Any advantage to using a multi-touch screen with DDJ-T1 & Traktor?

I'm going to make the switch from CDJs to the DDJ-T1, and coincidentally I also need to buy a new laptop as my old one was stolen. Luckily I have insurance which will pay for the replacement. One model that I'm looking at has the option to get a multi-touch LCD screen and I can't help wondering if that would be useful with Traktor, to avoid any need for a mouse.

This is not a tablet PC, it's a high spec Windows laptop and the option is either the touch screen (1366x768) or a full-HD screen for about the same price. I know Macbooks have the best reviews for music applications, but I'm not ready to make that leap right now. It seems like it would be cool to tap on the screen to access functions that the DDJ doesn't control, but I don't have enough hands-on experience to tell. Would this be useful, or would I be better off getting the full HD screen?

FunkyBrewster February 06, 2012 06:05

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I'd say unless you need the extra screen resolution then go for the touch screen. Traktor's layout looks perfectly fine on my 15 inch laptop running at 1366x768 and adding a touch screen can only improve your experience with it in my opinion. My only concern would be the actual quality of the touch screen, if it's on par with apple devices then you'll have a blast, but I've seen some very unresponsive screens on windows all-in-one desktops, so it's a gamble I guess.

Kevin Cameron February 07, 2012 03:01 0 votes

p.s. what is the laptop manufacturer's name? I love the idea of having this on a convential laptop

Kevin Cameron February 10, 2012 06:56 0 votes

@Kevin That's a good point -- I will see if I can find some reviews of the touch screen. If it's even close to on par with Apple, that would be fine. The model in question is the Japanese-spec Dell XPS 15. I just took a look on their US site and the US-spec XPS 15 indicates there is a multi-touch display upgrade available but I couldn't find the option to actually select it. The Sony Vaio F series (what I had before) is the other model I'm looking at. If I max the specs, the machines are very similar in performance and options, but only the XPS is offering the multi-touch screen right now.

I hope this isn't considered off topic, but the DDJ and the laptop work together to make the experience happen. I'm trading CDJ-1000MK3s / DJM-600 for this setup and so anything that enhances Traktor's usability would be great. :)

FunkyBrewster February 10, 2012 16:08 0 votes

@FunkyBrewster > I WOULDN'T go with the touchscreen, mainly for the purpose that Traktor hasn't been designed with touchscreen application in mind. I could be wrong, it might work well but I'd like to try it out first before I'd buy it.

Gavin February 18, 2012 14:54 0 votes

I've decided to go with the regular, non-touch screen. I couldn't find a demo model with the touch screen in any store near me. They did have one with the 1080p screen, though and it looks great. Most reviews I read said that the screen itself was OK, but that as Gavin mentioned, there wasn't enough software that was designed to use a touch screen to make it useful. Maybe in the future this will be a more utilized feature, but the lack of explicit software support and the lower resolution on a large screen has steered me towards Full HD for now.

FunkyBrewster February 19, 2012 10:08 0 votes