Help with new Laptop for DJing
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  1. #1
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    Default Help with new Laptop for DJing

    Hello everyone! I had the unlucky experience of having my laptop go bad last night. Before everyone asks I tried everything and the CPU just went bad so its no good. I have a gig on Saturday so now I am in a rush to buy another laptop before then. I want to get a new Macbook BUT I use Traktor Pro and the S4 and according to several forums the current Macbooks and the S4 are not working together very well so I am going to wait until they get all those kinks fixed. In the meantime I need a laptop to get me through my upcoming gigs. I was using

    HP G6-2238DX which had a AMD A8-4500 Quad core processor. It worked OK with Traktor about 80% of the time, but I still would get random Traktor crashes and pops and clicks in my sound unless I turned EVERYTHING off (Wi-Fi, DVD Drive, Etc.) I am currently looking at a Toshiba Satellite which has the Intel I3-3110M chip and 6gb OF RAM , but I noticed it was a dual core and not a quad. To get to the point. I checked http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php and my old processor had a benchmark of 2695 while the Toshiba im looking at has a benchmark of 3075. Im not to versed on the current processor market, but I was wondering how the Intenl I3-3110M, according to benchmarks, is better than the AMD A8-4500 when the Intel is dual core and the AMD is quad core? Am I thinking too much into this? My budget is close to $500 so would the Toshiba be safe bet? Traktor is a tricky beast that I need to run without crashing so any and all help would be appreciated!

  2. #2
    Tech Convert 4eoN's Avatar
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    To compare the A8 and i3 CPU is slightly difiicult, because they have different architectures and benchmarks never really gives you a good look on the real performance.

    In general you can say that Intel has the better Performance/Core. More cores doesn't mean better performance, you need the right software for that, which can use multithreading. In real your "quadcore"-A8 has two "Modules", each has two "Cores", so they aren't real quadcores. Thats a common misunderstanding.

    My laptop has an i3 2310M and 4GB of RAM, i can run traktor and mashine pretty smothly together. When i run ableton (just effects) additionally i got rarely dropouts. But that could also be "Jack Audio Router" that i use to route the audio into Ableton.

    Apart from this you should look for the newest CPU series like i3/i5-4xxxM.
    DJing: Traktor Pro 2 | NI Audio 8 | NI X1 | Pioneer DJM 250 | Technics SL-1200 MK2 | Mashine Mikro MK2
    Sound: Fame 5080AM Monitors | 2x DIY Speaker | Technics RP-DJ1210 Headphones

  3. #3
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    I appreciate the response! I looked for the 4th gen intels and couldnt find any laptops within my budget, but I did find a Lenovo with an A8-5500M link below.

    http://www.hhgregg.com/lenovo-laptop...4-001b2166c62d

    If you had to chose between the Lenovo or the Toshiba what does everyone think is the better deal. The Toshiba I was looking at is at this link so you can compare the too. I know the Toshiba has more Ram but I have a 4GB stick I can put into the Lenovo so that would put it at 8gb Ram.

  4. #4
    Tech Guru Polygon's Avatar
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    $500? That could get you an i5, that could make a difference if you do fx-heavy 4deck mixing, but i reckon it wouldn't be a massive diff at all. As 4eon said, intels are usually better per-core. Still, even while technically not a true quad core, i wouldn't bet on the i3 beating it.
    This is probably not relevant, but my mum once had a toshiba, and it lasted about a year and a half before the graphics card fried and she had to send it in for repair, at which point they "determined" that the laptop had water damage (it did not, we just lived in a very humid environment" and it wasn't covered by the warranty. Go figure.
    I would go for something like a Lenovo or a Dell.
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  5. #5

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    ..........
    Last edited by feedbackl00p; 07-29-2014 at 10:24 PM.

  6. #6
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    Have i got the perfect laptop for you.
    http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/essential/g-series/g500/
    this is a lenovo g500. It's small, light, powerful, and works perfectly with tracktor(and serato, and deckadance, and "insert favorite dj program here"). Believe me. I own it and it is wonderful. it runs anything, and is upgrade able.
    Now in terms of weather or not your cpu died, this is debatable. But i will say, coming from a pc repair background, it is unlikely. When you do get a new laptop, stay away from anything from acer, hp, and toshiba. Those companies have high failure rates (how many machines out of a batch die with in the first 3 months). Also, Stay away from AMD. they tend to run hotter than intel processors and cause a bit more overheating. not something you want in a performance setup. The laptop i recommended to you will last and do you perfectly.

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