what kind of laptop to make electronic music
All-time laptops for music production 2022: featuring portable computers for musicians, producers and DJs
For years now, Apple has produced some of the best laptops for music production. As the but portable platform for Logic Pro X, the Apple tree MacBook Pro is synonymous with the craft of music-making. By comparison, those of united states using a PC accept traditionally been chained to the desktop format, merely that has inverse considerably in recent years. Dell, Microsoft, Samsung, MSI, Asus, Lenovo and others large tech brands are all muscling in to give Apple a serious run for its money, and some of them take proper music-making clout too. All of which is great for the consumer, every bit it gives u.s. genuine choice when it comes to music production.
Regardless of which platform you opt for, there are some considerations which remain consequent. When information technology comes to choosing the best laptop for your dwelling studio, you lot'll want to pay close attention to the ability and memory specs of the machine you're eyeing up. While the basic requirements for well-nigh DAWs is a multi-core processor, around 4GB of RAM and a few gigabytes of storage, this won't be enough for real-world applications. Buying a music laptop based on the 'minimum recommended' specs is a recipe for future angst and a need for an early upgrade. Instead, you lot need a laptop with enough power to handle the latest software and expanding file sizes, with enough juice in the tank to cope with whatsoever you lot may need down the line.
For any DJs or traveling musicians reading this guide, weight - and portability - is likely to be another major factor. Some of the highest spec, beefiest laptops also weigh a fair amount, and your shoulders will quickly tire of lugging those behemoths effectually.
So, the best laptop for music product should be powerful and lightweight, while also rocking a good battery capacity, for those situations where yous're away from mains power. if you want more guidance, caput to our buying advice section. Keep scrolling for our recommendations...
All-time laptops for music production: Our top picks
A driving factor for many producers looking to source a new laptop is price. In days gone by this meant sacrificing, or compromising, on what you want versus what y'all tin afford. Now, even what might be classed equally 'entry level' machines can cope with a huge variety of production scenarios without much fuss.
At the top end, all the same, we detect it hard to await past the new Apple MacBook Pro fourteen" lineup; ok the prices are plenty to make your wallet anguish, but the numbers it puts up in terms of sheer product grunt are impossible to ignore. It's a laptop you can buy and then not have to think about once more for some other five years.
If you desire something a little more lightweight, the MacBook Air (opens in new tab) now comes complete with the M1 fleck, making information technology a genuinely capable proffer as a music-making laptop for most users.
For Windows users, in our feel the Dell XPS 13 OLED (opens in new tab) is a super solid player, and more capable of withstanding some hefty DAW sessions without breaking a sweat.
We'd also recommend looking to the world of gaming laptops. Don't exist put off by their visual stylings – gamers crave lots of power and very quick processors, which is adept news for yous. For our money, we're taken with the Razer Blade 15 Studio (opens in new tab) Edition. It'southward incredibly powerful, looks amazing and would make a worthy studio powerhouse beyond a range of creative pursuits.
Best laptops for music production: Production guide
If you've used Apple MacBook Pro models in the past, you lot'll be well aware of the striking industrial design, Retina screens and the optimised union of in-firm hardware and software combining to make a highly desirable, hugely capable laptop for music product. So to look at the 2022 Apple tree MacBook Pro fourteen", you lot might feel a footling underwhelmed - we certainly were. It doesn't take a flashy new design, or a vastly upgraded screen. Just what has happened out of sight, inside the body of the machine, has been completely enhanced though.
Making utilize of the newest M1 Pro or M1 Max chips, the fourteen" model now has enough in the mode of processing power and cutting-edge performance to suit fifty-fifty the most enervating of creative professionals. Configurable to include some frankly crazy specs, like upwardly to 64GB of RAM and 8TB of SSD storage, this is a laptop for music production dissimilar any other. Yes, it'due south expensive - maxing out the configurator on Apple's website shows you could exist paying effectually £/$half dozen,000 for the highest spec version, but if yous tin can afford information technology there is literally no other machine capable of doing what this laptop tin exercise. You can read the full results of our testing in the review, linked below.
Read the total Apple MacBook Pro fourteen" review
Another yr, another addition to the formidable Dell XPS line-up. Billed every bit the platonic laptop for on-the-go creatives who don't fancy signing up to the Apple walled-garden, and the closest Windows alternative to an Apple tree MacBook Pro, the Dell XPS line has built up a strong reputation thanks to its sleek design, gorgeous screens and powerful spec.
