Questions concerning laptops for DJing and production
Questions concerning laptops for DJing and production Posted on: 16.05.2013 by Dylan Kockler So I've been looking around at MacBook Pros for myself to get around Christmas time and I kinda wanted to ask for help on the specsWould it be worth it to add the upgrade from 2.3GHz to 2.6GHz for use with production and DJing or is it unnecessary? Also, would 4GB or RAM suffice or is the upgrade to 8GB of RAM worth it? | |
| Dorie Scelzo 17.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by Drade
I'm weird. I believe even the 13" is too big to carry around all the time. If the 11" Air was a better computer (and not paper thin at the front for some stupid reason), I might own one of those. But I also have a hackintosh that's been rock-solid stable and several external monitors. I've used my DAW (Pro Tools & Maschine) with just the 13" laptop screen. It works, but it's annoying. Still, I believe 13" is just too big to carry around. I use my 12.5" believepad for that.
Originally Posted by makar1
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| Dorie Scelzo 16.05.2013 | Don't believe about Christmas upgrades until Christmas, but the answers to your questions are more general than the specifics you mentioned. 1. Clock Speed is largely irrelevant at this point. You won't notice a difference based on clock speed between any processor currently on the market in real world use. The other differences are more important, but basically any of the processors Apple puts in their laptops will work for DJing. i5s are a good bit better than i3s. i7s aren't a huge bump, but they are a bit better still. For a few bitchy technical reasons, Intels are "better" than AMDs, but the differences don't come up for a lot of normal use. 2. DO NOT BUY RAM UPGRADES FROM APPLE. Ever. Get them aftermarket. They take minutes to install using simple hand tools and cost a lot less. 16GB of RAM for a MBP costs less than $100 shipped. And that upgrade is noticeable. 3. Because it might come up, don't buy SSDs from Apple either. They suck, and they're overpriced. The upgrade is a bit more intense than the RAM upgrade but still doable if you're careful and not heavy-handed. And you can get a damn good SSD for under $1/GB. That upgrade is also very noticeable. At this point, processors are fast enough that the vast majority of improvements in the near future are going to be in how the processor gets the numbers it's crunching. The biggest improvements come from Cache performance, followed by RAM, followed by disks.
Originally Posted by Spoonie G
There are a lot of criticisms one can levy against Apple depending on where your priorities lie. But, it's not fair to say everything is overpriced. My PC Laptop cost about as much as a MBP. It performs about the same as my MBP. I own both because they do different things better and money's been decent to me lately. If I could only have one, I'd be the Apple. But, really, when it comes to laptops...Apple's pricing is right in line with where it should be. They're very well made, well supported, have one of the best warranties, and run OS X (which is basically free by itself). You want a PC that's built as well and as well supported, and you're spending about the same money. Then, it comes down to priorities and preference. The only place I believe it's safe to say that Apple is just blatantly overpriced is the Mac Pro line. And there are still reasons to buy them if you don't care about money. |
| Dylan Kockler 16.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by b1sh0p
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| Jarvis Levant 16.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by b1sh0p
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| Sonja Roybal 16.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by Drade
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| Dylan Kockler 17.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by b1sh0p
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| Alphonso Deitchman 17.05.2013 | Yup, got a Mini DP to full DP cable myself, no adapter needed. |
| Dorie Scelzo 17.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by Drade
I'm weird. I believe even the 13" is too big to carry around all the time. If the 11" Air was a better computer (and not paper thin at the front for some stupid reason), I might own one of those. But I also have a hackintosh that's been rock-solid stable and several external monitors. I've used my DAW (Pro Tools & Maschine) with just the 13" laptop screen. It works, but it's annoying. Still, I believe 13" is just too big to carry around. I use my 12.5" believepad for that.
Originally Posted by makar1
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| Alphonso Deitchman 17.05.2013 | Retina has HDMI out, all have Mini DP out. |
| Sonja Roybal 17.05.2013 | Do MBP's have HDMI or VGA outs? You can just dual monitor for producing. |
| Yong Aptekar 17.05.2013 | 13 for djing, 15 for producing |
| Dylan Kockler 17.05.2013 | My question is 13' or 15' for producing then djing? |
| Dorie Scelzo 17.05.2013 | You're right. I forgot people actually buy those things. |
| Alphonso Deitchman 16.05.2013 | The SSDs that Apple sell in the Air and Retina MBPs are not really user-replaceable, and the only aftermarket options (OWC) aren't any cheaper than Apple's upgrades. The Samsung 830-based SSD in my Air certainly doesn't "suck". RAM is not user-upgradeable in the Retina or Air models at all. If you're going for the non-retina MBPs then by all means buy your own RAM and SSD/HDD. |
| Dorie Scelzo 16.05.2013 | Don't believe about Christmas upgrades until Christmas, but the answers to your questions are more general than the specifics you mentioned. 1. Clock Speed is largely irrelevant at this point. You won't notice a difference based on clock speed between any processor currently on the market in real world use. The other differences are more important, but basically any of the processors Apple puts in their laptops will work for DJing. i5s are a good bit better than i3s. i7s aren't a huge bump, but they are a bit better still. For a few bitchy technical reasons, Intels are "better" than AMDs, but the differences don't come up for a lot of normal use. 2. DO NOT BUY RAM UPGRADES FROM APPLE. Ever. Get them aftermarket. They take minutes to install using simple hand tools and cost a lot less. 16GB of RAM for a MBP costs less than $100 shipped. And that upgrade is noticeable. 3. Because it might come up, don't buy SSDs from Apple either. They suck, and they're overpriced. The upgrade is a bit more intense than the RAM upgrade but still doable if you're careful and not heavy-handed. And you can get a damn good SSD for under $1/GB. That upgrade is also very noticeable. At this point, processors are fast enough that the vast majority of improvements in the near future are going to be in how the processor gets the numbers it's crunching. The biggest improvements come from Cache performance, followed by RAM, followed by disks.
