Advice! Part One of DJ Setup: Buying the right laptop (pc or...mac?)

[sine143]

I personally run a lenovo t60, got 2 years ago through school. It's running win 7 (only installation disk I had when I bought a new hardrive for it, else it would still be xp). Considering dual booting a hackintosh, as one of my roomates has a spared leopard disk/key lying around.

[DvlsAdvct]

I have an Asus G71G that I bought around a year ago now, running Vista 64, with 6gigs of RAM. Runs great. Having some monitor issues right now but my warantee should cover it once I have a week or two to go without it.

Hefty on the price tag, but for 4 USB ports it was totally worth it.

[giorgio1712]

Just make sure you dont get a Dell Studio, as they have problems with Traktor!

[DvlsAdvct]

They have problems with latency spikes that could effect any music production suite.

[Segfault]

I have an Asus EEEPc that boots into Linux and Windows XP, and I've never had any problem with crashes. (Except for that one time I was messing around with the registries and trying to set Traktor as the shell windows boots into, but I was expecting that...)

The only real difference between Macs and PCs is the operating system. They use the same kind of hardware, apple just makes their computers look prettier and overcharge for them because they know they can get away with it.

Macs and PCs used to be different because they used processors with different architecture, which means the processor 'talked' to the rest of the computer in a different language (easiest way to explain it). Back before Macs used Intel processors, you couldn't run windows on an apple computer, and there was no such thing as a 'Hackintosh' because the software and hardware simple wouldn't work together. They used to be completely different machines.

However, now that Macs all have Intel processors, they really are just PCs with a lot of make up applied and an extravagantly higher price tag.

True story.

That being said, it's all a matter of personal preference. If you're already used to 'PCs,' and you don't get any problems from them, Apple computer wont offer you anything better or worse, just different.

[lola]

Thanks so much guys! I appreciate all your input. After researching and talking to friends (a few I discovered used to be pc then got a mac and then changed their minds), I think I'm set on a 13 inch macbook pro with 4 gig of ram.
I decided I can go hungry for a little while if my funds run low.

I laughed at Segfault's comment about macs: "However, now that Macs all have Intel processors, they really are just PCs with a lot of make up applied and an extravagantly higher price tag."

I am on my third PC laptop (the one I have now is msi u100, a tiny little thing) in five years and I guess they've either failed me or I've been too rough with them. Maybe the prettiness of a mac and the price will make me treat it better.

[DennisHuiberts]

I've always been a PC fan and thought Macs were overpriced and with a bit of tweaking Windows XP/Vista/7 could be as good as Mac OSX, but after a long time strugling, this wasn't the case. For my education I got a HP workstation (super high end a year back), but with my music editing/production/Traktor I was constantly getting dropouts and other bad habits. After a long past of other Dell laptop and then the super high end HP laptop, I was sick of it and sold the HP and got myself a MacBook Pro 15". I must say that this is the best choice I made in a long time. Mac OSX is far more streamlined. My experience with it is that you can expect things from Mac OSX to work, that you have to try to achieve on a Windows machine. After all the fuss I've been into I can strongly recommend you a Mac/Hackintosh, just to spare you a lot of tweaking without being certain that it will work for you in the end...

Just my two cents...

[Midi Kids]

Iv always used pc's my whole life and never really liked macs but once you actually give it a shot its really different and your whole pc only attitude fully changes haha, as others are saying its alot more streamlined and its very easy to use once you know how it all works if i had to choose between a mbp or laptop i would go for a mbp anyday, i have had a macbook pro 13" for a while now and its by far the best thing iv brought for doing music etc, iv only had it ever crash on me once and that was when i was beta testing traktor but if you just want to play games and bum around PC is the way to go

[pier]

I must say that this is the best choice I made in a long time. Mac OSX is far more streamlined.

That is exactly my experience too. After 15 years of windows I gave a try to a mac. I also think it is one of the best decisions I've ever made.

[THERBLIG]

I have had both PC and MAC but i say stay with what you know.PC!! Macs are all running intel chips and come with less ram than most low end pc's. If your worried about how it will run than go into your control panel and delete the lame programs you wont need or use taking up space.
any hoot you will want to get these specs for either machine you buy.

4gb ram (most PCs these days come with this)
either a INTEL x2 core duo or a AMD x4 quad core which is faster than a core duo
64 bit processor
300 or 500gb Hard drive
USB ports ( youll want to check out how many ports you have)
Vista or Windows 7 COMPATIBLE (meaning if your current programs will work on either of these OS'
as far as screen size it just matters what you comfortable carrying around.