Thinking about upgrading my laptop…some advise would be nice
Hey Guys,
not been on the forum for years, hope your all well…anyways
Im thinking of upgrading my laptop to the latest Macbook pro with retina 13’’
I run a pair of midifighter classics and use vinyl timecode also
I am currently running my setup with a 2008 macbook an audio 10 and traktor scratch pro ver 2.1.2
just looking for some advice from the guys that run the same kind of set up on the latest macbook pro,
like what version of traktor to use and drivers etc and if there is any problems i should be aware of
I’ve always used macs so i’m not interested in running a pc laptop..haha
I’d say don’t get a “new” MacBook Pro or Air as you’ll be stuck with El Capitan and with it the current spate of issues that have been plaguing Traktor and Serato users. Timecode lag issues and audio dropouts have been commonplace since Mavericks and have continued into Yosemite and El Capitan, although not everyone is having the issues, but have a look through this forum and the Traktor one.
My recommendation would be to try and purchase a good condition used one of the following:
MacBook Pro from early 2013 (MacBookPro10,1 for the 15" and MacBookPro10,2 for the 13")
MacBook Air from Mid 2013 (MacBookAir6,1 for the 11" and MacBookAir6,2 for the 13")
All of these machines including the base model 11" Air 1.3GHz (what I currently use) will run rings around your old BlackBook. I upgraded from my old 2.2GHz BlackBook to the Air and haven’t looked back.
Then do a clean install of 10.8.5 Mountain Lion and Traktor Pro 2.6.8.
Dear folks, seriously I have been facing sound drop issue running early 2015MbP on el captain… Been trying to follow NI instuction, plug into a active usb hub but still cannot solve my problem…
Any better solution out there folks?
even my 2011 mbp 15 inch is still a monster after I threw an SSD and 16gb of ram in it. Easily keeps pace with my 2013 mbp from work. Use it with traktor and rekordbox 3 times a week and never had any issues
Ya, sound card will do the trick, i suppose too. Im using S5 built in sound card currently. Anyway, i already solve my issue and posted into the forum. Maybe I’m just lucky… Been trying to run traktor for couple of days (4hr at least) with my wifi on, Bluetooth on. Its been running fine so far, keep my finger cross!
If you think about new macbook 13, look into the razer balde stealth. I am searching for a new laptop too, and I think that this is what I am going to choose. Although, I have not decided yet, and the amcbook pro 13" is one of my choices too! But I have to look into the El Capitan because I use maschine and traktor.
Yes, unfortunately if you’ve got the latest versions of Maschine 2 it doesn’t run on Mountain Lion - I’ve just setup my MacMini with El Capitan for this reason.
For all of the people out there wondering about the drop-outs and stuff, it’s not happening to everyone on Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan, but I’m reading posts here and on NI’s forums almost daily from new people with the issue. I had it happen almost every week for the better part of 18 months and so during my 5 week international holiday last May where I didn’t do any DJing (family trip with wife and kids), I decided to start rolling everything back to when I was having no issues, and it turns out that the combination of OS X 10.8.5 Mountain Lion and Traktor 2.6.8 gives me everything I need to use my pair of X1mk2 and whatever combination of CDJ2000/NXS/900 players are in the venue, as well as DJM850/900NXS/900NXS2 mixers that I mostly come across. I also have my TA6 in my bag for those times where I come across a DJM800 or Xone:92.
Since going with this combination last June I have not had a single dropout in audio at any of my 1 to 3 gigs per week (normally 4 to 5 hours each).
For those considering Windows, some people have successfully installed onto MacBooks via BootCamp and have not had any dropout issues. I have also got a Surface Pro 4 (i5, 128GB) for work and so I’ve installed Traktor 2.10 onto it and it’s been fine. It was plug and play into my mate’s S8 when I filled in for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, and I’ve used it at a few gigs with my S5 and D2’s without issues. I am however very aware of Windows 10 and don’t really like the way it updates everything in the background and worry that it’ll decide that the drivers that work need updating! There are a few work-a-rounds to stop it but because this is a work laptop I can’t go hacking into it too hard
The Razor Blase Stealth would certainly be on my personal buy list if I was in the market for a new PC laptop though, and I’d probably consider getting their USB-C external GPU case for some casual gaming at home as well!
Here in Australia though the 2013 MacBook models that I’ve mentioned seem to come up every now and again on the Apple Refurb store, and here’s a good site to keep a look out: Refurbished MacBook compared
Years ago it’s actually where I got my BlackBook from and it came with a new battery (still had the plastic on it) and looked as good as new too. Best thing is that you can add Apple Care to them within the first year of purchase so although you’re getting an older machine, you can sleep easy that if there is a hardware fault you’ve got at least the next 3 years covered … and in that time one would hope that Apple and NI have their $h!t sorted and we can run current operating systems and versions of Traktor without fear of dropouts!
I’ve got an old MBP from 2010, but the battery was shot so I tried to get one from ebay. When I got it it would only hold 53% charge out of the box. Tried all the tricks to fix and had to get a refund in the end. Couldn’t even send it back as you’re not supposed to send Li batteries in the post here in the UK.
Never buy batteries from anyone except an apple dealer or apple direct - any of the other cheaper batteries are at best “rebuilt” original ones with new cells or at worst just built with the crappiest material known to man.
Its a bad idea to take risks with any lipo batteries unless you know for a fact you can take them out in a hurry.
Well you pay half the price, get half the capacity and get twice the headache when you try to skimp
Its a steep price to pay - but not a million miles off a couple of high end lipo cells for RC cars or helicopters (which tend to fail alot more often and after fewer power cycles).
Labour and a years warranty is included with the “Apple tax”
The pricing for the “sealed” retina batteries is absolutely insane though.
