other thing was that there were Reaper users at the event and they didn’t mention anything either so I thought this was news for everyone.
By the way, when I say about my research I make it clear I am talking about Cubase , not every other DAW- i want my primary DAW to be available on any platform - so I hope this clarifies as well.
Thanks for sharing this! Let’s see what happens with plugin developers now :)
The only reason I have a Mac is for its battery life and performance and I blame Windows, Intel and they rest of that family for that. I have been looking into these Snapdragon laptops and I am very excited as to where this is going. I am fully away of the current software compatibility issues for some apps but all the essential apps are use are supported. I will definitely pick up one soon. Thank you for the video.
Sounds good Dom! One of the main reasons I switched to apple silicon is the almost non existent fan noise, so I have to ask, have you experienced any fan noise during working on a CPU intensive project on Cubase?
Nope.
Like you i await a desktop version but it def looks a gamechanger!
Oh bless! If i've been waiting for this to happen. Now it won't take much time before the major VST devs will compile the plugins for the snapdragon! I will for sure aim for this solution together with RME interfaces.
Choice is always good for consumers. Breeds innovation and competitive prices.
Awesome development...BUT for the first time of my life I was already happy with a i13900K Intel based computer, finishing my recording while keeping insert/sends/mastering options available at all times....Mac was too expensive for me as an amateur...not an option...(if only I had been born 25 years later with the same musical fantasies 😁)
so excited what will happen in 2025 hope many developers and big companies will support this one
The most important message is in the last few minutes: I, too had built my audio machines before I bought a Mac some 20 years ago. And last spring I bought a dedicated 'built for Linux' Linux machine, because I was tired of the extra cost for the Apple ecosystem. Low and behold, I had no idea what a hassle it is to just keep the machine running. The time (and sttress) that goes into system admistration will never outweigh the few hundred $ I pay extra for an Apple machine that just works. And besides, I don't like being a sys ad either.
I _like_ being a sys admin! Having said that, I like it to be optional, and not a requirement. I don’t think anyone could pay me enough to ever use Windows again; however, there _have_ been other areas in my life where “never say never” rears its (sometimes ugly) head.
I use Debian on Raspberry Pis, Proxmox/Mint on a Framework, and MacOS (OCLP/Sequoia) on a 2013 Mac Pro. Both the Pis and the Mac “just work”; so does Linux Mint, but I’ve chosen to make it more complicated.
Sounds exciting, but how’s the cooling/fan noise?
i was wondering exactly the same :)
Very similar to my M1 Max MacBook Pro - but keep in mind my MacBook Pro is 16” so it has way more space for cooling so in order to compare apples to apples I would need to get my hands on a 16” snapdragon laptop which I intend to do :)
Defo wonderful news, Dom. I've been using my HP OMEN laptop for 5 years without a single complain and if this tech is gonna be better and faster workflow, I'll be embracing it for sure. But I got to ask how many tracks in your orchestral project? Did you use CPU-intensive orchestral libraries? I mean how far did you push your test on it? It will help more if you make a thorough testing (like the one you did a couple months ago) by gradually adding more tracks until we hear audio dropouts and to see the max track count that the Snapdragon supports.
Thanks for sharing :)
I use all the machines all the time (mac, Win)(intel, Arm, M) and I know that not all is compatible on all. Mac is great for controlling other macs without being an IT graduate, and sharing inhouse files. I buy workaround programs to get windows to do the same thing.
With music Abelton link fixed a lot of that. Curious if the Arm future is going to lose or gain some abilities. To date, Arm has been the hardest to use outside of simple tasks.
(Producing for Live Entertainment)
Are we able to see some comparisons soon? - rendering time on finished projects, VST performance, buffering & latency, cpu, ram & battery comparisons? Any other favourable comparisons to Apple? (Like audio-handling? )
Thought seriously about going over to m-series for the last hardware upgrade but having to re-download & install a vast library of plugins and sample libraries kept me on the PC platform. Is there any sign that the transition from Windows installations to ARM could/will be made easy & quick?
Yes I’m planning to do this once this is properly released and not preview.
Nobody would take a test seriously if one side is fully developed for 4 years (Apple) and this is still under preview. It’s not fair to make comparisons right now.
I didn’t do comparisons between my i9 Intel and the MacBook Pro M1 Max when I bought it either. When I bought my M1 Max this platform was simply not ready for proper real world comparisons.
Guess who just happen to plan for an upgrade of the PC about this time next year? 🤘😎
I think I have to make some adjustments ...
Great News for me ☀️🙏
REAPER has a preview for ARM on Windows now.
Yes this is true 👍 knowing Reaper I expected that :)
I bought an Asus Zenbook recently which has an Intel 7 155 processor and it is has way more power than I will ever need. The battery life is far better than previous gen Intel cpus and it also has an OLED touchscreen. The Snapdragon chips look really good but my £850 laptop should last me for a few years yet.
My Ryzen 5950x system has an average DPC Latency of 5ns!!!
