Is a NetBook ideal for djing (Just looking for opinions)

[BlackJesus]

Hmmm idk about alienware lately. A friend of mine had bought an 11" with a i7 and all the fixins. He isn't ready to admit it yet but that thing is a piece of crap. The guy is a computer engineering major (or something, he's always correcting me about the actual title) so he pretty much understands how to upkeep a laptop. Anyways it's really buggy and is constantly crashing when he's just a few programs at a time. As I said he really doesn't want to admit it yet but I don't blame him considering he spent well over a grand on this thing.

I'm not tryin to trash talk against alienware as it's always had a good reputation and is considered by many the industry standard for gaming laptops and desktops. I'm just wondering if my friend has just gotten a bad egg or mabye we're going to start seeing a drop in quality from alienware. The latter is unlikely but needless to say, I would spend my money elsewhere.

P.S: Through some sort of technicality my friend is not able to return his laptop through warranty. He had made his purchase through some sort of buy 1 get one free promotional offer coupon thing and sorta went halves with a friend

[photojojo]

I wouldn't really call a macbook air a netbook


If you are talking about an actual $300 netbook then no I wouldn't use one for DJing and it definitely won't run traktor or be fast enough for what I want. I have heard mixed results of people using mixxx with them and they are only good for running stuff like xwax.

I'm with xone on this. If you're talking about a $300 netbook then no. You can probably get it to work and you might not have problems, but it would be far from ideal.

[3heads]

For normal two deck mixing with Traktor a netbook is fine. A friend of mine used to gig with one for quite a while without having any problems whatsoever.

Edit: It was the old Traktor though, don't know if Traktor 2 with the whole colored waveforms shennanigans (which I dearly love) would need so much more processing power that it wouldn't be viable anymore.

[MiL0]

as long as it's an i3 or i5, you'll be fine. If you're talking about an Atom based netbook then I'd suggest using a much older version of Traktor.

[synthet1c]

I have a back up as an eeepc 1005pe 1.66ghz overclocked to 2.11ghz with set fsb, 2gb DDR3 RAM, it runs vdj like a dream, I have tested it with timecode, midi controler for a mixer and 14 effects running simultaniously while looping. It had no problems although there are a couple of vst delays and reverbs that will cause it problems.

I don't trust it for a want to risk it on a gig, although whenever I play I have it fired up ready to place onto of my gig machine, plugin the soundcard and keep going if any thing ever happens. Havn't needed it yet

I do really like the size of the 10 inch screen which doesn't demand you attention and lets you focus on the music. If you are considering using a netboo just get a dual core, it should have more than enough power if you optimize it for djing.

[nem0nic]

He isn't ready to admit it yet but that thing is a piece of crap....

Either he got a lemon, or he's an idiot. Sorry to be blunt. If he got a lemon, he can still take advantage of the warranty. If he didn't get a warranty... well, see part 2 of sentence 1.

The first thing I do when I get a computer is do some stress testing to make sure it's appropriate for performance applications. And the M11x R3 is brutally capable hardware. And if you specify the Bigfoot "Killer" networking package, you also get low double digit DPC while networking. I can tell you that the GSM radio on mine is also easily able to be active while DJing.

Oh, and the only tweaks I've made are cosmetic.

[BlackJesus]

Either he got a lemon, or he's an idiot. Sorry to be blunt. If he got a lemon, he can still take advantage of the warranty. If he didn't get a warranty... well, see part 2 of sentence 1.

The first thing I do when I get a computer is do some stress testing to make sure it's appropriate for performance applications. And the M11x R3 is brutally capable hardware. And if you specify the Bigfoot "Killer" networking package, you also get low double digit DPC while networking. I can tell you that the GSM radio on mine is also easily able to be active while DJing.

Oh, and the only tweaks I've made are cosmetic.

Well hopefully he'll look further into whatever warranty deal with it so far. He's only had it for about 6 months so I don't see why they wouldn't take it back. I honestly do think it was just a lemon as other friends of mine have had good experience with alienware in the past.

[anteater32]

I wouldn't really call a macbook air a netbook

oops I didn't realise this thread was the best part of a month old, anyway..... the new generation is the Ultrabooks are coming which look to be good DJ machines.

Some good heads up info on this wiki page on the pile of Q2 ivy bridge releases coming;
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrabook"]Ultrabook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

The biggest problem for the ultrabooks is price; not really any cheaper than the MBA and you will have optimise for tracktor just like any other Windows machine......

And you just know that if Ivy Bridge ultras are coming out in Q2 the MBA will get the upgrade first

[diezdiazgiant]

lol ideal is a stretch of the word.
ive gotten serato to run on as little as a busted ass single core pentium 3 with 1 gb ram. granted i had to cut out ALL non essential services and programs, AND not expose that computer to the wear and tear of exposure to the internet BUT it did work. im guessing youre asking this because you have no other choice then to use a shit computer, so lemme just say - yeah no shit a macbook air would be more "ideal" but for getting the job done yes you can get it done on a shitty computer. let me also recommend buying from a place with a good return policy. buy the shit, try out your program and test it out, this way if it dont work for you you can get back your moeny and save up more for something that will.

[deevey]

I'm not tryin to trash talk against alienware as it's always had a good reputation and is considered by many the industry standard for gaming laptops and desktops.

Shame Dell took them over