Will traktor work well with an 11" MacBook Air?

Hi

I'd like to please know from anyone if Traktor would work well with a MacBook Air 11"?
Most likely I would either use it with combination of Soundcard & Controller or the CDJs 900/2000. And perhaps both.

Here are some specs.


1,7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
4 GB RAM
Intel HD Graphics 4000

Would appreciate any input. Thank you.

MOE

 

Yes.

 

The hardware specifications of any new Macbook Air are fine... but I will be going with the 13" when I upgrade later this year. The 11" is just a bit squinty at the kind of distance a DJ works at.

 

Hmm, I disagree. Traktor works very well on the 11". There are ways to map layout changes (e.g. browser only / 2 deck / 4 deck) - which lets you use the screen in an optimal way.

<3 my 11" Air

 

Thnx for the input. I think I will be going with the 11". I had a 13" for the past 10 Years and since I always used heavy controllers I got tired of dragging. My new setup will most probably be a 11", Traktor Audio 2 and whatever is in the club.

My only concern is the minimal 128 GB space. What's best to increase size? Any good ideas? I hate to pay +200-500 just for "space". Also, 4RAM is fine or should I get 8RAM?

 

Keep your larger collection on a USB drive and only keep your working tracks on the laptop.

 

Really depends on your eyesight. I have a 18 inch laptop or a 21 inch monitor

 

Well there's 2 aspects: size and resolution.

I found that if you have fairly good eyes, the 11" is sufficient in terms of resolution. Unless: If you DJ with 4 decks in advanced mode, fx on, + you want to see the browser at the same time - the resolution will not suffice.
Otherwise, you can map some smart stuff to your controller knobs that will change the layout based on what you are currently doing. The way I have it is that I almost don't see the browser at all when playing/mixing. As soon as I move my encoder to list/tree select, the layout switches to "browse mode", where decks will be smaller, fx are hidden, and the browser is larger. As soon as I load a track, the view changes back. Works very well for me.

11" Air: 1366 x 768
13" Air: 1440 x 900

The density / pixel-per-inch (PPI) is slightly higher on the 11". The 13" gives you 74 pixels more in height. I find the 132px additional horizontal resolution don't really make a big difference, it's the additional vertical resolution that counts.. You don't get a lot more information on a wider display on traktor (different story for ableton etc..).

So - other things being equal which they never are - the tradeoff really is 74 more vertical pixels against the larger form factor of the 13".

 

If you have the money I recommend going for the 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM. 11" is more than enough screen if you're using CDJ 900s/2000s

 

if you feel confident to upgrading the ssd in the aftermarket, you should probably do it. OWC offers aftermarket SSDs for the latest, mid 2012 MBAs.

obv, double-check if an aftermarket upgrade makes sense financially in your home country. in most cases, it does, as apple loves to overcharge for extras and upgrades.

 

The cost of getting the 256GB over the 128GB here in the UK is only a few dollars more than buying a 240GB from OWC. Not including import taxes of course.

If you're in the US it's much cheaper to get the 256GB straight from Apple. You also get a few more GB storage, and don't risk losing warranty or damaging your brand new laptop.

 

doesn't compute. if you plan on upgrading the ssd in the aftermarket, you should get the 64gb model.

 

Sorry, didn't realise they still had 64GB on sale. Price is still equal for US/HK buyers upgrading from 64GB to 256GB vs buying 240GB aftermarket.

Factoring in tax (+shipping?), it's about equal for UK buyers too.

 

Again thanks for everyone's input.

My conclusion, I will most likely go with the 11" as it is simply portable in combination with USBs, CDJs and/or a tiny controller & soundcard I would probably not be over 5kg (approx. 10lbs). I already bought Traktor Audio 2 and a Midifighter 3D which I will use for simple mapping and LED feedback or alternatively I could also combine X1 or F1, etc. And keep an external (2.5") for the "extra" stuff.

Well upgrade is an issue as the 11" with 64GB is surely worthless since Apple content itself will probably be about 20GB, and even so if it were 10GB I think 64GB would be too small. Minimum is 128GB. The issue is if I purchase a DIY upgrade to 256GB or 512GB then I would still pay a lot of $'s hence having a useless 128GB that I won't sell very well...

I also looked at refurbished Apple's but none are available with 8RAM, only 4RAM. So I'd still have to buy a brand new one. An 11" from an Apple shop with:

1,7 GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i5 (Turbo Boost 2,6 GHz)
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM
128 GB Flash

will cost me € 1.198,99. If i get the 2,0 GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i7 (Turbo Boost 3,2 GHz) I will have to add + €150.

What you think?
Also, i5 1.7GHz or i7 2GHz? Would I realize the difference?




PS Currently I am using my 13" 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. 8GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce 9400M. 1TB Internal.

 

You won't notice the jump from the i5 to the i7; upgrading your SSD would be more worth it IMO.

 

i don't understand your tax argument. in most countries, if you upgraded from 64GB to 256GB via Apple, you'd have to pay tax on that upgrade as well.

also, don't forget that an aftermarket upgrade has two additional values: (i) after-market drives are higher performance than apple stock drives; (ii) after you've done the upgrade, you have a second SSD which you can use for another purpose (you could use it yourself with an enclosure, or you might even sell it).

 

Here in the UK, ALL prices are inclusive of tax. So buying the 240GB drive + the tax you have to pay on import is about the same total cost of getting the 256GB upgrade from Apple.

A 64GB proprietary stick is pretty worthless unless you buy the enclosure from OWC, which pushes costs up further. Noone will be interested in buying a 64GB Macbook Air stick. Benchmarks suggest that performance of the OWC stick is about the same as the stock one provided by Apple.

 

i still don't get it. various uk-based sellers offer the OWC for GBP 200 shipped. why would you want to import it?

the 2012 mba does ship with two different ssd models which don't provide identical performance. with the owc, you can ensure you don't get unlucky in apple's ssd lottery.

and the value of the 64gb ssd is clearly >0. you can sell it on ebay or amazon as a replacement part or get an enclosure and have a fast usb 3.0 backup drive. (i admit the currently available enclosures are overpriced, though.)

 

The comparison was between the Toshiba SSD and the OWC; the other option is a Samsung SSD which should be better.

I'm not seeing any UK based sellers with the OWC at 200.

 

the place is called called ebay.co.uk