The XPS range delivers similar levels of mode, quality and performance to the MBP, but using Windows every bit its OS. As it stands, other than looking at high-spec elite gaming laptops, you're not going to become a much better packet for the coin.
The 2021 vintage packs in an updated 11th-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, plus the addition of a 4K OLED screen. This perhaps won't be the showstopping headline feature a music maker will get for, but if the laptop is to serve other purposes like watching films or mostly staring at in wonder, and so the Dell XPS 2021 OLED might just be the perfect option.
There'due south a beefier fifteen" model further upwardly the range, but for most people the XPS thirteen makes for a pretty compelling bundle.
Read the full Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED (2021) review
If you read the generalist mainstream tech media reviews of the latest Apple silicon laptops, you lot'd be forgiven for thinking we'd witnessed a paradigm change. Apple's new in-house M1 chip does seem to perform streets ahead of its competition, promising unprecedented boosts in speed, performance and battery life. Information technology does this by combining CPU, GPU and memory into one chip, greatly reducing power usage and delivering a hugely optimised computing feel. Does that mean musicians and studio owners should invest right away? The more hands-on time we've had with the M1-equipped machines, the more we're heading in that management.
While having a powerful motorcar is one part of the equation, we're also reliant on the hardware playing nicely with the software packages we use in our work. Every bit yous'd expect, Logic Pro X and Garageband users can immediately take advantage of all this extra optimization, but for users of Live, Cubase, Pro Tools et al the picture is less clear. Full support is coming though. If Apple's lofty promises over operation are kept – and ordinarily, they are – and so this could be a revolutionary machine.
Read the full Apple MacBook Pro M1 13" review
- The all-time MacBook Pro M1 deals online correct at present
It used to be that if you lot were a serious music maker, anything under Apple's MacBook Pro line simply wouldn't cutting information technology for the processor and RAM intensive tasks put upon information technology past audio production. With the new M1 chip within the 2021 Apple tree MacBook Air however, we've been convinced that this argument can largely be put to bed, at least for the majority of home producers. Add into that the inherent benefits of the Air – slim course cistron, weighs the same as a crisp packet – and yous've got a pretty formidable production machine, especially if your workflow involves travelling around.
If nosotros were being picky nosotros could say it's slightly disappointing there hasn't been a blueprint revolution – it looks largely the same as the Air range always has – and a few more USB ports would always be prissy, but opting for Apple'due south cheaper model no longer means missing out on product operation in the way information technology in one case might have done.
Read the total Apple tree MacBook Air M1
Think of a gaming laptop, and you probably imagine garish colours, RGB lights all over the shop and plenty power under the hood to light up a continent. With the Razer Bract 15 Studio, however, nosotros have a monstrously powerful laptop with its origins in the gaming earth, merely with its sights very much set up on creative pursuits. At that place are some nice visual touches, from the customisable RGB backlighting on the keys, just otherwise this is a strong, slick studio animate being which demands attending.
Microsoft's second attempt at a pure laptop device is an accented winner in our view, and while it doesn't stand for a huge overhaul of the original Surface Laptop, it offers improvements in all the areas we were hoping for, including updated hardware that brings serious performance benefits.
This is a laptop that finally delivers on what Microsoft set out to do with the original: a pure, powerful Windows 10 laptop experience. If y'all're not sold on the 2-in-ane nature of the Surface Book ii, but love Microsoft's premium build quality and pattern, then the Surface Laptop 2 is the laptop for you. A very worth addition to our best laptops for music product guide.
At the college cease of the gaming PC spectrum - not a bad place for music producers to look when sheer ability is required - there are some serious studio contenders. The Asus Rog Strix Scar is evidence of this; with an Intel i7 processor and a base spec of xvi GB of RAM, y'all know this machine can chew through any audio production job you throw at information technology.
Hudson Mohawke, the Scottish electronic producer, is a known fan, and with good reason. Once you lot go by the garish color scheme and 'edgy' gamer branding, you have an immensely capable, lightweight estimator that would rival many traditional desktop arrangements.
MSI is one of the more respected names in gaming PCs, so information technology figures that their flagship mid-range offer features some decent internals. The MSI GF63 is the ideal alloy of performance and aesthetics, and would brand a superb laptop for anyone using their laptop for alive performance or every bit a portable studio on business relationship of its thin form factor and cooling features.
