What is the best laptop for DJing

[filespnr]

If by chance you think you might want to use vdj at some point, then get a pc.

I don't like the way the mac handles video with vdj.

[DJ_AveNew]

spend as little as you can while still meeting the requirements for your controller.

-2gb ram is a minimum
-anything over 1.8ghz is fine as far as cpu goes
-on board video is fine
-screen size 15"+ necessary
-you can even get a small enough hard drive these days i think 320gb is standard.



my point is, spend 400$ today on a perfectly fine machine.. and in another 2 years spend another 400$ for a PC that will have double the specs your old one had. and youve still saved 200$.

macs are overpriced and very proprietary.

im not anti mac, im just anti spending $$

[Nosferatu]

^^^

Kinda what I was trying to say (without getting into a mac vs pc flame war).... good words DJ AveNew

An interesting note... in the "show me your setup" thread, there are a lot of PC laptops pictured....so I'm guessing you should be fine with whatever you buy...(obvious "don't" laptops notwithstanding)

+1 for saving money!!

[loop]

1) MBP 13'' is the best budget option - get the cheapest (from the Pro series!). I have this one.
2) The new Air is great, but is more expensive - the advantages over the MBP 13'' are worth the extra cash, but there's a huge drawback - no backlit keyboard. Just because of the keyboard, it's a no go for me, despite the better screen resolution and the SSD.
3) The best possible option - the 15'' MBP. Costly, but best for DJing purpose. Period.

Windows PCs will work fine too - use the M$ every day at work(just don't enjoy it). The "cheapest route" is a wise approach, especially if you are practical type of person. Don't hesitate if you feel it would right. Second hand Dell Latitude is definitely a good (had few Latitudes). Low-end models is bad as reliability is important.

my $0.02 - Apple OS X on Mac Book Pro is a pleasure and the preferred option for me. Again the primary reason is simply PLEASURE. I'm not practical - I look for things I enjoy, not that just work.

HTH

[fullenglishpint]

MBP 13". You can get more powerful PCs, but OSX is a huge advantage. For example, the built in audio drivers actually work with DJ soundcards at low latency from the word go.

[Citizen_Insane]

What was the question? Pineapple or no pineapple on pizza...

I think we both know who won that battle

[Nosferatu]

MBP 13". You can get more powerful PCs, but OSX is a huge advantage. For example, the built in audio drivers actually work with DJ soundcards at low latency from the word go.

Post Tone: as non-confrontational as possible...

This is a mystery to me since I've installed various soundcard drivers without a hitch on multiple PCs...if I'm reading your comment right, mac users don't install an Audio8DJ driver? it's built in to OSX?

I don't doubt the mac's popularity within the DJ/Producer community, but the comment implies that working low latency drivers are somehow non-existent in the PC environment.

Sorry to beat this dog Karlos...but I think you get what I'm sayin'.

Some folks would have you believe DJing with a PC is the most horrible experience ever...and I just don't think this is the case cuz I've been playing DVS systems on PCs since Final Scratch 1.0 (circa 2001) without issues.

There's been a lot of talk lately about the uniquely friendly community here at DJTT, yet this type of blatant incorrect generalization continues (seemingly unchallenged)

EDIT: (thinking about the comment now... it has nothing to do with the DJTT community being friendly.... everyone actually is quite friendly here... no issues with that)

[Cook]

Thinkpad.

[loop]

Nosferatu, there's really no point to defend one or the other. Practically both work and will do the job.

It's really not about Mac can and Windows can't do the job - they both can. It's just that one is Unix, the other is not.

OS X is Darwin based. Memory and process management are very well designed. The entire microkernel and kernel drivers module design are superior, the network layer is taken from FreeBSD - nothing better than that. The underlaying API is mostly coming from the NextStep OS, which is written by the team behind BeOS.

I have professional experience with Windows, Solaris, AIX, Linux and FreeBSD as Application, Database and Network servers. Also played with others. I'm a Software Engineer and I'm managing enterprise software projects for the past 6 years and I'm getting dirty into how these beasts work. Deep dirty at times.

Engineering wise, OS X/Darwin is a state of the art OS. On top of it runs a very nice UI - like it or not is subjective. Due to legacy and backward compatibility reasons, Windows cannot become as good OS as OS X is (not to speak for FreeBSD, Solaris, etc).

MS' Engineering Team is very capable and I respect them a lot.

EDIT: And BTW, I've checked your dream setup - Latitude is actually my favorite laptop, before I had MBP. I still think it's superior to the MBP in many aspects. It just lacks OS X ... and the backlit keyboard :-P

Cheers!

[farhanashraf]

mbp