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Help me choose a DJ laptop before boxing day!


Robsta
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http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/en/ho ... 15108.html

Thoughts?

Just came out this morning from jb

$1500 lots of fantastic specs and the upgraded sound card caught my eye

Anything else to consider?

Please don't say a MacBook Pro, I think OSX is great and will most definitely put it on my windows laptop (very easy to do nowadays) but MacBooks when compared to a windows laptop are underpowered and overpriced.

I need something that I can buy in stores don't just link me some crazy deal I can only obtain online

Thanks,

Meg.

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I don't understand everyone's fixation with Macs

They're underpowered overhyped and way overpriced

The HP model I am showing rapes all of the Macbook pro 15" s specs and costs less!

I do think OSX is fantastic though and plan to use it on whatever laptop I decide on

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The one i showed has a faster processor am i not wrong?

Yes it has less ram, but its enough for what you need, and can upgrade that down the track if you like. RAM and HDD's are cheap and easy to upgrade, can't really upgrade a processor in a laptop easily though.

And it's not 100% about the specs. As the same parts are powering a different systems. Your going to get better performance off lower specs with a mac due to the operating system is more streamlined etc.

Your paying for the hardware and software experienced combined, the less hassles you will have later, the better security, less driver issues etc.

As for putting OSX on a windows computer, don't bother if you want something that is stable, which is what a DJ laptop needs to be.

I agree win laptops are better for other things, they dominate the enterprise, business, and gaming sectors, you going to need a windows computer at some stage if you use it for any of those, but for music and production, mac just works better.

My 2 cents, take it or leave it meg

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First of all that MacBook you linked me does not meet one of the criteria as stated in the OP. That being I must be able to purchase it in a store and not online which as far as I know is not possible with refurbished models.

Secondly that processor is rubbish compared to the pc I was considering. The refurbished model you linked me is a 2.7 dual core i7 which means it is approximately 5.4ghz. The pc I linked and was considering is the one of the latest i7 models available and is a 2.2 quad core i7 which means it has approximately 8.8ghz instead of 5.4.

OSX is completely stable on a windows computer if done right and anyone who tells you otherwise is only regurgitating what apple wants you to believe

If everyone were to know they could have the fantastic OSX software on their windows laptop with superior hardware apple would lose almost all of their sales.

I'm not hating on MacBooks or anyone who prefers them I just think personally they're overpriced when compared to other, better options

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I thought it was a quad i7 when i linked it, woops. Then your right in that regard.

I tried it myself once, didn't work too well. Stability can't be guaranteed with win hardware running OSX.

But if your set on a win,

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/n53 ... ml?sort=3a

better computer, and asus have 2yr warranty standard. Relatively same price. They have stores all around melb

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You can get that laptop for about $880 if you buy the 4gb version and upgrade it

http://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers/hp/p ... sku-73729/

I got that one with the 750gb hd 2 months ago for $800, then pay $80 for an extra 4gb of ram (the laptop has 1 4gb stick rather than 2 2gb sticks)

Dude in all honnest, get a mac, they just work, and when you are using it for dj'ing, you want a reliable, fast unit.

http://store.apple.com/au/product/FC700X/A

Get that, apple referbs are pretty much perfect condition, all surfaces are buffed, and they replace the glass panel in front of the screen.

And as long as your under 21 and enrolled in some form of education, you get 50% back (max rebate $750), so it will end up getting it for $550

edit: oh, and another pro for the mac, traktor (especially traktor scratch) has alot of problems with multi core processors with no fix (yet)

Im saving for one myself!

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Hey sol why exactly would a mac make it better when using timecode?

Im using a six year old 2.3 ghz dual core PC and it works perfectly. So if i buy a mac there will be an improvement?

Now for a real question, i know a lot of peeps talk about cpu hogging, spiking, but as long as sounds are coming good and latency not noticeable why is this an issue? Ive always wondered this. I mean if traktor was the only thing your using while djing what does it matter if it takes up all the power? Always wondered this. Is it fear of crashing?

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The more CPU power being used by the computer at any one time, the more unstable it becomes. When it gets close to 80-90 and 100% it can be very unstable to use.

However saying that, i used to use traktor 2 with midi on my 4 year old MacBook pro core 2 duo, CPU never went past 5%. That is also partly due to how I set my computer up so minimum CPU is spent on system tasks. so If you have a decent computer set up correctly with traktor configured right, you should be fine.

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The more CPU power being used by the computer at any one time, the more unstable it becomes. When it gets close to 80-90 and 100% it can be very unstable to use.

However saying that, i used to use traktor 2 with midi on my 4 year old MacBook pro core 2 duo, CPU never went past 5%. That is also partly due to how I set my computer up so minimum CPU is spent on system tasks. so If you have a decent computer set up correctly with traktor configured right, you should be fine.

This, all the errors only happen with multi core (Quad core) processes.

The mac on the referb store I pointed you too is worth the cash

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cpu is no where near as important to a music program as simply keeping your system clean. have a separate profile for music, with minimal things running, and no auto updates, they'll come on at the worst time and kill performance for 5minutes.

graphics for music programs are quite basic, but still look for something with decent gpu. also consider size - it's a trade off of sceen real estate (quite important if running 4 decks ro trying to edit things) vs weight

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i agree with tubby, there is no reason why having a separate profile purely for djing on a w7 machine cant go as good as a mac as long as you have half a brain and keep your shit clean if you are keen to get a windows lappy. Just have another general profile for normal shit and when you install stuff under the general profile install for This user only. Agree with the manual updates as well, nothing funnier than your laptop rebooting after auto dl/install of updates. Be sure to remember to run the updates manually though because they are important

15" is a good middle ground for screen size, my 13" macbook is fine for two decks but can get cluttered with 4, 15" generally are still light and portable, its only when you get into the 17" desktop replacemetns they can weigh a tonne. Also make sure your power settings are set to max performance and set never to turn off monitor or hdd under the dj profile

i personally have a mac because it looks sexy and never have worry about dicking aroudn with drivers etc, bonus of mac is that each model is built exactly the same way in house, so vendors for software/hardware only have to worry about catering to one specific setup, where as with the w7 lappy there are numerours configs with diff hardware/brands etc which can cause compatability issues sometimes, thats the advantage of going with mac

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