Buying new Laptop.. So confused don't know what to do.

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Buying new Laptop.. So confused don’t know what to do.

I’ve ran a ASUS PC & TSP2 for around 2 years now. I’m running a traktor Z2 as my primary soundcard although I have an A6 & A10. I’ll be using the new laptop for DJing & production only. TSP2, Maschine & Ableton

I currently have 3tb of music on 4 different hard drives all HD’s are PC formatted.

If I buy a PC do I get Windows 8 or Windows 7 ultimate? Then there is the USB 3 issue?

If I was to buy a mac this is the only one I could afford. I need 15 inch because I run 4 decks sometimes.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD322/refurbished-macbook-pro-24ghz-quad-core-intel-i7

For the same price check out the specs of this ASUS

Has anyone recently bought a new PC & have any thoughts or comments on their purchase? If I only spent 1k on a new PC I’d be really happy. Just not sure what to do?

Sorry to post another MAC/PC post…

thanks
jeff

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Will I have an issue with my current beatgrids, cuepoints, Playlists ect changing over from a PC to a MAC?

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I guess this is my real question now & the deciding factor moving over to a MAC.

Thanks
Jeff

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I’m certainly no computer guy, but from what I know, you’d be way better off going with an i7 laptop and upgrading the RAM and HD yourself. There are some Win7/i7 machines going for around $500 if you look hard enough. RAM will run you about $75 and an SSD about $200. You may even be able to find something with a dedicated GFX card in that price range as well. That should help performance in Traktor.

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The 15’ retina at that price is a darn good deal and will be speedy as hell!

That wont make a single bit of difference to Traktor

IMHO you might find switching arkward at first but the majority of people I know could not imagine switching back after using a Mac for a few weeks

[QUOTE]I guess this is my real question now & the deciding factor moving over to a MAC.

[/QUOTE]

So far as I know you can just copy the NI folder across from the Win PC to the Mac.

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Thanks Deevey

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For what it’s worth, a ‘MAC’ is a PC.

Your beatgrids etc will stay intact if you migrate because they get stored in the ID3 tags of the music files, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve had better luck with OS X than with Windows, but then again your mileage may vary.

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This is correct. Assuming all the mp3s are ID3 tagged, beatgrid/cuepoints and such will all be stored and transfer over fine.

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I think you ARE mistaken.

I’m pretty sure the beatgrid info is held in the Traktor Collection…

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Okay now I’m confused, haha.

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Beatgrid info is stored in Traktor’s database files. If however you “lock” a track, the data is also stored in the MP3 file.

I don’t see any links to the Retina model on this thread, only the regular 15" Pro. The 13" Macbook Air has the same resolution as the base 15" Pro (1440x900) and can also be used for 4 deck mixing. Prices start at $1100.

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Is this definitely true? Be great if it is..

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[QUOTE]I don’t see any links to the Retina model on this thread, only the regular 15" Pro. The 13" Macbook Air has the same resolution as the base 15" Pro (1440x900) and can also be used for 4 deck mixing. Prices start at $1100.
[/QUOTE]

Oh crap - bad deal then haha

I had been looking at various models on the refurb shop and the Retina /256 SSD is available at the same price.

THATS the one to go for IMHO - im guessing it will be discontinued very soon, (oct / nov) and to be fair the display will be “old skool” by the time it comes to sell it.

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That only works outside itunes though - correct ?

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I thought that I read that a GFX card will help because on a computer that has Intel HD 4000 graphics the cpu has to generate the waveform and slows cpu performance.

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I have a 2010 13 inch MBP and run 4 decks without problems. If you strip out the crap from the UI like xfader, volume faders, EQs etc it looks fine. The whole point of having hardware is that you don’t need the UI on screen to give you visual cues.

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I’ve got a 2007 mbp, and i run the latest traktor scratch pro, 2 turntables, and can turn all the fx on, and no issues. I’ve also rub it on a i3 PC without issue.

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Your GPU has no effect on the incredibly basic (graphically) GUI of a program like Traktor. Also the HD 4000 is not such a bad GPU and can handle many older games, and newer ones on low settings.

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I always thought that the data you put on tracks in traktor can only be transferred from PC to MAC if you locked the tracks, and even then im not positive..

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Fwiw, I’ve recently bought a 13" retina MacBook Pro. I use 4 decks all the time with Traktor. Because of the high resolution you can easily get everything on your screen. And it’s incredibly fast. And don’t underestimate the resale value of a Mac compared to a Windows-based pc. It’s a completely different economy!