6 Best Laptops for Traktor Pro 3
1.Acer Swift 3 SF314-59-75QC
Acer Swift 3 SF314-59-75QC: Affordable and powerful, but with some drawbacks.- Compact, ultra-lightweight, and ergonomic design
- Sturdy build quality
- Fine matte IPS screen and good IO
- Excellent performance, within the platforms capabilities
- High thermals, especially with games
- Poor audio quality
- Shabby typing experience
- Non-backlit keyboard option should be avoided
Summary
The Acer Swift 3 SF314-59-75QC is a compact and lightweight laptop with a sturdy build quality and a fine matte IPS screen. It offers excellent performance within its capabilities and is competitively priced. However, it does have some downsides, including high thermals, poor audio, and a shabby typing experience.
Reviews
Alternatives
$680acer Nitro 5
- Excellent processor (Ryzen 7 6800H)
- Awesome graphics card (RTX 3070 Ti)
- No IPS Panel (limited viewing angles)
2.ASUS ZenBook 13 UX325EA-EH71
ASUS ZenBook 13 UX325EA-EH71: A powerful and lightweight laptop with excellent battery life, but weak speakers and a dim display.- Sleek, lightweight frame
- Powerful overall and gaming performance
- Excellent battery life
- Very comfortable keyboard
- Weak speakers
- Display could be brighter
- No headphone jack
Summary
The ASUS ZenBook 13 UX325EA-EH71 is a sleek and lightweight laptop that offers great power and longevity with Intel's new 11th Gen chips. It delivers powerful overall and gaming performance, excellent battery life, and a comfortable keyboard. However, it has weak speakers, a display that could be brighter, and lacks a headphone jack.
Reviews
Alternatives
Lenovo LOQ
- First-class processor (i7-13700H)
- First-class graphics card (RTX 4050)
- Ordinary memory amount (16GB)
3.ASUS TUF Dash F15
The ASUS TUF Dash F15 is a well-built and competitively priced laptop, offering good performance and battery life, but be cautious of the FHD 144Hz screen option.- Lightweight and well-built design
- Good selection of screen options
- Competitive pricing
- Improved performance compared to previous generation
- Quirks affecting everyday ergonomics
- Ports mostly located on the left edge
- Be cautious of the FHD 144Hz screen option
Summary
The ASUS TUF Dash F15 is a powerful and lightweight laptop, perfect for those on a budget. It offers good performance, a variety of screen options, and competitive pricing. However, there are some quirks affecting everyday ergonomics, and the FHD 144Hz screen option should be approached with caution.
Reviews
Alternatives
Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 16
- Stylish, sleek form factor
- Gorgeous display
- Webcam quality is poor
- Lacks biometrics
4.Lenovo Legion Pro 5
Lenovo Legion Pro 5: A solid mid-tier laptop with good performance and features, but with some drawbacks.- Good build quality and design
- Good screen and IO
- Competent CPU with a range of GPU options
- Competitively priced
- No Thunderbolt or biometrics
- Noticeable hotspots while gaming
- Poor speakers
- So-so battery life
Summary
The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is a well-built and competitively priced mid-tier laptop with a good screen, keyboard, and trackpad. It offers competent CPU performance and a range of GPU options. However, it lacks Thunderbolt and biometrics, has noticeable hotspots while gaming, poor speakers, and a so-so battery life.
Reviews
Alternatives
$2,840Lenovo Legion Pro 5
- Strong performance for the price
- Quality build and port selection
- Display quality and battery life are just decent
- Bulky and heavy
5.Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16: A Powerful and Affordable Gaming Laptop with a Sleek Design- Strong overall performance
- Big, bright, and fast display
- Per-key RGB lighting
- Some flex to the keyboard deck
- Poor battery life
Summary
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 impresses with its powerful performance, thanks to the i9-13900HX processor and RTX 4090 graphics card, all while maintaining a sleek and unassuming design. It offers great value for its price, making it a compelling choice in the world of gaming laptops.
Alternatives
HP Omen 17
- QHD display with 165 Hz
- Expandable working memory
- Slightly below-average performance for a RTX 4080
- High noise level
6.Dell XPS 17 9720
Dell XPS 17 9720: Powerful laptop with a stunning 4K display, but with reduced graphics performance and weak cooling.- Excellent 4K display with AdobeRGB
- High-quality case
- Thunderbolt 4 PCIe 4.0 support
- Very high system performance
- Lower graphics performance than the predecessor
- Performance not completely stable under combined load
- Not Wi-Fi 6E compatible
- 720p webcam
Summary
The Dell XPS 17 9720 is a powerful laptop with an excellent 4K display that covers AdobeRGB. It features a high-quality case, Thunderbolt 4 & PCIe 4.0 support, and very high system performance. However, it suffers from lower graphics performance compared to its predecessor and has slightly weak cooling.
Reviews
Alternatives
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo
- Impressive and sleek design with dual displays
- Powerful gaming performance with GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU and Ryzen 9 CPU
- Expensive, especially when configured with high-end specs
- Awkward keyboard and touchpad layout
Processor for Traktor Pro 3
There are many factors that contribute to the performance of a laptop, but nothing is more important than the processor. A higher-end CPU means that the rest of the hardware will be able to take advantage of all its resources, which will result in better overall performance.
