Dedicated laptop for Dj-gigging, and one for everything else? Pointless or good idea?

Hello! I found this great place some month ago and now i have a question.

This is the thing, i have been creating my own electronic music for many years and the last year started getting into DJ:ing. I will soon move to a new location and are making my current studio portable by switching from big computer + big soundcard to small laptop, soundcard & controllers.

So with this laptop setup i can continue with music creation - but also engage in DJ:ing when i get the oppurtunity. No matter what size or kind of party, i just love to play my music for people.

So my question now is to those who are already gigging as DJ`s. Is it bad idea to bring about your one and only "master" computer to gigs and such? How risky is it? I dont know since i have only used computers within my home.

Right now i have an old macbook wich works fine for Dj-use, but is a bit slow for heavy music creation. So i have decided to get a more powerful Macbook Pro.

Now the question is: should i keep the old macbook and use it as an dedicated DJ/Travel laptop, suited for more rough use. And have the Macbook Pro be the creative machine for use at home, safer an exposed to less risks.

Or should i just not worry about it and sell the old Macbook when i buy the macbook pro and have it as a do all station? It would be more convienient to only have one computer to travel around with. But it would also feel more risky.
In case of damage/theft/drunk people spilling beer etc it would be great if the computer that it happens to is an older one that doesnt contain all the possibility to music creation wich is vital to me.
It maybe seems as i answered my own question here, but i am still feeling confused about what would be best.

Some advice would be nice.

+1 for dedicated DJ laptop with a backup!

Carrying two laptops is hardly as bad as lugging a crate of records. I've held a very lengthy residence and I always had a backup.

I'm guessing this is the reason why Native Instruments let's you install TS on two computers.

2 words

dual boot

How does dual booting help you if your hard drive crashes?

It doesn't, but how does having two laptops help you in a car accident?

Two laptops is ideal, if you can afford it. But there are many dj's who have only one..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sj03w4t

It doesn't, but how does having two laptops help you in a car accident?

Two laptops is ideal, if you can afford it. But there are many dj's who have only one..

---

hence why i said dual boot.

just use an external for back up. much cheaper

i don't even gig professionally and i have a dedicated laptop and a second 2.5" hdd with a backup of my whole laptop drive so i can swap it out if need be (mind you its not up to date at the moment but i havn't done a house party in months)

i dual boot with windows 7, followed the guide on this site to strip the other boot profile to practically nothing, and loads traktor into the shell... or whatever it does :P

is like running a brand new computer, works perfectly

wait you can dual boot with a program that isnt an OS? are we talking about that article titled "streamline your pc/mac?"
i've given that articles advice a chance on 3 different times on 3 different XP machines - created new profiles, went into the new profiles, stripped everything away, and yeah it ran alot better but for whatever reason whatever changes i made in the music profile - it also applied to the main profile. so everytime i ended up having to go back to a restore point.

i find this very effective that someone on here recommended this program called gamebooster. it allows you to temporarily disable EVERYTHING that may be slowing down your computers performance

you created two different user profiles, not a dual boot system... a dual boot system is like two sperate computers in one, using a seperate hard drive partition, not just creating different user profiles

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by diezdiazgiant

wait you can dual boot with a program that isnt an OS?

---

using the 'shell hack' you can make it seem that way, but your os would still be the foundation of the boot

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by diezdiazgiant

are we talking about that article titled "streamline your pc/mac?"
i've given that articles advice a chance on 3 different times on 3 different XP machines - created new profiles, went into the new profiles, stripped everything away, and yeah it ran alot better but for whatever reason whatever changes i made in the music profile - it also applied to the main profile. so everytime i ended up having to go back to a restore point.

