Best Laptops for Music Production in 2023

Best Laptops for Music Production

No matter what genre you prefer, using one of the best music production laptops will drastically improve your creative process as a musician.

Today, laptops are an essential component of any studio, whether it be personal or professional. With the right setup, the powerful software that these machines can house can turn almost any space into a portable studio.

Even the most inexperienced artists can quickly begin recording, editing, and exporting songs by simply connecting peripheral music equipment including microphones, amplifiers, speakers, and instruments.

Additionally, you won’t have to struggle with interfaces and production approaches that don’t fully fit your creative process because there is a wide variety of music producing software available.

Utilizing our knowledge, contacts in the business, and evaluations, we have hand-picked the best laptops for music production from the huge range of devices available.

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The Essentials of Laptops for Music Production

Computers can suffer from music creation, but how much power you require depends on your usage. For instance, recording a podcast with one or two inputs requires less power than low-latency multitrack recording.

More mental energy is needed to mix 100+ channel sessions with many plugins than in minimalist productions. The greatest advise is to purchase a laptop with as much performance as you can afford so that it can evolve with you. Observe the following important specifications:

Processor:

Power for multitasking is distributed via multicore processors. Nowadays, it’s unusual to find processors with fewer than 8 cores.

Memory:

RAM. Pick the most RAM you can afford if you want to use a lot of plugins and virtual instruments. 16GB is an excellent starting point for music production.

Storage:

For quick recording, playback, and file capture, pick an SSD. You probably won’t need less than 256GB of storage space because music production software and files can consume a lot of it (which can fill up quickly).

External drives can easily be added if necessary, and backups are always a good idea.

Connectivity:

What accessories do you own? Check that the laptop has the necessary ports, or think about using dongles to increase connectivity.

When selecting the finest laptops for music production, there are a few things to take into account. Although it may not be as difficult as video editing or 3D design, music creation still has certain requirements, so even the greatest computers won’t be sufficient.

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Can you Produce Music on any Laptop?

Any laptop can be used to create music, whether it’s just recording internal and external sounds or using a basic sequencer. This includes kids’ computers.

Back when laptops weren’t as powerful, entire albums were created in the past 10, 20, 30, and 40 years.

Apple GarageBand, an application that may be used to create music, is preloaded on even entry-level MacBooks, and both Mac and Windows users can download free programs like Audacity to create and edit music.

However, using the most recent software might be a time-consuming and irritating procedure if your laptop has a slow processor, little RAM, and little storage space, so you might have to concentrate on smaller projects or use older program versions.

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What Characterizes a Good Laptop for Music Production?

The finest laptops for music production feature a fast CPU, lots of RAM, and storage space, so they can withstand heavy use.

A large screen with excellent screen resolution also aids in making a laptop suitable for music creation because digital music composition is also a highly visual skill.

A laptop should, at the very least, not be packed with media or apps; when it’s stuffed with files, latency and glitches are to be expected.

Furthermore, even though USB-C ports are adaptable enough to handle breakout boxes that provide users access to several inputs and outputs (I/O), you’ll want more than one to make configuration simple and eliminate potential bottlenecks.

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Best Laptops for Music Production

These are the best laptops for music production:

Apple MacBook 14 Pro”

The best all-arounder, but the benefit comes at a price.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• CPU: M1 Pro
• Graphics: M1 Pro
• RAM: 16GB – 32GB
• Screen: 14” Liquid Retina
• Storage: 512GB – 8TB

ADVANTAGES:

• The strongest available anywhere.
• Reliable
• Touch Bar Absent

CONS:

• Too Expensive.

You may be familiar with the striking industrial design, Retina displays, and optimized blend of in-house hardware and software that combine to make a very desirable, highly competent music production laptop if you’ve used Apple MacBook Pro models in the past.

Therefore, you might feel a little underwhelmed when you look at the 2022 Apple MacBook Pro 14′′; we certainly did. It does not feature a significantly upgraded screen or a spectacular new design.

However, what took place invisibly inside the machine’s body has been greatly improved.

