the great thing about macs is you can buy an old 1 and it will work great with serato. i have a 2008 macbook pro an 2007 macbook and they work perfectly with my ttm57sl and serato itch (vci-300). dont be afraid to use an older (2008, 2009 ect..)mac if its in great condition because its been tried an proven to work.

If I do get an older mac it won't be much more powerful then the pc I'm using now (I have a laptop with an 1.8 ghz amd turion 64 x2 with 4 gigs of ram) which works fine with my ttm57sl now. And it kinda defeats the purpose of why I want to upgrade which is to get a more powerful laptop.

well in that case "if it aint broke......" take your time an save for a new mac. no rush...

I would agree with pdidy on this one.

A higher spec PC is going to equivalent to a lower spec Mac anyways.

You can buy a brand new beast of a Mac that would run SSL perfectly for pretty cheap these days --> store.apple.com
(Look at the $1199 MBP)

I would also check out their refurbished section for some cheaper deals --> store.apple.com
I have always bought a refurbished Mac and can usually save a good $300.

lol i can only afford so much!!

and eventually i want to replace my 57 with a 62...maybe i will just do that first then i wont have to worry about my laptop choice....

i cant use a newer higher spec i generation witht he 57sl but your saying an older core 2 duo macbook would be equivalent to a quad core i 5 or i7 pc with like 6-8gigs of ram?

I wouldn't say a Core 2 Duo is equivalent to a PC running a Quad core i5 or i7 + 8 gigs of ram.
More like a Mac running an i5 with 4 gigs of ram is equivalent to running a Windows machine with an i7 and 8 gigs of ram.

If this computer is just for Scratch Live you don't need a super awesome computer.
An Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 gigs of Ram would run SSL perfectly.

Look for an older generation Macbook.
When using SSL, I would go with one of those over any new PC any day of the week.

So all the issues with the usb 1.1 devices(ttm57)and the newer macbook I generation laptops has been worked out correct?

Yes:)

thanks for your replies... i think am almost convinced to take the leap....i have never used a mac before i have always been a pc guy ...but im gonna fool around with one over the weekend and make a final decision on to go used or new.

Not a problem, all macs are designed to run windows also. I also prefer to use window in my day to day use so all of my macs are dual boot windows/mac. But when I dj, I only use the Mac side. Its a Win Win situation....:)