Using laptops for Rekordbox and Serato

[DJ-Daz]

I got the idea for this post after reading this, though it's locked and I can't respond.
https://forums.pioneerdj.com/hc/en-us/c ... lease-help

There's an issue with laptops, and in all honesty, it's not just for DJ's. Gamers also suffer when it comes to laptops, in fact anyone who uses a laptop for anything more than watching movies and browsing the internet....
They are severely underpowered.

The problem isn't just the CPU which is under-clocked, under-volted and generally much much slower than desktop CPU's (they have to be to reduce the strain on the battery). They are also often mobile CPU's with smaller caches and cut down instructions. This leads to an overall performance drop that is very significant. Then there's the issue with cooling them.

A desktop CPU can have water cooling, huge heatsinks, and serious fans and all in a massive box that doesn't restrict air-flow. Not so with laptops. Laptops have reduced cooling, small fans, and high temperatures that can reduce performance even more (thermal throttling), and this is all in a case that's tiny and designed to fit on your lap.

It doesn't end there either, you also have proprietary hardware inside laptops, all built to be as cheap as possible. You also have RAM that's usually half the amount that's in a desktop, and RAM can significantly improve performance. My recommended minimum is 16GB for either desktop or laptop. I know the recommended list says 8GB, but seriously you need double that. You'll thank me later. Even if the RAM is 16GB, you also need to ensure it's as fast as possible too, at around 3000mHZ or 3 GHZ is the sweet spot for laptops, and that's only if the laptop can use RAM of that speed, often they can't, and if they can, the initial 8GB will probably be slow RAM, so you'll need to take that out and install 16GB of fast RAM. If you don't remove the initial 8GB then the new fast RAM has to throttle itself down to the speed of the slow stuff to prevent timing issues and crashes.

You'd think by now that all these considerations would be over, and you'd be VERY wrong.

You now have to consider all the software that the manufacturer install by default. I've seen laptops advertised with £££ $$$'s in value because they added all this amazing and wonderful software. Basically it ALL need to come out. Every piece of software takes up precious space and can slow down your PC by running at boot. As long as you're not a complete plonker and always visiting nefarious pirate sites, downloading all the pirated software and chrome/firefox/explorer extensions and plugins you can find, then even the antivirus software can go. I don't run Anti-virus and haven't done for decades and I've only ever had a couple of virie, and that was in the wild west days of the internet (early 2000's). Stick to legitimate sites and software, and you'll be safe. Unless you're on a network and you can't trust other people, then it's probably a good idea to use anti-virus software. But if you can, remove it, it'll make a huge difference.

Even if you don't remove all the software, at least look at tutorials on how to streamline your PC and stop all the things from running at boot-up. You DO NOT need software for this, so don't be tempted to buy anything to do it for you. Take control and learn how to do it yourself, it only takes a few minutes and can make more of a difference to performance than a RAM, CPU and SSD upgrade COMBINED. So take 10 minutes, learn how to do it yourself and you'll know it forever.

If you have to, call the maker/store and ask them how to recover the laptop with Windows 10 only and download a free anti-virus software. Avast is pretty good I hear.
https://www.avast.com/en-gb/index#pc

Drivers. This are an often overlooked part of the computer, but old drivers are often buggy, slow, and problematic. Keep your drivers up to date and you'll have fewer problems. I use driver booster, you can use it for free though it's restricted. Or you can pay an annual subscription and remove these restrictions. I've used and paid for it for years now, and I'm a tight fisted Yorkshire man.
https://www.iobit.com/en/driver-booster.php

Unless you absolutely have to use a laptop, get a good desktop built for you. Don't buy off the shelf compaq or HP. Go to a local independent store, tell them how much you want to spend, and what you need it for. There's a local store I use ALL THE TIME. CCL computers in Bradford. They also do system builds, or if you know what you're doing, components so you can build it yourself. I haven't bought an off-the-peg PC for over 30 years.
https://cclonline.com

One final teeny tiny point. For the love of all that's good and is holy, please for your own sanity, DO NOT use laptop speakers as your main output. A couple of tin cans and a piece of string will sound better.
Use anything, a spare radio, or CD player, an old car HiFi and a 12v battery, walkman headphones from the 80's. Just anything but laptop speakers!

[DJ-Daz]

I forgot to mention that I'm a PC technician and I have been since the early 90's. Self taught for several years and eventually CompTIA certified.
If you have a good local computer store and need a good quality PC/Laptop, get it from them instead a large online or offline retailer. Also computer gear get better the more you spend, lasts longer and is faster and more reliable, so always spend a bit more than you need too, and you'll almost always get a better machine.

[DJ-Daz]

Mac Mini M1 - Can it DJ?
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=256