Functioning-wise, it's packing a 2.iv GHz i5 processor, so solid enough to cope with most tasks. We liked the potential for upgrading though; it ships with 8GB of DDR4 RAM installed, but with space to house upwardly to 64GB so the potential for time to come-proofing your rig is clear. As your live sets or studio sessions grow in size, and so besides can your laptop.
While it may not take the best keyboard in the world, the Samsung Notebook nine is still ane of the best laptops yous can buy. Packed with more than horsepower than the MacBook Pro, but at a much lower price, Samsung has crafted a laptop that has just as much substance as it does fashion.
Plus, on top of its killer specs, information technology'due south lightweight and thin, making this one of the most portable 15-inch laptops you tin can buy today.
As Microsoft'due south riposte to Apple's dominance, the stakes were high when it released the Surface Pro series. With Apple'due south hold on creative professionals being so strong, the Surface Pro had a lot to alive up to. And, with the Microsoft Surface Pro 7, it it edging ever closer to bridging that gap.
Admittedly, a razor thin two-in-one is never going to be the production powerhouse that a dedicated PC or Mac would exist, just as a device geared towards portability it'southward nearly impeccable.
The master stumbling block volition exist the price; for a fully tricked-out version with Intel i7 processor and 16 GB of RAM, you're looking north of $2k. But as a premium device that can handle music, along with everything else life tin can throw at y'all, it's a solid choice. A quoted full twenty-four hour period of battery life is not to be sniffed at either.
Asus has struck gilded with its new refresh of its ZenBook Flip Due south 2-in-1 laptop, with the Asus ZenBook Flip Southward UX370 impressing the states so much it's made it'due south mode into our listing of the ten best laptops for music production you can buy right at present.
With a new Kaby Lake R eighth-generation processor powering the device, enough of RAM and a super-fast PCIe SSD in certain models, this is an absolutely stunning add-on to our rundown of the best laptops for music production.
Its 2-in-1 design means you can use it equally both a laptop and a tablet, and while it's not as affordable every bit some machines on this list, if you accept the upkeep you'll be actually happy with this fantastic device.
While you may have been convinced that 'budget Ultrabook' was an oxymoron up until this point, the Acer has turned this mutual misconception on its head with the Swift 3. That's because the company has taken the all-aluminum chassis of the Acer Swift vii and stuffed some more than affordable components inside for everyone to savor.
It doesn't run macOS, but the Acer Swift 3 does put the historic period-one-time MacBook Air to shame in near every other regard, including the nigh-unbeatable cost tag. Of class, in the procedure of demolishing the contest, Acer did take to cut a few corners in order to keep the toll and then impressively low.
Then although you can't expect much in the way of an Ultra HD display or quality onboard sound, the functioning benchmarks lone requite fifty-fifty the Surface Laptop a run for its money.
Best Laptops for music production: Buying advice
How to choose the best laptop for music product
Choosing a laptop capable of running CPU-intensive sound production work tin be tricky. Some options focus heavily on battery life. Others major on performance, and favour college-grade processors (CPUs) to ensure operations run snappily. Add into that differences in screen sizes, aesthetics and whatever number of other variables and we tin easily meet how it's hard to justify buying one model over another.
There are certain characteristics yous'll look for in a laptop, regardless of whether it's for producing music or editing video. Namely, you are looking for that sweetness spot of power, performance and price. We all wish that final role wasn't a gene, just it is. Not to worry though, equally there are supremely capable laptops coming in at some very sensible prices right at present. So what are the specifics that brand a great production laptop?
Ultimately, when nosotros say performance, in this context we mean how fast the laptop can procedure things, and how quickly it can access, write and modify stored information. If you're a sample-based producer and have gigabytes of stored loops and ane-shots, then you volition desire to focus on a machine that offers super-snappy admission to your stored media. And, while they come in a niggling fleck more expensive than traditional hard disc drives (HDD), the only existent option nowadays is a laptop that comes with a solid-state drive (SSD). Solid-state means there are no moving parts - so nil to get wrong or neglect - simply with rapid data transfer speeds and so you lot're not waiting on that pesky progress bar.
Which CPU is best for music production – Intel, AMD or Apple?
Essentially, a faster processor (or CPU) means two things; your estimator can handle more tasks being thrown at it, and it can 'procedure' those things a lot quicker. Yous may see only small differences; perhaps an sound file volition return one minute quicker using the faster of two processors, but over time this conspicuously adds up.
