Is it overkill to get the new Mac Book Pro? I plan on using it for dj’ing for the time being but my eyes are set on production in the near future. I am finally getting where I am at with dj’ing where I feel really comfortable. With that being said I’m ready to branch out to new ventures and try new things such as producing. Is the 15inch Mac pro overkill? The reason I am starting to think about a mac pro is because the computer I use now has skipped a few times and had a few brief moments of silence when I am at home practicing. I have my first gig coming up in a month and don’t want to happen in a middle of my set. Opinions please…
I have a HP Pavilion dv7-7023cl - 17.3" - A series A8-4500M - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 6 GB RAM - 750 GB HDD
One last thing with the new mac books. The pro comes in two models. One with the nvidia basically video software and one without it. Its 500 dollars between them. Do you or anyone know if djs/producers need this?
Short answer: If you see it as a long term investment, definitely go for a Macbook if you can afford it
Long answer: You’re paying a big premium for the MacBook brand and software. Windows laptops have comparable speeds for a lot less money, however the laptops might not be build as durable as the unibody Mac uses and the write-off is higher. As far as software stability goes, a producer friend of mine keeps his windows computer off the internet, he uses a different computer for that, and his computer works without any flaws. Macs tend to be stable just as well. I did, however, had a lot of issues with Serato DJ 1.5 when it first came it, and for some reason since 1.7 it’s acting up again while I have a more then capable retina Macbook Pro. I, however, use my Macbook for everything, study, producing, internet and so much more
Windows laptops work perfectly fine if you’re not being an idiot with them. They also cost way, way less than a comparable macbook. I use a windows laptop that is 5.5 years old, has internet access and works perfectly fine for livesets. They only time I ever had to restart Traktor during a liveset was when I made a silly mistake.
Consider one of those workstations. They have good processors, a professional video card built for serious applications (Nvidia Quadro for example) and great build quality.
i have used and loved windows pcs for many years and still do for gaming, but recently i went out and bought the newest , bad assest, shiniest , retina-est, mac book pro they had for sale, and o boy, is it ever nice for music. if you can afford to spend the money , i doubt you will regret it.
this said, i have literally had a sales person in a mac store tell me to my face you get more bang for the buck with pc, considering they all use the same intel chips.
I think it is, but my criteria for a music computer are that they run the software that I want to use and that the don’t use windows because I hate it. But, I haven’t used windows for any normal purpose in ten years for anything except netflix (as a VM on my linux desktop…this VM did literally nothing else) and my first Ableton Live demo in like 2006, which lead to me buying my first Macbook and switching my “do everything OS” from linux to OS X until I got to the point that I could afford to have several computers.
FWIW, if you can figure out your DJing issues and don’t need a new laptop, you will always get better performance out of a desktop. Hackintosh hardware will easily run windows or OS X, and if you do it right, you won’t have any issues. The obvious downside is that it’s less portable, but you can build a whitebox tower that will run OSX and benchmark like Mac Pros for about 1/3 to 1/2 the cost, with greater savings if you’re going to greatly expand the storage or internal capabilities (graphics cards, DSP, etc.).
That just brings up the question of whether or not you think that running OS X on PC hardware (which does violate the license) is stealing. Personally…I hate apple hardware (except the non-retina MBP) and like OS X…so I’ll keep doing it until they get their heads out of their asses.
Absolutely. Especially for music applications, Macs are great. Additionally, you can’t create an aggregated device on a windows platform, you may only select 1 sound device at any time.
For producing or DJ’ing, you don’t need the extra graphics, but that model also gives you an additional 256gb of SSD ($300 upgrade) so IMHO I’d go with the higher spec model to futureproof yourself somewhat.
Yes you “can” get the same performance out of a PC, if you intend to keep maintaining it, being careful with sites you visit, stuff you download etc. Where a Mac, out of the box, generally just works and keeps working for years regardless of how much crap throw at it.
My current macbook for example has cost me less (to date) about 75¢ per day inclusive of ram and hard drive upgrades and there has been at most about 12 hours of self tinkering (updates/software installs etc) in the past 5 years without being careful, customizing installs, re-installing the OS, driver issues etc…
A similar quality PC, with similar components e.g. backlit keys, milled aluminum chassis, 8 hour battery, retina screen, 512 SSD, 16gb, 2kg weight etc… will cost almost the same amount.
Also, OS X is free, yet it is definitely worth something to some of us. I haven’t actually figured out the value, but I’d pay more for OS X than any version of windows costs if I could run it on whatever hardware I wanted. Conversely, I will not pay one red cent for windows.
I really appreciate the information. I think i am going to go with the highest model especially since I’m stationed in Japan the yen to the dollar will save me almost 400 bucks. Than I’ll use my education for another 15% off and walk out with it paying only 1800 instead of 2500. I see this as an investment and really appreciate the honesty shared here.
Is it the MB Air worth it? I am also thinking about getting a new laptop and just found out that I entitle for the educational discount and there is a 0% 12 months finance. MAC or PC?
I have always been anti mac and saw it as a computer for people who don’t know how to work computers. While the former has changed, I still stand by the latter and that’s imo what makes it such a great product. While my windows laptops always needed fiddling and configuring to get working proper, the day I received my mac I just installed all my programs and pressed play. Everything works like it should and that for me was such huge leap. Even tho I know my way around a computer and build my own rigs in the past, eliminating that need for constant tinkering is what sold me.
And make no mistake, while you can get a good laptop for cheaper, you will spend as much dime on a comparable windows laptop buildquality wise. My gf has a 2008 model which had no maintenance since she bought it and it’s still going strong while everyone I know swaps out his windows laptop after 3 or 4 years tops because they just start to degrade. A lot of times components just suck in the cheaper models.
If you only need a computer for the internet, some wordprocessing, watching movies or photographs, by all means get a decent windows laptop. I honestly don’t understand people who buy a mac just to look at the pictures they took with their crappy smartphone, imo that money you could have spent better somewhere else.
Is it expensive? Yes it is. Is it worth the price of admission? Most definitely.
Thanks guys. I was able to pick up a macbook pro yesterday. Didn’t get the 2.5 ghz model because they don’t ship to Japan, so i went to the bx on base and just got the 2.2ghz model for 1948 flat. Haven’t cracked it open because I am loaded with finals for school and work has been hectic but will probably do so in the next day or so. Thanks for the tip and I’ll let you know how it goes.
OS X runs X Windows and zsh. As far as I’m concerned, that’s enough said. But, I’m also typing this from a linux box. It’s not like I don’t know how to work computers. I just hate the Windows userspace.
Then howcome my HP 8530w laptop is still going strong after almost six years of pretty intensive use? The only time I reinstalled windows was when I moved from the abomination that is windows vista to 7, no component has ever been replaced or upgraded apart from the battery and it has been in a motorcycle accident.
