Buying a new laptop, thoughts?
So I’m looking into buying a new laptop, and this seems like a pretty good choice. I want a laptop which is able to run traktor well and also be able to handle some gaming (Diablo 3 anyone?) I’m not very good with computers specs and such, so I was wondering if anyone was able to give me some advice.
Also, my budget is about $700, so a macbook is out of the question.
The Asus G series laptops can handle some pretty serious gaming and are decked out for the price.
Yeah I’d take a look at Asus or MSI. They have some really affordable gaming setups. Forget about having a decent battery life though. Mine is essentially a fold out desktop.
Macbook. (Save up)
IBM Thinkpads all the way
lenovo > msi = asus > toshiba… as long as it has 2 or more cores and dedicated graphics you are fine
whatever you choose, be careful about USB3 ports. As is, they will not work with Native Instruments Audio2,4 & 8, or their flagship controller the Kontrol S4. The laptop you identified is USB2, so you’ll be okay.
There’s a workaround for OSX, but this isn’t possible with a PC (too many different chipsets). NI haven’t as yet come up with a solution and their latest stupid answer is “audio 6 and 10 work” … missing the point completely.
Don’t fret though, if you see one with eSata/usb combo, that will also work …just avoid USB3 only machines if you want to run Traktor and an S4.
for sure
You can definitely buy a second-hand macbook pro for that much.
Does the S2 Work with USB3?
+1
The guy don’t want a Mac… read the question.
I have a Asus… I have done about 40 gigs since I purchased it in 2011 not ONE problem and its more powerful than a Macbook pro… and half the price. (I have a 64 bit win7 build with 8 gig ram and ssd)
(So thats being packed away… travelling on the U-Bahn… long sets from 2-6 hours.. playing out in Berlins clubs and wicked music bars… then all the way home … kinda drunk and a bit worse for wear then the lappy is totally cained in the studio for breakfast)
It is only a music machine and has been professionally tweaked by me.
So second thoughts… get a Mac… lol it did take me three days to sort out.
agreed, durable and capable
IBM/Lenovo thinkpad or a used 2007 macbook pro. Using both, love them both. The thinkpads are built like tanks, and I don’t need to speak for the macbooks.
Nope.
Well, if it’s just Diablo 3 it will do the job, but don’t expect anything like Battlefield 3..
OP,
I would suggest getting a solid state disk with whatever you decide on getting. Whenever you play out, the club/party should have a stable environment for your laptop to be on, but sometimes this is not the case. I’ve been in multiple situations where the club owner wants the DJ’s to play on a less than stable new stage, or something of the sort. Also, people bump into tables (which makes a hard disk skip), and for sure, you’ll be playing on a normal fold-out table at least once. All that to say, go with a Solid State Disk, because when you play out, you don’t want your tracks/sets to skip or freeze.
If your hard-drive “skips”, it ain’t like a CD where your music will just stutter. It means the read/write heads have physically contacted the platter, (a really bad thing), in which case the drive will most likely be FUBAR’d, likely accompanied with an instant BSOD. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to mark the damaged areas as “bad sectors” via a scandisk /r or something similar, but bad sectors tend to multiply over time and result in a generally unstable hard drive. Once they’ve begun to occur, it is usually only question of time.
That being said it’s gonna take much more than a table-bump to cause this (i.e. throwing your laptop across the room, or serious drop). Unless it’s an exceptionally shitty hard drive…
Sall about da finkpads.
edit: Get this- thinkpads actually detect when they are falling and lock up the hard drive to prevent damage 
I have a 15" Alienware I used with ableton and Traktor for sale in for sale section for 500! was a 1600 computer when I got it two years ago, has i7 processor. 
Which appears to be a great deal by the way.
You aught to post the link!