Windows 8

[williams23]

Hey there I'm looking forward to getting a laptop and I've made my choice. It's an HP Envy 15.6'', the only concern i have with it is that is going to come with Windows 8 pre-installed. My question is will the DJ software be compatible with this new OS? I will be running a Mixtrack pro with Serato Dj intro, FL Studio and maybe Serato DJ. Here is the link to the laptop
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+ENV...specifications

[calgarc]

PRO TIP: if you buy direct from the manufacturer you can ask them to give you a laptop without an OS, they will knock down 20-100 bucks on the price usually. if you have a windows license from your other machine you can legally transfer it over to the new laptop

[MrPopinjay]

PRO TIP: if you buy direct from the manufacturer you can ask them to give you a laptop without an OS, they will knock down 20-100 bucks on the price usually. if you have a windows license from your other machine you can legally transfer it over to the new laptop

I'm into my linux and such so I've been wanting to buy laptops without windows for a while now but I've never actually found any success stories. Have you managed to do this before? What's the secret?

[machineisbored]

I used the developer and consumer previews of Win 8 and never had any compatibility problems - Traktor and FL Studio ran fine.

Once you get over the annoying Metro UI (makes perfect sense on a touch-screen device, but none whatsoever otherwise) it's a great OS - boots quicker than 7 (particularly with an SSD), better file-handling, and very stable..

[calgarc]

dell seems to do this... lenovo as well... you have to nag them lol, just tell them another company offered you a discount but you want to shop around. just call them or email them. granted it will most likely not work with other discounts...

[MrPopinjay]

For a performance machine I really would not make yourself an early adopter of anything really. Stick with Windows 7 for a while if you can.

[DJSigma]

^^I agree.

I'm using Windows 8 Pro. All of the software I was using on Windows 7 works fine except Traktor, although the issue with that is minor. When you exit the program, it saves your settings as normal and disappears, but then it continues to run in the background and you have to force close it with Task Manager. Outside of that though, it actually runs better for me on Windows 8 than it did on Windows 7. Native Instruments are aware of the issue with Windows 8 and are working on a fix.

But unless you can be 100% sure that the software you want to use will run fine, there is no point in taking the risk with Windows 8 for DJing, especially if you're a gigging DJ. It's early days for Windows 8 yet and better software/drivers will come in time.

[MWagner]

I've been using Windows 8 with traktor for about 2 months now and other than the issue mentioned above regarding closing the program, I haven't had any issues. I also use an HP Envy, and the one bit of advice I have about it is make sure you turn off HP Coolsense when playing, it doesn't play well with DJ software.

[Blaster903]

I recently purchased a gateway lappy with windows 8, while my serato scratch live seems to work perfectly, I'm having trouble with my VCI 100 and Traktor 3LE setup, Traktor doesn't seem to recognize the VCI 100.

[JSM]

hey man,
really dont know enough 'history' on windows 8 stability or what not.but they seem to be getting better at reverse engineering all the 'Roswell' stuff.
wanna be sure?,stick with 7...problem solved...or,do anyway,partition that drive so you make 'harsh' decisions about data size and side.
hope it helps.

I've had W8 for almost a year and have seen its many guises.

There are plus points for W8 in that it gives performance boosts in so many useful areas including digital mediaand that Traktor works with USB3 !

HOWEVER. There are bad points, NI can't seem to write a good bit of software lately, the application doesn't close down correctly and NI don't know why. This is an outstanding call with NI.

Don't expect a Metro version of Traktor I doubt it will ever exist, mainly as it will need to be completely rewritten to use WaveRT which has an inbuilt latency currently set at 100ms (way to slow for audio).

there's been talks on accessing the API exclusive mode, but again don't hold your breath, as it could take a year for that to happen.

Cakewalk have done some trails on CPU loading etc. and W8 balances loading far more efficiently across multiple cores.


So to sum up, yes it works with Traktor 2.6.0 but it does have some small issues.

The only real reason to upgrade is to get the USB3 ports working under Trakor..... because I don't think NI will ever be able to get them working under W7.