I doubt an Apple Silicon system can top that.
100ns is supposed to be really good.
How much does it heat new snapdragon? Intel laptop fan is 🔥 😵💫
Different planet. We were under direct sunlight in Maui and it never throttled. My Intel MacBook Pro would have its fans spinning like a jet ready to take off 🤣
I am a PC user with Cubase Pro 14 no problems
I was so close to getting the Yoga Slim 7x I belive was the name with 64gb RAM, 1TB SSD for like $1200 bucks. But I realized there's not enough support yet
Cool 😁What was the latency and sample / bitrate settings in the example played?
128 samples buffer size -it doesn’t care :)
i'm both aka i like both no cap
Apple forces developers to re-write all their software from scratch. It was very painful for the developers but now Apple M chip is RAD!
ARM on Windows will be great when developers will support it natively.
So in 2025 professional audio is still impossible to make on PC ARM.
But if you are a beginner or just a beatmaker, you can use Cubase with it's own plugins and instruments to make great music.
PS By the way, how about NI Kontakt and it's PC ARM support?
How is DPC latency?
Though I have moved to apple now but I am eagerly waiting for the compatibility on snapdragon...
I NEED POWER ... AND STABILITY AND MOBILITY..
Thanks Dom
Waiting for the M4 Mac Studio to come out to abandon Windows for good. But I’m glad for Windows folks to finally get a performance boost. I hope for you that all the driver issues will be resolved.
When is enough, enough? I think computers and chips in general, got fast enough for audio applications years ago. The problem for manufacturers of equipment both software and hardware is, how can we sell something that may improve the user experience by only 10%? My Quiet PC, NI library and NI Keyboard gives me a platform that if it keeps working will see me into my grave. The software is ten years old and the PC, four. My last MI purchase was an Akai MPC Key61 which is a substantial improvement on other workstations AND now with BETA v. 3 software is a dream of a standalone unit which again I will keep, the only downside being the keybed itself.
Got one. Cannot use it for audio production, as the drivers to 99,9% of Audio Interfaces are not supporting SD Elite chipsets.
How is VST support going on Arm?
How is Linux compared to window or a Mac? For music production but?
Which is best I use Cubase and Protools
Thanks
Good video.
The only problem i see is microsoft with its updates which can crash your system at anytime or lets you waste hours for fixing the issues of it.
Thanks Dom for this... revelation! My question is: how can I connect six ssd drivers (USB-C) to this laptop...?
Hope Qualcomm release desktop versions of the Snapdragon X. It should change the balance of power literally!
Is there any fan noise on snapdragon ? The main reason I never used a laptop for music was due to fan noise ! Thanks
Kudos for Steinberg! I’m a longtime user of Samplitude . Only X86 compatible. Wondering how viable Intel Lunar Lake is?
Considering a M4pro Mac Mini instead because of the size and how quiet and efficient it is. I would have to switch DAWS.
Will someone try this with Bitwig on ARM?
1:30 You showed a laptop with Cubase in operation. After launching Cubase 14, there is no room for tracks on the laptop, the mix console took up all the space. Why did you change the mix console window selector? The full mix console could be opened as a separate window anyway. You used the Ableton solution.
This is not Cubase 14 it’s Cubase 13 :)
@DomSigalas Thanks for the answer, but you get the point, it’s not convenient to work on a laptop.
Namah Shivay, Sir it's a great development in Technology, Hassle free PC WITH GOOD PERFORMANCE & CONNECTIVITY FOR PROFESSIONAL RECORDING & MIXING, GOOD LUCK FOR R&D TEAM, AND MANUFACTURING, THANK YOU NAMAH SHIVAY
One thing I can't stand with Cubase on Mac, it's the Full Screen not being available. Just for that, one can choose Windows instead.
Nvidia may want to build ARM CPUs, according to rumors. Perhaps AMD and Intel will realize that these technologies from ARM and Apple are the most advanced and hope to take to this direction. That would of course be the icing on the cake. Apple programs almost perfect drivers, ARM probably does too, another plus point. This development is exciting; and thank you very much for this video; great as always
I will be going to a Dell Touchscreen Snapdragon X laptop over my M1. I use Viewsonic Touchscreens and this laptop is the perfect mobile solution for touch. Apple looses by not keeping up with Touch Laptop.
Hi Dom. Been watching your channel for ages but didn't realise you had so many peripherals. I am seriously considering switching to MAC but I have a few peripherals (less than you but enough). Can to either tell me what you use to connect all these or maybe do a short video. I am worried that the number of Thunderbolt 5 connections on the new MacBook Pro 4max won't be sufficient. Many thanks in advance. Jon
Hey Jon!
