Wanna buy a Macbook.. I think...

[wunderman4]

Wow, I feel bad because I made the opposite switch to people here. For DJing anyway, went from Mac to PC. Mac was too limiting.

Well Ive heard a number a reasons to switch to mac (DJ only im still keeping my office pc based)

what are your reasons for switching to pc? are you running some kind of crazy setup that needs the customization? when I was playing with my ableton and traktor I did a few things on my pc that supposedly come standard on macs. like I downloaded midi yoke to sync the two and that kind of stuff.

what is it for your case?

[Arbite]

I'm also VERY interested to here about this :eek:

Alot of long time PC users get confused by just how intuitional the OS (and software) is.

You'll enjoy it, its stable, and it'll last ... not to mention in 3 years when you want to update you'll probably lose less than 50% of its value to a secondhand buyer.

My mac just didn't do all the stuff I needed it to do. It wasn't rugged enough, the OS was too limiting for the all the programs I use and it was no more stable than my current windows 7 laptop. I moved to a Lenovo T420 from a pro 15". It was baptised by beer on my first gig out actually, and the drip tray meant that it managed to soldier on through the rest of the night, and all I needed to do was clean a few keys the next morning.

Now, I still love my mac, I've grown up using both OS's, and I see why it's so popular. But in todays world, with the stability of 7, and the sheer range of possible computers that are there to choose from, I don't see the point in Mac being the only choice for DJ's anymore. Yeah, 5 years ago when vista was a hulking piece of shit, but not today.

[wunderman4]

My mac just didn't do all the stuff I needed it to do. It wasn't rugged enough, the OS was too limiting for the all the programs I use and it was no more stable than my current windows 7 laptop. I moved to a Lenovo T420 from a pro 15". It was baptised by beer on my first gig out actually, and the drip tray meant that it managed to soldier on through the rest of the night, and all I needed to do was clean a few keys the next morning.

Now, I still love my mac, I've grown up using both OS's, and I see why it's so popular. But in todays world, with the stability of 7, and the sheer range of possible computers that are there to choose from, I don't see the point in Mac being the only choice for DJ's anymore. Yeah, 5 years ago when vista was a hulking piece of shit, but not today.

I can see what you mean about how the windows platform has increased ten fold with 7 as far as multimedia and being able to perform. The only place that I wish I had better performance though is when plugged into my s2. I just picked it up the other day and i am still working out the bugs for my setup, but I had similar issues when using my audio 8 as a dvs setup. it took me many attempts to get it to run right. I think the plug and play of a mac would just suit me better for its ease of use.

The one think im worried about though is my copies of ableton, reason, traktor, mixed in key, etc. I dont want to get a different machine and be like oh im shit outta luck lol.

is it true that if you unplug your controller and plug it back in you dont have to restart the program, it just works?

[Arbite]

is it true that if you unplug your controller and plug it back in you dont have to restart the program, it just works?

I don't see why it wouldn't. I often unplug my twitch, put my lappy into standby, turn it back on, browse the webs, then jump back into serato (having left it open), plug my twitch back in and continue mixing.

Ableton, serato, traktor, MiK, FL all work on both my mac and my pc.

[JazZmutant]

A refurbished 13" MBP (early/late 2011) is a pretty good deal usually.

The new macbook airs with the ssd's in them are foxing powerful. Marco Carola is using a 1.8ghz 13" macbook Air with a SSD and it seems to be holding up to touring

Im due for an upgrade to my MBP (15" 2.8ghz C2D), however im waiting for the Mac Pro and Macbook Pro redesign before I decide on a new laptop.

Id also say one thing for sure though, get something with an SSD. Holy foxtrot! the 13" 1.7 i5 Air with the SSD is REALLY fast. As a comparison to the 2.4ghz i5 13" Pro with a standard HDD its about 4x faster when doing the Handbrake test. When doing the handbrake test on the Air, its CPU maxes out but on the Pro it goes to about 70%. More powerful than most people will ever need.

This is just what ive found while playing around in the local apple store whilst being given dirty looks by the staff lol

[wunderman4]

A refurbished 13" MBP (early/late 2011) is a pretty good deal usually.

The new macbook airs with the ssd's in them are foxing powerful. Marco Carola is using a 1.8ghz 13" macbook Air with a SSD and it seems to be holding up to touring

Im due for an upgrade to my MBP (15" 2.8ghz C2D), however im waiting for the Mac Pro and Macbook Pro redesign before I decide on a new laptop.

Id also say one thing for sure though, get something with an SSD. Holy foxtrot! the 13" 1.7 i5 Air with the SSD is REALLY fast. As a comparison to the 2.4ghz i5 13" Pro with a standard HDD its about 4x faster when doing the Handbrake test. When doing the handbrake test on the Air, its CPU maxes out but on the Pro it goes to about 70%. More powerful than most people will ever need.

This is just what ive found while playing around in the local apple store whilst being given dirty looks by the staff lol

Thats interesting I never really thought of the air because of how flimsy it looks. I agree that what ever my next machine is it will have a ssd and not a reg hard drive. they are a thing of the past lol

[elio_xh]

Thats interesting I never really thought of the air because of how flimsy it looks. I agree that what ever my next machine is it will have a ssd and not a reg hard drive. they are a thing of the past lol

I agree with you about the Air looking flimsy. I know it isn't, but i just wouldn't feel safe using it. I was using my friend's Air last week, and i felt like I was going to snap it in half.

[Cybertrash]

Alot of long time PC users get confused by just how intuitional the OS (and software) is.

I'm sorry, I'm a mac user but this just doesn't make sense. You don't get confused by something being "too intuitive", that's a contradiction.

[space monkey]

switched to a macbook air a few weeks ago and I have never been happier (for DJing and Maschine). It's all I really use it for.
Pros:
-Built-in MIDI (Traktor virtual out) beats the socks off of what's available for Windows
-Lemur and other iPad apps work with no need for cumbersome setups and 3rd party services
-The Air is built really well. I used to use an HP ENVY and all the little imperfections that came with it annoyed me. ENVY was supposed to be a competitor to MBP style-wise and is no where near the build quality of Mac.
-Portability of the 13" MBA
-Resale value /opinion (though i think the 2011 MBA hit a sweet spot performance wise and should stay in high demand)
-Screen is top-notch

Cons:
-More $ for a lesser-spec'd machine
-Lack of upgrades for future proofing, i.e. RAM is soldered in and SSDs are still too expensive for +250GB
-Lack of USB ports. I hate USB hubs and my RGA has pulling devices left and right into a tangled mess. Really hate when my USB3 external isn't recognized unless it's plugged into the laptop port >

I still keep my laptop for games and 3D and Ableton and...
the Air is strictly DJ and a few utils. Well Facetime comes in ...handy when talking to my girl across the world...but that's neither here nor there.

Pros outweigh the cons.

[Cybertrash]

the Air is strictly DJ and a few utils. Well Facetime comes in ...handy when talking to my girl across the world...but that's neither here nor there.

Pros outweigh the cons.

How much memory do you have in the Air? It's not expandable, right? My current white Macbook has 2GB, and sometimes I feel that Traktor glitches due to load problems.