As said earlier, having a Mac laptop for music production will be an added advantage of because of suitable pre-installed and app store apps. Lenovo Legion Y520 – Best and Cheap for Music Recording. Listed as a gaming laptop, but it will be suitable for music composing and production too. Logic Studio. The pro choice for music creation, Logic Studio is an unmatched Mac-only suite of tools which includes Mainstage, WaveBurner, the entire five flavours of Apple’s Jam Packs and, of course, Logic Pro itself.
If you’re a DJ, or even an aspiring music producer, you’re going to need more than just the, you’re going to need one of the for music production. If you’re looking for the top laptop for music production, you want to find a device that has one of the and plenty of RAM – this is important because these will help your laptop handle multiple music tracks efficiently. You also want one of the or, as you’ll be working with large file sizes. Finally, you’ll want awesome sound, obviously, whether through great speakers or the ability to connect to external sound outputs. You’ll also want a laptop that can handle being jostled around. While, you won’t need something like the, the best laptops for music production should be able to handle bumps and knocks that happen while travelling from gig to gig. And, because you’re going to be carrying it around, you’ll want something that’s thin and light, so you might want to look at the.
While the may be the default for most musicians, plenty of the top laptops for music production will run instead. To make choosing a laptop easy, we’ve included our exclusive price comparison tool, so you know where to find the best deal. If you want to see a more comprehensive list of prices and retailers, just click the ‘view all prices’ link on each widget. The best laptops for music production and DJs: 1. Apple MacBook 12' (2016). Expensive The new Apple MacBook is the slimmest, slickest and best-looking Macbook the Cupertino company has ever created, and it’s one of the best selling laptops on the market.
This, along with the excellent music production software available for Macs means it’s the best laptop for music production. It’s an extremely slim and light notebook that you can take anywhere without even noticing the weight, and gives you the same slick macOS performance. Read the full review: 2. MacBook Pro (15-inch, mid-2018). Expensive The MacBook Pro is kind of known for being the go-to laptop for musicians all around the world, and the 2018 version is no different. As long as you can justify the expense, the MacBook Pro is one of the best laptops for musicians.
With its Core i9 processor and up to 32GB of RAM, you’re going to be able to load up as many tracks as you need in Logic Pro X without having to worry about your laptop slowing down. It’s also incredibly sturdy – you don’t need to worry about things bumping into it in your bag, thanks to its robust aluminum unibody design. Read the full review: See more like this: 3.
Surface Pro 6. Still no USB-C If you’re looking for the best laptop for music production that will double as a tablet for some downtime between extraneous recording and production sessions, you might want to look at the Surface Pro 6. Not only does it pack the powerful hardware you’ll need for efficiently handling multiple music tracks, but it has a gorgeous display, and plenty of legacy connections for connecting your equipment. It lacks USB-C and Thunderbolt 3, but if you’re just in it for music production, that doesn’t really matter much, does it?
Read the full review: 4. Dell XPS 13 (2018). Expensive The Dell XPS 13 has been one of the best laptops you can buy for a few years running now, and the 2018 version is no different. For aspiring music producers, the XPS’ move to an 8th-generation Intel Kaby Lake R CPU should be appealing, as it will trim down the time it takes to process tracks, allowing you to minimize downtime. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to find a 1TB storage drive anymore, but when you get a laptop that looks this good and runs this fast – it’s a worthy tradeoff. Read the full review: 5.
Surface Laptop 2. No Thunderbolt 3 With all the 2-in-1 laptops that convert into a tablet, packed with unnecessary features, sometimes a straight Windows 10 laptop is just what you need. Luckily, Microsoft has released the Surface Laptop 2, one of the best laptops in its arsenal. Not only does this thing feature a quad-core processor and plenty of RAM, but it has a lovely touch display and all the ports you need – even if it’s lacking Thunderbolt 3.
As long as you don’t need Logic Pro X, you really can’t go wrong with the Surface Laptop 2 – it’s one of the best laptops for music production. Read the full review: 6. MacBook Air (2018). More expensive We’ve been left wanting for a new MacBook Air for a few years now, and we finally got a new one. The new MacBook Air brings Apple’s thin and light mainstream laptop into the modern day with a sleek aluminum build, a Retina display and an actual modern processor.
This all makes for one of the best laptops for musicians that want to stay with macOS – though you’ll want to invest in a couple of dongles, the two Thunderbolt 3 ports aren’t compatible with a lot of music equipment. Read the full review: 7. Poor webcam position If you're looking for a larger and more powerful laptop for running music production software on, then the Dell XPS 15 could be for you. Packing the same InfinityEdge technology as the smaller XPS 13, the screen extends right to the edge of the machine which means it's as small as it's possible to make a 15-inch laptop in 2017. It's quite pricey though, depending on which version you get. The very top end version has a 4K color-accurate display, which can give you an excellent overview of all the tracks you're working on.
Read the full review:. Want more choices? Check out our list of the.
Let’s clear one thing up, if you don’t want to buy a Mac then stop reading now. This article is not about the merits of Macs v PCs, been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
If you are thinking of building a home studio and want a Mac then you might be tempted to get a Mac Pro or full spec MacBook, but before you dive in don’t write off the Mac Mini. I own a Mac Pro, a Mac Mini and a MacBook Pro, which gives me a unique view on the pros and cons of all three Macs. I have to say that the Mac Mini has a lot going for it for a home studio, here are my thoughts.
Connectivity The Mac Mini has a lot of connectivity for the small footprint it has. Thunderbolt and 4 USB3 connectors.
Firewire 800 was dropped for the Late 2014 model. Either way, this offers a comprehensive range of choice when considering an audio interface. Connectivity is also important for hard drives and other interfaces such as keyboards. One small thing to be aware of, in some cases USB3 creates issues and a hub is needed to make items such as iLok2s and some drives work. ILok3s are fine on USB3 ports. One reason some people don’t even consider the Mac Mini is the lack of internal expansion, however, the Thunderbolt port allows for the use of expansion chassis, both Magma and Sonnet make solutions that can give users HDX and HD Native card connectivity, Avid also makes the HD Native Thunderbolt box that will connect to the Mac Mini.
Mac Mini Size When building a home studio one thing to consider is size, the Mac Mini has one of the smallest footprints out there, so can sit on a desk and hardly be noticed. Mac Mini Fan Noise In The Studio The Mac Mini is whisper quiet, in fact far quieter than the older Mac Pro silver tower. If you want to record through microphones in the same room as your computer then fan noise is an important consideration - I’m impressed by the lack of noise from the Mac Mini. Expansion Considerations I’ve pimped my Late 2012 Mac Mini, installing 16GB of RAM and a Crucial SSD, both of these options cost around $300 and around 30 minutes to install. Now the little baby flies like a rocket. Conclusion Having run some tests my pimped Mac Mini can easily record 64 audio tracks in a single pass on a low buffer setting and play them back too with plug-ins installed. It may be Mini by name, but the performance of a Mac Mini belies its unassuming size.
If you are building a home project studio and want to take the Mac route then the Mac Mini is well worth consideration.