Requirements
One of the most popular brands for laptops is Intel. For their latest generation of processors, Intel has released two series: Coffee Lake and Whiskey Lake. These two series differ in their core counts and price points. For Traktor Pro 3, Coffee Lake is the best option due to its higher single-core performance. The Whiskey Lake series offers more cores at a lower price point but does not perform as well on single-core tasks.
Recommendations
For an Intel processor, I recommend anything above i5-1135G7 as long as it's from the Coffee Lake series. This way you'll be able to have a smoother experience with Traktor Pro 3. If you're looking for a cheaper option, then I recommend anything from the i5-10300H line as long as it's from the Whiskey Lake series.
Picking a good graphics card
In the past, the best option for laptops with less than $1000 was to go with integrated graphics. However, as laptops have become more powerful and cheaper, it's now possible to get a laptop with a GTX 1650 card for under $1000. It's still not perfect – there are many instances where integrated graphics will be enough. But if you're using Traktor Pro 3 or work in audio production – you'll need a GPU that supports OpenGL 2.1 or higher.
Dedicated vs. integrated graphics
There are two main options: use an integrated graphics chip (included on all new laptops) or use a dedicated GPU (such as GTX 1650). You'll need to trade off your budget against performance – do you want your computer to work on audio processing smoothly, or do you want it to play games smoothly?
If you're looking for the best of both worlds – go for RTX A5000/A6000 cards. They're pricey but offer the best performance out of any consumer-grade card on the market.
The right memory
Minimum (8 GB)
8 GB RAM is the standard starting point for laptops. If you're not too demanding, it should be enough for Traktor Pro 3. But don't fool yourself – you'll need more if you want to take your DJ skills to the next level.
Recommended (16 GB)
If you're looking for a good balance between price and performance, then 16 GB should be your sweet spot. I've noticed that there's been a slowdown in the continuous climb of RAM capacities in laptops, so there's no need to sweat about getting 16 GB.
Best (32 GB)
If you're going over $2000, where 32 GB laptops are ubiquitous, then 32 GB is the way to go. You can't go wrong with future-proofing your laptop. And if you're a hobbyist who only needs a few tracks – then 8GB is fine as well. But I wouldn't recommend going below 8GB if you plan on running Traktor Pro 3 as a professional DJ, as this would most likely cause issues with latency and poor performance due to insufficient RAM resources.
- 8GB is enough for casual use of Traktor Pro 3, but you'll need more if you plan on taking your DJ skills to the next level
- 16GB is the sweet spot between price and performance, so it's a good balance between price and performance
- 32GB is good for future-proofing your laptop if you're going over $2000 for a laptop, as 32GB is becoming ubiquitous for this price range
Picking a good storage
Choosing the right storage device
We'll break down the choices by capacity, since that's where the difference lies. Here are the most common capacities found in laptops today:
256 GB SSD – this is the bare minimum for professionals that are doing nothing but DJing with Traktor Pro 3. That's also plenty of space for other applications, but you'll need to be mindful of how much space is being used.
512 GB SSD – this is an excellent amount of storage space, if not the most optimal. You should have more than enough room for everything you need, but there's always room for improvement. If you have an extra $200 or so, upgrading to a 1 TB SSD will offer significant benefits to your workflow.
1 TB SSD – these are the best laptops for Traktor Pro 3 DJs. If you can afford it, I highly recommend getting a laptop with a 1 TB SSD – these are rarer and often more expensive, but they're worth it. And if you're willing to pay even more money (or if you don't mind waiting), 2 TB or 4 TB laptops might be your perfect fit!
2 TB SSD – the newest laptops come with this size by default, but they're usually pricey and less practical than other options unless you know what you're doing.
4 TB SSD – this size of storage is only really practical for studios that use specialized software or need to archive uncompressed audio files or video footage.
- 256 GB SSD is a bare minimum for DJs
- 512 GB SSD is an excellent amount of storage space, but you can always get more!
- 1 TB SSD is the best size for DJs, but 2 TB and 4 TB are also available for professionals and studios
How to choose the right display for playing Traktor Pro 3?
A laptop's display is one of the most important things to consider when purchasing a laptop. However, for Traktor Pro 3, the display is not the main thing.
Display type
TN panels are very affordable and make for an excellent budget display. The only thing they lack is viewing angles. If you're looking for something more professional-grade, then look for IPS panels.
If you want to go all out, OLED screens are now available in top-of-the-line laptops. I would avoid them though, as their prices are exorbitant.
Screen size
Laptops come in different sizes and resolutions – this means that you'll have to pick one that's appropriate for your needs. The two main options are 15" and 17". For music production, you might need a 17" screen so that you can see waveform transients better – or maybe you want to work on images too? In that case, go with a 15" laptop with Full HD resolution. But beware – higher resolutions mean more battery drain, so if you need to squeeze every last minute of battery life out of your laptop – then just stick with a FHD panel and get a smaller device.
- go with a FHD panel and get a smaller device for music production
- go with a Full HD or 4K panel if you need to work on images too
Table of the Best Laptops for Traktor Pro 3
| Laptop | Price (approx) |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-59-75QC | $580 |
| ASUS ZenBook 13 UX325EA-EH71 | $730 |
| ASUS TUF Dash F15 | $1,160 |
| Lenovo Legion Pro 5 | $2,630 |
| Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 | $3,390 |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 | $5,600 |
