Another Computer Thread...

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Another Computer Thread…

So. The horrid happened, and my computer died. Luckily I have all my music backed up on an external, but it’s still a major PITA.

I’ve been searching and reading threads non-stop this past week (able to use the wife’s laptop in the meantime) to figure what I want.

Now, I’m going with a Mac. I’ve always been a PC guy, built my own, used to be a heavy gamer, yatta-yatta. But I want to try Apple out (very pleased with my iPhone), and so I don’t really need a debate about PC vs Mac in the thread, because I’ve already made my choice for a variety of reasons.

I’m planning on going with a 13" at this point, but I may go with the 15" if the budget runs up enough.

My question is this:

CPU.

Should I go with the newest (i5 or i7) or should I look into one of the refurbished Mac’s here and go with one of the Core 2 Duo’s?

I plan on using partitioning this for school/general use on one part, and then DJing on the other. I don’t own either Traktor or Serato yet, but will be buying one of the two shortly (either an S4 or CDJ’s w. Serato). I do plan on using Ableton as well (I own it) but I want to move more on the DJing side of things, rather than production. (Not giving up on it, but need to meet that muse, and the style of live performance isn’t what I want out of my workflow).

I’ve heard a few horror stories with the newest generation Mac’s, and that’s why I’m asking here for help. I realize these kind of threads pop up fairly often, and I just wanted my fair share I suppose.

I’m not computer illiterate by any means, and so having to ask at all is somewhat bothering. But I’m not used to the Mac world, and it’s better to know ahead of time than not. I’m sick of tweaking the hell out of PCs and having hardware fail.

So would I be good to go with one of the new macs, or would saving a couple bucks and going with an older one be a more stable solution?

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The older ones are plenty powerful for what you need. Use the money you save on a midifighter :smiley:

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I am a PC guy, but was raised an Apple/Mac kid. If you are going to go Mac, hold off on the Intel Sandy Bridge chips. Also (this is from coworkers) get an aluminum body, as the plastic cases readily break. Your mileage may vary, of course.

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My actual game-plan is to go with some form of mixing hardware first, and then get a Maschine down the line. I really want the machine for the production side of what I want to do, and I also like it’s versatility.

My main reason holding me back previously about buying a controller was my lack of a laptop (I had a desktop previously). So this (computer) purchase should open up a world of financial ruin down the line lol.

I really like the S4+Maschine combination. Pretty sure it’s more than I would need, but would cover me pretty well from both a production (Ableton + Maschine software) and mixing (Traktor + 2 excellent MIDI controllers) stand-point.

I’m a big fan of “traditional” style mixing (having at the least, jog wheels) and then going out from there.

But if one of the older macbooks will be more than fine, we’ll see if I can’t finance a 15" anti-glare, rather than just going with the newest gen 13".

Thanks for the quick response gary, and hoping to hear more on it :slight_smile:

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Yeah, I wouldn’t trust a plastic case on something I plan on moving about a fair amount. (Between School and DJing). I also really like the backlit keyboards on the pro models, and that’s a must have with computers for me now (ever since I bought my G15 for my PC…)

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I should add, that I’m really looking between these two computers:

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Originally released mid 2009
15.4-inch LED-backlit antiglare widescreen display
4GB memory
500GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
SD Card Slot
Built-in 7-hour battery
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB
Illuminated keyboard

OR

MacBook Pro 13-inch
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC700LL/A?mco=MjEyOTY3NTg
2.3GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User’s Guide
(Basically upgrading the RAM to 8GB and the 500 GB hard-drive)

Both come down to about the same price (1489 and 1499 respectively without any discounts). I can get an educational discount, or a discount through my job, and need to check out which is applicable (aka which can save me more).

I’d like the 15" more just for the increased screen real-estate, but the RAM upgrade is a nice feature to have off the bat. (And it’s really come down in price through Apple recently… not too long ago it was much higher if I’m not mistaken).

So yeah.

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QFT

Tha latest Macbook that have Sandy bridge is having tons of issues but the past model is powerful enough and you can get it for less money. I have a polycarbonate black macbook and the case is falling apart a little bit but understandable from 3 years of brutal use. I say go refurbished to save even more and get the extended warranty.

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get the 15 incher. Ram efficiency drops way off after about 4 gigs, and the new 13 in mbps come with crap intel graphics.

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I’ve bought quite a few refurb items from Apple. A couple iPhones, an iPod touch, an iMac and an 09 MBP. No problems with any of them except for the touch, but it was replaced under the warranty.

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Hey,

Ive got one the new 13" MacBookPro’s with an I7 and 4gb Ram. got it the first week of the release.

I cant say a bad word about it.

last week I received my Traktor Scratch Pro 2 and Audio 10 and have been doing plenty of road testing. With all samples, 6 effects, and 2 track decks going it still manages to put out fine without dropouts etc and i havent come across any CPU issues that other peoples have mentioned. Latency by default is set to 6.2ms which i haven’t changed.

The internal graphics from the I7’s chip is more than enough for DJ/Music software. The only game i could find in my house to test graphic performance which runs on mac was the sims 3 lol (its not mine i swear), but it ran that on high settings fine.

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Thanks for the responses guys. Going to talk it over with the wife today (yes she’s in charge of the finances since I tend to sPend lol).

I’m going to do the refurb 15 if I can I think. I can always add RAM later, and if the power is enough, that’s all I needed to hear.

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You won;t be sorry!

I was in the exact position you are…have not looked back.

Mac’s rule…

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Im in the same boat as you kind off. But I have done some serious tweaks to my 4 yr old windows to have it running TP2 perfect.

Anyways, I’ll probably buy an i5/c2d refurb unibody macbook. However, I have been looking online and I’ve found some really nice used ones for cheap. 15inch is for the extra screen real estate. Just as previously stated, the sandy bridge model seems to shaky for me right now.

If you are ever going to get into serious production then you will need a desktop anyways plus I think splitting the dj’ing from the production is a good idea. I like to keep my machines as streamlined as possible.

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Just an update on this.

I pulled the trigger and got a MacBook Pro.

My wife and I went to the store, in New Hampshire (no sales tax), and ended up walking out with a 13" barebones brand new model, with the stupid kid plan. I would have liked the 15" screen, but I’m more than happy with the new computer.

As my previous hard-drive completely died, and I left my external drive in my buddies studio (because I haven’t had a computer for a bit, made more sense to just keep it there than lug it back and forth) I still have to grab all my music again.

But man, I’m happy with it so far. Definitely a bit of a learning curve coming from a PC background, but I’m glad I finally just went with my gut and did it. And yes, most of my friends recommended a cheap PC laptop… but I’ve had my fill of them.