Need Laptop Recommendations!

Greetings,

I'm sure there has been endless discussions about laptops and which ones' should
be added to your business. And which ones should be left out of the chat.
Thinking of this as the absolutely definitive and updated "end-all."

That being said, I am needing a laptop. Fairly inexpensive but incredibly
reliable. I am using a Pioneer XDJ-R1 I've heard Intel is the best way
to go. 500+RAM. Anything else you can, throw out as far as advice,
would be extremely helpful. If you have an online store or company that you
swear by I would be forever indebted. What's been your luck/outcomes/
disasters/performance with rebuilt computers?

Lovin' MB and all of the deejays that add to the discussions.
Very interesting and helpful.

Thanks in advance.

R

The biggest problem I see with rebuilt is IF you do not have the skills to rebuild them IF they fail. usually the warranties are slim and none on rebuilt. So, I'd go with new for those reasons alone if I were unskilled. I'm DELL guy. Love them. I have a commercial account now going on 15 years. The warranty service if you buy it is outstanding if they fail. I bought one for my daughter years ago, and it failed, I had the 4 year warranty(college computer) and they basically came out with parts and stayed until they fixed it. I use 2 for Djing, and have the warranties on both. why not? It's a deductible business expense, and solves the problems since I do not know how to safely work on a laptop should they occur( Tower - whole other story)

Recommendations:
at least 1 TB, or larger. Why not? You are never going to not need more space, and let's face it, more is better.

Ram - get 8 to 12. Same reason. More RAM, faster response and speed. I think given todays demands, if you do not have at least 6, you are opening yourself up to performance issues.

While I get that you do not want to spend a lot money, fact is that if you buy well once, you will not have to buy cheap twice or three times, spending more than if you had bought well once. Prices on computers given these specs have never been better. Get the best space and ram possible.

If you think you will get a reliable, fast, workhorse of a computer, with internal components that are not the worst China has to offer, please don't ask for advice while using the phrase cheap or inexpensive. My friend, when it comes to computers, they do not go hand in hand.

For a Windows machine, for the peak performer, for the reliable components, and speed that will leave you breathless, consider the ASUS ROG GL-522VW (may be a newer version...this model is about a year old). I added a 1TB m.2 SSD, a 2tb internal SSD, and a 2tb internal hard drive in place of the optical CD-ROM, 32gb ram, a 2gb GTX 960M nVidia graphics card as well as the Intel 530 graphics card, Intel Core i-7-6700HQ @ 2.60hz, with Windows 10 Pro (which to me, f's the whole thing up but there are NO DRIVERS for Win 7), boot up is 16 seconds, power button to working screen.

Rescanning 50,000 tag and bpm karaoke files on a Windows 7 high end HP consumer computer was projected at 4 days. Same scenario on a commercial high end Dell (Inspiron 6530) was three days. This ASUS did it in 4 1/2 hours.(Total cost now: $2,100)

How much is your free time worth?

I find that advice regarding computer decisions is directly proportionate to the willingness of the buyer/reviewer to commit to tomorrow with some sacrificial dollars today.

You failed to mention the PURPOSE of the laptop. Will it be for music only, music & karaoke and/or music videos. Videos demand a lot more processor power, larger dedicated video RAM and have larger file sizes per song for more storage. Cap has the right idea about "more money" BUT the system he spec'd is overkill for most DJ's IMHO. However, you should allocate roughly 30%-40% more for future growth than you currently have.

I too recently upgraded my DJ laptops (2) to a pair of 17" ASUS Core I7's with Windows 10, 32Gb of RAM and 3Gb Nvidia graphics cards but kept the internal DVD Blu-Ray burner. I prefer to keep my music, karaoke and music videos on separate powered external HDs ... 2Tb music, 1Tb karaoke and 4Tb video drives. I also have identical laptops so that if one fails (and I've had it happen, twice!) I don't even have to swap power supplies and I use a powered laptop cooler with built-in 4 port USB buss. And BTW, my older systems still run perfectly with 4Gb of Ram, 1Gb Nvidia graphics, and (get this) a 40Gb internal HD (only thing on the internal is the OS, Virtual DJ 7 and some supporting utility programs like MP3Gain, MP3Tag, AudioGrabber, Adobe Reader etc.

You shouldn't have to put a 2nd mortgage on your house to purchase a really well spec'd laptop. Let's face it, this technology changes so fast its hard to keep up and six months down the road, it'll most likely have been replaced with something better.

Yes, I failed to mention the purpose of my recommendation. I agree with Nicky B. For straight basic DJ use, yes, it is WAAAYYY overkill and very costly in comparison to what piece of off-the-shelf gear would do the basic job. A netbook with Win 98 would suffice.

I travel frequently and when away from the office, I do not want my business and performance productivity to be any less than that of my office machine. Rendering videos in Sony Vegas; producing trifolds and such with Adobe Photoshop; burning DVDs (remove the HD caddy and reinsert the optical drive); play and mix videos with VDJ while doing any or all of the aforementioned tasks; connected to the internet; etc and so forth.

By having everything internal, there are no additional external devices that need to be carried (or lost), no additional wall warts, no additional connecting cables, etc. My laptop IS my complete, high powered, and efficient office-on-the-move in one container.