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Looking at Macbook Pros

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  • May 17, 2013 at 12:37 pm #40447
    gullum
    Participant

    I have 3 Apple computer.
    a Macbook (White one) from 2009 intel Core 2 duo 2 Ghz 4 GB ram and it fine for Traktor
    a Macbook Pro 15″ from 2009 intel Core 2.4 duo 2 Ghz 8 GB ram and it fine for Traktor and I can run Mashine at the same time no problem. I also have Serato DJ, Virtual DJ, CrossDJ, Decadance 2, Djay witch all run without any problems.
    an iMac 27″ intel Core 2 duo 3.06 Ghz 12 GB and can run whatever I trow at it.
    All Mac running intel prosessors with at least 4 Gb ram will run any DJ software and production (Music/Video) software no problem. But I’ll say if you can save a little more do it. There is no guarantie that the next version of whatever software you’ll be using will be compatable with Mountan Lion and it can happen that a future version of OS X will drop suport for core 2 duo at some point. So with a never i5 or i7 your more future proof.
    I don’t do much video editing so can’t coment to much on it.
    I’ve been a windows user since Windows 3.1 and DOS and Basic before that. It took me about a week to get fully confetrable with OS X and the only think that was anoying me during that week was keyboard shortcuts and the minimize, maximize and close was on the other side of the windows/programs.

    May 17, 2013 at 12:55 pm #40449
    Shaun Pearcey
    Participant

    Thanks Gulli!

    I will save more and try go for an i5 version that is more future safe! I need an iPad first (looking at ipad 2’s) so looking into incorporating that into my mixes once my denon mc3000 arrives 🙂

    I have seen a decent macbook pro for around £500 i may snap up its got i5 with 8gb ram and 500gb hdd so will be good! But generally speaking I have looked at the top end laptops (thinkpads, pavilions) and productivity is almost half of what a mac gives out i must say! And thats coming from a windows user!

    May 17, 2013 at 1:41 pm #40452
    ElMuppet
    Participant

    Btw mc3000 is not bus powered so think twice before you buy ipad.(i think it isnt, not 100% sure).
    And, if you do production too, i would recommend you SSD drive. It is just amazing i have it, it is expensive but helps helluva lot when it comes to speed. Rather have i5 and ssd than i7. And one more thing. Because apple have dedicated products, devices, software… computers ALWAYS work faster than PC even on processors with less power. But I agree that you shouldn’t go for dual core

    May 17, 2013 at 1:57 pm #40455
    Shaun Pearcey
    Participant

    I will look into the bus power issue and see what its about (still don’t understand). I have an ssd in my custom built pc and its improved boot times by almost 3/4 it blitzes through things so will look into that possibility. When you say dual core you mean core duo? Most of the processors are dual core I believe?

    May 17, 2013 at 2:02 pm #40458
    ElMuppet
    Participant

    Yeah sry( core duo)
    Bus power means that you can run a software for device on iPad.

    May 17, 2013 at 2:10 pm #40463
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    I have an old Core2Duo with 4 gig ram at I think 2.2 GHz and it runs all DJ software.
    I also have a brand new one with i7 and 8gigs, only difference is that the fans run more slowly when Serato is up.
    I use the new one also for production and in Logic there is a difference, but for DJing most Core2Duos will be just fine.

    May 17, 2013 at 3:43 pm #40471
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Be sure to get the kit that allows you to mount a SSD in the optical drive bay (just get a USB optical drive if you need one). Make the SSD your boot and program disk and keep the 500GB HD for data and media files. Best upgrade you can do.

    Samsung 840 pro is a very nice choice atm

    Greetinx,
    C.

    May 17, 2013 at 4:34 pm #40474
    Shaun Pearcey
    Participant

    Cheers for advice guys, I’m on holiday next month so atm all my money is going on getting my denon mc3k and my holiday saving money but once I’m back I will save for one and get an ssd as you mentioned chuck. I don’t really want to spend more than £700 on a macbook pro as i’m not even gigging yet so no income coming back in from it yet only the day job :/

    May 17, 2013 at 4:52 pm #40475
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I bought a mid-2011 i5 15″ here a few months ago for 700 EURO. So, you should be able to find something for 700 quid and have some left over for the SSD 🙂

    May 17, 2013 at 5:02 pm #40476
    Shaun Pearcey
    Participant

    Thats good, Yeah im after the i5 variant with the 15.4″ screen looks amazing! eBay my first site for everything these days is giving me stupid prices only morons would pay.. £900 for a macbook air aha in their dreams! I have seen a couple for around the 600 mark but they have gone very quickly will check around on other sites got to be a decent one out there. Any chance yours had 8gb ram Chuck or was it 4gb and you had to upgrade it?

    May 17, 2013 at 5:43 pm #40477
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    Indeed sadly for the buyers even very old MacBooks go for a premium price as demand is so high.
    I guess I could still get 300 bucks for my really old 15inch Core2Duo…

    May 17, 2013 at 5:56 pm #40478
    Shaun Pearcey
    Participant

    And these are now the industry standard so it will be a worthy investment that can be used for everything! What windows laptop alternatives are there to these then, as i’ve checked the lenovo thinkpad’s (top model i7’s), HP’s pavilion range (again i7’s) and some alienware machines too but nothing quite matches the beautiful-ness of these devices!

    May 17, 2013 at 8:20 pm #40481
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Shaun Pearcey, post: 40632, member: 6431 wrote: Thats good, Yeah im after the i5 variant with the 15.4″ screen looks amazing! eBay my first site for everything these days is giving me stupid prices only morons would pay.. £900 for a macbook air aha in their dreams! I have seen a couple for around the 600 mark but they have gone very quickly will check around on other sites got to be a decent one out there. Any chance yours had 8gb ram Chuck or was it 4gb and you had to upgrade it?

    Mine had and has 4GB and I never bothered to upgrade the RAM, just swapped the HD for a SDD (I don’t have that much tracks, I can fit everything on a 128GB SDD).

    Mine is a “regular” one. The AIR’s are a different breed (and might not fit an extra HD/SSD as I believe they don’t have an optical drive bay due to their small (thin) form factor?

    Greetinx,
    C.

    May 17, 2013 at 8:25 pm #40482
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Shaun Pearcey, post: 40634, member: 6431 wrote: And these are now the industry standard so it will be a worthy investment that can be used for everything! What windows laptop alternatives are there to these then, as i’ve checked the lenovo thinkpad’s (top model i7’s), HP’s pavilion range (again i7’s) and some alienware machines too but nothing quite matches the beautiful-ness of these devices!

    Quite frankly I’d be more than happy using any i5 or higher CPU, 4GB or better, SSD-equipped laptop. If I needed it for something other than DJ-ing, I’d make it dual-boot and use Windows 7 stripped to the bone for DJ purposes.

    The things that made even me switch over to Mac for DJ-ing are the way the power cord is connected (magnetic connector, so never again a broken power connector which can potentially ruin your entire laptop), the fact that the casing in metal not plastic and the way that OS X handles sound (no more tedious ASIO driver crap).

    It can all be done with a Windows laptop (and I have done that with old HP’s with XP up to and including i5’s with 8GB and windows 7). Just stay away from Windows 8. It’s a bitch.

    Greetinx,
    C.

    May 17, 2013 at 8:30 pm #40484
    Shaun Pearcey
    Participant

    I will look at laptops also but I till want an iPad aha! If i can pick up a macbook pro with an i5 for around 500/600 quid I will as they seem a lot more stable for ram intensive apps/programs..

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