When choosing a Mac for music production, you have a few choices.The first thing you have to decide is if you rather have a desktop computer or a laptop.Typically, if this is your first mac, or you don’t already have a reliable laptop, I’d recommend going for a laptop. Having the ability to bring your studio anywhere is important.If you prefer to have a large screen when making music and don’t plan on working in too many locations, a desktop computer might be a better option for you.Once you have made that decision, you have to choose the best model for you.Down below are my top 5 picks for the best Macs for music production.Tip: When writing this article, I found that most of these computers were cheapest on Amazon. I recommend comparing prices on before buying directly from Apple.Mac ProIf money is not an issue, go for a Mac Pro.Not to be confused with the Macbook Pro, the Mac Pro is apple’s most powerful desktop computer.Its price starts at $3000.The Mac Pro is packed with 12GB of ram. Its processor is quad-core and is 3.76GHz.There are 4 usb 3.0 ports and 6 thunderbolt ports. As for connecting display, you can use either the provided thunderbolt ports or the hdmi port.The hard drive is 256GB.
Don’t be alarmed by the small storage capacity (compared to the 1TB+ computers that are standard today). The hard drive is a solid state drive (SSD).
This means that there are no moving parts.Solid state hard drives are a LOT faster than normal hard drives. Doing anything, from booting up, to loading up your favorite DAW, will happen in a fraction of the time that it would with a normal hard drive.The newest Mac Pro model is noticeably compact.The first thing you’ll notice about the Mac Pro is how small and compact it is. It is perhaps one of the smallest powerhouse computers in the market.You can tell that the Mac Pro was designed very well. It runs incredibly efficiently and stays cool during use.iMacThe nice part about buying an iMac, compared to a Mac Pro, Is that the display is built-in. No additional purchases are needed to get up and running with the iMac.There are 2 main types of iMacs you could get: The Retina and non-Retina version.The best iMac available is the 27 inch iMac Retina display model.The Retina iMac starts at $2000 and has a few different variations.The baseline iMac has 8GB of ram and a 1TB hard drive. It has a nice and powerful 2GB video card as well.For the average producer, this is more than enough power.
FL Studio is a complete software music production environment or Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Representing more than 20 years of innovative development it has everything you need in one package to compose, arrange, record, edit, mix and master professional quality music.
Even if you need more power down the road, the iMac is upgradable to 32GB of RAM.To save some money, you can buy the non-Retina version for only $1099. It still has plenty of power from its 8GB of ram, 500GB hard drive, and 1.4GHz processor.Mac MiniMac Minis have gone down in price a lot over the years.They are still an amazing performer in the studio and have quite impressive specs for their price.The cheapest one you could get is $500. If this is all you are willing to spend, by all means go for it, but I would recommend the next option up.The next option up is $700, BUT has twice the ram, a 1 terabyte hard drive, and a much faster 2.5GHz processor.The Mac Mini has 4 usb 3.0 ports, 2 thunderbolt 2 ports, and also an hdmi connector if you prefer hdmi over thunderbolt.$700 is an incredibly low entry barrier to get a Mac. Of course you also need a monitor. Apple has their own expensive displays, but if you’re on a budget, you can pick up a third party thunderbolt monitor, such as the ASUS MX279H for only a couple hundred bucks.Overall, the Mac Mini is an excellent choice for music production.Macbook ProWithout a doubt, the Macbook Pro is the best laptop for music production.Out of all of the few laptops that Apple offers, the Pro model is the most powerful.
While it is not as thin as the Air, it is still a lot more portable then most other laptops in the market.Just like the iMac, there are both Retina and non-Retina versions. The non-Retina Macbook Pro starts at $1099 while the Retina Macbook Pro starts at 1299.The Retina Macbook Pro comes in both 13 and 15 inch variations. It has 8Gb of RAM and a 2.7Ghz processor.There is even a 128GB SSD hard drive built-in. If you pay a little more, you can get a 256GB hard drive.The Macbook Pro has a long-lasting battery that will last for 10 hours.
(That would probably translate to roughly 6 hours of heavy audio-editing in a DAW.).Macbook AirI included the Macbook Air on this list because it is what I found to be the cheapest Apple Laptop that would hold up to music production.The Macbook Air starts at $900 and goes as high as $1199.You can get your Air in either 11 or 13 inch variations. I would recommend going with the 13 inch model. Those extra 2 inches make a big difference!The baseline 13 inch Macbook Air will cost you $1000.
It has a 1.6GHz processor and has 4GB of ram. You’ll immediately notice that the Macbook Air is really fast! This is because of the 128GB flash SSD hard drive inside.I don’t think I even need to mention how portable the Air is.
You can stick the think in an envelope if you wanted to!Overall the Macbook Air is a dream for producing on the go! It is surprisingly powerful and inexpensive.Summary:So there you have it!I hope you have learned a bit more about which mac are best for music production. If you still have a question, drop a comment down below!Want more quality music production knowledge! Sign up for our free email list down below and never regret it!