Dell XPS 13 OLED

One of the best Windows laptops for making music is still available.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• CPU: 11th Gen Intel Core i5 – i7
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
• RAM: 8GB – 32GB
• Screen: 13.3” FHD (1920×1200) or OLED (3456×2160)
• Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD

PROS:

• Sleek, mature design
• A truly incredible screen

CONS:

• Costly

More ports would be advantageous.
Another year, another improvement to the outstanding Dell XPS lineup. The Dell XPS line has established a strong reputation due to its sleek design, gorgeous screens, and potent specifications. It is hailed as the ideal laptop for creative professionals who are constantly on the go and don’t feel like logging into the Apple Walled Garden.

The XPS line uses Windows as its operating system yet delivers a comparable degree of style, quality, and performance to the MBP.

It appears that you won’t find a better deal for the money unless you look at high-end, elite gaming laptops.

A new 11th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and an additional 4K OLED screen are included in the 2021 model.

A music producer might not select this as the standout feature, but if you want the laptop to be used for other things, like viewing movies or just being amazed, the Dell XPS 2021 OLED might be the best choice.

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Apple MacBook Air M2

This might be the laptop you’ve been looking for to do music production on.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• CPU: Apple M2
• Graphics: Apple M2
• RAM: 8GB – 24GB
• Screen: 13.6” Liquid Retina (2560 x1664)
• Storage: 256GB – 2TB SSD
• Dimensions: 30.41 x 21.5 x 1.13cm
• Weight: 1.24kg

PROS:

• Apple’s smallest and lightest laptop
• Silent and strong
• Lovely speakers and screen

CONS:

• Audio-wise, the M2 isn’t much better than the M1.

The newest M2 MacBook Air from Apple seems like a new chapter for Apple customers and will elevate laptop-based music production to a whole new level.

The MacBook Air M2 is Apple’s lightest and thinnest computer, weighing in at just 1.24 kg and 11.3 mm, respectively. The brand-new hues are also wonderful (we went with the light gold Starlight, although the Midnight option was tempting).

The four speakers on the Air produce sound that is much better than what a tiny device like this should be able to produce. These speakers can also play spatial audio.

The battery life of the Air is adequate, though at a claimed 18 hours, it falls short of the 20 hours offered by a new M2 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Additionally, the MacBook Air only has two Thunderbolt USB 4 connections as opposed to three on the MacBook Pro 2021. You might need to think outside the box a little bit if you want to connect more than one monitor to that port.

The M2 MacBook Air is a stunning, potent, and pretty much the quietest laptop you can purchase for music production.

The base model Air M2 (with a 256GB drive) is to be avoided because it has the same speed issue as the M2 MacBook Pro 256GB (due to its processor design), so make sure you specify yours up to at least 512GB, according to multiple websites.

Otherwise, it’s reasonable to say that the Air M2 is the music production laptop we’ve been waiting for after more than 20 years of producing music on computers.

Apple MacBook Pro” M1 13

The next advancement in laptop music production technology

SPECIFICATIONS:

• CPU: Apple M1
• Graphics: Apple M1
• RAM: 8-16GB
• Screen: 13.3” Retina display (2560 x 1600p)
• Storage: 256GB – 2TB

PROS:

• Amazing performance potentially
• Incredible battery life

CONS:

• Older design
• Only two Thunderbolt 3 ports remain.

Apple’s new internal M1 chip, which claims to offer previously unheard-of improvements in speed, performance, and battery life, appears to be light years ahead of the competition.

This is accomplished by integrating the CPU, GPU, and memory into a single chip, greatly decreasing power usage and enhancing the computing experience.

While having a powerful machine is important, we also rely on the hardware and the software packages we employ to function properly together.

Users of Logic Pro X and Garageband can profit right away from all of these new improvements, as would be expected, but it’s less obvious how Live, Cubase, Pro Tools, and other users will fare.

Apple MacBook Air M1

The M1 version is currently a strong contender in the music industry.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• CPU: Apple M1
• Graphics: Apple M1
• RAM: 8GB – 16GB
• Screen: 13.3” Retina (2560×1600)
• Storage: 256GB – 2TB SSD

PROS:

• As portable as a laptop potentially can be
• Less expensive than the Pro line

CONS:

• A face only a mother could love.

In the past, anything less than a MacBook Pro from Apple would not be adequate for audio production operations that required a high level of processing power and RAM.

However, we are confident that this argument may be greatly disproved with the new M1 chip found in the 2021 Apple MacBook Air, at least for the vast majority of home manufacturers.

Especially if your workflow involves traveling, the Air’s inherent advantages—slim form factor, same weight as a crisp packet—make it a rather formidable production machine.

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