If you don’t get 3 years out of any random Apple, you’re doing something wrong, and that’s with it still under warranty. Remember the last Macbook I got in 2008? The only thing wrong with it is that the battery finally won’t hold a charge.
And a lot of top-end studios are still using G5s.
Longevity is not an argument for Lenovo in my experience…my last Thinkpad was basically unusable after 2 years.
What’s a good laptop for DJing
Well I use a lenovo thinkpad w510 and I have no complaints. Dual I7 processors (8x2.4 ghz processors) 8 gig ram and a 1 gig workstation video card, my thinkpad outperforms any MacBook I have ever seen. I also use my laptop to run massive material model simulations while working on my PhD here at MS state. The spill proof keyboard and heavy duty carbon fiber body give a piece of mind djing at a party that most other laptops can’t provide. The drop detection is pretty nice too. Drop a MacBook off a table and see if that person does not freak out. My laptop is more powerful than most peoples home desktops and tower workstations.
Whoever says viruses are non existent for macs is mistaken. Viruses definitely exist for mac os systems, if you install (or dual boot) windows then you are exposed to all of the viruses that threaten a pc running windows.
Whoever says lenovo has bad customer device is out if their mind. Not only do I have a five year accidental damage plan (which civets everything except theft), but customer support is based in America. I always recommend someone get a lenovo as the customer service and performance can not be beat.
What’s a good laptop for DJing
Damn autocorrect on iPhone, ^customer service ^covers everything
I would def. go with a MBP. I have a 21.5in iMac and I love it more than any computer I’ve ever been on. I def. plan on getting a 15in mbp come tax season.
+1 for mac
I never ran any A/V software on any of Wintel machines for the last 8 years, until i started to use Torrent sites to get the drop on The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad around April last year-
But i know what i’m doing, i could build a system from scratch or indeed a pile of old miss matched parts as long as they are compatible with the mobo - also i stay away from them porn and warez sites 
Mac dont get Virus? pull the other 'un, it has bells on!
As an experiment, google Mac OS virus database…
I ain’t calling Mac as regards being fit for purpose they are solid solid performers built from carefully selected components, and work beautifully -just like any high end wintel machine.
What i do object to is the price premium i would have to pay if i chose Mac over Wintel, to get that self same performance and reliability.
There is a saying in the UK, “A fool and his money are soon parted”
Steve Jobs died a very rich man 
What’s a good laptop for DJing
@ djattackz
I don’t want to get in a pissing match with you. To answer a few of your questions…
Yes I have owned a mac
No I dont mind dropping my laptop off of a table, have done it several times. My one year old son has even body slammed it a couple times if you know what I mean. Plus the five year accidental damage plan covers drop damage anyway, and I have only had it for two years.
I have ran 3 3D models, a gigantic FEA simulation in the background which was a nine hour simulation by the way. All in the background while running serato video sl coupled with some dicers and all music being pulled from an external hard drive. With audacity and fl studio minimized on battery power for two and a half hours…and still had battery life left.
What’s a good laptop for DJing
And you are very misinformed if you think viruses do not exist for the mac os system because they do.
If you know what you are doing and LIKE fucking around with windows to optimize it.
Get a PC / Windows based laptop
If you are not a windows tinkerer, and just want a machine that works for years and keeps working without regular maintenance, Antivirus, Random slowdowns etc …
Get a Mac.
I used to be the former, you get more work done if you don’t need to tinker, optimize etc…TBH I don’t understand why a consumer should NEED to know what they are doing to make something work.
And yes IMHO the hardware, while electronically the spec might the same, the other items such as unibody, backlit keyboard, thunderbolt and general build quality make a mac a worthwhile purpose.
OSX is matched to a small subset of the hardware that apple produce, which helps in the superb performance and reliability, rather than the Microsoft “once size fits all” mantra.
In the case of the Macbook Air, other manufactures still cannot compete on a price vs form factor, OSX in that instance is an added bonus.
[quote]And you are very misinformed if you think viruses do not exist for the mac os system because they do.
[/quote]
There are NO mac viruses in the wild, there was some proof of concept ones developed. There IS however Malware out there. But you’d really need to go looking for trouble, and not straight forward to even install.
If you are going to make claims, back them up.
To the original poster, apologies for hijacking your thread…unfortuantly every “what laptop” tends to end up in a Mac vs PC pissing match with plenty of mis-information.
