Just thought I'd post my experience on dj'ing without a laptop for first time. I've been on Traktor/Serato for years but couldn't pass up a ridiculously awesome offer on a new Stanton SCS.4DJ.

After updating the firmware to the latest one from Staton's website, I can definitely say this is quite an awesome experience. The controller is a solid little unit, records directly onto your USB, and is fully capable for the basic things I need. I'm a simple A-B mixer and use only a few fx so it fits my needs. There's a small screen to follow the waveforms and it was fun riding the wave from song to song. The only downside is that you don't have the whole waveform in front of you (like on a laptop) so there's no way to visually anticipate cue points or buildups etc. In built beat detection worked just fine, no hiccups.

At first I had my reservations about the controller from reading some of the forum posts, but after recording a few mixes off of it, I can confidently say it's a super fun controller (I just posted in the Mixes subforum a techno/tech house mix recorded from the scs.4dj). I guess I can put off buying that Mac after all :-P