Best Macbook spec for DJ’s and Producers
Hey guys,
I’m buying a Macbook i will solely use for DJ’ing and Producing (like i would use it for anything else!!!) What is the best Macbook spec (or minimum) for me if i’m be running Traktor for DJ’ing and Ableton Live for Producing (with midi controllers and keyboard too.
Leme know.
Sam
any macbook that your likely to wanna buy will run traktor and ableton flawlessly really. Traktor doesnt need much to run, its not really processor or ram intensive and will run on a netbook if you really want it to, ableton is the only thing ud really need to worry about, and as far as thats concerned any from the past 3-4 years will run ableton no problem, though you might run into some difficulties if your running an extensive number of vst’s at once. If your just planning on buying a new one then you have nothing to worry about though, the new macbooks are beasts.
I recommend the Core i5 MBP 13".
It is based on newer tech, has similar price to Macbook and is relatively inexpensive for Mac products.
I think it isn’t worth it to buy Macbook because they are going to get updated soon.
@Conall Wikid, think you have cleared that up quickly! Thank you matey.
Sam
@Kaek…Thanks dude…would it be better to shell out the extra dollar and get a 13" or 15" with an i7 processor?
If you know you will use the power yes. If you don’t know then no. Most apple upgrades are a ripoff anyway, exceptions are the graphics cards.
I use an old MBP 15" 4.1, 4gig of ram, 2.4ghz proc, and I don’t have any issues running traktor or ableton.
One thing which people often overlook btw when choosing MB vs MBP is the screen quality, it is better in the MBP. You might not care but it helps justify the higher price.
If you want real cheap, look for a second hand MBP, theres prob heaps on the market since it was recently updated.
Read the article on the cover of the DJTT website. It’s all about ports. Only the newest macbooks have the thunderbolt port. While this isn’t really imporant now, it will be moving forward. If you’re buying a new laptop might aswell make sure to get the one with the soon to be port of the future.
I got the stock 15in Mac Book pro… I would recommended it over the 13 for a few reasons. The added screen size will be helpful in actually seeing whats on your screen. You don’t want to have to lean over your gear to read your track list. Also the speakers are 10x better then the 13 in. While, of course, you wont be using these in music production, if you are anything like me you have music playing all the time and I have loved the strong and quality sound (considering it’s in a macbook). Lastly the 15in had quadcore which is another thing that doesn’t matter as much now, but will moving forward.
Just my 2 cents… take it or leave it.
I would pick up one of the older refurb’d macbooks that doesn’t have lightpeak in it.
Not trying to act all high and mighty but I worked on this technology last year and by no means was it ready to come to the market…there will be alot of glitches and more glitches with specific programs and by the next gen of macbooks they will be worked out.
You can get a macbook pro i7 from last year that will work fine.
get the newest one
Any.
Anything core 2 duo,
max out the RAM and add an SSD (what I plan to do next)
I have one of the new ones (15" 2Ghz i7) and it runs Traktor S4 flawlessly. Found S4 quite intensive on my old dell (1.66Ghz core2duo) and the upgrade is quite a performance jump. Peace of mind having the super fast quad-core processor for DJ’ing
with traktor its only the clock speed and the ram that makes a difference, traktor doesnt utilise multiple cores.
I know that but other programs can run off the other cores without interfering. The MB is a complete beast anyway, with or without the extra 3 cores…
i bought mine thats in my sig in Dec last year, i opted for a refurb one to save myself a few hundres quid and im over the moon with it. I opted for the 17" model and im glad i did, it aint that big and bulky, i dont find it very heavy compared to my last laptop which was a 15.4" acer i can barely tell the difference. The screen is awesome for traktor can see everything on it with out the need to hide certain things. I use mine for everyday use aswell and touch wood i aint had a single problem with it yet. It cam with the normla 12 months warranty and i plan on getting the applecare for it shortly as now ive had it nearly 3 months the phone support will be ending and i would like some peace of mind for the next 3 years that if anything should go wrong with it it wont be a problem getting it sorted.
WOW cheers paul…so the refurb could be an option then you think?
I mean should i one of the new macbook pro’s or get a cheaper refurb? Is this Thunderbolt and USB3 shiz worth the extra money?
Yes, you want Thunderbolt. When you can keep all your shit on an external hard drive and have it transfer and run faster than having it on your computers hard drive - you know it’s worth it. As for the spec, honestly ANY macbook pro will do. Hell any MacBook Pro going back to 2009 should run everything flawlessly.
There is no USB 3.0 ports on the Mac, only Thunderbolt and USB 2.0 (I believe it’s 2.0). You definitely want the Thunderbolt port.
Wikid thanks dude.
Gona get on the Macbook hype asap, finally gettin away from Windows. Thanks the F’ing lord!!!
Macbooks run really smoothly and there is never going to be Viruses. 
lol.
Anyway. Any macbook is overkill for traktor really. Pick whatever. Is there one that has more than 2 usb ports? That’d be cool.