What is a good inexpensive laptop for dj'ing?

Question

I am trying to get a karaoke/dj business going and have all the equipment for karaoke but need to know what kind of laptops are good for dj'ing so I can do both, any advice would be great about it or dj'ing with a laptop in general:)

Answer 1

Choose one with loads of hard disk space to store lots of songs.
CPU doesn't need to be anything special, 512+MB of RAM will be fine. Graphics card doesn't matter.

Answer 2

.Don't buy an expensive one as it will inevitably get used and abused. With smoke and beer around, it's difficult to keep people away.
The play lists are a great idea. I make them up according to genre; dance , electronic, rock & roll, 3 in a row etc. Then drag them across to a new playlist as the night goes on and constantly save it. The playlists are interesting to look at, its always the same tracks with a few new releases thrown in but never played in the same order as the previos night
I like media player but thats a personal prefrence. I do have i tunes because it plays mpeg4 and aac audio then i convert to mp3 and if they are good tracks i move it to media player. itunes is also good when some disgrutled person comes up with an ipod a wants a track played, you can rip all their music, so you want a laptop with a fast processer.
You really need to know your music as its not like the vinal days when you could listen to the intro before mixing it over. You need about 5 sec of crossfading. The graphic equaliser settings are purly dependent on the amlifier you have. Once you have a setting that is pleasing to the ears; leave it and just work with the volume.
Buy yourself an external hard drive; say 80 GB and back everything up and leave it in the house. You'll be glad you did if your laptop crashs or it gets stolen
hope you make it

check out http://www.pcworld.com for some price comparisons

Answer 3

Only solution would be to purchase two SL1210MK2 decks. Vinyl wont "crash" and barely skips if properly cared for. Learn the art of beat juggling and be a real DJ with real talent and skill. Don't buy in to the cool hipster laptop DJ image. Be yourself, mix what you like, not what you think you want others to hear. Learn the true meaning of what it means to DJ with physical media (vinyl or CD). Laptop peformers are not DJs.

Theres a lot of good answers on here for different types of gear and setups. My advise would be to start with the equipment that you can afford. I highly recommend you learn to beat match by ear with vinyl forst. Then when you move to a different medium you will be flawless. Music is music and a stage presence is required. Most laptop performers sound good in front of a laptop, but put them in front of two turntables and a mixer and watch them FAIL. Good luck in your choice!