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gharbud
15-02-2011, 06:33 PM
hi all ,i currenty use a sony viao laptop to dj with, and have been thinking for a while about upgrading to a macbook, i have a few questions and would like some opinons, with my viao i have 4 usb ports one for soundcard, one for external drive and one for wireless mouse, i have looked at macbooks and they only seem to come with two???, i know it says they have a firewire ports, can i run my soundcard or external drive off these??

Also my viao has 3gb ram, some of the macbooks ive been looking at only have 2gb would this be sufficent to run vdj7 as it says on its website a minimum of 2gb on a mac, so why is the minimum different on windows??, i am only looking at second hand macs at the moment,

What are the advantages of macbooks over other laptops

thanks graham

yourdj
15-02-2011, 06:54 PM
I run Serato on Macbook 2.5 ghz, 2 gig ram and it has never once failed (3 years). You can upgrade to 4 gig for about £30.
Just a matter of sticking in the extra two. VDJ should be less cpu than Itch?

Main advantage IMO is you can shut the lid and reopen it again and start djing in a matter of seconds, so great if you need to move rooms etc.

It is also very stable and you can run windows as well as mac on them so have the best of both worlds.

re the Usb port can you not use a dongle thing and split it?

gharbud
15-02-2011, 07:12 PM
thanks fro the reply, as for the splitting of usb prots i forgot to mention that, is it safe to split them? is their performance issues wen splitting them??

gharbud
15-02-2011, 07:13 PM
oh and can you do the ram upgrade yourself? and another question i forgot, ive heard some people have had issues with external drives not being recgognised with mac systems is this true?

DJ James Lake
15-02-2011, 07:18 PM
I have the 17" macbook pro, it has 3 usb ports and I have an express card giving an extra 2 ports, so 5 in total.

If you are using a USB hub make sure its a powered one and you will be fine.

I tend to connect crucial devices that need to be fast like controllers and soundcards direct into the mac, hard drives run through a usb hub and I run between 5 and 6 drives depending on whether I am running a video setup or normal audio.

yourdj
15-02-2011, 09:28 PM
oh and can you do the ram upgrade yourself? and another question i forgot, ive heard some people have had issues with external drives not being recgognised with mac systems is this true?

You just put it in the back. I think you might be being a bit paranoid.
A large majority of pro DJ's use macs. i was surprised walking around BPM - 90% of stalls had them.

why not borrow one from somewhere and test it. :) I do not think you will have any problems.

rossken
15-02-2011, 09:32 PM
I use a 15 inch Macbook Pro, and it has two USBs and one firewire. I run my external HDD through the firewire and have a USB hub for my soundcard and DMC2 controller. USB Hub in one USB and mouse receiver in the other. No problems so far.

yourdj
15-02-2011, 09:34 PM
Hi Ross, just twigged that's you :)

rossken
15-02-2011, 10:13 PM
Hi Ross, just twigged that's you :)

Did you not realise? :p

When you were on the phone today I thought I recognised your voice from somewhere, like actually knew it - Later I realised it was because of your Youtube videos!

Probably shouldn't go too off topic.... Sorry!

sleah
16-02-2011, 12:18 PM
Main advantage IMO is you can shut the lid and reopen it again and start djing in a matter of seconds, so great if you need to move rooms etc.

I'm afraid that's a complete red-herring. It's entirely down to configuration! It just so happens power saving when you shut your lid is switched off.
It is a simple setting in Windows (dunno bout Mac) to stop anything happeneing when you shut the lid. I always set laptops like that, my PCDJ laptop continues playing happily along with it's lid shut:D


It actually sounds more like a downgrade to the Mac! You're loosing features (such as the extra USB ports) and already adding memory before you've bought the thing:confused:

Are you SURE you need to change???

There are no advantages or disadvantages to either, it's down to personal preference - once both are set up correctly.

If you're current system is working perfectly well, and you are ONLY changing because someone told you Macs are better, with no real justification in your situation, then it would be a foolish waste of money. As indeed it would be if it were visa-versa;)
Unless of course you just fancy something new and shiny:D :D :D :D

Larry B Entertainment
16-02-2011, 04:51 PM
If you're current system is working perfectly well, and you are ONLY changing because someone told you Macs are better, with no real justification in your situation, then it would be a foolish waste of money. As indeed it would be if it were visa-versa;)


I agree fully. I find that most people that buy Macs have asked a question about a PC and have heard the inevitable answer "Buy a Mac" :D

Megamix
16-02-2011, 07:02 PM
You can't get much objective info on PC vs Mac - it tends to get defensive with name calling and justifications for both - if you have used a PC and haven't used a Mac try one. Only then can you really decide.

Cowlinn
16-02-2011, 07:27 PM
I'm going to bow out before I've even got involved














(don't listen to them, buy a mac) :D :D :D

On a serious note, just like kam stand is fine until you use an ultimax. Windows is fine, until you use mac os :)

DB Entertainments
16-02-2011, 09:13 PM
I got offered a brand new Mac Book Pro for £350 last sat at a kids party lol

Cowlinn
16-02-2011, 09:23 PM
I got offered a brand new Mac Book Pro for £350 last sat at a kids party lol

Why was someone selling it at that price?

