A decent laptop for running serato.

[carlos the jackal]

30 mins battery life? I get a couple of hours out of my ASUS & thats running on high performance mode to. It aint no slug either, its an AMD Turion 64x2 running Vista business.
I'd say youre paying to much for anything alienware or sony new. Shop around a bit first & dont get anything less than a dual core.

[kidlogic]

Serato is kinda a hassle when some jerk is setting up toward the end of your set..I suggest showing early and having everything sorted before 9:00.

Nah, its not that big a deal, just bring a few vinyls (a good idea anyway, shit will find a way to go wrong, trust) and do the ole switch on your first two or the last djs last two... not too hard, just make sure you either have a power supply for Serato (a good $20 spent) or your laptop plugged into the Serato interface before the switching starts or you'll kill the sound. The interface is active, meaning it needs power from either the USB or the external power supply... the first time I did it it was a bit tricky, but its cake now.

[nomorecomastep]

I'd say youre paying to much for anything alienware or sony new.

Just pay for the sweet case