For the record I wouldn’t touch a DELL, Lenovo’s are solid machines just ugly as sin.
What’s a good laptop for DJing
I don’t like being a highjacker but I don’t like seeing misinformed posts either, a quick google search for mac os virus database netted
http://www.iantivirus.com/threats/
Some of the listed viruses are proof of concept buy MOST are not. Not only are these viruses out there, but also most people who use a mac dual boot windows which exposes them to not only mac viruses but also windows viruses. My background…I have a BS in mechanical engineering with a minor in computer sciences, mainly programming, digital devices and operating systems.
PC and macs both handle the task efficiently and really it boils down to preference. I chose a thinkpad over another mac because I need the high computing capacity for the computational crystal plasticity theory I am developing, and need to be able to prove and implement the theory in finite element software. For djing alone my laptop is overkill, and like I said both pcs and mac handle the task. If you choose a pc get a lenovo, if you choose a mac get a mac book pro. Lenovos may look big and bulky but that is there ruggedness built in, spillproof and dropproof (to an extent). Now that I have this thinkpad I will never look back.
Sorry if I fat fingered as I am typing this in tapatalk from my iPhone.
For a lot of people, I agree with you.
I think CoreAudio is a very good argument in Apple’s favor for music stuff.
I should probably also point out that I’m an Apple fanboy because I hate working in Windows. I can do it. I’ve administered IIS and MSSQL in professional settings, as well as the normal OS. I’m not your random computer user. But I hate every minute of using Windows. Everything takes longer.
Cygwin is not a replacement for a real shell.
I use OS X because it feels like linux, except it’s prettier and supported by a huge company. And I can run real audio software.
If it weren’t for Apple, I wouldn’t use computers for music. Not even for production.
Sounds like the reason i quit using Ubuntu and went back to wintel, ease of use, support and familiarity.
Use what works best for you when everything else stacks up, but dont dismiss one system as more reliable/ better then any other. That gap/ advantage that Mac OS had in the past has rapidly been closed with the introduction of windows 7
Again my only bone of contention is price point. If a similar spec Mac did the same job as the Thinkpad for around the same amount of cash then it would be a very tough choice indeed, and may come down purely to familiarity
removed my prior comments since no point arguing this on a thread that asked “that is a good laptop for djing” everyone has their poison and prefers what they can afford/ like… imo go with a mac
There is no harm in explaining WHY you like your choice DJAttacZ, it helps the OP form a more rounded judgement
well in that case..
macs just work.. best way to say it.. you dont need to “optimize” a mac to dj. open the box install the software and needed controller driver and start rocking the house.. that simple.. I have spent alot of time in studios and even interned for a summer on a music tour and never saw one pc.. everything was apple except for the one panisonic tuff book that was used to handle lighting.. the time machine feature is amazing if your comp were to break u can with in an hour have ur machine back up and running on another mac(granted u backed up frequently). notice how traktor has itunes integration built in and not ms media player.. use an iphone or ipad instant integration between all of them for contacts photos music and everything. plus if your spending a grand or more dont you want a machine that is visualy pleasing? as a dj i just want things to works and having not to worry about my laptop means i can focus on the music. the work flow is clean and easy to use and designed for a visual person(ie how when u minimize a page it leads your eye to its location, i personally hate messy desktops and being able to color code files to find them easily is nice. also the track pad is a very cool feature and guestures makes using the computer more like an ipad then ever before. swipe pinch scroll its all very intuitive.. there is also a mode that inverts the color so when im playing in a club insted of the bright screen i can make it black witch makes its less obnoxious when looking out over the dance floor.. i would defiantly go for a 13 inch if your using it to preform with its simple enough with the money saved to by an external display for home use.. 15 inches is just more then u want to carry around..
In 2008 I embarked on the digital DJ path. I purchased an ASUS gaming PC running XP for $1000. Macs were for fanboys and people who were blind to technology.
In 2009, after a year of constant crashing and multiple sound card purchases because of dropouts, I bought an HP for $1200 and chalked up my mishaps to a bad build.
In 2010, after a year of more of the same, I bought a 13" MBP for $1300. Since then I’ve tripled my gigging, I’ve never once had it crash during a set and that includes running WIFI during my gigs.
That’s all I know about my experience of PC vs. Mac.
