u/subhumean

I have the following Mac laptop on extended loan from a work situation and there may be some chance I can just keep it or maybe buy it as my work ends. This is the machine:

• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016)
• i5-6267U CPU 2.90Ghz
• 8 GB 2133 Mhz LPDDR3
• Graphics Intel Iris Graphics 550 1536 MB

I had been planning on buying a used PC, something like an 8th gen i7, and using Linux on it...but if I can keep this computer, maybe I don't have to. It's only a 6th gen Intel, but maybe it will work for my purposes, which are:

• Recording and mixing my own music. 2-20 tracks, maybe 1-3 digital instruments, MIDI, acoustic tracks with some effects on most tracks. I need it to be quiet while recording acoustically and not have drop outs when mixing larger projects, but it's not like I'll be doing super intense orchestral stuff.
• Everything else is just "basic computer use" (web, YouTube, writing, spreadsheets).
• No gaming.

I'm concerned that I might be fighting it to get Linux to run well on it. I want a no hassle computer life. I'll be using it with an external 24" monitor and probably using Fedora KDE on it.

Opinions? Thanks in advance.

I was planning on buying an Intel 8th gen i7 computer for music recording and mixing. This would be 2 to maybe 30 tracks, mostly around 5-10 tracks, with regular rock instruments, voice, and then maybe digital drums and digital effects on most tracks and MIDI in from my keyboard. I'll probably get 16GB of DDR-4 RAM.

So, first: is this type of chip comfortably sufficient for this kind of music work? I don't want to have to freeze tracks unless I'm doing something up around 30 tracks, which would be very rare. I could afford to buy something somewhat newer, but I prefer to not buy something I don't need. I also greatly dislike using Macs, and will be running Linux on this computer (which will also be my regular use computer.)

If this chip is about OK, I see that there are a few versions of it. I could see pros/cons for each of these:

• The i7-8700 has more computational power, so that could be helpful in mixing larger projects with more effects, digital instruments, etc. (And for anything else I use my computer for that needs some more computation--but I don't play intensive games on it). But it's hotter, so it may make the fans kick on more often, which could be a noise issue for acoustic recordings. However, I think I could use power limiting to have it run cooler if I wanted.

• The i7-8700T runs cooler, so may not need its fan as much and therefore will be quieter in terms of fan noise, which might matter in my quieter acoustic recordings. But it won't be able to do as intense processing for more elaborate pieces.

What would you recommend?

I was planning on buying an Intel 8th gen i7 computer, but I see that there are a few versions of it. I could see pros/cons for each of these:

• The i7-8700 has more computational power, so that could be helpful in mixing larger projects with more effects, digital instruments, etc. (And for anything else I use my computer for that needs some more computation--but I don't play intensive games on it).
• The i7-8700T runs cooler, so may not need its fan as much and therefore will be quieter in terms of fan noise, which might matter in my quieter acoustic recordings.

What would you recommend?