In the CPU earth, there are ii major players. Intel is the large name, with a huge share of the market. Intel'south range goes from i3 – the least powerful – all the style up to i9. Most mutual in mid-to-upper tier laptops, however, are the i5 and i7 variants, and inside that sphere you have different speed ratings, measured in gigahertz, besides as the option to turbo-boost when y'all're placing the computer nether major stress. The other proper name to look out for is AMD, which produces the Ryzen processors. These follow a similar nomenclature to the Intel versions, so R3, R5 then on, and are popular amongst the gaming oversupply.
There is another path to consider though. Apple has a dandy heritage in producing machines designed for creative pursuits, and simply equally the rest catch upwardly with them, it flips the script again. You may have seen newer Apple tree machines with something chosen an M1 bit inside them. This essentially combines many of the laptops internal components onto a unmarried bit, resulting in incredible power and overall system efficiency. This has since been further succeeded on Apple tree's newest machines with the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.
The good news is that these gains absolutely benefit producers, offering best-in-class performance and processing grunt, while too delivering longer battery life and other optimisations. Put simply, Logic Pro X users on an M1-based machine are at the head of the DAW pack right at present. The bad news, nonetheless, is that many 3rd-political party software brands oasis't even so made the switch required to make the near of it. More are communicable on, with large names like Ableton and Akai offering full native support, merely others - like Native Instruments - are yet working on optimising their catalogues to accept total reward.
The best advice nosotros tin requite is to do your research - all of the major developers are aware of M1, and are likely working on native support, and so it depends on your current setup and desire to rock the boat. If y'all can, and don't anticipate major bug, then we'd absolutely advise looking at these new breeds of MacBook.
How much RAM does your music making laptop need?
With RAM, as we mentioned, you can ignore the 'minimum specs' listed on the websites of the major DAWs. Anybody who tries to run a multitrack Ableton Live session on a laptop with 4GB of RAM is braver (or more patient) than we are. That's because RAM is effectively the brusque-term retentivity of your machine. With sound applications, specially those involving lots of recorded sound, a higher amount of RAM means your sound playback is buttery smoothen and glitch-gratuitous considering the figurer isn't having to 'grab' the audio from the difficult drive each fourth dimension it wants to play.
If you're buying now, with the next few years of use in mind, we'd suggest 8GB of DDR4 retentiveness is the accented minimum yous should be looking for. Ideally, yous'd want 16GB, every bit this will handle much larger arrangements, although in that location is a price to this extra resource.
It'due south too worth investigating whether the laptop you choose can exist upgraded with extra RAM in the futurity. Apple tree laptop fans won't have this luxury, due to their sealed chassis, but laptop PC users might.
How much storage practise I need?
Storage retentivity comes a close 2nd. For sound applications, particularly those involving sample libraries where sound is streamed from deejay, y'all'll want to utilise a solid land drive (SSD). The benefit of these drives is the rapid data transfer, meaning files load quicker, although they are slightly more expensive than their hard disk (HDD) equivalent. For music product applications, nevertheless, the actress expense is totally justified.
Information technology's non uncommon however to see a combination employed – a HDD for storage of files, photos and videos, and an SSD for tasks where more instantaneous responses are required. The alternative involves using external hard drives; SSDs, particularly those that have reward of USB-C technology, are more than capable of the types of transfer speeds required for music product.
How we cull the best laptops for music production
So, clearly there is a lot to think about when choosing the best laptop for music production.
Information technology'south easy to see why a good all-round laptop can fetch a premium price tag, but, as with anything from the best samplers and studio monitors to home studio mixers, yous get what you pay for, so it'south ever wise to get the best y'all tin can afford, rather than skimping and regretting your purchase afterward (often quicker than you thought). Our cost comparing software will come in handy hither. Next to each product entry on this guide our price widgets volition display the best deals online right now to save you shopping around.
In this guide we don't focus on various legacy ins and outs, such as the number of USB sockets, or lack of, for your audio interface, so on. With so many dongle and docking options available, this shouldn't exist a deciding factor in your purchasing journey. In this guide we're talking sheer horsepower for music-making. For instance, can your portable rig cope with large multitrack sessions, running handfuls of plugins and MIDI instruments?
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I take care of the reviews on MusicRadar and Hereafter Music magazine, though can sometimes be spotted in front of a camera talking picayune sense in the presence of real musicians. For the past 30 years, I accept been unable to decide on which instrument to primary, and then oasis't bothered. Currently, a lover of all things loftier-gain in the guitar stakes and never i to resist churning out sub-standard funky breaks, the likes of which you'll never hear.
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