DJ laptop

[imported_Zeke]

I have a friend who is a fairly serious DJ and has decided to step up into the digital age and get himself a laptop for shows. NO he dosent want to spend more than 1000, and less than that if popular....this machine will be used almost exclusivly for music playback (so I am trying to find somthing with a decent sound card) and basic web stuff (no games) I was wondering what you guys would reccomend?

 

[ValuedCustomer]

Originally posted by: Zeke
a fairly serious DJ .. decided to step up into the digital age .. dosent want to spend more than 1000 .. machine will be used for music playback .. somthing with a decent sound card .. I was wondering what you guys would reccomend?

spending more money? - oh and go w/ an external soundcard solution.

 

[Corporate Thug]

honestly, most of the DJs i have seen/met (busta rhymes, people under the stairs, ludacris, dilated) all use powerbooks

 

[mdahc]

The main reason graphic design and A/V people use Mac's is that Apple got it's foot into those industries' doors very early in the game (whereas M$ focused on core business applications). Many claim that Mac's are better for these types of applications, but they're not. x86 architecture is just fine (Apple is switching to x86, afterall).

Digital audio and sequencing software involve pure number crunching of complex DSP algorithms, so you'll want a CPU with good floating point performance (Mac G4, Pentium M, or AMD Turion64/Athlon64), and you'll also want a lot of memory (at least 1GB) and possibly a spare external HDD, especially if this guy's going to be editing digital audio (not just using synths, sequencing, samples, MIDI, etc.).

Also, I'd hesitate buying a Powerbook or an iBook at this point. Since Apple is going to switch to x86 within the next year or so, and since it is unclear if many Mac software vendors will still support the current PowerPC architecture in the future, a Powerbook or an iBook probably wouldn't be the best investment.

Bottom line, if he's going to create his own mixes and/or sequences, samples, loops and/or edit digital audio (which is much easier and more versatile on a computer thereby opening up so many more creative opportunities), then he needs to research and choose his software package (ProTools, Cubase, Digital Performer, Logic, etc.) and decide on hardware accordingly.