Sign In:     

Forum: VirtualDJ Technical Support

Topic: New laptop time, is Windows worth it in 2026? - Page: 1
What are everyone's thoughts on all these latency, pops, glitches and crashing with a windows laptop? Has anyone actually managed to buy a NEW windows laptop and have it work flawlessly like my 15 year old PC specialist laptop?

I'm so reluctant to change to a Mac. I'm just used to windows also other software and plugins I use for DAW's, lighting or streaming etc. are often only available for windows and I just don't like Macs OS.

I've had several laptops now very high spec and high cost and had to send them back after hours of tweaks and still no joy with running DJ or production software without audio glitches.

Is the problem just intel and are people having better luck with AMD?

I've asked these questions on forums of virtual djs competition (I use serato also) but no one seems to have a solid answer of "get this laptop with this spec and it will run everything flawlessly (including real time stems, video etc..)"

Any advice would be great (other than the standard get a Mac)

Cheers guys
 
Posted Sat 10 Jan 26 @ 4:44 pm
There's a long running thread on this. Don't have the link but if you search in Google it will show up.

I haven't found a replacement for my 2019 Lenovo C940.

I also tried Mac. The air wouldn't work properly with both external monitors and the Pro kept crashing VDJ.

I'm at a loss here too.
 
No issues with various versions of the Dell XPS over the years here
 
I hear XPS are hit and miss for quality and they are massively overpriced here in the UK.

The new versions announced at CES are dropping dedicated graphics too.
 
Wow, this is getting desperate now! I DJ 3 nights a week and my 15 year old laptop is about to die any day soon!! Just need a reliable laptop that can do what this old dinosaur of a machine can still just about do! Surely someone is DJing on a new laptop out there? P.s. 2019 isn't new 😂😂

Anyone have any ideas?
 
Do you need real time stems?
 
If you Google laptop for pro audio or music production laptop, Dell XPS is one of the names that comes up. I use a Dell (Alienware) myself with no issues. There are also sites that list laptops specifically for pro audio, testing them with stuff way more intensive than DJing - running hundreds of tracks and plugins in a DAW for instance.
 
@KRADCLIFFE Yeah I use real time stems quite a lot, especially if a new track that I didn't prepare stems for before a gig. My 15 year old laptop since some updates and possibly because it is running so hot has started glitching when analyzing stems whilst playing live so I've turned had to turn it off. I used to be fine and pretty quick 👍
 
@GROOVINDJ How old is your (dell) Alienware? Is it pre all the intel latency issues (prior to gen 11/12) ?
 
September 2021 (11th gen).
 
kradcliffe wrote :
I hear XPS are hit and miss for quality and they are massively overpriced here in the UK.

The new versions announced at CES are dropping dedicated graphics too.

Mine has a core Ultra 185H (so 14th gen?) and if I use the integrated GPU for stems, it's already doing ~3x, so given the improvements it's quite likely that with the newer ones you don't really need dedicated gpu for stems anymore.
 
Any others out there have a new laptop that works without all the latency issues? I just can't seem to find anything it's a real nightmare and I'm getting worried now! Everyone that recommends a laptop they are generally older 11th gen processors. Has anyone brought a laptop in 2025/2026 and it works without all the audio issues? There has to be something out there that works!! 😬
 
@GROOVINDJ Yeah your laptop being 11th gen intel is why your not having any issues. The change of processor architecture started with 12th gen and is still used in 14th gen. Intel clearly don't care about the huge latency issues being caused as other than audio people most, even gammers, aren't overly affected by it or even notice it.
 
I'm not really a Windows user, bur I have a pretty mid tier gaming laptop (MSI Thin) that hosts a 13th gen i5 ( i5-13420H), that I use as a streaming laptop for OBS, and I've run this a couple times (2 hrs each a few times) with a DJM-S11 and DDJ-1000 at latency = 64 samples and I've not experienced audio issues.
Are persons really having audio dropouts/crackling on every newer laptop or are persons discarding laptops due to DPC measurements?
 
 
I ve got a really old laptop hp pavillion with i7 7th gen and win 11. i use prepared stems for all my tracks. Dpc latency goes red a lot comparing to my desctop pc but even with high dpc it manages to play latest VDJ with my Rev1 without any problems in sound. Just saying even with high DPC a laptop could perform ok
 
From my recent investigation I'd suspect the latencymon program isn't the be all and end all. It's not been updated in ages and as others have said if you don't actually hear any pops or crackling then rock on.

Saying that I did get a Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro and it was terrible. Couldn't even run the FLX10 at all without the sound breaking up.
 
This is my Lenovo Loq

AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS w/ Radeon 780M Graphics (3.80 GHz)

16.0 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU

I upgraded because of stems, cant complain for the money i spent.

Laptop has had live use at gigs; and performed flawlessly.

I use a dvs setup with a traktor audio 6 external box.
 
I'm also looking for a new machine for VDJ.
I've already tried everything imaginable, and the more expensive it was, the more likely it was that it would eventually start crackling or dropouts.

MSI gaming machine i9 with RTX
DELL workstations... disaster.

In my desperation, I installed VDJ on my Lenovo Legion Go handheld.
The funny thing is, it runs on it, and I don't care about the monitor since I'm using the one from Prime anyway.

Real-time stems are... well, let's just say that since I use FLAC to avoid CUE Shift anyway, I don't care about the pre-calculated stems.
1TB NVMe isn't that expensive anymore.

I've also considered a Mac with an M1, but that brings a whole bunch of other problems.

Soundswitch has to work too.
Let's see if anyone can find a current device running Windows that works right out of the box.
Until then, the Legion GO will have to do.
So far, it's been quite reliable.
 
[quote=U I use FLAC to avoid CUE Shift [/quote]

curious; How does flac work to avoid cue shift??
 
67%