yeah i DJ on a desktop…
does anyone else do this/ have any advice towards it?
I do, since i don’t have a laptop yet (Just got an interview for a job!)
What, advice on making that mobile haha?
basically its so hard to carry all the stuff around.
congrats on the interview hopefully you get it and will be able to get a laptop to provide beats to more people easier! 
I started out on a Desktop, but got myself a second-hand Macbook around the same time when I decided to buy a controller and Traktor.
I’ve only gigged out on a desktop. It’s not fun. Got a macbook recently, so much easier.
i did many a party on a desktop back in the day.
my advice: hide the tower 
hehehe it’s still easier than carrying crates of vinyl and a coffin with turntables in it 
I’ve seen it done, but it’s not pretty. A desktop is much more suited to home or house partys, not in the club.
That said, I crewed for a show once which had an electronia duo hooking up synths and sampling through Ableton, all through a desktop PC which was a b***h to get on & off stage, as well as the time needed for it to boot up. Apart from that, great show.
Wise words Proben…
one advantage of a desktop is some serious power !
Micro atx & Mini itx systems are becoming very small and can be quite powerful, with more than enough juice to power Traktor/Serato. I’ve built a couple of htpc systems and they can do a fair bit of gaming on them, never mind play tunes. These system are about the size of an average home amplifier or even a lot smaller.
The obvious downside is having to carry a reasonable sized screen around and the set up process would be a total pain in the arse if you are on after someone else’s set.
Considering the cost these days of decent spec laptops I don’t really see the advantage unless you are going top spec components, quad core processors and have a real need on stage for the extra juice and screen real-estate.
But if you are intent on trying to use a desktop you “could” probably squeeze everything including a 15’ monitor pretty easily into a metal briefcase or flight case with some sacrifice to PCI cards (you’d need risers).
I built a HTPC gaming PC a few years ago that had a 2.4ghz P4 & Gforce graphics in a 30mm case. - pretty tight fit but it worked like a champ (I used a zalmann GPU heatsink with a modified bracket for the CPU cooling).
I just can’t imagine it being cost effective to do it anymore seeing as you can pick up a laptop for $400 that would be a better fit for the job. Once you factor in the additional stuff and time you’ll spend you’d probably need to make a desktop portable it starts becoming even less cost effective than waiting a few weeks to get a lappie.
Agreed, the cost would be prohibitive.
Although I once did this with old parts lying around and it cost me practically nothing. It’s an old 1210 flight case and it has a copy of windows XP running on it, but it can still run Traktor.
THIS.
SERIOUS power advantage.
…which is only useful for the people who want to play Skyrim while they are DJing…?
You’re joking, right?
Skyrim+Dj’ing? Now thats something i can get behind
I have an iMac that I dj on, it isnt hard to setup same as a laptop, I can understand a tower and monitor system being abit alkward but an iMac is fine.
I started messing about with software on a desktop. Then, for good or ill, my desktop fried itself, and I ended up buying a Macbook Pro in replacement.
I actually have a couple buddies who have older desktops setup next to their tables. One runs Torq 1.0 and the other runs SSL perfectly fine. As they aren’t really moving their tables (ever) it’s an effective setup. One recently upgraded to a laptop I believe, but I haven’t seen it in action yet. They both have coffin’s and those really aren’t easily mobile 