I recommend Dell for Traktor and other NI...

This is the laptop I got for the holidays-http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.E221763.desc.Dell-156-Notebook-with-4GB-RAM-500GB-HD-Core-i3-370M


With no internet, and heavy optimisation for audio I have the following working on this laptop-

Maschine
NI Audio Kontrol 1
Audio 8 DJ
Traktor Scratch Pro

 

Why recommend it then, if you have to disable so much?

 

Its been common knowledge for windows to optimise it for audio. I bascially did all the stuff mentioned in ni article for win 7 tuning tips. I'm just saying what worked for me.

 

what's your latency set at?

 

I'm running Traktor/Maschine effortlessly on a DELL with absolutely no tweaks whatsoever ... no dropouts, no cyclic CPU spikes.

My point being, if you have switch off half your system ... it's no great recommendation at all.

 

^ what he said


From all my personal experience with dell laptops I try to avoid em like the plague.


But if you got yours working good for you, or you don't have the money to try and find a sweeter one and you can get yours to work with some tweaks, definitely WIN for you!

I generally would not go around recommending all "DELL" laptops as "optimal" for Trakor. Or any audio processing software for that matter.


And of course.. Your Mileage May Vary...

 

DELL works fine with Traktor & Maschine ... using other audio interfaces ... just not NI interfaces (sad but true).

A bit shortsighted to 'blame DELL' in my experience. Mine processes audio from any app no problems, no dropouts, no CPU issues .... just had to ditch the NI interface and all runs so well it's hard to believe there was ever an issue. If you do want to run an NI interface, you do have to choose your PC laptop very carefully.

Obvoiusly avoid any laptop with extreme DPC latency specs, regardless of brand.

 

Interesting, I had never considered that really.

I always assumed it was laptop drivers behaving badly....

But seeing as how I cant use the latest Audio 8 Driver to a severe kick in latency I get from it vs. the previous version.... Yeah I think your onto something.



But as an aside, the OP did specifically recommend Dell for NI hardware.

 

When did you not ever buy a windows system without not optimising it for audio? Didn't NI always have articles recommending optimising windows for audio? Focusrite? I think those articles are their for a reason. I'm using my laptop for MUSIC only. My point is I'm just sharing what works for me.

By the way I have the internet installed and no issues. My computer guy helped me getting things running to make sure things ran smooth. Again, I just wanted to share what worked with me. What works for you might not work for the next man. Weren't you having Trouble with your Audio Kontrol 1 on your windows 7 laptop?

 

Never had to do much more than a few minor tweaks .... not in 15 years of running a PC based studio .... recorded dozens of albums, hundreds of smaller productions ... never had a problem.

Every other interface I've tried have all run smooth as silk on exactly the same laptop with no tweaks whatsoever.... no dropouts.... no cpu issues. They just installed and worked without any dramas.

 

im running traktor S4 with 4 decks, bluetooth on, wifi on, on a macbook pro 13 inch which is bloated with my school projects (not optimized at all)

and still runs perfectly!

not starting a mac vs pc debate but just wanna point this out

FYI i still use a desktop pc - for gaming only

 

One thing for sure is that I wanna go all Mac later this year or next.

 

So you just spent over $700 on a new laptop in which you only plan on using for less than a year? Maybe you should've saved a little more for the Mac since that's what you want anyways.
I've been using my MacBook for over 3 years now and it's still handles everything I throw at it. (no tweaks at all)

 

And of course, all problems with this config will be delt with by OP by PM.

 

The mac is for audio school. My school studio is all mac. The pc laptop was a holiday gift. So I use it for traktor. You guys must really hate pc, and had issues. So far traktor runs well with my two technics. Marc tf you sound like a hater. Its not my fault I got my stuff working.

 

My bad. I failed to see that you had gotten it as a gift.

 

And props to you for doing so friend..
Thanks for posting your results.

Karlos

 

Thanks!

 

Recommending a Dell to run a software product is like recommending the northern hemisphere to someone trying to find a gas station; uselessly generic.

Any hardware vendor will sell you a perfectly capable machine for DJing, and if they're offering you a laptop with an underpowered i3 CPU then you can rest assured they don't understand your needs whatsoever.

 

Traktor Scratch, Kore 2, Audio Kontrol 1, Maschine, and Komplete 7 are working good over here on the underpowered i3 and my dell quadcore desktop. So Im good... Just made a suggestion on what worked for me is all Im saying.