My last three live rigs have been thinkpads . An pretty quick core 2 , an i 7 , and an i 5 . Each one has been up to the tasks of being a keyboard rig and FX processor . Each one worked with every firewireUSB interface they ' ve met . The real benefit though is the availability of service manuals and parts . If anything goes wrong with my laptops I can usually find a video from lenovo detailing the repair procedure and parts are usually cheap and plentiful . I ' ve heard the newer thinkpads aren ' t as robust as the old ones , but these machines have been more than durable enough . HP and Dell also have similar pro lines that are made to be repairedupgraded . <| sep |> I ' m with uSticky 32 here , can we get even just a bulleted list of what worked , what didn ' t etc ? Id rather this not turn into some sort of baseless popularity contest , multiplayer instability is what drove me from the game a while back and I ' m excited that there ' s some progress on this front . Let ' s keep it objective and informative !