Is a NetBook ideal for djing (Just looking for opinions)
Is a NetBook ideal for djing from your perspective would you use a net book or a regular laptop ?
ive seen a couple of djs use a netbook, i would say yes, if your doing regular 2 deck mixing or dvs.
If its a macbook air then yes…
On a serious note.. I think you’ll be fine.. Netbooks now can handle a lot more then before. Just don’t get one with an intel atom.. I think theres a fee netbooks running with i3 or i5 but i think their a bit pricey still
Is it “IDEAL” – NO.
Just ask yourself how many professional DJ’s play on a Netbook. If you are DJing with software, your laptop is the core of your gear. It’s your music, your software, your sound output, etc. Would a cheap Netbook be “ideal” absolutly not.
Will it work, that’s another question. I’ve played a 4 hour set on a Netbook with Traktor, so yes it works… but I’d much rather use/trust a Macbook.
I’d use a Macbook Air in a heartbeat. 11" screens are IMHO ideal. Small enough to really be portable but big enough to be usable.
I could use something smaller than that for Traktor (because I use the Small deck view and leave it in browser only view most of the time anyway) but not SSL (too much crap on the screen you can’t get rid of). And I wouldn’t be willing to use Windows in a DJ setup under any circumstances.
Actually…I’m not willing to use Windows for anything under any circumstances unless someone is paying me to do it as well as providing the computer and allowing me to use my MBP for anything not directly related to whatever they want me on Windows for. But, I admit that I’m a fan of things that don’t make me jump through hoops to do simple things.
lappy
I’m using a mac book air 13" top spec and runs great
i use traktor and ableton and never had any problems
My mate had a netbook, dell i think it was, but had few issues with lagging in traktor however he did end up putting more ram in it and worked out how to run mac os on it which smoothed out a lot of problems
however he still has a tiny screen
I wouldn’t really call a macbook air a netbook
If you are talking about an actual $300 netbook then no I wouldn’t use one for DJing and it definitely won’t run traktor or be fast enough for what I want. I have heard mixed results of people using mixxx with them and they are only good for running stuff like xwax.
if you are just doing 2 deck mixing they will be fine just don’t fill them with crap. I have had tractor scratch pro 2 running with 2 decks dvs and 2 sample decks on a ten year old dell with 512 meg of ram. btw pretty much every netbook s upgradable to two gigs of ram
If you’re looking for a netbook because you want something small, do yourself a favor and look at an Alienware M11x. I got so close to buying a MBP 13" that I was approved for financing - I just couldn’t pull the trigger. For the same price as the MBP I was looking at, I could blow out an M11x. After 3 months of the Alienware, I sold my Rain Laptop. The M11x is easily the best computer I’ve ever owned.
The one upgrade I passed on was the SSD - because I wanted more storage. But Santa got me a Seagate Momentus XT 750GB hybrid drive and now it’s screaming fast. And since my original HD was 750GB, I am maintaining an image of the computer (using Acronis True Image). If I ever have a drive failure, I can swap the old drive back in and be back in business in the time it takes to remove a couple screws.
I use to use a 13.3in HP 1030us for traktor. It could handle 2 deck mixing just fine. It struggled a bit with DVS. If your trying to save money, you better look for a good netbook that has something better than an atom. If your lookin for the form factor, find a small laptop with an i3 in it or something. You’ll be set.
Hmmm idk about alienware lately. A friend of mine had bought an 11" with a i7 and all the fixins. He isn’t ready to admit it yet but that thing is a piece of crap. The guy is a computer engineering major (or something, he’s always correcting me about the actual title) so he pretty much understands how to upkeep a laptop. Anyways it’s really buggy and is constantly crashing when he’s just a few programs at a time. As I said he really doesn’t want to admit it yet but I don’t blame him considering he spent well over a grand on this thing.
I’m not tryin to trash talk against alienware as it’s always had a good reputation and is considered by many the industry standard for gaming laptops and desktops. I’m just wondering if my friend has just gotten a bad egg or mabye we’re going to start seeing a drop in quality from alienware. The latter is unlikely but needless to say, I would spend my money elsewhere.
P.S: Through some sort of technicality my friend is not able to return his laptop through warranty. He had made his purchase through some sort of buy 1 get one free promotional offer coupon thing and sorta went halves with a friend 
I’m with xone on this. If you’re talking about a $300 netbook then no. You can probably get it to work and you might not have problems, but it would be far from ideal.
For normal two deck mixing with Traktor a netbook is fine. A friend of mine used to gig with one for quite a while without having any problems whatsoever.
Edit: It was the old Traktor though, don’t know if Traktor 2 with the whole colored waveforms shennanigans (which I dearly love) would need so much more processing power that it wouldn’t be viable anymore.
as long as it’s an i3 or i5, you’ll be fine. If you’re talking about an Atom based netbook then I’d suggest using a much older version of Traktor.
I have a back up as an eeepc 1005pe 1.66ghz overclocked to 2.11ghz with set fsb, 2gb DDR3 RAM, it runs vdj like a dream, I have tested it with timecode, midi controler for a mixer and 14 effects running simultaniously while looping. It had no problems although there are a couple of vst delays and reverbs that will cause it problems.
I don’t trust it for a want to risk it on a gig, although whenever I play I have it fired up ready to place onto of my gig machine, plugin the soundcard and keep going if any thing ever happens. Havn’t needed it yet
I do really like the size of the 10 inch screen which doesn’t demand you attention and lets you focus on the music. If you are considering using a netboo just get a dual core, it should have more than enough power if you optimize it for djing.
Either he got a lemon, or he’s an idiot. Sorry to be blunt. If he got a lemon, he can still take advantage of the warranty. If he didn’t get a warranty… well, see part 2 of sentence 1.
The first thing I do when I get a computer is do some stress testing to make sure it’s appropriate for performance applications. And the M11x R3 is brutally capable hardware. And if you specify the Bigfoot “Killer” networking package, you also get low double digit DPC while networking. I can tell you that the GSM radio on mine is also easily able to be active while DJing.
Oh, and the only tweaks I’ve made are cosmetic.
Well hopefully he’ll look further into whatever warranty deal with it so far. He’s only had it for about 6 months so I don’t see why they wouldn’t take it back. I honestly do think it was just a lemon as other friends of mine have had good experience with alienware in the past.
oops I didn’t realise this thread was the best part of a month old, anyway… the new generation is the Ultrabooks are coming which look to be good DJ machines.
Some good heads up info on this wiki page on the pile of Q2 ivy bridge releases coming;
[ame=“Ultrabook - Wikipedia”]Ultrabook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
The biggest problem for the ultrabooks is price; not really any cheaper than the MBA and you will have optimise for tracktor just like any other Windows machine…
And you just know that if Ivy Bridge ultras are coming out in Q2 the MBA will get the upgrade first
lol ideal is a stretch of the word.
ive gotten serato to run on as little as a busted ass single core pentium 3 with 1 gb ram. granted i had to cut out ALL non essential services and programs, AND not expose that computer to the wear and tear of exposure to the internet BUT it did work. im guessing youre asking this because you have no other choice then to use a shit computer, so lemme just say - yeah no shit a macbook air would be more “ideal” but for getting the job done yes you can get it done on a shitty computer. let me also recommend buying from a place with a good return policy. buy the shit, try out your program and test it out, this way if it dont work for you you can get back your moeny and save up more for something that will.
[quote]I’m not tryin to trash talk against alienware as it’s always had a good reputation and is considered by many the industry standard for gaming laptops and desktops.
[/quote]
Shame Dell took them over 