And why didn't you buy it :confused: Even if you didn't want it, you get nearly 3 times that on eBay :confused:

gharbud
16-02-2011, 09:28 PM
at the moment i am using a 2tb segate drive (maplins one), can this be used from the mac firewire port??, i have reason to belleive i would have to get a new external drivee?, or can the audio 2 dj souncard be connected to the firewire port?? thanks

DB Entertainments
16-02-2011, 09:30 PM
Why was someone selling it at that price?

And why didn't you buy it :confused: Even if you didn't want it, you get nearly 3 times that on eBay :confused:

Because it was obviously HOT!

Vectis
16-02-2011, 09:47 PM
at the moment i am using a 2tb segate drive (maplins one), can this be used from the mac firewire port??, i have reason to belleive i would have to get a new external drivee?, or can the audio 2 dj souncard be connected to the firewire port?? thanks

If the drive has a FireWire / IEEE1394 port then it can.

If your drives are currently formatted NTFS then this might cause a few issues as MacOSX doesn't natively write to NTFS volumes (it will read them). You'll have to reformat FAT (windows compatible), EXT2/3 (mac and linux compatible) or find a third party NTFS driver (do-able, but not for me).

DJ James Lake
16-02-2011, 10:00 PM
If the drive has a FireWire / IEEE1394 port then it can.

If your drives are currently formatted NTFS then this might cause a few issues as MacOSX doesn't natively write to NTFS volumes (it will read them). You'll have to reformat FAT (windows compatible), EXT2/3 (mac and linux compatible) or find a third party NTFS driver (do-able, but not for me).

If you install NTFS for mac which is free it will read and write to NTFS I do it all the time.

mattydinx
16-02-2011, 11:33 PM
I'm afraid that's a complete red-herring. It's entirely down to configuration!

wrong...

Closing the lid on a mac sends it to sleep (unless an external monitor is attached, or you run an application which prevents the computer from entering sleep mode - you can't turn the feature off), what Toby was referring to was the fact that mac's resume from sleep mode far faster than any windows based system (that I've ever come across anyway) - Typically around 3 seconds from opening the lid to being ready to use the computer again.
Particularly handy if you like to prepare before you get to the gig, have your software running and music in order at home - close the lid, go to the gig, setup - open the lid, and off you go - no booting, launching software, etc - it resumes in the exact state that it was left in.

Best advice I can give is go out and try one for the purposes you intend - I guarantee you won't be disappointed :D - Yes they're more expensive than PC's - who cares! - They do the job, and do it very well. It's something that'll last you a heck of a long time, and should the time come where you need to sell it - they hold their value quite well too.

In terms of your hard drive's compatibility on a mac, I've got the NTFS driver installed on mine and its worked flawlessly thus far.

Vectis
16-02-2011, 11:44 PM
If you install NTFS for mac which is free it will read and write to NTFS I do it all the time.

This concurs with others who have reported success.

I, on the other hand, don't allow 3rd party drivers onto my production systems.

If I can get it in the app store, cool. Otherwise, nah.

simonp
16-02-2011, 11:44 PM
I use a 15 inch Macbook Pro, and it has two USBs and one firewire. I run my external HDD through the firewire and have a USB hub for my soundcard and DMC2 controller. USB Hub in one USB and mouse receiver in the other. No problems so far.

I use a macbook pro aluminum 15" as well. Do you have any pictures of how you're setting/linking everything up please :)

rossken
17-02-2011, 04:29 PM
I use a macbook pro aluminum 15" as well. Do you have any pictures of how you're setting/linking everything up please :)

It's difficult to get a decent pictures as the soundcard and USB hub are tucked away in the flightcase, however, I hope this will give you an idea.

gharbud
17-02-2011, 07:58 PM
have you ever had anyproblems with using the souncard through a usb hub?

rossken
17-02-2011, 08:10 PM
have you ever had anyproblems with using the souncard through a usb hub?

Not since moving to Mac.

On my Dell, every so often when I started Numark Cue there would be no sound, all I had to do was unplug the soundcard and plug it back in. This never happened during a gig, only on start up. The other thing that confused it using the Dell, was using the volume control on the keyboard - That cut the sound all together. But I worked this out so I just never touch the volume on the computer itself.

Since moving to Mac in August, I've had none of these problems - I just plugged it in and it worked perfectly, and it's been the same ever since.

sleah
18-02-2011, 11:40 AM
wrong...

Closing the lid on a mac sends it to sleep (unless an external monitor is attached, or you run an application which prevents the computer from entering sleep mode - you can't turn the feature off),

Thanks for the clarification Matty:)
Soooo.... that's actually a bit of a disadvantage with a Mac, unless you're 100% certain the application will prevent sleep mode, regardless of what its doing...:p :p :p


I must admit I've always found trying to configue power saving on a Mac confusing:daft:
That said, the way Micro$oft have redone it in Windows 7 is rather convoluted.... Why did they try to 'fix' something that wasn't broke????
Screensavers and powersaving has always been one of the simplist things to configure in Windoze. Now some numpty decided it was too easy and threw a grenade in to the mix!:(

gharbud
18-02-2011, 02:50 PM
i use vdj, on my pc i have all the music on expansion drive s:\ along with the database file, when i plug this into the mac via usb, do i have to change it on mac to s:\ or rescan the srive and make a new database file etcc, i had a play around with a mates mac and when you plug the hardrive in i just comes up as expansion drive no drive letter im presuming becase mac is tottaly differnt lol