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.
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.
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.
Yeah I think that might be the model name for the basic chassis and you can spec it near enough how you like- I saw some that were even offering it with i7 rather than the i5 that I have, and also either 4, 6, or 8gb RAM.
That Lenovo looks pretty good. I would try to get one with 6 gb of ram but if you cant the 4 will do. IBM owns Lenovo. They put all their computers under this name a few years back. So its a very good product. The G510 looks good though.
