Used Macbook Pro

Just wondering the communities thoughts on how old you were willing to go on a used MBP to run Traktor for another year or two? What should a MBP for that year cost? Coming from a PC laptop, needing an upgrade soon.

 

My MacBook Air is a 2013 model and runs Traktor just fine. For the most part it has been running Mountain Lion and Traktor Scratch Pro 2.6.8 as this was an extremely stable setup with my X1mk2's, CDJ-2000NXS players, timecode via DJM-850/900NXS/TA6 which covered most of my gigs.

With core audio issues within Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan now solved with Sierra, I am now running the same MacBook with macOS Sierra and Traktor Scratch Pro 2.11.0 so that I can use my pair of D2's and S5, and the newer CDJ-2000NXS2 and DJM-900NXS2. It all runs fine, a little more CPU usage than I'm used to but runs fine all the same.

So, what hardware are you going to use with Traktor? And what version of Traktor do you want to run?

If you want an extremely stable system and are not going to be using the newest controllers and mixers then you'll need a MacBook from Early 2013 (10,2), Late 2012 (10,2) (both retina) or Mid 2012 (9,2) (non retina) - all of these have USB3, anything earlier only has USB2 but would still be fine as long as it's an i5 processor.
All of these are able to be rolled back to Mountain Lion and you can use Traktor Pro 2.6.8, even with 4GB of RAM it'll be fine, then just choose your SSD size and away you go. Up until the release of Sierra, this combination of OS X 10.8.5 and 2.6.8 was the most stable for live use.

If you want to run the latest version of Traktor 2.11.0 then my recommendation if to go with the Late 2013 (11,1) model at a minimum, and try and find one with 8GB of RAM. This model was the first with PCIe SSD and so has faster read/write speeds which although not overly important to Traktor now, may be important in the future. The i5 processor will be fine but an i7 is always better. Storage, pick the size you need but I get away with 256GB, using about 100GB for music and 50GB for Maschine samples. Gets me through pretty much any gig, and I have an external USB3 drive with all of the older music I don't play often for mobile gigs should I need it.
If you go this way then do not consider Mavericks (10.9.5), Yosemite (10.10.5) or El Capitan (10.11.6) as a stable OS. Yes, there are people who have not had the core audio issues, but it's a time bomb that can go off at any point. Do a complete wipe and clean install of Sierra (USB installer is best, Google "Sierra USB Lifehacker" and follow the Terminal way of making it). Clean install Traktor 2.6.8 if you like (I did, it's a comfort thing), then the update version of 2.11.0 so that you have a side-by-side install of both versions. Or if you just want the newest, install the non-update full 2.11.0 installer.

2.6.8 full installer is here, don't worry that it is for 10.7, it works on all of the OS:
https://support.native-instruments....Legacy-Installers-for-Older-Operating-Systems

Then use Service Center to get the Update version of 2.11.0 ... Do not use the full version of 2.11.0 or it will install over your 2.6.8.

If you want just 2.11.0 then download the demo version from the product page:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/dj-software/traktor-pro-2/demo-and-downloads/

It's the full installer that will unlock when you register via Service Center.

Good luck, hope this helps!