Originally Posted by Spoonie G
There are a lot of criticisms one can levy against Apple depending on where your priorities lie. But, it's not fair to say everything is overpriced. My PC Laptop cost about as much as a MBP. It performs about the same as my MBP. I own both because they do different things better and money's been decent to me lately. If I could only have one, I'd be the Apple. But, really, when it comes to laptops...Apple's pricing is right in line with where it should be. They're very well made, well supported, have one of the best warranties, and run OS X (which is basically free by itself). You want a PC that's built as well and as well supported, and you're spending about the same money. Then, it comes down to priorities and preference. The only place I believe it's safe to say that Apple is just blatantly overpriced is the Mac Pro line. And there are still reasons to buy them if you don't care about money. |
| Alphonso Deitchman 16.05.2013 | There will be a small performance bump with Haswell. There won't be huge advances. |
| Gaynell Rydberg 16.05.2013 | If you're planning on buying a laptop in Christmas, stop wasting your time. Computer tech is going to advance so much in the next half a year that any research you do now will be irrelevant near December. |
| Alphonso Deitchman 16.05.2013 | It's not plain and simple, and not everything Apple is overpriced. The Macbook Air is priced similarly to the Windows equivalents from Samsung and ASUS etc. And there is no Windows equivalent to the Mac Mini. |
| Dylan Kockler 16.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by b1sh0p
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| Jarvis Levant 16.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by b1sh0p
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| Sonja Roybal 16.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by Drade
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| Jarvis Levant 16.05.2013 | Not a Mac fan. So I cannot offer any assistance. Too expensive, processors could be more powerful, and Mac Book pro's look like sheep devices to me. |
| Dylan Kockler 17.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by b1sh0p
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| Sonja Roybal 17.05.2013 | I promise I'm not trying to troll here, but $2500? Jesus. I'm running 2.6.1 and FL Studio 9 with multiple vst's on a 3 year old i3/3gb/320gb hdd/Win7 machine and it still runs really well. Just for comparison sake, there's a 17" 1080/i7/12gb/1tb hdd/backlit/win7 laptop on Amazon for $649 right now. I would love to have an MBP, but I just can't justify it. |
| Dylan Kockler 17.05.2013 | Is there a reason to pick the retina display over a non retina display? So far I've been leaning towards 13' |
| Yong Aptekar 17.05.2013 | Is antiglare necessary? You are using it for music, so personally, I wouldn't bother. Same goes for the processor upgrade. For RAM, end up with 8 in the end whichever way you go. I have 4 and it runs so well, but 8 would be nicer. |
| Dylan Kockler 16.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by Polygon
So how my GHz do you believe would be suitable for producing and djing? is the 13' screen big enough? |
| Dannie Dimora 16.05.2013 | Also, nextgen mbps are just around the corner, wait for them. |
| Dannie Dimora 16.05.2013 | 2.6 will only drain your battery faster when doing basic usage. You won't notice except if you do heavy production with a load of effects. If it's retina i'd say go for 16gb, because the ssd is upgradable, the ram is not |
| Dylan Kockler 16.05.2013 | Would you say that the 13' screen is too small or would it work for production and djing |
| Dylan Kockler 16.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by Ham
8 RAM is an extra $90 Hi-Res Anti-Glare is an extra $90 128GB SSD is an Extra $180 while the 256GB SSD is $360 So I could get a 15' 2.6GHz 8RAM 128GB SSD with Anti Glare Screen for $2506.44 after taxes or I could get - 15' 2.4GHz 8 RAM 256GB Flash Storage with Retina Display for $2123.24 |
| Cindie Somoza 16.05.2013 | What the is the price difference between the 2.3 and 2.6? What I would do, get 8GB of RAM, get the 2.3 (if there is a 'noticable') difference in price from the 2.6 and get an SSD, the 2.3 + SSD will have better speed differences than the 2.6 and a HDD. An SSD will be fairly cost effective, but the speed difference between 2.3GHz and 2.6 GHz = minor compared to HDD vs SSD. It'll run like the cats pyjamas with 2.3GHz and SSD. I'd suggest a 240GB SSD, which can be bought (depending on it's capabilities with the MBP) for $150-200. |
| Dylan Kockler 16.05.2013 | Is the difference between the 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz big? |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 16.05.2013 | Christmas WTF ! Don't even bother believeing about it yet - honestly. Speed bumps, screen upgrades (probably) among other things will most likely be out long before then. However in answer to the question:
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