Multi use Laptop: DJing/Gaming/3D animation/EMP

[don don don]

So I need a laptop for around $1500, and needs to do, Djing, gaming, 3D rendering, and run ableton smoothly.

I was looking at macbook pro, which can do the djing, gaming and ableton, but what about 3D rendering with a stock HD graphics 4000. Bootcamp allows me to play CS 1.6. Costs $1500:

13-inch: 2.9GHz
2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB 1600MHz memory
750GB 5400-rpm hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000

I was also looking at alienwares M14x which costs $1500 as well:

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
16GB2 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
750GB 7,200 RPM SATA + 64GB mSATA Caching SSD
Slot Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
2 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with Optimus™

Most people say Alienwares are overpriced.

What would you suggest? for around $1500?

 

[FireZ]

Build one yourself for 1k and get much more then both of those offer

 

[Jake]

Both of the computers you mentioned have their pros and cons, but like FireZ said, the best option would be to build one yourself to optimize each aspect of what you're looking for.

 

Build one yourself for 1k and get much more then both of those offer

Build... a laptop yourself? For a DJ, surely you'd want a Laptop for portability.

Most DJ's i've seen seem to use MacBook pros.

 

Build... a laptop yourself? For a DJ, surely you'd want a Laptop for portability.

Most DJ's i've seen seem to use MacBook pros.

Yes you can build a laptop yourself, it's just more difficult.

Also... Moved to Technology

 

[Snoopchicken]

By God don't get a MacBook Pro - biggest ripoff ever. Even HP can give you what you want, at a fraction of the price.

Edit: You can customize/build your own laptop at HP's website.

 

[SASRT8]

from the looks of things, youre looking at laptops with smaller screens. Is this a pre-requisite? for 1500 you can get something WAY more powerful than either of those.

Look at the MSI's. They have a built-in headphone amplifier aswell, which from my experience works rather nicely and provides fuller sound than my previous laptops have provided.

An ASUS would probably do you well, given their durability. BUT thereagain their hardware is a little more pricy than what you could be getting.

Best bang for the buck would be an MSi or a Clevo for you.

 

[SASRT8]

Xoticpc.com

Look at the MSI GT70 0nd-444
I7-3630qm
GTX 675M
12 gb ram
750 gb HDD $1400

The GE60 0nd-257 is quite a bit thinner, for much less money aswell
i7-3630
GTX 660m
8gb RAM
750gb HDD $1200

MSI GX60 1AC-021 is a more AMD-oriented laptop. This means no downfalls for performance in anything YOU will do with it. It comes with AMD's top GPU offering aswell, can play any game maxed out. This is what I would have bought had it been available at my time of purchasing TBH.
A10-4600m CPU
AMD 7970M
8gb RAM
750GB HDD 1200$ BEST laptop you can buy for that kinda price, hands down.

From Sager/Clevo I would recommend to you the NP9170 or 9370, both are upgradable to however you want them, and they are completely upgradable for the future too. You can replace GPUS and CPUS easily in these.

 

[RuneScapeJJ]

As a DJ you are probably taking the laptop around quite a few places so I would suggest a laptop that is 13-14" and thin/light. A macbook air does not have dedicated graphics so I wouldn't suggest getting that for gaming.

I think this would suit your needs really well:
Asus Zenbook UX42VS
http://zenbook.asus.com/zenbook/?c=ux42vs

Windows 8 works really smooth, 8gb ram for great multi tasking, dedicated 645m graphics card can handle games at 60 fps @ your 1366x768 resolution.

It's less than 21mm on the thickest point and weighs less than 2kg so it's extremely portable.