Specification-wise, that machine will be great. Compatibility-wise? Who knows.

That doesn't sound like a cheap laptop. Personally, I'd say stick to a MacBook Pro which will definitely be compatible.

Hell, I'd even get the cheapest refurb MacBook on the Apple store site and just not worry about it.

@phatbob - It's priced at $800. A Mac with the same processor specs starts off at $1200 but still use the Intel HD 3000 graphics. A Mac with a dedicated graphics card starts off at $1700. I thought about gettin a Mac but price is always a issue. Thanks for the Info.

@popnwave - I also thought of this, but the word refurbished scares me. Lol

If you ask around the refurbs directly from Apple are in a different class. It's not like buying some sketchy open/brown box special you see on a shelf at your favorite electronics store. The available stock turns over quickly but something along this line:

store.apple.com

Is more than what you are looking at but less than a new one and is more powerful than the one I bought 2 years ago (for $2k) that runs VSL flawlessly.

I went to the apple site rite after my last post. I'm lookin to see what they got. Thanks!

The only thing I cannot comment on is MB Airs.. I know you're ok doing audio on them but I think the sacrificed video power makes them a no-go.

I think Macbook Airs are more cosmetic then performance. I'd want this purchase to be the last purchase I make for at least the next 2yrs (But hopefully longer). If serato is going to require us to have 12MB of Ram, 10,000RPM HDD or SSD's, dedicated graphics cards with 3G's of memory, and above 3.0 clock speed processors I think I'll go back to vinyl. I've had the same Toshiba Satallite for the last 3yrs. The only problems I had were due to serato bugs and vista being crap. I jumped on the video bandwagon to keep up with competition. If I didn't, my current laptop would be just fine. :/

theres no compatibility issue with Macs and video SL. Im a hate hater there over priced POS, that do nothing more than a PC. But from a software companies perspective they are a MILLION times easier to program for because the lack of variables (video cards, processors, Motherboard architecture, ect...) So thats why everything works better on a mac. I really want to try and install VSL on my bootcamp drive and run it to see how well it runs on windows with the same hardware. I bet it would work just as well. Anyway i HATE macs, yet i own a $2800 17inch MBP. Cost was a big issue for me, but after owning one for 8 months im VERY VERY VERY!!!!! i bought one.

Code:E laying some truth on us!

That's the thing, most long term VSL users end up on a Mac eventually, whether they like Macs or not.

Whilst that $500/600 price difference seems a lot now, Windows laptops have extremely low resale value so in the long run you'll probably save more by just buying an MBP in the first place.

Even if you have to wait a while and save up the extra.

GREAT point. Plus if you like me and must have new hottness all the time, i will still (hopefully) recoupe %40 of my macs value at resale in a couple years. My PC (hp laptop, will better specs than is mac i bough 6 months after it) which i bought for 1800 sold for 800 6 months later :( I will prob get a $1000 or more for this mac in 18 months or so when i upgrade again.

My last three MBPs have all been used. The latest one was 5 months old and I paid about 20% below the price of it new.

From my experience Windows laptops lose at least 30% of their resale value the minute you open the box.

For all headache purposes you really need to look into getting a mac if you want to do the video's worry free... I'm sure everyones initial thought was MAC cost to damn much, but I found a great running 2007 MBP on craiglist for 600 over a year and never ran into any issues.. I just recently found another one on craigslist for 650 early 2008 with a faster processor and a bigger hard drive and sold the 2007 for 600. Check around for a Used MBP 1st for shelling out a gang of doe for a new one

If you wanna compete with competition get a mac. Pc's are good but not for video mixing

I bought the Toshiba that's posted above. I also might buy a Mac from the Dj I work with. Having one of each couldnt hurt! I noticed he had some issues with his Mac over the last month but since he sent it in and got it fixed it's been ok. I'm wondering if some of the issues people have with PC's is that the PC's they use only use the processors to decode video. Unless you find a PC with a dedicated graphics card they only come with Intel graphics which drain cpu and only have 128MB of video memory. Even the i7 quad core machines with high clock speeds and 12MB of cache have difficulty doing video. Same goes for lower end Mac's until you get to the higher price ones that use ATI graphic cards. Has anyone or does anyone know someone who has used a PC with a NIVIDA GeForce 540M graphics card?
Thanks for the Info Dj Boogie & DJ'Que!

So five seperate people said you should buy almost any Mac over the Windows machine, and you still bought the Windows machine... Why did you bother asking?

Well, because a handful of people on this forum are having issues with their Mac, a few which you are trying to help. Some threads span over a year! With no known solution to their problems. I didn't find out I could of bought my partners Mac until last night. Or I definitly would of went that way. Actually, I'm still going to buy it. If I don't like the PC, I can take it back, and I'll still have the Mac which I know works. So no matter what, I'll have a working computer and I won't have to scramble last minute trying to find a solution to my problem.

Fair enough mate, I'm not having a go...

I genuinely hope the Toshiba works nicely for video, it could well do so.

I definitly appreciate the advice. I also appreciate the fact that you and others have came to the aid of fellow dj's. A handfull of serato techs can't compare to thousands of dj's in the real world putting their product to the test. Can't thank fellow dj's enough for all their help! :)

Ran Video Sl last night on new computer. Had one issue when I CLOSED the output window when I switched to audio. Just went to vinyl for one song while I rebooted. I found that just minimizing window instead of closing it is just fine. Had settings set at the following . . . SL buffer 5, Video buffer 1G, Video Quality High. I had a slide show running on desktop for when I didn't have a video to play, and with 2 videos loaded, effects running, the computer ran with a CPU usage of 38% and a RAM usage of 32%. Smooth sailing for a 5hr set with just that one issue. I didn't use the Frame Blending or V-Sync. Videos were smooth and showed very well even with the clubs crappy video system. I did run for awhile with them on and didn't see a difference. Overall I'm impressed with the laptop. Definitly exceeded my expectations.

I have a 2008 pre-unibody macbook pro that I bought used on ebay a while back and it works fine.

You don't always need the latest and greatest apple product.

Upgrade the RAM to maximum and you are set.