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buying non-retina MBP for DJing use. SSD or HDD

T

toypadlock

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 17, 2010
104
30
UK
hi,

as it suggests in the title, i'm looking to buy a non retina MBP for use while DJing (really tempted by the beautiful retina one, but the lack of firewire without an annoying adaptor and disc burner really puts me off) and i was wondering what peoples' suggestions re: choosing between a SSD and an HDD would be.

The 750gb drive would mean i could have everything with me without having to bother with external drives, but the SSD would obviously be a lot faster and smoother. also less chance of it being damaged when dropped, which is a factor.

128gb is a rather small drive size though.

thoughts?
 
Buy it and add your own SSD... the prices are super low.

You don't want an HDD because they tend to spin down and you need to take measures to keep them going so you don't get stutters.... and you are right about knocking it around.

R
 
I'm not really familiar with DJ setups but I'm pretty sure HDD's are just fine. Of course if you can afford a SSD, go for it because it's just better than platter HDD. There shouldn't be any problems of spinning down because it'll always be active. Another thing is that DJ's usually have external HDD's (depending on how large your library is) so even if your main HDD in the MacBook Pro was SSD, chances are you'd have a platter HDD as an external and it would be the same.
 
SSD for durability and vibration resistance. Get a couple 32 GB thumbdrives for added music storage. You could even label them by genre etc.
 
Im a Dj as well just bought a retina and love it. Honestly if your a DJ your not gonna use the firewire. Every controller or interface your gonna hook up to is usb anyway. I have the firewire adapter at home in the studio for my apogee ensemble which doesn't need to be carried around. Who really uses a CD drive these days?, I don't. I love my retina wouldn't track for a standard.
 
Buying a better laptop doesn't make you a better DJ.

However, you can't beat the Refurb Retina prices, so check it out.

Plus you're likely loading low datarate MP3's/AAC's anyway, so SSD is not essential for storing the media. I would store the mp3's on an external USB 3.0 storage device and keep the database and apps on the OS drive.
 
Why not go with the 2012 MBP with the standard 750GB HDD? I purchased that machine just for running Serato and a few other music apps. I think its great to be able to carry your entire music collection around on your MBP (provided its less that 700 Gigs). External HDDs require more space and power, and don't always conform to the tight spaces you are asked to DJ in. Apple probably has refurbs on this model. It also has 8 Gigs of ram, which is plenty for the Appleton, Serato and ProTools.


Just my $0.02 :cool:
 
Sounds like you'd be best suited to a non Retina MBP!

The larger capacity would serve you well.
The SSD isnt going to make massive differences to your professional job.
The internal optical drive may well get good use - Do people ever turn up with their own CD's and ask you to play?

Plus, you'd save a few quid.
 
I just picked up the 13" MBP and dropped a Samsung 840 256GB SSD in it, before I even turned it on.

The process was literally painless.

I was in between retina and standard but decided for myself, the speed, cheap SSD upgrade made the regular mbp a real bargain for me.

The SSD cost me $176 at micro center, Apple wanted an extra $400.

Either way you won't walk away with a bad computer.
 
DayVe3000 said:
Sounds like you'd be best suited to a non Retina MBP!

The larger capacity would serve you well.
The SSD isnt going to make massive differences to your professional job.
The internal optical drive may well get good use - Do people ever turn up with their own CD's and ask you to play?

Plus, you'd save a few quid.
Click to expand...

Anyone seriously still uses CDs?
 
If he DJ's partys and clients want specific tunes - Its not unreasonable to expect them to turn up with a CD.

Its also not unreasonable for them to expect a DJ to be able to use said CD.

Granted many savy users have moved away from optical media - you'll still see plenty of people want to continue I guess. :confused:
 
For DJing an SSD or dual SSD/HDD setup are likely the wrong way to go.

1. There's tons of music not available via streaming services, so I would imagine that you spend a good deal of time ripping discs. As music is your stock-in-trade, you probably don't want to limit yourself to the fraction that you can download, even if it is the most popular fraction or make ripping discs less conveneint by always having to carry around an external drive.

2. I would also imagine that your libraries are huge. Having tons of high-bit rate music at your fingertips eats up space, so unless you want to spend $1000 on 750GB capacity stay away from an SSD.

If want to avoid lugging around external drives the rMBP and uMBP with a dual drive setup are out. I would either get a 1TB 5400rpm HDD (as the 7200rpm drives won't fit) or, if you can fit your music into 750GB, a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid. It'll speed up your OS while still allowing you to carry your whole library on the internal drive without spending $1000 (it costs about $120) and you get to keep the optical drive. it won't be the last word in speed, but it'll likely suit your purposes best at a reasonable cost.


___
 
I tour as a DJ.

My setup is a mid 2012, 16GB RAM, cMBP, 240GB SSD main and 750gb HDD in the optical bay.

I run Ableton 8.3 along with an Akai APC40. Also have Serato and Traktor installed. I didn't bother with a retina MBP just yet and had plenty of $$$ to spend on a DJ computer. I play my own stuff so I don't use CDs or take requests.
 
i dj with mine, i use a dual ssd/hdd setup with my software and core music on the ssd, and main libraries on the hdd

----------

oh and put the superdrive in an external usb enclosure off ebay for the odd time you'll use it. if anyone ever asks for specific tracks i dont have i'll just download them, if theyre that bothered i'll usually be handed a usb stick with it on
 
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