DJ Laptops!!!

hideous ape

Hey everyone,

I'm currently involved in setting up an IT company and was wondering if there is a market in Ireland for DJ laptops, Audio PCs, etc.
Are most of you just buying laptops/desktops (PC or Mac) and then configuring them yourselves or are you buying from Music Technology companies within Ireland or the UK?
Would you prefer to buy a laptop pre-configured with Ableton Live, Traktor, Serato Scratch, etc and maybe a a midi controller? And have sales/support based here in Ireland?

I'd be really interested to hear what you think.

Later,

Dave Henry.

sturgo

hay there. good idea! pm me & ask what ever u want.

Preset No.3

Isnt there one kind of DJ laptop that goes for about 2k fully built? I dunno bout there being a market. Most DJs have embraced Thommans for their prices! For years we got ripped off my the likes of Aquaries for DJ gear and thye got burned cos if it. I buy a new laptop every 18 months, spend 700-800 use it and then get rid of it! The technology changes so quickly why would I spend €2500 on a full intergrated unit only for it to be out of date in 2 years!

Cake Fiend

Bit of a niche market, but that could be a good thing if you get a good following and don't try to fleece people as mentioned above. You'd have bugger all competition at the beginning, so you could potentially set yourselves up as Ireland's de facto DJ computer supplier if you know what you're doing.

I'm assuming you're setting up a general IT company with a side line of DJ laptops, rather than a specific DJ laptop business?

hideous ape

Hey everyone,

Ya its first and foremost an IT company aimed at the small office/home market based in Cork city. But my own interest is in music production and thats the area that I've been given the job of researching. Some of my mates are DJs/musicians who have no interest in setting up or configuring systems. They just want it to work out of the box (or use me!!!).

Joe soap doesn't want to know about midi/audio latency, buffer settings, driver stability, dual-boots, silent fans, PC silencing, firewire issues, etc they want to plug their guitar, microphone, decks whatever in and play/record!!!

I agree that pre-built systems are expensive, even more so that we have to import from the UK, etc. I'm personally fed up with being ripped off! Thomann is a god send for components!

I just think we could offer properly configured and built Desktops/Laptops with Support based in Ireland to Home Studios, DJ's, Recording studios, etc at a fair and sensible price! Better shut up now! Starting to sound cheesy!!!

Thanks for the feedback.

Dave Henry.

robbie1876

Hi Dave,

I buy laptops and mostly desktops for DJ use. The issues are not really the hardware setup so much as the software (Windows) setup. I'd be interested if a company can provide systems with audio-optimised Windows configurations out of the box (ie system sounds disabled, all the crappy start up services removed, virus and firewalls removed etc etc). In reality though, it only takes around 15 mins to sort out windows for DJ use, I would not pay extra for it.

When DJing with a PC, the number one priority is reliability. I use hardware that is on the market at least 6 months, with good proven reliability. I use a raid hard drive setup (that eliminates laptops) and ASIO soundcards (mostly Echo). The software I use is less than 8MB in size and will happily run on 256MB with no skipping.

The point of all this is that cutting edge, state-of-the-art laptops with brand new on the market technology, are (for me anyway) the last thing I would bring out on a gig in front of a live crowd.

corkproducers

Great idea.
It might be worth throwing a thread up on the tech and music forum of the www.peoplesrepublicofcork.com if you havent already done so for advice or support.

Owen

I've just spent a fortune building a home studio & gaming PC with all the gear I've been lusting after for ages. No way would I have bought it off the shelf. I ordered the components, knowing they'd be top quality from the best brand names, and built everything (Desks too) in 3 nights. Anyone who's into this will self build.

steveland?

You might get the odd Joe Soap seeing an ad for a state of the art laptop optimised for DJing and thinking "Hey, I need a state of the art laptop... I'd also like to try DJing!" but, in my opinion, most people who're passionate about it will do the research, buy the perfect laptop, software, hardware that they see is already available but not marketed as a "DJ laptop" and optimise it themselves to meet their own requirements.

I can't imagine a DJ who'd be doing it for profit or for gigging going onto a website, clicking a few buttons and getting an optimised DJ laptop in the post a few days later.

This, though, is only my opinion

sturgo

just buy a mac. thats 90% of your software problems sorted right there.

penexpers

hideous ape wrote:

Hey everyone,

Joe soap doesn't want to know about midi/audio latency, buffer settings, driver stability, dual-boots, silent fans, PC silencing, firewire issues, etc they want to plug their guitar, microphone, decks whatever in and play/record!!!

TBH it's probably better if they do know about these things. Otherwise what happens when their laptop suddenly stops working at 6:30pm and they are due on stage about 8pm. Would your support cover things like this?

DJ_Spider

Preset No.3 wrote:

Isnt there one kind of DJ laptop that goes for about 2k fully built? I dunno bout there being a market. Most DJs have embraced Thommans for their prices! For years we got ripped off my the likes of Aquaries for DJ gear and thye got burned cos if it. I buy a new laptop every 18 months, spend 700-800 use it and then get rid of it! The technology changes so quickly why would I spend €2500 on a full intergrated unit only for it to be out of date in 2 years!

have a look at the 00DJ on the PCDJ website http://www.pcdj.co.uk/shop/item.php?id=35 and yes they do ship to Ireland! and no the price isn't nice! (about E3000.00!)