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Laptops

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  • July 1, 2014 at 1:42 pm #2040034
    Stazbumpa
    Participant

    I use a refurbished Dell latitude business laptop. It came with 4 usb slots and a 1080p screen.

    If money is an issue avoid Macs, you can buy a Windows machine and they do the job perfectly well. If you look after it and keep your DJ install tidy it will last a good long while.

    July 1, 2014 at 8:42 pm #2040118
    Alex Moschopoulos
    Participant

    The secret to Windows is to buy quality hardware and have a clean install of Windows running.

    Biggest mistakes DJs make on Windows is they buy a $500 USD laptop with a doctored up version of Windows in it. Plus they’ll run other things on that cheap laptop they shouldn’t.

    I’ve been using Windows laptops since Final Scratch 1.2. It’s always been about running your system lean and clean…and using quality hardware. Also to know your limits…as I’ll see DJs try to run 2-3 big programs at once. It’s no wonder they have crashes.

    That Dell seems fine.

    July 2, 2014 at 1:18 am #2040160
    Luis Avalos
    Participant

    Well money isnt an issue, i can save and work and in more or less a year i can buy the mac, the same goes for the Inspiron, so well, is it true that laptops starts to lose quality as time goes by?

    July 2, 2014 at 3:52 am #2040186
    Stazbumpa
    Participant

    It depends on your point of view. If you buy a laptop now and 3 months later look at something newer then your laptop will be slower. But that’s only because you would be comparing older technology with newer.
    If you mean that the computer will start to run slower after a period of time all by itself, well that only tends to happen if you don’t look after it.

    Mac or PC, if you run lots of background tasks, fill your hard drive up with crap and also don’t bother to clean the fans and heatsinks, then your mac or pc will run slow and crash more as time passes.
    Look after it and it will run quite happily for as long as you need it to.

    A point worth remembering, ignore the graphics card spec because its irrelevant. On a DJ laptop. Look for upgrades like a solid state drive or a decent 1080p screen instead.

    July 2, 2014 at 7:06 am #2040210
    Luis Avalos
    Participant

    what i meant with the grapics card is for example to run at the same time my mixing software and a vj software, and well some graphics cards arent powerful enough to run both and also i think the mac has a better screen than the inspiron, and well i’ve heard its more difficult for a mac to crash than a pc, but i think its all about how many programs you have running in background which also takes a point for a mac, because you dont need an antivirus with the mac, and with the pc, you must have an antivirus unless you want to be exposed an get a virus, so i think im going for the mac.
    I dont doubt that a good powerful pc do the job, because even that my compaq has done the job, if not perfectly, at least i can mix.

    July 2, 2014 at 10:29 am #2040253
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    Honestly: Get a Mac.

    I agree with D-Jam that the key to windows is excellent hardware and excellent guy that installs your system. Both will cost you A LOT more than a Mac actually. For example a good HP Z-Book will cost you well above 2.000 dollars in the US.
    And you still can run into the same problems.

    With the Mac there are 2 things to consider over raw CPU or Grafix power:
    – You will never need drivers
    – The OS is built for grafics and audio multitasking (look up OS X CoreAudio and CoreGrafix)
    – The Mac OS is a UNIX system, so due to how it is organized freezes are much more unlikely even when you run at high CPU power
    – All tasks in OS X are sandboxed and the sandbox cannot be destroyed by shoehorns (like Direct X in Windows does)
    – So even if the Mac has a little lower specs it will prolly run faster

    Example: I run a MacBook Pro from 2007 as my backup laptop. So yes this thing is 7 years old, it still runs Serato DJ in the newest Version and newest Version of OS X fine. It is a little slow to run Serato Video along, but that is still very good in my book for a 7 year old machine.
    With my current machine (15” MacBook pro with i7 and 8 gigs RAM) I can run Serato DJ, Serato Video and Ableton Live at the same time and still have power to spare for additional stuff if I would care.

