11 Best Laptop For Music Production

Have you ever wondered what is the best laptop for music production? The answer is pretty simple. There are plenty of great computers but before you go ahead and pick a laptop and start producing music here is what you have to watch out for.

11 Best Laptop For Music Production

I will show you what are some key elements of a good computer and what makes a laptop the best laptop for music production.

Elements of a Good Music Production Laptop

Your exact requirements are base mostly on the type of music you’re creating and the software you’re using, but there are a few good rules of thumb to follow.

First: Prioritize the hardware that matters to you, and in the case of music production, pick a high-end CPU and lots of RAM.

Many awesome laptops that perform well are essentially gaming laptops, and they include powerful graphics capabilities. But for music production, a high-end GPU isn’t going to help you.

Next thing to look for is a higher-end eighth generation Intel Core mobile processors (i5 and i7), or AMD’s Ryzen mobile chips.

Why? The AMD chips will outperform the Intel chips in terms of integrated graphics performance, but they’re closely matched in most other areas.

How to choose the best music production laptop

One thing I like to think off before I go laptop hunting is my budget. Generally, when it comes to music production computers, whether you’re in need of a desktop computer or laptop, it’s going to cost you some money.

If you aren’t building a music computer from scratch and instead buying pre-built rigs, with the specifications needed to run music software, nowdays prices tend to run near the thousand dollar mark and upwards.

They are some budget-friendly laptops that just make the cut, but they will give you the minimum “specs” without much leeway.

It’s always good to save up some money and exercising patience in order to buy the best laptop for music production.

Laptop Specifications

Next, we will look into the biggest factor aside from budget,
laptop specifications!

Even though which specifications and features you want in your production laptop will coincide with how much money you have saved up.

Things can get a bit technical so take your time while checking them out:

• Operating System: This is the program that runs on the entire laptop itself. Something like Windows or Mac OS. These are both operating systems.
• Processor: It’s a small chip inside of the laptop that receives inputs and sends the appropriate output. What it does is that it handles the essential processes of using your laptop (things like mouse movements, keyboard inputs, etc).
• RAM: Is simply the physical hardware inside of the laptop that stores data. The more you have, the more information your laptop is able to work with at the same time without crushing. This is really important for software, especially music production.
• Hard Drive\Disk Space: Last and not least, we are talking about disk space, it’s how much space you need on your hard drive to actually install and use the program. This isn’t taking into account what space you’ll need to actually save your projects, virtual instruments, effects, and more. But I would go for a computer with a good space amount.

Now that you know some of the specifications that can make a laptop the best laptop for music production lets have a look at 11 best laptop for music production!

MacBook Air 13-Inch

If you’re picking a Mac (high five to all MacBook lovers), you may be opting for an Apple software suite too.

The MacBook Air is a good starter since Apple allows you to customize the machine to suit your budget.

The higher-end model starts at $1,199, and allows you to up the CPU to a 2.2GHz i7 for $150 or add a 512GB SSD for $200.

Since it’s a Mac you’ll get access to GarageBand (free) and Logic Pro X (pricey), and a wide variety of third-party suites like Ableton Live, Reason, and Renoise.

I like the fact that it’s also small and lightweight, with impressive battery life, and a backlit keyboard for those dark late night sessions.

The two biggest downsides to getting a Macbook air include a mere 8GB of RAM and a rather ugly non-Retina screen.

You also only get two USB 3.0 ports, and a single Thunderbolt 2 port.

Other than that I love Macbook air’s.

Samsung Notebook 9 Pro

The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro is a smaller laptop that offers a 2-in-1 aspect with an intuitive touchscreen that can be flipped into tablet mode.

It is equipped with the latest “7th Gen Intel i7 Processor” that will let you work, create, and pretty much do any sort of multitasking work.

That’s the reason I added it into the list of best laptop for music production!

It also has a Radeon 540 graphics card that really help graphics pop off the screen – could be useful if you’re ever virtually mixing your music.

Microsoft Surface Pro 4

The Surface Pro is a surprisingly versatile option and it comes in different models.

The cheapest model only includes the lightweight Intel m3 chip, there are Core i5 and i7 models available with more grunt.

These get pricey fast, with the top-end model offering an i7, 1TB SSD, and 16GB of RAM for nearly $2,700.

Being a Surface Pro, it’s a hybrid which means it functions as both a laptop and a tablet.

That means you can run your traditional Windows DAWs like FLStudio and Reason, but also take advantage of the touch screen for a more tactile experience.

ASUS ROG Strix G-SYNC

This is a high-end and powerful laptop that features a lightweight yet powerful design that can be pretty handy for music making.

The G-SYNC features a 7th gen i7 processor will give you more than enough speed for multitasking, as well as a rather large capacity of up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM – the composition of power, speed, and capacity are the reasons why this model makes its ranks in this guide.

