Laptop Survey

[axum]

Hey Guys, first post here

First, sorry if this question has been asked before or if I'm posting it in a inappropriate place. Still getting the ropes here...

Alright, so, my laptop died on me right at the beginning of a gig. It was a trusty old IBM Thinkpad which laster for years but it's time to give it a proper burial.

Now, I'm looking for a successor. I'm looking for something compact, which will run Live steadily, nice battery life, good surface pad, and most important - durable.

Looking around, most people would just say "get a Mac". but I get the feeling that people just say that because everybody else is saying it. Macs look good on stage and they're nice and shiny but they're expensive and I heard some good things about Lenovo Thinkpads as well.

So, my question is: what's a great laptop for live dj, and if you absolutely insist that a mac is the only way, will the cheapest 13" model do?

Thanks!

[elliot1106]

get a Mac

[Chamix]

get a Mac

Second

[Patch]

You don't need a mac. Get the best spec'd windows machine you can afford - if money's an issue, that is. If it isn't - see above.

[kevinmcdonough]

hey

there are lots of old threads on here discussing this at length, if you do a search it'll give you them. The problem with this discussion is that whenever it starts it very quickly becomes emotional and heated, both sides having their diehards who refuse to be persuaded or discuss things logically. I fall into neither camp, my camp is the one of "a computer is just a tool to get something done and you pick the right tool for the job. Sometimes that tool is a PC, and sometimes that tool is a Mac".

I use a PC 95% of the time for my everyday work and the customisability, much wider range of software, much wider adoption and availability of systems (i.e. in work etc), and much better price all mean its the right tool for the job. Although it sounds a bit overkill I have a large PC desktop system to use in the house, and also have two PC laptops, one for my day job and one that is full of sound engineering software of various types for when I work as a sound engineer and work/go on tour with bands etc.

But I also have a MacBook Pro that I run ProTools on (for recording bands etc) and Traktor when I'm DJing. When your doing a professional, usually media based job like DJing, sound recording, video production, highly detailed image editing, etc etc, then Macs simply seem to work better, give you far less problems and let you just concentrate on actually doing the job rather than fighting with the settings and the system, and so in my opinion (and its only my opinion others are welcome to differ ) a mac is the right tool for the job.

To sum up why, its basically because of the tight integration of the hardware and software (and when I say software I mean drivers, OS etc).

Apple do use the same components as can be found in PC's now and have done for a few years, but they select the components themselves and build it all themselves. For each model they put out they find one good combination of motherboard, processor, brand of RAM etc etc, test the hell out of it and optimize it all so it works as well as possible together and write all their own drivers etc and make sure that combination of hardware works stabily and solidly with the OS, and then keep it that way. Every laptop of that model has the exact same working and tested set of components and so they all work the same.

PC's on the other hand are made by many different manufacturers and can use many different brands of components for each piece inside them. You can buy PC laptops from 10 different manufacturers that all have the same spec and you can guarantee that they will all have 10 different components or brands of chips/video cards etc etc inside them. These are supposed to be made to a standard so they all work well together, but always have their own slight variations and are never perfect and so many different combination of hardware will always lead to some having small glitches and quirks.

Outside hardware, like soundcards which are obviously super important to us, also access the system resources a slightly different way and seem to be able to do this much better than a PC.

If you search the forum almost all problems to do with latency or running DJing software are running on PC's rather than Macs. As I say that's not meant as a slight against PC's its unfortunatly just a fact. This is not to say that PC's are never as good as Macs of equivalent spec, they have the potential to be and sometimes are and can be so at usually a much cheaper price, but with so much variation you can never guarantee it.



k

[axum]

You don't need a mac. Get the best spec'd windows machine you can afford - if money's an issue, that is. If it isn't - see above.

Say money wasn't an issue, are Macs better than ANY Windows PC in terms of durability and stability?
I just don't want to spend the extra money on hype, that it. - not saying that Macs are all hype, just trying to make sure..

[The Mighty FV]

I had a PC laptop for over 10 years...got my first Macbook Pro a few months ago and the difference is insane.

The quality of the build, the way it works - just the way they have their menus, tabs, settings...everything is just nicer and cleaner. It feels stable, and no matter what I've thrown at it, from FL, Traktor Pro 2 through to photoshop, soundforge...it never even bats an eyelid, no slow down, no delay, just instant boot up and it's working.

I got the 8GB 750GB i7 13" beast, just over £1500 and I don't regret if for a second.

[kevinmcdonough]

Say money wasn't an issue, are Macs better than ANY Windows PC in terms of durability and stability?
I just don't want to spend the extra money on hype, that it. - not saying that Macs are all hype, just trying to make sure..

In terms of durability, then no they're not better than ANY windows PC. The aluminium Unibody of the Mac does feel much more solid and durable than most plastic PC laptops, but you obviously get special ruggedised PCs (toughbooks and the like) that are designed specifically to be super hard wearing and would be best in this regard.

But that doesn't change the chips that are inside of them, and so in terms of stability yes a mac is better than almost all, because of everything I said above.

k

[Fabiio]

Iv'e been doing many shows and I use PC all day everyday. But ive used MAC for some gigs and its good.

it all comes down to money and your favorite OS

[deevey]

Looking around, most people would just say "get a Mac". but I get the feeling that people just say that because everybody else is saying it. Macs look good on stage and they're nice and shiny but they're expensive and I heard some good things about Lenovo Thinkpads as well.

"Looking around, most people would just say "get a BMW". but I get the feeling that people just say that because everybody else is saying it. BMW's look good on the road and they're nice and shiny but they're expensive and I heard some good things about Toyota Corollas as well."