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New DJ Laptop. Is Internet surfing possible without screwing up the DJ Software?

Home 2023 › Forums › Digital DJ Gear › New DJ Laptop. Is Internet surfing possible without screwing up the DJ Software?

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  • August 15, 2016 at 8:11 am #2430991
    Tord
    Participant

    4 gigs of memory.

    That’s going to kill you. Get a memory upgrade. They are usually quite cheap.

    As far as multitasking, this depends on several factors. Usually, cheaper laptops have fewer PCI lanes on the system BUS. This means that the USB I/O BUS sometimes share the PCI lane with the network adapters, both wireless and cabled. When hardware devices share PCI lanes while running realtime applications like Virtual DJ, Serato, Traktor and Rekordbox, you get what’s called microstuttering. Microstuttering is usually the result of hardware devices “fighting” to send and receive signals on the same “road”. Some of the programs have the ability to increase the buffer to a certain degree, but this again is at the cost of higher average latency in the software itself.

    August 15, 2016 at 12:35 pm #2431131
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Apart from it being very undesirable to use your DJ laptop for anything else than DJ-ing (security comes to mind for example!), if you are using Windows everything you do on your machine will lead to slow deterioration of the performance. This can be countered by using some tools, but the wrong tools can do more damage than good, so don’t try this at home unless you know what you are doing.

    I’d reinstall my old laptop and it will probably be fine for internet work again.

    There is a good solution though. You can “split” your hard-disk in two partitions. And you can install a second copy of your Windows (Microsoft is so kind to officially allow this) on the second partition. This then lets you use one Windows install for “regular” use and the other for “DJ-only” use. You an pick which environment you want to start at boot time. Hence it’s called a dual-boot system. In this scenario both installs are totally independent. Short of the hard-disk physically crashing, anything happening to the regular install (accidental deletion of files, virus and malware, deterioration due to intensive and extensive use, etx.) has NO IMPACT whatsoever on the DJ install.

    Effectively it’s like having two separate laptops in one casing.

    There are plenty of instructions out there on the net. If you make a back-up of your current setup before you start, it can easily done yourself. If not, ask someone in your environment that knows this stuff a bit better than you to assist.

    +10 for upgrading to 8GB minimum.

    If you want to speed up things a lot, currently the best way is to change your hard-drive for an SSD. Even 500GB ones are very affordable these days and the speed difference is remarkable. That and increasing your RAM to 8GB will totally transform your laptop.

    August 15, 2016 at 3:15 pm #2431341
    Tord
    Participant

    Effectively it’s like having two separate laptops in one casing.

    That’s an excellent idea!! I was contemplating using my new work laptop, but was a bit put off by the horrible regime for provisioning of untimely automatic updates, remote triggered software installations and stuff like that. I’ll def. have to go that route myself. Thanks!

    August 15, 2016 at 6:50 pm #2431501
    Patrick Cook
    Participant

    Well, my old laptop only had 1 gig of memory, and it was working just fine for Djing. As far as reinstalling the laptop, I can’t. I bought it used through Amazon and it didn’t come with any CDs. The newer computer didn’t either for some reason, even though I bought it at Walmart It does however come with a 2 year warrenty, so anything that goes wrong will be fixed. I’d go back to the old laptop, but I’d already removed Virtual DJ from the laptop and apparently lost the CD my Numark Mixtrack came with. I had 7LE and tried redownloading it, but it keeps asking for my license code, and Virtual DJ 8 only allows 10 minutes with the controller. Unless I can find some free program that lets me use my controller, I’m probably going to have to give up my dream of being a DJ that I’ve been practicing 2 years to make happen. Yes, practicing. I haven’t had any gigs yet, except a few basement parties and mixshows on mixcloud and Mixcrate. But, even the mixshows will have to die unless I go from a 1 hour mix to a 10 minute mix. I also can’t afford internet or cable TV, so if I have to register something, I have to drive to my local Library and use their wifi or computers if I have to print anything out. If I can’t get these problems sorted out, I’ll just have to give up everything and take the laptop back. As nice as it would be to have a newer laptop for just everyday surfing and downloading without problems, I’d just be too upset that the main reason I have it is no longer an option. As far as the controller and my 2.1 speaker system, Well, my apartment complex is having a yard sale in September. I guess I could try to sell them.

    August 15, 2016 at 7:03 pm #2431521
    Tord
    Participant

    Hi!

    You can reinstall your laptop, regardless of where you bought it, and what kind of vendor it is. All you need is an operating system to put on it, in your case I guess it’d make the most sense to put Windows 10 on it, which will require more memory.

    As far as your virtual DJ software, you can get a new licence key through the vendors support system, as long as you have proof of purchase of the software/licence on email, in paperform, etc. That should be the easiest part to solve.

    Your problems are solvable, but they do require a little work on your part online – but that’s nothing google can’t help you out with.

    Best of luck, and keep us updated!

    BR Tord

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