Macbook Pro vs Air

[Andys]

So I'm going to be looking for a new laptop soon for mobile dj work and I want something which is fast and stable. Obviously I've heard OSX is way faster than Windows so I'd like to try it out. Many mobile dj's I've spoke to use MBP's and they say they love them!

My question is; is there much difference between the Air and the Pro? Obviously the Pro is slightly more powerful, but when it comes to running the basics will it matter a hell of a lot? All I will be using the laptop for is to run Virtual DJ on. My current laptop sometimes struggles with it sometimes (although it is quite a few years old now.)

[iLogan]

Well a Macbook Air doesn't have a DVD/CD drive, so I'd recommend the Pro if you're using CDs to rip songs etc

[Andys]

Well a Macbook Air doesn't have a DVD/CD drive, so I'd recommend the Pro if you're using CDs to rip songs etc

I'm not ripping CD's, I do all of that on my desktop computer and transfer them to my external drive. Saying that I've stopped buying CD's these days as it's easier to buy them digitally off Amazon!

[Fifty-Six]

I've got both an Air and a Pro, and I highly recommend OSX. It really depends on what you want to do with your computer. Air's don't have many ports on them; 2 USB's, the charging port, and some other one, meaning no Firewire port or place for an SD card. There's also no CD drive, but I honestly find that I rarely, if ever, use it on my Pro. MacBook Pro is obviously a much more robust system; more RAM, more memory and capacity, etc. If your DJ software is fairly powerful you might want to go with a Pro. There isn't a huge price difference, the only thing you want to decide on is the size. I'd go with a Pro.

[GommeInc]

The Pro seems the better choice for DJ'ing. It has more power than the Air and a longer lasting battery life (7 hours = Pro / 5-7 hours = Air). Plus there are the extra ports the Pro has which the Air doesn't to make it thinner.

[Andys]

The only thing keeping me looking at the Pro here is the ports. I don't think it has to be too powerful just to run Virtual DJ, but then again my current laptop isn't too great at running it!
Battery life doesn't make the slightest difference as it will always be plugged in, as I'll only ever be using it for shows.

[Recursion]

OSX isn't more powerful than Windows and a lot of the professional DJ software like Traktor works on both Windows/Mac.

If you're set on a Mac though, I'd get a MacBook Pro for real DJing, the variety of ports will thank you later when it comes to soundcards, midi controllers etc and you'll be able to sample songs quicker.

[mrwoooooooo]

So I'm going to be looking for a new laptop soon for mobile dj work and I want something which is fast and stable. Obviously I've heard OSX is way faster than Windows so I'd like to try it out. Many mobile dj's I've spoke to use MBP's and they say they love them!

My question is; is there much difference between the Air and the Pro? Obviously the Pro is slightly more powerful, but when it comes to running the basics will it matter a hell of a lot? All I will be using the laptop for is to run Virtual DJ on. My current laptop sometimes struggles with it sometimes (although it is quite a few years old now.)
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/554/facepalm.jpg

any new laptop will run it fine, you're only playing mp3s fgs. but go ahead get a mac lol

[Andys]

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/554/facepalm.jpg

any new laptop will run it fine, you're only playing mp3s fgs. but go ahead get a mac lol

Thanks, mrwoooooooo for reading through my post thoroughly. As you can see, or probably did not see, I already said that my current laptop struggles with Virtual DJ. It will probably be used for karaoke files in the future also, which are a lot more intensive than mp3's.

The "cpu" bar on the top regularly goes into the red (peaks) which isn't supposed to happen. I also witnessed first hand last week when I was out with a DJ who had a Toshiba laptop, which may I say was a pretty high spec, crashed during one specific song, but then played his next song fine no problem.

Thanks for your input.

[Futz]

You should buy a cheaper laptop and fit it with an SSD, OSX ain't ****

[mrwoooooooo]

Thanks, mrwoooooooo for reading through my post thoroughly. As you can see, or probably did not see, I already said that my current laptop struggles with Virtual DJ. It will probably be used for karaoke files in the future also, which are a lot more intensive than mp3's.

The "cpu" bar on the top regularly goes into the red (peaks) which isn't supposed to happen. I also witnessed first hand last week when I was out with a DJ who had a Toshiba laptop, which may I say was a pretty high spec, crashed during one specific song, but then played his next song fine no problem.

Thanks for your input.

