New laptop for dedicated DJ usage

[RhemyD]

Hey all

I'm contemplating purchasing a new Laptop to replace my aging DJ Machine Lappy. I wondering what people would suggest as the benchmark config to have inorder to run programs like Abelton, VDJ, Reason etc.

And the age old question do I continue along and get a PC or do I get a Mac?

Cheers,

[christianfloyd]

i think the age old question will become never aged!

[CBG]

[ShifteQ]

This is gonna get epic....

see...MAC vs PC thread

Honestly, i am using a beefy HP setup, absolutely Dumbed down windows, I use Ableton to write and play live, it goes without issue, i am on top of every process within my unit tho... I have been looking into Mac

One thing, Macs build (not the pretty shite) has a unique feature within that completely stops all vibration. This is why alot of producers will have Macs for recording etc. My HP has had issues with hum and vibration (since fixed by a hack job to remove the earth on my power cord) but i record alot of live instruments and very odd samples, and when you get deep into the audio for this, it becomes noticable... But straight live performance should be through a nice ext sound card anyway, so that will buffer alot of it.

Honestly, you just want as much power/ram/HDD as you can get for your $$$

So that leaves you searching

[Funky_Steve]

Any further advice on this thread?

What do others load onto ther DJ laptop? Do you keep it to a bare minimum? Do you hook it up to the internet or keep it isolated?

[CBG]

As an experienced producer, I would have to say a MAC, and im trying to be as honest as possible here.

I use a pc and omfg it gives me nightmares: screen stops working, mouse stops working, ableton crashes, two different drivers for my keyboard clash, had to buy a firewire port then fuck around with my interface drivers.

MAC: pretty much plug and play, no exageration.

For a purely music laptop, go a MAC imo

[Skank]

i bought a brand new laptop a few weeks ago for dedicated djing it has more then i need and it stiil gives me hassles wit drivers and serato, i hate to say it but im gunna get a mac just for serato

[Gandy]

i have a dedicated macbook pro, all its got on it basically is traktor and only use internet for beatport/juno. havnt had one problem yet, first mac ive ever owned, loving it

[lloydc]

I use my macbook for everything and it's solid as!

NEVER going back to windows

[Funky_Steve]

What does a decent Macbook cost nowadays?

[CBG]

a pro would be upwards of $2k

[lloydc]

macbook = $1300

pro 13" from $1500 through to about $3k for the 17"

I wanted the 17" cause it has 3 USB port, but they can get fucked at the price of $3k.

and 17" is far to big for what i need

[Gandy]

13" pro cost me $1499

dual core 2.4

4gig ram

250gb hdd

http://www.apple.com/au/macbookpro/

figured i didtn need the bigger screen cause all im usin it for is traktor and i dont even have that maximised. Have a couple of 4 port usb hubs as well so usb ports not an issue

[wazza]

if your going to go with PC....dont get the new i5 yet

On my 4 year old ASUS P4 2.4 laptop with 1 gig off ram...run XP pro never had a problem

on my new HP i5 with 4 gig off ram running window 7 ...have had notting but problems setting it up right....

[eggssell]

window 7 is your issue. ha ha

yeah i got a 4 yr old asus on XP. kills it.

even when it was 2.5 yrs old it was benchmarking better than the mac book pros that were coming out at that time. and it was only because i bought the best out there (that i could afford), which is what i always say to do when it comes to laptops. because now i have a machine that still runs great which will easily go me another year or two easy before i will need to upgrade

[CBG]

im gunna custom build a MAC desktop next year. Maximum specs.

Run windows on a virtual pc as well, just in case

[Skank]

my windows seven is great but not for my laptop its giving me dramas with drivers and shit

[Jaz]

My windows 7 was sluggish upon new laptop purchase (set up by Harvey Norman), crashed after 3 days just after i loaded everything

so i built it back myself and its like lightning

i would go mac over PC but i cant afford it....

[iSubaru]

I'm using an Alieanware M11X w/ Win7 and it pretty much kills it. Although i may only be using VDJ, Martin Lightjockey and FL its perfectly fine and has plenty to spare. Its small and yet powerfull

Just my 2c

[Jaz]

Alienware are crazy cool but to expensive , plus they are just Dells with better shit

[iSubaru]

MMM expensive i know but totally worth it. Specially for what i do.... im always on it either djing stuff or gaming (the main reason i actually got it) or just surfin the net, and dont remind meee about them being undercover dells lol....they used to be cooler when they werent... but there still nice

btw DJaz is your name meant to mean DJ az or DJ daz but just joined?

[Jaz]

Yeh i would deffs get 1 for gaming but i use consoles more then PC so not needed for me....

yeh they were cooler then, looked better as well, but Dell helped them go into mass mass production at least

yeh its Pronounced like Dee Jaz....Dont worry everyone gets it wrong....working on changing it

[eggssell]

link the name thread, lets ressurect.