    July 2, 2014 at 2:41 pm #2040287
    Annakyn
    Participant

    I used to get stressed out looking for a windows laptop to buy. Came to a conclusion MAC! and haven’t looked back since IMO if you are using software buying a MAC is essential. And 100% worth the price

    July 2, 2014 at 6:03 pm #2040323
    DJ 2-Easy
    Participant

    Macbook Pro, that is all 😉

    July 2, 2014 at 6:07 pm #2040328
    dannyboyex@gmail.com
    Participant

    Unless you’re trying to do some video editing and rendering video while trying to DJ you will be fine with the dell. I have an ASUS core i3 ~2.3ghz and it runs fine even when i accidently leave antivirus running. The whole Mac vs. PC is just irrelevant at this point. Save your money and get the PC. If you’ve been using a PC this whole time, don’t switch. Plus people are more likely to steal a mac.

    July 2, 2014 at 7:00 pm #2040347
    Luis Avalos
    Participant

    Ok thanks to all of you for your advices. Yesterday i spoke with a friend of my brothes who has a mac, and he tells me that indeed, is the best choice, so yeah, i think im going to buy a mac, but the only thing that worries me is the insecurity but i think i will be fine if i buy a case or anything to cover the apple

    July 2, 2014 at 7:01 pm #2040348
    dannyboyex@gmail.com
    Participant

    That’s a smart thing to do. Don’t be a show-off

    July 2, 2014 at 8:37 pm #2040382
    Alex Moschopoulos
    Participant

    Insecurity? You fear it being stolen or damaged? Or viruses?

    I don’t agree that a good Windows laptop will cost you more than a Macbook. If anything, it’ll still cost you a little less. High-end Lenovo Thinkpads still run less than Macbook Pro’s.

    HOWEVER…I usually advise Macbooks if the person isn’t deeply technically inclined. One other of my secrets to using Windows successfully is that I know how to maintain, tweak, and use the OS effectively. If you’re the type who doesn’t know how to get into the inner workings and make your machine sing…then go for the user-friendly setup of Apple.

    If money isn’t an object for you, then go Apple if you want.

    BTW…my iMac at work (new one) crashed twice in the last two weeks. Grey screen of death. I haven’t seen a Windows crash in years. It just comes down to what you’re into and how well you can utilize the system. Macs recently have had security holes for viruses and malware.

    The point to this is there is no fullproof solution. Windows or Mac, make sure you get into the OS workings and know how to run solid and secure.

    July 2, 2014 at 10:31 pm #2040402
    Robert Murray
    Participant

    I went for a good quality windows laptop – Leveno Thinkpad 14″ i7 cpu, 8gb ram, 128GB SSD hard drive.
    As I don’t run anything else on it but my DJ software – it’s fast, stable and solidily built.

    Oh yeah – all that for £300 second hand on Ebay.

    My friend is spending £700 in a 13″ macbook.

    Both are quality but price was an issue for me 🙂

    July 3, 2014 at 4:55 am #2040463
    David Cooper
    Participant

    I agree 100% with D-Jam. I am not the most tech savvy person in the world but a good mate is an absolute pc nut so he provided similar advice to what D-Jam is saying. My only hints would be get a SSD (it made a huge difference on my laptop which was already speced up) and if you are a registered user of virtual dj there is a utility that will actually optimise your laptop before you perform.

    Not sure if you have to have a higher version than LE (haven’t used the site in a while) but it works for me and I now use Traktor.

    Coops

    July 3, 2014 at 4:59 am #2040465
    Luis Avalos
    Participant

    First of all thanks d-jam for your advices, and well yes indeed, i was researching a little bit about the os and it isnt as safe as it seems, and yes it would be my first time with an apple computer, but my friend’s brother told me that any doubt i had i could ask him, so that’s an advantage, and yeah i fear it might be stolen, because i wouldnt use it only for djing, also for university, and that means take public transport, but anyway i think i’ll be fine, just like i said, buy something to cover the apple and make it look like something else.

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