Best windows laptop for £400 to £500 ?
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  1. #1
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    Default Best windows laptop for £400 to £500 ?

    I'm looking for a new windows laptop to replace my aging old dell (do not want a dell ever again) that i only now run taktor scratch 2 with.

    One that will run both traktor scratch 2 using my allen and heath xone 4d and technics 1200mk2 decks with timecode. plus also run full ableton live 9


    I have a solid state drive, that i will use that is currently in my aging laptop. my music and files are on an external drive on my network.

    3 usb ports would be good:
    -xone 4D
    -external removable storage device
    -to plug in my external hub for the midi controllers i have.


    My current laptop is a hefty 17 inch...
    What size is average that people use?

    Budget is £400 to £500

    any suggestions?

  2. #2
    Tech Guru Patch's Avatar
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    Do you definitely need a laptop? You'll get a great desktop for that money...
    DJ'ing: 2x1200MK2, DJM 850, Dicers, F1, Zomo MC-1000, Sony MDR-v700, i7 Win 10 HP Envy
    Production: Ableton Live 8 and a mouse, Sennheiser HD400, Sony VAIO

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  3. #3
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    i already have a desktop.
    which is doing plenty of other things, like broadcasting live video streams over the internet.

  4. #4

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    ASUS.

    You want an Intel processor. Preferably an i7, but at that price range you may have to choose an i5.

    RAM will probably be around 4-6 GB which you can expand later.

    You would want to look for something that has 8 GB at least if possible.

    HDD will probably be around 500-750 GB in that price range.

    The only other brand I would recommend right now would be Lenovo.

    If you can bump your budget a bit, you can look for a laptop with 1080p, a touch screen, and better specs.

    Lenovo is another brand that is good.

    I'm not fond of Dell either and I advise staying away from HP because their build quality seems to be problematic right now.

  5. #5
    Tech Mentor Irrational Fear's Avatar
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    I was in a very similar position just before Christmas wanting a laptop in that same budget for running Traktor Scratch.

    I went with an Acer 15.6" Windows 8 laptop with an i5 dual-core 2.6ghz processor, 6gb RAM (upgradable to 12gb), 750gb Hard Disk, 3 x Usb ports, VGA port, HDMI port, DVD re-writer, and 3-in-1 card reader.

    I got change from £450.00 (with a couple of accessories).

    Runs Traktor Scratch (connected to my Denon x1600 soundcard) like a dream, and boots up in seconds. I'm extremely impressed.

    I personally wouldn't want to go any bigger than that in a DJ laptop as it starts to become a pain accommodating it (& it's stand) in small booths/setups, but that's just personal opinion.
    https://www.facebook.com/ekmobile.entertainment / http://soundcloud.com/dave-eden
    2 Denon SC2900, Denon Dn-x1600, 2 Vestax PDX2000mk2, 2 Technics 1210, Stanton SK6, Gemini SA600mk2, Pio HDJ1500, 2 Synergy CD2000 (antiques)

  6. #6
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    Do you have an SSD or hybrid drive? It seems unlikely that your system would boot in seconds while using a mechanical HDD.
    VCM100 / X1 / DJM250 / DJM900 / CDJ2000s / Maschine / Audio2+4 / 2i4 / HS8s / TSP 2.6.8
    Macbook Air i7-3667U+8GB 10.9 / Win7x64 i5-3570k+24GB


  7. #7
    Tech Mentor Irrational Fear's Avatar
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    No SSD.

    I admit that 'seconds' is subjective, but it is around 10 seconds to reach the log-on screen, and then around 5-10 seconds to reach the Win8 home screen from which I can then launch Traktor ((not accounting for possible update installations).

    I don't know what the benchmark boot up time for an average windows 8 system is so I don't have anything to compare it to- hence timing it.

    After the initial power-on and updates etc we went through and removed all unessential programs, and disabled quite a few unessential start up processes, but that was it.

    To me an overall boot time of 15-20 seconds is exceptionally fast, but I can appreciate others might perceive that differently.

    Boot up times aside, my biggest endorsement of this particular laptop is that in the 6 or so months (of hard use) that I've had it I've not experienced a single issue/crash etc with Traktor Scratch, something that the numerous 'Traktor issues' threads had convinced me would not be the case.

    The only thing I would argue it would benefit from is a higher resolution display, but for the internal spec at sub-£500 that wasn't really an option.
    https://www.facebook.com/ekmobile.entertainment / http://soundcloud.com/dave-eden
    2 Denon SC2900, Denon Dn-x1600, 2 Vestax PDX2000mk2, 2 Technics 1210, Stanton SK6, Gemini SA600mk2, Pio HDJ1500, 2 Synergy CD2000 (antiques)

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glitchwerks View Post
    ASUS.

    You want an Intel processor. Preferably an i7, but at that price range you may have to choose an i5.

    RAM will probably be around 4-6 GB which you can expand later.

    You would want to look for something that has 8 GB at least if possible.

    HDD will probably be around 500-750 GB in that price range.

    The only other brand I would recommend right now would be Lenovo.

    If you can bump your budget a bit, you can look for a laptop with 1080p, a touch screen, and better specs.

    Lenovo is another brand that is good.

    I'm not fond of Dell either and I advise staying away from HP because their build quality seems to be problematic right now.
    I have this same exact set up but with a Lenovo V 570 as was stated as another good brand. Have not had one issue. Plus I know use CDJ 2000's whenever the club I'm at has them. So I can hook up in HID mode and run my F1 along side it. I was all about a MAC when I started but do to a tight budget went with a powerful Windows for much cheaper. No complaints here.

  9. #9
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    irrational fear: which model acer is it?

  10. #10
    Tech Mentor Irrational Fear's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by djrickdawson View Post
    irrational fear: which model acer is it?
    Acer Aspire E1-571.

    Not sure if it has a more snappy model name than that but that's what's on the back and Google recognises it!
    https://www.facebook.com/ekmobile.entertainment / http://soundcloud.com/dave-eden
    2 Denon SC2900, Denon Dn-x1600, 2 Vestax PDX2000mk2, 2 Technics 1210, Stanton SK6, Gemini SA600mk2, Pio HDJ1500, 2 Synergy CD2000 (antiques)

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