I cannot run WIFI on the PC while running Traktor, but I can on the MBP. This is important to me since I typically mix at bars.
I plan on DJ’ing with the MBP for a very long time and I recommend them to everyone.
If I had to choose. Stear away from MAC since all your paying for is the Brand Name.
You can get a 17" Asus with a great Soundcard, Video card, and tons of Ram fo that price.
let’s compare two laptops.
Laptop #1
13-inch: 2.8 GHz
2.8GHz dual-core
Intel Core i7
4GB 1333MHz
750GB 5400-rpm1
Intel HD Graphics 3000
Built-in battery (7 hours)2
$1,499.00
Laptop #2
Intel Core i7-2670QM (2.2GHz) Processor
12GB DDR3 Memory
17.3" HD (1600 x 900) Display
500GB 7200 RPM
Nvidia GTX 560M 3G GDDR5 Graphics
Blu-ray-enabled DVD±RW/CD-RW Drive
802.11BGN and Bluetooth 3.0 Connectivity
8 Cell Battery
2.0M Pixel Webcam
$1,300.00
Laptop #1 is a Macbook Pro, Laptop#2 is the Asus G74SX.
You get a faster HD, More than overkill memory, Lighyears ahead of the MAC replaceable Graphics card. Larger Screen size means better work space.
With the Asus you can use it for more than just music since the graphics card is a monster. Gaming system hell yeah, Music production Hell yeah tons of memory on it. Film editing hell yeah graphics card and memory can handle realtime video effects.
Nope, larger screen size means less portability
That makes literally no sense to me.
I really don’t get what you and people like nem0nic see in Windows. Maybe we do very different things with our computers, but I just plain don’t understand how you get anything done. And it’s not because I think Windows computers are always broken. I mean…the vas majority of the ones I’ve used in the past 8 years or so are, but they’re also owned by government or corporate offices, and they don’t have a clue what they’re doing.
Businessmen can break any piece of technology given enough time.
Anyway…OS X with quicksilver and developer tools is just so damn fast to do anything that matters to me…linux with gnome-do is at least as good, but it can’t run Pro Tools, Logic, Maschine, Traktor, Ableton, or SSL. Add in very good package managers to OS X with repositories almost as good as those for linux, and I don’t see how people use Windows anymore.
Does Windows have a better scripting language than batch yet? Does that even still work since they abandoned anything like a real shell?
I was annoyed about having to javadoc some code last night for a project. I use vim and haven’t found a plugin/script to generate the stubs like Elcipse and NetBeans do and mentioned it in passing to a friend that I was annoyed at having to choose between downloading an IDE that I hate or typing them in manually…and went to bed. The next morning, there was a perl script in my inbox waiting for me that generates the stubs. Apparently it took him like 20 minutes and cost me a beer the next time he’s in town.
It convinced me that I need to actually learn perl instead of relying on bash, but…that’s half my point. Every Apple computer can run like 10 scripting languages as soon as you get it. When I got my first one, I copied most of my dotfiles off an old linux backup…and apart from a few small tweaks, things just worked. Despite switching from bash to zsh a couple years ago (thus having to re-write a crap ton of it), I’m still using a version of my .(bash|zsh)rc file that I started in 2004. I’m still using the exact .screenrc that I wrote in 2005.
I’m such a fucking geek…I really don’t get how people can stand Windows.
if youre used to windows or not, you CANNOT go wrong with a high spec windows laptop ! you could get a serious spec for half your budget !
this cracks me up.. how much does the asus weigh? like 10 lbs or something yea not something u can easily slip in a backpack to take with.. want to video edit.. how much EXTRA do u have to pay for decent softwear that is standard on the mac. and you see that little number one next to the hd spec on the mac u can select a 72k drive if u want to.. or buy one and do it your self.. 12gb of ram? ever think how much it cost them to put that in. maby what 10 cents more then 8gb.. google the costs of building a pc laptop vs a macbook..
people seem to over look the fact that an apple can THE SECOND YOU TAKE THE LAPTOP OUT OF THE BOX has tons of great programs ready to use.. i will give it to windows if gaming is something u want from ur computer a mac is limited can still run most games but graphic heavy games not so much.. but thats why i have an xbox..
Havok how about you give some specs your looking for in a laptop.. size weight battery life what besides djing you want to do with it(any current laptop can run djing softwear)