You mentioned that it was 'a few years' old, so obviously it will struggle with some things.

[Andys]

You mentioned that it was 'a few years' old, so obviously it will struggle with some things.
Again, failed to read my whole post. Or rather you did and only commented on the parts you wanted to.

Yes it's a few years old but as you said "I'm only playing mp3s any laptop will be fine."

[mrwoooooooo]

Again, failed to read my whole post. Or rather you did and only commented on the parts you wanted to.

Yes it's a few years old but as you said "I'm only playing mp3s any laptop will be fine."
pretty sure I said any NEW laptop will be fine. moody mackem

[Andys]

pretty sure I said any NEW laptop will be fine. moody mackem

Yes but sure if all I'm doing is "playing mp3s" then ANY laptop will run it. I'm sure if I loaded up an old laptop with windows 98 on it, it would run mp3s.

You're not the lad I saw at Stoke are you!?

[mrwoooooooo]

Yes but sure if all I'm doing is "playing mp3s" then ANY laptop will run it. I'm sure if I loaded up an old laptop with windows 98 on it, it would run mp3s.

You're not the lad I saw at Stoke are you!?
Yes.
Like I said, get a mac you obviously want one, I only replied because of your stupid comment about mac 'OSX being way faster than windows'

[Andys]

Yes.
Like I said, get a mac you obviously want one, I only replied because of your stupid comment about mac 'OSX being way faster than windows'

How's that stupid? From what I've heard, and the times I've used OSX, it has ran faster and smoother than Win7/Vista/XP runs for me.

[xxMATTGxx]

How's that stupid? From what I've heard, and the times I've used OSX, it has ran faster and smoother than Win7/Vista/XP runs for me.

Then your Windows PC most likely had a crap spec or wasn't a simialr spec to the Mac you have used. Windows can run fantastic in terms of performance and reliability. The same can be said for Mac's.

If you want a Mac, get one. If you don't, stick with Windows and you probably can save yourself some money at the same time. Both operating systems can do what you want.

[Recursion]

Virtual DJ is a little more intensive than just playing MP3 files, I wouldn't start jumping to conclusions about what the software does/doesn't do.

[mrwoooooooo]

Virtual DJ is a little more intensive than just playing MP3 files, I wouldn't start jumping to conclusions about what the software does/doesn't do.

I may well be using it wrong, but it doesn't seem THAT intensive :P

http://mattgarner.net/upload/images/2012/08/06/WQRkT.png

[Andys]

I may well be using it wrong, but it doesn't seem THAT intensive :P

snip

How can you judge how intensive it is after running it for about half an hour?

I doubt you had over 20,000 music tracks loaded into it, custom playlists loaded in, using a controller with it, for over six hours at a time. Add on my future proposition of using the video feature on it to be able to play karaoke files and I think you'll find it's quite a lot more intensive than just "playing a few mp3s."

Please, don't comment if you don't know what you're talking about.

[GommeInc]

How can you judge how intensive it is after running it for about half an hour?

I doubt you had over 20,000 music tracks loaded into it, custom playlists loaded in, using a controller with it, for over six hours at a time. Add on my future proposition of using the video feature on it to be able to play karaoke files and I think you'll find it's quite a lot more intensive than just "playing a few mp3s."

Please, don't comment if you don't know what you're talking about.
Moving away from the hate, what are the specs of your current laptop, so we can properly see why your laptop is having problems running it? It could be something simple like your laptop only has 2GB of RAM (or fewer) while a MacBook would obviously out perform because they usually ship with 8 GB with 16 GB as an option, not forgetting the CPU etc.

Alternatively, you could post the the laptop make and model (or a link to Amazon, ebuyer, official website etc), so we can find it and see what's up. You might just be able to upgrade the current laptop or be directed at a much cheaper one, unless your heart is on the Pro.

[mrwoooooooo]

How can you judge how intensive it is after running it for about half an hour?

I doubt you had over 20,000 music tracks loaded into it, custom playlists loaded in, using a controller with it, for over six hours at a time. Add on my future proposition of using the video feature on it to be able to play karaoke files and I think you'll find it's quite a lot more intensive than just "playing a few mp3s."

Please, don't comment if you don't know what you're talking about.

Like I said, 'I may well be using it wrong'

Either way its only 1% of the cpu, I can't see it going much higher in all honesty.

and me thinks someone is a little mad.

U MAD BRAH?