---

don't take this wrong, but i don't think you were doing it right. if you did the shell thing, you might've been in the wrong registry key. also alot of changes are system, not per user. as you're on xp just use hardware profiles and everything will be good. as i'm on 7, and they removed profiles since vista, i have to dual boot.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by diezdiazgiant

i find this very effective that someone on here recommended this program called gamebooster. it allows you to temporarily disable EVERYTHING that may be slowing down your computers performance

---

good program if you're not too comfortable with registry tweaks etc...

i think i will switch from a pc (quad core, 4gb ram) and a macbook 13" (dual core, 4gb ram) to a macbook 15" i7 8gb ram..

i mean i'm using ableton for production and djing.. i can also melt things i produce more into my live setup, since i do everything on the same machine.

backup hdd @ home, should work i guess. : )

greets

I have two macs for djing. 15"mbp for live gigs & 13" black mb as back up. I have traktor 3, traktor scratch, traktor pro, and serato installed ready to on both machines. For dual boot I really recomend this for window based djs. first boot for djing, the other boot for misc work.

My laptop is like my second or third home to me. Here's a goofy analogy on why I, personally, would struggle with two laptops:

I have to "rooms" in real life: my dorm room and my room at my parents house. I have a difficult enough time remembering what I have in one room vs. the other. Particularly clothing. Sometimes when I'm at school I'll think to myself "oh I really wanna wear this shirt today." But as luck would have it, that shirt is 250 miles away in my "other" room.

Anyway, I think the same thing would apply to having two laptops. It would be difficult for me to remember which files I had on what laptop. Also, I think it would be a slight pain having to transfer files from your personal laptop to your dj one.

Just sayin.' If you have the cash to buy a second laptop, knock yourself out. :D

is someone here using the same laptop for producing and djing?

greets

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DennisJ

is someone here using the same laptop for producing and djing?

greets

---

I do. :)

Just get a MBP with all the RAM you can fit into it, and keep it squeky clean. Back it up using time machine daily. Just keep it in tip top peformance :)

I think that would work dandy. :)

GOOD IDEA!!!

Never put all your eggs in one basket.

I'm a big fan of separate computers for different jobs and/or backup. You never know when something is going to be physically damaged (dropped, bumped, drink spill, etc). Not to be all Mac vs PC, but for the price of a Mac you could probably buy 2 or even 3 windows laptops anyways.

1. I use a Dell dual core laptop strictly for DJing. It's optimized, stripped of all non-DJ software, rarely if ever connected to the internet and the only thing I load on it is new music and occasional DJ software updates. I've had it almost 2 years and after using it every weekend it has never crashed on me. I've also never seen the CPU meter go above 50%. It only cost me $400 new.

2. I have an Eee PC netbook that also has my full music library and DJ software loaded on it as a backup. Although it's only a 900mhz Celeron, I've tested it with all my DJ software and it works perfectly. I could gig with it in a pinch. I keep it around me and use it for surfing on the go or throw it in my trunk at important gigs just in case. It only cost me $250 new.

3. I have my studio desktop computer that is a closed system that contains all my plug ins, sample libraries, UAD cards, and other expensive stuff. Things rarely get loaded on this, but plenty of music comes out.

4. I have an older P4 laptop on my desk that I call "the sh*t machine". That's the one I'm typing with right now. It's connected to the internet at all times and the one I download files and do all my productivity stuff with.

On top of that I have external backups for the studio desktop and my music library. I dedicate one whole day a month to full backups and maintenance, usually as I'm doing a bunch of house cleaning.

a usb bootable hard drive with an operating system on it can be very handy if your internal drives fail, and also serves as a backup for your music collection. Ideally portable and cheaper than 2 laptops.

Of course, if something more fundamental happens to the laptop, like a motherboard or cpu problem, you're still toast.. unless the venue you play at has the new generation of usb capable players.

I am getting a second laptop for djing with, it will be used specifically for music and absolutely nothing else.

That way i can leave it plugged in when my rig is at home and only have to unplug it when i want to gig. My other laptop i can carry around the house and drop every so often lol - yeav ive dropped this computer a few times - theres big chip out of the corner of the case from a nasty drop from a table.

I have just desktop and a laptop (both PCs) and thats all i can afford. I have dual boot on the gig laptop and my workflow is like a charm since then. I do backup on external hardrive and then to desktop. Incase anything happens to lappy i will borrow a colleague's laptop (he has the exact same setup).

can't be more on the budget than this :D