The time has come, my friends. I’ve got to get a new Laptop (or maybe desktop). Budget is £500. I’m considering getting a desktop with dual monitors. Has to be a high spec machine - I’ll be running Ableton Live and DJ Decks on the same machine. So being able to display both apps on it’s own separate screen would be great.
Any suggestions?
My new set-up is gonna be:
Computer/Lappy with Dual Monitors (1 displaying Live, 1 displaying DJ Decks)
DDM 4000 mixer
UC-33e + Launch pad
MOTU Ultralite
Ableton Live
DJ Decks w/Serato Vinyl
Anyone bought a new Windows PC lately? I’d like to hear any suggestions…
Really like some input from you fellas on this. Not going the Mac route - it’s Windoze all day for me. Looking at a couple of Dell business machines at the moment.
That way you don’t have to piss about with extra drivers and what not, they are actually faster, even the lower priced models, mac mini for instance if your after a desktop. The operating system is far far more solid and is less likely to crash, hence why the vast majority of the top DJ’s using laptops trust them.
Trust me once you are used to the operating system you will never go back to windows.
one thing tho
for the price of WHITE macbook dual core 2.2ghz , 2gb ram, 250gb
you can get an intel I5 2.5ghz with 4GB RAM, 500 GB HD
i know macs are a lot more reliable, but i think its about time they upgrade the specs! macbook cpu specs getting kinda old! and i think they still use the DDR2 Ram instead of DDR3? many intel laptops have DDR3 and SATA2 7200rpm standard - same price
i DID buy a macbook at the end tho - vista scared me away but i heard windows 7 is pretty stable
I have a Dell E6400 that’s been solid.
It has VGA and display ports, plus 3 USBs and 1 USB/eSATA connector (great for external HD via sata). The backlit keyboard is very helpful too
What do you want a Laptop or a Desktop? And why not get a single screen machine and doing that Serato/Live combo thing when its released? I assume you allready have that serato box.
You have to consider the operating system and how it works!
PC’s using windows will be running a lot more programs (without you realising) just to make it work, whereas a mac does not do this. This basically results in a faster computer as the processor is used less in a mac to run the same programs, meaning they can run on a lower spec and still actually be faster…
Its pretty true that the more money you spend the better the computer your gonna get, so if you wanna get a PC that rivals a mac your gonna have to spend the same money anyway… Might as well just get a mac!
Thanks for the responses, guys. I’m sticking with Windows - never had a problem with it, and I always strip the system for audio anyways. I haven’t decided if I want a laptop or a desktop, it really only matters what I can get for my money.
I remember in the past you could get a desktop system that would pi$$ all over a comparitively priced laptop - but that doesn’t seem to be the case these days…
I don’t have Serato - I use DJ Decks with a Serato skin. Pretty damn near to a Serato clone, and for the amount Serato functions that I’m mising the saving I made on NOT buying a £500 SL3 is very reassuring!
Keep the suggestions coming… IS £500 ununreasonable for a high spec machine for audio apps?
Being both a mac and a “PC” user, I can say both have their issues. My macbook has given me just as many issues as my PC’s, mac’s also suffer from viruses/exploits, don’t believe the hype. I actually just picked up a new laptop yesterday of newegg, it’s an acer 17" 1600x900 with core i5, 500gb hd, 4gb ddr3 ram, ati 5650 1gb gfx card. Apple doesn’t even make anything close to that, their 2k+ laptop isn’t even speced this well and i paid $850. And don’t say apple uses better hardware, their cases are made by foxcon, an OEM manufacture that makes cases for several computer companies. Their ram, hard drives, motherboards, are all OEM, and have the same quality as other big computer companies. I’ll admit that the new macbook pros are sexy looking, but don’t believe the hype that they’re more reliable or stable. Plus you can virtualize mac os in windows or set it up on a separate boot partition. The main issues deal with drivers, and yes mac’s need drivers too.
Nah, as a dual user as well, I don’t need to believe the hype, I KNOW Macs are more reliable and stable. Windows 7 is an improvement, but is still lacking. Mind you I didn’t say macs are perfect, but far closer to it than any other machine in their price range. You do get what you pay for most of the time, computers being all of the time.
Core i5 and i7 macbook pro’s are due out any day now. Wait for them and boot camp Windows 7 if you must pollute your mac with it.
Just get what you are comfortable with really. If you want to tweak a windows machine, have at it. If you want the simplicity of a mac, have at it. Both have pro’s and con’s, and both in the end can be just as good as one another.
I’ve always been a Windows guy, but I’ve personally been thinking about getting a Mac laptop for dedicated DJing use. There really is something to say for the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple shithead) policy.
