Hi! I’m a new user on a free trial so I can see if Roon is right for me. So far, so good! I quite like it and I think I’ll be sticking around. But I had some questions about running it on my current setup.
Should be okay running Roon and my server off of a couple-years old midrange business laptop for the time being?
I currently have Roon and my server set up on an Acer Aspire 5. It has 12GB of RAM and a 512GB of storage. I am aware it is not a very good laptop. I’ve used it for enough time to know that, but I bought it at a warehouse store when my much nicer laptop stopped working properly and I needed a new one ASAP. I am in the process of replacing it as my daily driver with a Macbook Neo which fits my needs a lot better.
However, I am still using the Aspire for a few other tasks, namely playing music. I was still using iTunes on this thing until I switched to Roon. My music library is about ~6600 songs and I also have Tidal. Based on some of the posts I’ve seen around here, I have a much smaller library than I thought I did!
Should I be okay running Roon on this laptop for the time being? What should I be looking at in terms of the memory, storage, and heat impact of Roon on this Aspire? I tried to look this information up, but I really hate Google’s AI search results and I’d rather ask the community these questions instead.
So far, I have not noticed any significant memory, storage, or heat issues with this computer why running Roon or running the server and listening to music remotely with ARC, but it’s only been a day or so since I joined and I do want to know what I’m in for. Honestly, Firefox has had more impact on those three things on this laptpop than Roon did today.
I suspect I’ll be getting a reply asking whether I’m thinking about a NUC, and right now it’s a maybe, and for later down the road. I do want to see whether just running it on what I have will work indefinitely. I also want to give Roon a couple months for me to get used to it before I invest in hardware devoted entirely to it, especially with the prices for consumer electronics these days.
Yes. Assuming it has the entry level i5 processors it will perform just fine for libraries with up to 100,000 tracks.
Take your time getting to know Roon before committing to new hardware or an annual subscription. And, ask as many questions as you like, but keep it to one topic per thread.
I ran Roon without any problems on an old energy-effcient Sony laptop for about a year and learned about Roon functions. Got interested in convolution filters etc. and the old girl ran out of steam pretty fast. Switched to a NUC10 i7 for a couple of years and then for simplicity reasons I switched again, this time to a NAS Synology 720+. Heed the advice given earlier to understand what you want from Roon and then make hardware decisions.
Thank you! From the looks of these two responses, I should be good to use this laptop for the time being. It’s good know that there’s a solution for people who want to use Roon but for whom a NUC isn’t in the cards at the moment. When I started reading about NUCs for Roon, I was worried I was getting into yet another expensive hobby, but I’m glad that this laptop will do.
I had something longer posted, but I think I’d be better off reposting something more concise, since it’s just a followup.
After a day and a half of using Roon on and off, I had noticed a slight memory and heat impact on my laptop, but it’s all within expected behavior for the computer. Running Roon is like running a mid-range video game like “Hades II” on it. Running Roon + some other programs like Firefox gets me to using about 8 or 9GB of my 12GB of memory, and the max temperature in HWInfo and Core Temp is usually somewhere in the high 50s or low 60s C. Nowhere near anything to concerned about, and about what I expected. Only running the server and accessing Roon with ARC on a tablet is much less demanding, also as to be expected.
I’ll be keeping an eye on memory and temperatures for a bit, but I haven’t seen anything close to a problem so far.
Sort of. I’ve been using ARC on my phone when I’m out, but I also put it on an old tablet too, just to test out performance.
I should probably put the dedicated Android Roon app on that tablet if I’m going to use it as a remote, right?
Also: Should I be using Roon on the laptop directly, like I did iTunes, or should I always use a remote like that tablet if I’m not changing metadata or something like that?
Sorry for all the questions, just trying to figure out how to set this up right.
Yes. ARC is for remote access does not include the ability to control other zones. Indeed an ARC stream is not a full fledged zone. The Roon app, by contrast, allows you to access settings, group zones etc. only on small screen devices (phones) is the Roon app somewhat limited in its abilities due to the lack of screen space.
It’s entirely your choice. It makes no difference. The Roon application on the laptop is just another remote.
Be aware, however, the endpoints on devices running the Roon app may, by default, be created as a ‘private’ zone which means that it can only be controlled by the device on which it is running. This can be changed in ‘Device Settings’ accessed either from the settings cogwheel for the zone in settings->audio or from the cogwheel in zone settings access via the loudspeaker icon and the selecting the second ‘Device Setup’ cogwheel.
However, because your laptop has a larger screen, you may find that the laptop is easier to use for some operations like, for example, setting up parametric equalisation. This will also be possible on a tablet but is not available on the Roon app for phones
There were also versions with i3 Intel and 3000 and 5000 series AMD chips. Knowing exactly which processor would allow you to benchmark against a comparable NUC.
To the OP, as you have discovered run Roon as server only, use a tablet for control. The Roon Android app is way more intuitive than ARC as it allows the same access as Roon on a desktop. Best still is to use a Roon endpoint if feasible. That doesn’t need to be expensive but it will add a degree of complexity.
Even so, the i3 and Ryzen 3 are still fine for running Roon, and certainly while on a trial.
I laptop is likely to run hotter while completing audio analysis on your media library. You can schedule this for the evening or throttle in Settings → Library. Also, your laptop may have some Power Mode settings for Performance, Balanced, and Power Saver. Use Balanced or Power Saver to reduce heat and fan noise.
However, note that Roon is like running a game because of the graphics engine, and combined with Windows inefficiencies, the GUI will spin the fan (in Linux, the Windows GUI actually runs more efficiently.) So try avoiding the desktop app, and use a tablet or phone.
Incidentally, how large is your library, and is it stored ot the laptop? Or do you only use streaming?
It’s an Intel i5 1235-U. I think that’s plenty for the moment.
Not too big. About 6,600 files and much less in terms of full albums. I prefer a streamer, Tidal in my case, for full albums and my own files for personal favorite songs and Bandcamp downloads. I’ve been carrying around that library, whole or in part, from computer to computer for almost 20 years now and I don’t want to part with some of the rarer or not-streaming files I have.
Thank you all for the tips and the information about the GUI. I just turned audio analysis off because I don’t really need the things that provides at the moment. I’ll start using the tablet more as the remote. Although monitoring my laptop with HWInfo shows that Roon and RoonAppliance (the server) each have a memory impact similar to Discord or Zoom, and Firefox uses far more memory than any program on this system after all. Should be able to run both Roon and the server no problem if that’s what I want to do, but just running server and using the tablet remote for the GUI might be the simpler way to go. I’ll move to a NUC when I can afford one, but I’ll keep an eye on how the laptop holds up for now.
Just to clarify, the size of your Roon Library is determined by the total of the number of tracks contained in your local storage and the number of tracks added from a streaming service…
I don’t add streaming tracks to my library if that’s what you’re asking. I just stream them. I have Tidal playlists, but not many and I don’t add those tracks to my library either.
Last post in this thread for me, but I just wanted to say I’ve been trying out running the server on the laptop, and the Roon app on the tablet (for which that will be its sole purpose), and I think I’ve found my optimal setup for Roon! It’s everything I want in terms of minimal performance, memory, and temperature impact on the laptop (and the tablet for that matter). Running Roon directly on the laptop wasn’t bad at all, but this so much better, and it gives me a use for this tablet I’ve had sitting around. Thank you!
