Can Mojaxx Switch From Mac to Windows?

Mojaxx‘s MacBook Pro is old and needs replacing, but the new models are very expensive. He doesn’t want to spend that much money on a laptop that will only be used for DJing.

So, Mo has been researching Windows devices instead, which he admits is a scary idea. “I’ve been a Mac user for over a decade,” Mo says. “I haven’t had a Windows machine since the Windows XP days. So it really is a bit terrifying for me to make that switch.”

To kick off his journey, Mo takes a look at the SLIM 14 Audio Edition laptop from German manufacturer SCHENKER. Watch above on this week’s episode of Tips and Tricks.

Have you switched from Mac to Windows? Share your advice in the comments section below.

DJcity Staff | January 16, 2019

Dj BustaBass

@mojaxx i use serato + windows till 5 years. At beginning I had some issues with it. But the setting information in serato forum helped me a lot. So now it works fine. I use win8 and serato 1.9.7.
snapper

As long as you have a decent spec laptop you will be fine. windows 10 is great.
Texture

Point 1: mp3 file checker: http://mp3val.sourceforge.net/ is ok, but also has issues with non-standard characters in filenames. Anyway, years ago my Traktor Pro 2 crashed every now and then and then I discovered that some files had issues. Fixed them and had much less problems with Traktor.

With my trusty Thinkpad T410 / Windows 7 combination I had to turn of the wifi to avoid rare latency issues. The tool “DPC Latency Checker” is very useful to check if a notebook is capable to run without issues. Sometimes there are third party drivers for hardware that are bogging the system down and that’s what the tool helps to discover. Last time I checked that tool didn’t work porperly with Windows 10, now clue. There are a couple of recommendations (e.g. DJ Endo of Pointblank) to tune Windows 7 settings but I don’t know if they still apply to Windows 10 or if somebody has posted some updated recommendations for that. I guess I would recommend disabling automatic software updates if possible. That sounds like asking for trouble. Ah yes, come to think of it, in Windows 7 I also disabled the file indexing service, because I don’t miss it and I don’t want anything bogging down the machine during a gig.

For Tagging some people recommend mediamonkey but I never got my mind around that. There’s a bunch of people using itunes for Windows, and that also helps to work around the lacking file browser in Traktor and to have smart crates.

If Traktor Key detection is not good enough for your ear, you may give http://www.ibrahimshaath.co.uk/keyfinder/ a try. I’ve put a camelot wheel as my desktop background, in case I need to convert the different notations for some file in my mind during a gig.

Also, I would recommend using the Windows builtin Anti-Virus Protection (“Defender” IIRC) and not install third party stuff. Generally speaking, keep the machine as lean as possible. I also use a separate user profile for DJing to keep my Tax- and Backup-Program separated from my DJ-Life. Typically that kind of software also starts doing anoying things at midnight or 3am.

Hardware-Wise: A standard Samsung EVO or Pro SSD and 8 Gigs of RAM should get you covered. I use an i5 processor and that’s fine. Don’t go for the lowest edition of the CPU (Ghz), and don’t do for the highest either. If you take the top end i7 CPU you’ll operate at the top end of possible thermal issues and your fan will go crazy. Not an issue with enough bass, but still annoying.
Father Hux

Windows is okay, however just lookout for lag as the screen may jump from time to time when retrieving data. Cashes on mac work different to windows. So this may course delays in what is being displayed when running software’s. (e.g. running serato and downloading a requested song from a dj pool whilst playing at the same time.)… might not be an issue at all, just providing thoughts and awareness.