I am thinking of getting a Dell XPS13 when the new models with the 8th generation Quad-core i7 chips come out in a few weeks. It seems that the specifications of the XPS13 are fine for Cubase 9 Pro.
Is there anyone running Cubase 9 (or even an earlier version) on a current XPS13 who can comment on performance? Are there any issues I should be worried about?
Thank you.
Currently I use cubase 8.5 on Dell XPS 13 9360 (16GB RAM, 1 TB HD SSD).
Initially, I found little problems I managed to solve through the information released by Steinberg. Now the PC works perfectly. Very stable and powerful.
Thank you for the input RingoKey. It is nice to know that Cubase works on an XPS 13. I have had a hard time finding people who use that computer.
Are you using an i5 or an i7 processor? I am also wondering about the new models with an i7-8550U, but they are probably too new for people to give any feedback.
new models with an i7-8550U
Virtually only the processor cores have doubled. But this brings about 30-45% higher performance in the notebook! New is the processing of h265 and VP9 in the graphics core and UHD modes. For Cubase, a speed increase of approximately 40% is to be expected, if multiprocessing is activated.
I am also concerned with the possible effects of the reduction in base speed to about 1.8 GHz per core (even though turbo boost speed is high). It seems like the processor can only spend part of its time at the higher boost speed (probably because of heat constraints). I don’t do any live recording in Cubase and don’t have a lot of effects plug-ins. Only editing of MIDI files on instrument VSTs and occasionally mixing instrument tracks with audio tracks. I am hoping that the new processors will work well for me.
I have an Dell XPS 13 9360 (CNX93608) with an i7-7500U. I also use it in live situations and now it works perfectly well.
I was thinking getting 15" version, but saw on few other forums people experience audio dropouts, stuttering, spikes in latencymon with or without usb soundcards etc. you didn’t have this kind of problems? thanks
You will not be able to run very much in the way of real-time VSTi or VST effects on a U-series chip, I don’t care if it is dual or quad core. If you are bouncing lots of things down to audio or using lightweight sample-based instruments, it shouldn’t be too bad. Cubase seems the wrong application to be doing live work with though (the only reason I could see running a DAW on an ultralight). I could see Ableton Live or Bitwig Studio, but Cubase is more of a big studio DAW.
incorrect imho. I have a x220 but given away for the moment for someones initiation, it’s lenovo but the same concept. Works perfect and very stable. These are HQ machines in a smaller fysical environment. Cubase will run just fine as on any system. Those HQ mini laptops outperform other bigger but cheaper machines on all fronts, but they are intended for a different type of buyer. The ones who do not have the space to have a studio environment, and they serve the goal perfectly.
I have the XPS 13 and I’m going to return it in favour of an XPS 15 with the i7 7700HQ
With Cubase 9 + 2 instances of Maschine as a VST things go well for a while, than the fans turn on, the temp rises, CPU start to throttle and you get every kind of spikes & things.
Amazing general use laptop, but not for a DAW.
Ok, investigating deeper into the problem with LatencyMon, I discovered that a .dll from “Dell Update” package created spikes, together with wifi and directx stuff (video-card related problems).