I wouldn’t worry about the peripherals. If the system is behaving it will work. At the moment I have 2 Caldigit TB4 Element docks and a Caldigit TS4 dock. No issues whatsoever everything works every single day :)
@@DomSigalas Thanks Dom. Thanks for the reply. I've been a PC user for years. With your video about the snapdragon CPU do you think I should wait until the these CPU's become more commonplace or does the Mac pro 4 max still work better than these new Snapdragons. I know it's sort of impossible to say but I would value your opinion. Cheers Jon
I wonder what the comparison between Mac M4 and these new CPUs are like, Looking to buy a M4 soon, would it be cheaper with Snapdragon?
My last two android phones run Qualcomm Snapdragon chips and I always wish my PC ran as good as my phone.
Stability/performance/efficency/compatibilty will be the judge..i never use mac..but from all the test i saw..i m start thinking that for cubase , (without speaking about the hardware) mac os is more performant than windows..(maybe because mac os is based on unix) + as a windows user since..1993..i m a bit fed up to need to setup and re-setup/re tune windows to fix problem or regain performance..just hope that windows on arm is more streamlined and under control (fed up of forced update that mess my dpc latency/peak)..on the other hand what apple do is sexy..but the price of added ram and ssd..on a macbook pro...hurts my feeling :-) cubase + my plugin + my device working on linux is my hidden dream
Thanks Dom. Just to cut it short, are we talking only mobile devices or is this chip going to be available and working for PCs too? Thanks in advance
It’s already available in many laptops. But I have already read news about desktop versions coming just yesterday.
Question, does the new Snapdragon processor allow for the users to be able to upgrade the memory and add storage to the their computers and will they have an equivalent to the Mac Mini but allow the user to be able to add memory and Storage?
I talk about all this on the video.
PC's modularity is the best part. Once you learn to isolate functionality, performance is not only great but customizable, laptops are inherently slow and stupidly expensive.
That means, a dedicated GPU, a dedicated Sound card, utilize Dual Channel RAM, invest in SSD's - anything to take the strain off the CPU.
Yes I’ve tried this for 25 years.
Like I said, it depends on what you do.
For a professional environment you want to minimize any room for problems or maintenance issues that can arise from many factors coming from each part (all the parts you mentioned).
ARM processors (Mac or PC) offer the peace of mind that if it works- it works. I don’t have to worry if my mobo will be incompatible with the GPU or if the GPU driver is going to mess up my audio performance on the next update .
Get the best ARM machine you can afford and you don’t need to worry.
And as you can see, there are incredibly powerful ARM machines right now that cost much cheaper than custom PC builds. This has never been the case before.
In my opinion, for professional audio work, this is the future.
The whole tech community is attesting to this - if you’re a gamer building a custom PC is still the best option though :)
And if you watch the video until the end, I said I am interested in a desktop version of this. This will be amazing. See what’s going on with the Mac Mini at the moment. 500 bucks and even the base model is fire.
Imagine if Snapdragon comes up with a desktop machine- you bet I’m all ears.
Is it going to be for everyone? No, many people like to build their own custom systems. But this is the first time that you will get a PC and know in advance if your DAW will play nicely with it l- and in audio that’s paramount.
And lower temperature, less throttling and lower fan noise, right?
that's an interesting development in laptop and it would be nice to see well performing daws in laptops but i don't think the arm processors will go far in desktop use. the sheer power of the x86 ones and the more complex instruction sets as well as the incomparable backwards compatibility just can't be beat when you don't take power and heat generation into account. and the majority of high power computer owners also have gaming in their mind when building their systems
Hmmm, check what Apple have done with the Mac Studio and Mac minis (even devoted anti-Apple channels cannot disregard how good these machines are).
My experience so far with Snapdragon is that if they decide to go the desktop route, it will be blazing good 😊
@@DomSigalas it could be the case that they develop them to that point but currently the compute/watt is higher in x86 chips.
hope they improve them though because cooling a high power pc is starting to hit a ceiling
that's great new for PC users !
how is the Fan noise though ? one of the big advantages of ARM MacBook's is the low to no fan noise for DAW works.
also the current SD Arm CPUs strong as the Apple M series or latest intel/AMD CPUs for DAW use ?
I just built a new video / audio computer with 128 Gb ram, Ryzen 7 and 7 SDD drives. I once bought a iMac to do,video,editing but how can it handle everything with one hard drive? Right now, I have dedicated drives for the OS, video, rendering, Audio, media content, cache, etc. works great. I don’t understand how a single drive system could handle 10, 20 tracks of audio and video, effects, etc. can it really be done?
Yes it can be done in several ways. First of all the built in drives on the new Macs are blazing fast (5000-6000MB/s).
What I do for multiple drives is use a Blackmagic Multidock. I can swap SSDs super easily and it’s compatible with Mac and PC.
Thanks Dom, interesting video? To be honest, I don't fully understand all the jargon and technology. l wonder if it would be beneficial to me at some point? I do have many performance problems at times as I am running cubase on a very old 4th gen PC!! But I have just plodded on as I make music as a hobby. One thing you did not mention ( which you may not know when you did the video?) is PRICE?
I gather these may end up with similar prices to a Mac? Time will tell I suppose. Thanks again Dom.