The ASUS has a 17.3”, 120Hz G-SYNC display with a 170 degree wide view panel for an enhanced visual experience.

It also comes equipped with a duo-copper cooling system that cools the CPU and GPU simultaneously; this maximizes performance efficiency for hours at a time.

Dell XPS 13

Dell’s XPS line emphasizes performance, and the 13-inch models are especially suited to music production.

They forego graphics performance in favor of strong CPUs and a slim lightweight chassis, with excellent customization options that won’t break the bank.

The base $1,249 XPS 13 comes with an eighth generation quad-core Intel i7 CPU and a neat 1080p InfinityEdge display.

You can upgrade the SSD to 512GB and double the RAM to 16GB, and the total price still comes in under $1,500.

Lenovo Legion Y520

This laptop is one of the best music production and recording laptops for budget-conscious producers.

The Y520 is a 15.6” gaming PC that is packed with a 7th gen i7 processor which is great for the price.

The starter model comes with 8GB of RAM, but is upgradable of up to 16GB with the advanced model.

It also comes with a NVIDIA GTX 1060 graphic card which is important because some DAW’s can make use of GPU processing, so having a graphic card is good in that instance.

Let’s talk about the memory: the entry model comes with up to 512GB of SSD storage and the advanced comes with up to 2TB of HDD storage.

Lenovo ThinkPad X280

ThinkPad laptops are awesome, and the X280’s customization options make it perfect for budget-conscious musicians.

By upgrading the base CPU for around $95, you’ll be able to choose the 16GB RAM upgrade for just over another $100.

You can then increase your internal storage to 512GB for another $300 and you’ve got yourself a powerful no-frills laptop for $1,278.

If you think you want something a little more versatile and you’ve got the cash to spare, the Lenovo X380 Yoga can accommodate the same specs in a touch-friendly hybrid package instead.

Gigabyte Aero 14

This is one of the most portable laptops, as it is only 14” and 4 lbs, but also still has a 94Wh battery life for ‘full-day productivity’ – pretty rare for a laptop of this size.

The Aero 14 comes with a 6th gen i7 processor which will work wonders for your DAW, or any software in general.

You can choose either to buy a model with 8GB or 16GB DDR4 of memory – you also have the option to upgrade it to a maximum of 32GB.

The Aero 14 also has 2 M.2 slots of 2280 SSD storage that are much faster than typical hard drives and consume a relatively less amount of power.

Let’s look into some even stronger laptop choices out there:

MacBook Pro

When it comes to picking a MacBook Pro, you’ve got two size options to choose from:

• the slightly cheaper 13-inch model
• the faster and pricier 15-inch flagship.

The higher-end $1,999 13-inch base model comes with a 512GB SSD, and for an extra $200 you can up the RAM to 16GB. Intel Iris graphics mean you aren’t spending money on GPU options you won’t use, and you’ll get access to the same high-end Apple-only suites and third party DAWs.

The 15-inch options really push the budget, but for $2,799 you’ll get 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM in the box.

You can take storage to 4TB and RAM to 32GB if you’ve got the money, and the Radeon Pro GPU opens the doors to graphics-intensive tasks like video editing and 3D gaming too.

Depending on what you go for you’ll get two or four Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C ports, a wide color 500 nit brightness Retina display, and Touch Bar support with fingerprint scanner.

If you’re working with Logic Pro X, this is the best laptop for the job.

Razer Blade 15

Razer have now brought the eighth generation Intel processors into their Blade line-up, and they’re all highly capable machines.

Each has a six-core 2.2GHz i7 processor with 16GB of DDR4 RAM as standard. If you’ve got the money you can take that up to 32GB.

You also get to choose between a mobile GeForce GTX 1060 and 1070, which you might not even need.

For $300 more than the base model you can get the 512GB SSD model with the 1080p 144Hz display, or spend an extra $700 to opt for the 4K touch-enabled display.

The Blade series is focused on svelte aesthetics in a slim design.

You’ll get a single USB-C Thunderbolt 3 port and three more USB 3.1 type-A ports, and some of the connectors Apple ditched on the MacBook Pro including HDMI out and DisplayPort out.

Dell Alienware 15

The base laptop comes with 16GB of RAM, a six-core i7 and a GTX 1060. Keep in mind that unlike the Razer Blade (above), Alienware machines tend to be pretty chunky.

If you buy direct from Dell to get a 32GB RAM upgrade for $400, or opt for the slightly faster 2666MHz sticks for an extra $10.

For the money, the 512GB SSD upgrade makes a lot of sense since it includes an additional 1TB hard disk drive for just short of $200.

That means you can install your software on the SSD partition while using the HDD to store your media files, samples, and documents.

It’s the perfect helps between speed, space, and affordability, and the Alienware is the only laptop on the list with this option.

There you have it, 11 Best Laptop For Music Production!

What laptop do you use for music production?

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See ya, Cosby!