I’m currently playing on a 3ish year old Dell with power issues…
The laptop doesn’t charge unless I wiggle the cord around. Also, the battery is pretty much effed so I get like 3 minutes on a full charge.
I played a show with this laptop on Friday…
I should probably fix my laptop.
I too have an old busted ass dell. a d600 with a dead battery. It will power down if the power cord is pulled from. and Im missing my Y.
But Traktor Runs pretty awsome on my machine and has for like 2 years or so
I would also be quite interested in seeing a copy of this contract. Any chance of showing us?
i refuse to believe there are this many perfect laptops
Apart from the power issues (don’t knock the power lead out!), and come to think of it a CD burner that only reads, my laptop is stable as you like.
All the bits necessary for Traktor to work, work perfectly.
id definately cry
this poll is makin me sad
mac laptops are the way to go. stable, durable. i made the switch to macintosh 5 years ago and could not get paid enough to go back to a pc. but as far as the poll goes, no matter how good ur laptop is, always be prepared for the unexpected and always bring an up to date cd book with you. computers crash, cd’s dont
Laptops are generally stable, PC or Mac, if you treat them right. Just gotta keep unnecessary shit off of them, keep your virus and ad-ware scans up to date and make constant and accurate backups.
When using sensitive technology to up your game you need to treat it with respect so it treats you with love.
I couldn’t agree with you more. But the inevitable always happens when you least expect it. and you should ALWAYS plan for the worst.
people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.
Anything could happen by accident.
Oh, well, of course. No matter how many safeguards we install there will still be something that finds its way through.
But, being diligent and smart will prevent us from having those issues. And the more diligent we are, the less need for backups there are. I always have my CDs with me, if anything in case something goes wrong, but for the past few months I haven’t needed them.
Ive notice that since i have gotten more familiar with traktor and gotten a firmer grasp on regedit in windows USE WITH CAUTION My machine hasnt had much trouble.
i cant believe that so many djs that have taken this poll choose to go home and cry and no one will borrow gear, I’ll use whatever, if i have no other option.
The show must go on.
I put that I would go home and cry cuz i thought it was funny.
@JesC way to throw off the poll! lol
…but seriously
Even with you added to the reach for cds or records. its sill a bit staggering. That no one is willing to borrow gear.
unless everyone just thinks is funny
(…and it kinda is)
there is still time, we’ll see what the end result is.
Im rootin for the record reachers!
Ugh…I hate registry edits and “tweaks”
I usually try to keep my “performance laptop” internet free, and as close to a clean install as possible. I treat it like a piece of gear. I don’t lounge around surfing myspace on my $2,500 piece of gear, simply put. It’s fresh, clean, and pristine. I have 5 laptops and they all have their different purposes, not to mention my desktop computers. Much like I have hardware synths etc that have specific needs. I don’t drag my virus onto my bed to ‘mess around’ with music, it stays on the stands, but my microkorg? Sure, i’ll drag that around and play around because that’s what it’s for!
If you’re getting to your gig at 11pm when you’re supposed to be on at 11:30 rushing to get set up, etc then theres a problem. You should arrive early, set up early, get things prepared, have things sectioned off, etc.
However, an example of ‘worst case scenario’…
a) I was playing Keys with a synthpop band and we were the headliners. Some asshat decided he was going to move our synth without asking so he could have more room. Well he ripped the TRS cable in the jack and we werent going to be using that synth that night. So we scrambled with one of the other bands, they pulled their synth off the stage and I sat and programmed a few quick patches that were close to what i needed, and seeing as we were on in 20 mins, i rushed it, missed a few patches…so we just kinda winged it. paused a bit longer between songs, and did our best.
Had I had a full hour, I always bring my soldering iron and toolset with me, so I could have easily fixed the synth, but there just wasn’t time.
So yes, worst case scenarios happen. However, assuring you’re around professional people, you take GOOD care of your gear, and come prepared, you wont ever find yourself in a bad situation.
I would NEVER barrow someone else’s laptop though. Most folks don’t have a philosophy like mine where the stage laptop is ONLY that. and even then, if someone asked me to barrow my laptop i’d probably laugh at them and say no. “well i’ve got an external drive” my response would have probably been “well you should have brought a working laptop too” the laptop is a TOO easily mistreated VERY expensive piece of gear, and considering that SOOO many people treat them VERY poorly I have absolutely NO faith in the end user treating it like I treat mine. Their laptop just got dropped or booze poured on it! That doesn’t give me a ton of confidence in how they’ll treat mine!
So my vote is still for “your laptop BETTER not break” Sure, contingency plans are good, but it’s like asking a guitarist what they’d do if their guitar got smashed before their show. Not a whole lot to do, except make sure your guitar doesn’t get smashed!
All I can say is that I used my old Dell for 3 years with no problems.
I lent it to my room mate and in three weeks she broke was breaking keyboard keys off of it. And she says “This thing sucks.” Well, it worked for me for so long, maybe you need to learn how to use a damn laptop and stop breaking mine.
So yeah, I totally agree with Monika. My rig is mine, and very… VERY few people get to even touch my keyboard let alone use my laptop. shrug
+1 @ Monika
@ Devil…so tru, I always tell my daughter that she cant use my macbook cuz its my work laptop, same thing goes for my vci…I let her us it on my macmini but I have to be there, if not i just hook up my axiom or the x session and let her rock out…btw she’s three yrs old.
Totally agree some people just dont know how to respect there own and other peoples belongings.
Like if you have a mate whos room is just a complete mess and always has things broken around him chances are if you lend that mate your gear you wont be getting it back in 1 piece where as if you have a mate who always takes good care after all there belongings and is a very tidy person well they will probably take good care of your belongings to, all really depends who the person is 
well said
I wish I could afford 5 laptops, I would totally dedicate one to djing. But im a starving artist and I play when i can, where i can, however i can.
i keep a flash drive full of tracks. and I’ll use any gear available.
you’d be surprised what you can find out there. One of my laptops I got as is on craigslist for $50. It just needed a few caps replaced, and it works like new! I have another that I got for $200 , another that was just given to me, my old laptop, and my new rig(performance rig).
Sure all 5 are not TOP END laptops, but they all work for their functions.
Yes, I’m a laptop technician by trade so I can take those DOA laptops and fix them…but I’ve always been a firm believer in being able to fix your instruments/gear. (hence why I can fix a synth or my MIDI controllers!)
I’m definitely not rich either, and am a starving artist as well. Still, I think there’s no excuse for lugging your gig laptop to class or to work, UNLESS you’re working on specific music stuffs.
(I use my old laptop as my mobile production rig, and my performance rig still stays on my studio bench until shows.)
craigslist is your friend…