i’m looking to dedicate a laptop to use as roon core and have a few questions if anyone can help. i’m relatively new so still learning.
@support
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would roon take full advantage of a 13.5 inch screen at resolution 3000 by 2000 with intel hd graphics or would a similar size screen with 1920 by 1080 resolution but with a dedicated graphics card yield better results?
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do intel hd graphics provide enough power for roon to operate as roon was designed to?
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finally i’m on a budget so would a 128gb ssd drive provide enough storage for roon for me well into the future or am i seriously limiting myself here. the 256ssd version of the surface book i’m looking is nearly 300 pounds more expensive and out of my budget now. i’m looking at other models but the high res screen on the surface book was fantastic. the only other programs which won’t be used much on the laptop will be google, tidal and spotify. 95 percent of the time it will be a roon machine.
many thanks mohab
Hello Mohab
Just an opinion here, but I don’t really see the sense to buy a laptop and then dedicate it to Roon. Depending on what else you have, or plan to have, in your system, then you might consider a NUC with ROCK as the Core, and then use whatever other devices (tablets, phones) you have as remotes for maximum flexibility. Throw in a USB drive for your music storage, and you are all set.
ROCK does everything it needs to do, and nothing more. Like I said - just an opinion, but I am exceptionally pleased with how it works for me.
i currently use my imac 512gb ssd as core optical out to chord mojo. i’m hoping to get a chord dave which is a very expensive piece of kit. i have been in close dialogue with the designer and he strongly recommends using a battery powered windows laptop. here i would be specifically using the chord windows drivers. i will be going down the direct laptop to dac set up here. i’ve also come across a hp laptop 4k screen resolution screen but again i want to check if intel hd/uhd integrated graphics will do roon full justice rather than a dedicated gpu. the problem is that by using a mains powered desktop i am introducing a set up which is not fully isolated. screen resolution therefore also becomes very important for enjoying roon. with advice on the right laptop specs which i hope i will get here i should be back on track. i do all my listening sat on my desk so no need for remotes etc and i use roon exclusively for tidal access metadata/artwork/bio’s etc as i don’t have any locally stored music. i also will not be placing anything in between the dac and laptop. if 128gb is limited for storage would 256gb ssd be sufficient?
Relax.
I have a Surface Book.
The display is great for Roon.
128 GB is plenty if you only use Tidal, Roon will use a few GB.
And all this talk about battery power instead of mains: in my view, all this focus on tweaking is wasted. This forum is full of people very happy with mains-powered NUCs and other devices. I’m not saying that battery power supplies, or mono-crystal one-directional cables on wooden risers, or filter tweaking don’t have any effect. I’m saying that the effect is tiny compared to the fundamentals: get the right music (Roon + Tidal!), good speakers, DSP room correction.
The Surface Book will work great. (If you do get one, test if plugging it into the outlet has an audible effect.) I would agree with the recommendation to get a NUC, very cheap with small SSD, and use a tablet or simple laptop for the user interface. It’s what I use. (I do have the Surface Book, but for other purposes; I find that I reach for the iPad rather than the Surface to play music.)
Many thanks Anders and yes the surface book display is fantastic.