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What should i look for in a new laptop?

im planning to buy a new laptop. Using Virtual DJ, what things should i look for if i want to be able to plug in headphones for cueing tracks? What about for external mixers/midi controllers? Anything to look for in general for mixing/production?

quite simple (a mac)

quote:

Originally posted by MACBOOK69 quite simple (a mac)

im not looking to get a mac, no offense.

sorry to hear that

I would say for DJ use 2G RAM +, hard drive isn't really an issue because most people use a USB powered external, graphics cards are handy for resale value or games etc but if your only getting it for DJing I would say don't get a big laptop, mine has a 15.4 screen and is a huge bitch to carry, lots of ram, fast CPU and the rest is optional.

I'm using an ASUS with 2.5ghz dual core, 2g ram, 200gb hdd and 9500gs graphics. I use mine for everything though, not just DJing.

Re: What should i look for in a new laptop?

because this hasn't been covered before...

quote:

Originally posted by littlee1816 Using Virtual DJ, what things should i look for if i want to be able to plug in headphones for cueing tracks?

A headphone jack... most new laptops will have one.

quote:

Originally posted by littlee1816 What about for external mixers/midi controllers?

What about em? Did you want to use one or not?

quote:

Originally posted by littlee1816 Anything to look for in general for mixing/production?

Mixing and producing are 2 different animals. Which is it? What did you want to produce? How did you want to produce it? What is your budget?

If you are really serious about mixing/producing, then do some research man! What is it you want to DO?

^What he said.

quote:

Originally posted by MACBOOK69 quite simple (a mac)

Dude, it seems like you don't know a huge amount about computers so my advice is to get a macbook. they take care of themselves and if you look in to the education discounts on macbooks you can get them really really cheap.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN you can get them really really cheap.

balls. They're expensive unless you know someone who works there and can use their discount. Or if you work there and get the Apple discount. And yes, I own a macbook.

Yeah, $100 off a ~$2000 price tag is not good enough for students...

Build your own computer

I just got this laptop:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index....US&promoid=1034

I aint using it for dj'ing.. but I would imagine that it would be pretty good since it has 3 gigs of ram and 2.5ghz duo for only $1400 which is a hell of a lot better then spending $3000+ on a mac imo.

Re: Re: What should i look for in a new laptop?

quote:

Originally posted by Gen3r4l1ty What about em? Did you want to use one or not?

Im not really sure on what route i wanna take, buying equipment can be a lot of money so i dont really wanna jump into anything. im getting a new laptop anyways(probably spending 1000-1500 dollars) and i just wanna keep my options open. What do you think i should do? i just looked at a bunch of hercules products, are they a good buy?

Re: Re: What should i look for in a new laptop?

quote:

Originally posted by Gen3r4l1ty What about em? Did you want to use one or not?

Im not really sure on what route i wanna take, buying equipment can be a lot of money so i dont really wanna jump into anything. im getting a new laptop anyways(probably spending 1000-1500 dollars) and i just wanna keep my options open. What do you think i should do? i just looked at a bunch of hercules products, are they a good buy?

My laptop is 5 years old and it can run Traktor and Ableton just fine. It's a 1.7GHz Pentium-M (Banias) with 1GB of RAM, with a 5400RPM hard drive. It's worked for what I need and I haven't had any problems with respect to DJing, but then again I don't push it too hard and don't really use that many effects.

You'll need more than one audio output if you want to have a separate cue channel. I have an Echo Indigo DJ PC card, but the industry is transitioning to ExpressCards. I don't know of any EC sound cards off the top of my head.

Honestly, I think as long as you get >1GB RAM and stay away from Celerons you should be okay. I do know that my next computer will be a Thinkpad. You can find 'em over at lenovo.com.

did ya order that mac yet?

when i got my laptop i was into gaming, so i got like everything gaming top of the line. Sucks now that i quit doing that stuff and i have to use my laptop for DJing...stupid 17" screen sucks to carry around. Get a small screen size thats all i can say.

Six-pin FireWire will make your life a lot easier. This also helps slim down on manufactures to buy from.

I think the original Macbooks are due for a refresh sometime in the next two months or so. At least, they're transitioning from the polycarbonate shell to aluminum like the iMacs (or so I've heard).

I don't know specifics, but the information is out there. Just something to consider if you're going to buy soon.

Rumor has it that new Thinkpad lines (T400, T500, maybe X200?) will be available around July 15th. Also, the next generation of the Core 2 procs should be out around September, with Atom being released in June (you don't want this for a DJing laptop).

quote:

Originally posted by AnomalyConcept Atom being released in June (you don't want this for a DJing laptop).

lies.

people have run traktor/djdecks on a 900mhz asus eee pc. i'm quite sure there will be no problems on a 1.6ghz atom.

IIRC there are two versions of Atom, Silverthorne and Diamondville. Silverthorne is designed as a lower powered (in both senses) version of the Diamondville, and is mainly targeted for use in mobile internet devices (MIDs) and not at subnotebook type things. Without going into technical details, it's estimated to perform either on par or slightly worse than the Celeron 900 in the current eees.

The second version, Diamondville, is to be released later in the year (September?). This is the version that's targeted at laptops and larger devices. I think this is the one that most people will want to wait for, if getting an Atom based subnotebook.

And the Celeron 900MHz in the eee is comparable to a Dothan Pentium-M, with one of the differences being a smaller cache. Traktor 2 should run just fine...

Anyway, I should say that I'm one of those people who would try silly things with computers. I've found out that xwax (Serato-like program for Xwindows) does not run very well on a Pentium II 300MHz.

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm lies. people have run traktor/djdecks on a 900mhz asus eee pc. i'm quite sure there will be no problems on a 1.6ghz atom.

I thought traktor needed a 1ghz minimum for PC, 1.67ghz min for macs?

I still use a Dell Inspiron 8200 that is now 6 years old to run Torq in external control mode. The internal sound card is surprisingly fine to record my mixes in Audacity. I've got 2 gigs of RAM in it, tweaked for audio, and it's blazing fast. I'm convinced they don't make Dells like this tank anymore. But it was 3,000 at the time.

I've also got a 2.4 ghz MacBook Pro with 4 gigs of RAM that I'm very happy with.

quote:

Originally posted by ReclusNdangrmnt Yeah, $100 off a ~$2000 price tag is not good enough for students... Build your own computer

Nensense. The imac costs $1200. Macbook $1100. Mac mini $600. And that's before any mail in rebates (which saved me another $100). I got a new entry level Imac and all my sequencers and plugins work flawlessly with no lack of processing power whatsoever.

Wait if it's going to be a macbook. They are going to be completely redesigned, so even the entry level models have metal casing and faster processors.

Also, unless you already have a monitor, keyboard and mouse, I wouldn't go with a mac mini. By the time you have bought these, you're very near the cost of the imac, which for various reasons is a superior machine (no shared graphics, more ports, faster processors, more ram etc.)

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