laptops

[ianmccabe3 0]

hi sorry not laptop dancing!!!! sorry boys http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/sad.gif

im looking into running my disco off a laptop i know its been talked about 1000s of times, but i need some advise from people that run them.

i thinking of running otsdj after downloading the demo looks ok! what sort of spec do i need also do i need sort of soundcard do i need if any??.

if there is anyone around the worcester area that would not mind to see me there setup working that would be great.

thanks for any help you post

ian

SHOCKWAVES DISCO

 

[stevie 0]

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/042.gif Hi iv'e been usin otsdj for a while now and its fantastic.

 

I dont use a laptop I have a pc in its own flight case and a tft monitor,the pc is a p3 650mhz windows xp and no programs just ots (oh put pcdjfx in last week still playin with that) two hard drives and two soundblaster souncards its dead stable and all the music in there was put in with origanal cds,I just cant fault it.

 

Hope this helps any questions just ask.

 

Stevie http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/thumbup.gif

 

 

[ianmccabe3 0]

thanks for that im looking into laptops for the size really but what spec do i need

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/wallbash.gif

[KrazyKaz 0]

1 ghz or higher processor (mine is 1.5)

 

40G Hard drive (well that what I use at min anyway)

 

I use a Compaq NX5000 for DJ-ing, I think it's brill, but then, that my opinion!!

 

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/wacko.gif http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/071.gif

[juski 0]

A word of warning about using laptops for applications like DJing....

 

Laptop hard drives are not designed for long periods of continuous use.

 

If you really want to use a laptop, I recommend using an external USB or firewire hard disk to store your music/video/whatever.

[YourBigEvent 0]

QUOTE

Laptop hard drives are not designed for long periods of continuous use.

 

Started a gig once at 6pm, the laptop got turned off at 1am

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWO DAYS LATER

 

so over 30 hours non-stop

[Dukesy 0]

I think that if a laptop has good airflow and of course a good power supply, why would we want to turn it off or re-boot (unless it crashed!) ???

 

QUOTE

Laptop hard drives are not designed for long periods of continuous use.

 

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/laugh.gif

 

Sometimes, PCs and laptops can be on for days on end. If the system is happy - I'm happy.

 

I wouldn't buy a laptop if I was told that I'd have to turn it off after 'X' amount of use, but I would understand if the working environment could affect the system performance and would of course use a bit of common......if I can find it again!

 

As long as the spec of the machine can handle the use - eg, DJing, Video Editing, Global Domination, etc, then leave it on for un-interupted harmony! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif

But check the software requirements before you buy.

 

External drive use can make more sense for a variety of other reasons too but keep up to date with the threads on 'mp3', legalities and forthcoming legislation. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/smile.gif

 

 

 

[jeffwall 0]

every gig i do the laptop is on for hours, mostly 6 hours at a time no probs yet, (sony vaio) touch wood

[Dukesy 0]

QUOTE (Jeffwall @ Aug 9 2005, 10:04 PM)

(sony vaio) touch wood

Yes - I use one of them.

Very good.

[Gary 0]

Its seems (and makes sense) that the operating environment makes a big difference to the on-the-night reliability of the laptop.

 

I've spoken to three DJ's in the last fortnight who have reported that their laptops failed mid-gig, back during the time when we had that brief hot spell a month and a half or so ago. One of the 3 DJ's luckily had an alternative music source so only a few songs got the jitters - and finally one stopped playing properly altogether and only played in 10 seconds bursts, inbetween similar sized gaps of silence.

 

In all 3 cases apparently, the venue was hot, sweaty, and had no air-conditioning.

 

I dont know what specs the laptops were or what bit rate the files were (working on the logic that the higher the encoding, the more processing heat is created to play the file).

 

 

[buskersball 0]

There is an alternative to the laptop/pc debate, and that is a 'bare bones' system. I bought one of these with a 2.4gig processor, 512mb ram and 120gig h/d from Scan computers in Bolton for an amazing £150! (Think they made a mistake with the price :o)

They are small boxes, quater the size of a standard PC, but unlike laptops, access to add your own soundcard etc is very easy. They are made by 'Cheng Yui' or something like that, and I would highly recomend them. Have a look on the Scan website for barebones systems. They also have half a dozen USB2 ports and look superb if you get the glass sides, then put a fan in with an LED.

 

PS they are called Chyang Fun cube systems. The price I got it was a special offer, but they are currently around £140. You then just add your own 'bits'. I also got a cd player/RW with mine! Yippee

Edited August 10, 2005 by Gary

[jeffwall 0]

Think its wise to take cd players at all gigs as well anyway, i use numark twin cd and laptop, use all 3 when djing, laptop when background music only before buffet etc. (Tracktor is good for this) but always use my mixer and dont rely on software as my mixer...prefer to dj!!

[McCardle 1]

Laptop hard drives are not designed for long periods of continuous use

 

this is the usual scare stories put out by hard drive manufacturers to scare commercial users into paying more for commerical or industrial grade units but the humble hard drive is more robust and well made than you would think cctv equipment now use hard drives for digital recording and these run 24-7 with few errors on a domestic 120 or 160 gig unit for years. i used pcdj on a full size pc for just under a year but migrated to laptop and otsdj which has been equally stable. laptop is a compaq 900mhz model which is now 4 years old complete with the original 12 gig hard drive and is still going strong hope this helps

Edited August 10, 2005 by McCardle

[BigBen 0]

I, too, use an aging laptop (Toshiba 700MHz I think) running Windows 98 together with an external disk as well as an internal disk pretty much full with MP3's. I look after it, don't let it on my network, scandisk and defrag regularly and don't load any software on it other than OTS and WinAmp.

 

I also purchased an external sound card for it (Creative £120 jobby) but I cannot notice any improvement in sound whatsoever, so I don't use it.

[YourBigEvent 0]

I have run Ots on the following machines

 

P4 3.06

P4 2.8

P3 800

P3 750

P3 500

P2 266

P2 233MMX

[Hayd 0]

Just go for the best laptop you can afford. The faster it is the less likely you are to have any glitches or lock ups . I was running Mixmeister on a 2ghz athlon with 40gb hard drive for about a year , rarely had any problems with it just occasionally when opening and preparing kareoke at the same time. Now upgraded to a 3.4ghz athlon 64 with 100gb drive, never had even a glitch.

 

Soundcard wise I use the Audigy ZS notebook , very good soundcard with multiple channels for queuing etc also very compact.

 

I don't think there are any problems with laptop hard drives these days , overheating is the only concern and as long as you keep plenty of space around you laptop you should have no worries.

 

 

Hayd

 

[jeffwall 0]

i would guess that the hard drive is not really a heating issue on lappys, its the main cpu i believe to problematic on some lap tops overheating and shutting down, tgherefore programs freeze. Not the hard drives?

[Digital discos 0]

QUOTE

3.4ghz athlon 64 with 100gb drive, never had even a glitch.

 

 

That's stupid http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/smile.gif The software you are running must be very resource hungry.. Most dj software will run happily on a p2. Oh and why on earth would you want to have a 3.4ghz DESKTOP chip in a laptop if your looking for STABILITY.

 

I use both a laptop and a rackmount pc. I use the rackmount pc predominantly.

 

Its ideal. In a 2u case I can fit all standard parts....and THERE were loadsa of you guys saying I couldn't!! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/laugh.gif The case is solid, looks good and is competitively priced.