In years gone by, Apple has thoroughly dominated the best laptops for music production arena, or indeed any creative production. As the only portable platform for Logic Pro X, the Apple MacBook is everywhere in music production, from the DJ booth and pro recording studio setups, to working bands making music on the road and those of us displaying a Mac proudly on our home.By comparison, those of us using a have traditionally been chained to a desktop format, but that has changed dramatically in recent years. Dell, Microsoft, Samsung, MSI, Asus, Lenovo and others are all muscling in to give Apple a run for its money, and some of them have serious music making clout.When it comes to choosing your best laptop for music production, pay close attention to the power and memory specs of the machine you're eyeing up. While the basic requirements for most is a multi-core processor, around 4GB of RAM and a few gigabytes of storage, this isn't enough for real-world applications. So you need a laptop with enough power to handle the latest software and expanding file sizes.: which is the right music laptop for you?. Prefer a desktop? These are the.
Create for less with the for music. Invest in one of the around. Listen up! These are the for music makersFor any DJs or traveling musicians reading this, weight is likely to be another major consideration. After all, some of the highest spec, beefiest laptops in the world also weigh a ton, and you'll quickly tire of lugging those behemoths around.So your best laptop for music production would be lightweight whilst also rocking a good battery capacity, as you may be away from mains power for longer periods at a time.It's easy to see why the price for a good all-round laptop can fetch a premium price tag, but, as with anything from the and to, you get what you pay for, so it's always wise to get the best you can afford, rather than skimping and regretting your purchase later. Our price tracker software can help here, as listed beneath each model in our best laptops for music production guide are the most attractive deals every day for each model.We won’t be focussing on various legacy ins and outs, such as the number of USB sockets, or lack of, for your, and so on.
With vast swathes of USB hub and docking options available, your hunger for I/O can be sated in such dongles and peripherals. So here we're talking sheer capability.
For example, can your portable rig cope with large multitrack sessions, running handfuls of plugins and MIDI instruments? Let's take a closer look now. Best laptops for music production: MusicRadar's choiceWhen attempting to choose the best laptop for music production and audio, it's hard to look past the elephant in the room. We're not here to argue the merits of either, but put simply, you're either a Mac person, or you're not. If you are, your choices are pretty clear.Ignoring the underpowered MacBook Air you're left with the venerable Apple MacBook Pro in its many guises.
The choice is really determined by how much you're willing to spend, and what you need it to do. For basic bedroom-style studios, a 13' model with 8GB may be enough. Professionals would be wiser coughing up the extra cash for the 16GB variant with i5 or, ideally, i7 processor.If you're not tied to the Apple brand, you have more choice.
For more serious music production work, look to the world of gaming laptops. Don't be put off by their visual stylings – gamers require lots of power and very quick processors, which is good news for you. For our money, we're taken with the Asus Rog Strix Scar. With its i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM and thin form factor, it could quite happily eat up the renders all day long. Best laptops for music production: buying adviceChoosing a laptop capable of running CPU-intensive audio production work can be tricky. Some options focus heavily on battery life.
Others major on performance, and favour higher-grade processors (CPUs) to ensure operations run snappily. Add into that differences in screen sizes, aesthetics and any number of other variables and we can easily see how it’s hard to justify buying one model over another.
We can help though. Allow us to cut through the noise, so to speak.In essence, you're looking for two major things on the spec-sheet above all others: the CPU and the available RAM. The CPU is what does the real work. So every time you load a new MIDI instrument and fill the piano roll with data, you're asking the CPU to translate it into sound.Adding extra plug-ins works the CPU.
Bouncing audio works the CPU. Exporting finished versions of your tracks works the CPU. You get the picture. If it involves processing, the CPU is your best friend so it pays to prioritise a solid model over most other features. Supercharge you setup with the.
Expand your toolkit with the. Starting your own podcast? These are the.
Organise your recording space with theA fork in the roadIn this world, there are two major players. Intel is the big dog in town, with a huge share of the market. Intel’s range that goes from i3 - the least powerful - all the way up to i9. Most common in mid-to-upper tier laptops, however, are the i5 and i7 variants. Within that sphere you have different speed ratings, measured in gigahertz.
The other name to look out for is AMD, which produces the Ryzen processors. These follow a similar nomenclature to the Intel versions, so R3, R5 and so on, and are popular with the gaming crowd.Essentially, a faster processor means two things; your computer can handle more tasks being thrown at it, and it can 'process' those things a lot quicker. In reality you may see only small differences; perhaps an audio file will render one minute quicker using the faster of two processors, but over time this clearly adds up.Making memoriesWith 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. You see, RAM is effectively the short-term memory of your machine. With audio applications, particularly those involving lots of recorded audio, a higher amount of RAM mean your audio playback is buttery smooth and glitch-free because the computer isn't having to 'grab' the audio from the hard drive each time it wants to play.
Space invaders: these are the to store your work. Explore the for musicians and producersIf you're buying now, with the next few years of use in mind, we'd suggest 8GB of DDR4 memory is the minimum you should be looking for. Ideally, you'd want 16GB, as this will handle much larger arrangements, although there is a cost to this extra resource.It's also worth investigating whether the laptop you choose can be upgraded with extra RAM in the future. Apple laptop fans won't have this luxury, due to their sealed chassis, but laptop PC users might.StorageStorage memory comes a close second.
For audio applications, particularly those involving sample libraries where audio is streamed from disk, you'll want to use a solid state 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 drive (HDD) equivalent.It's not 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; SSDs, particularly those that take advantage of USB-C technology, are more than capable of the types of transfer speeds required for music production.As you can see, there is a lot to think about when choosing a laptop for music production. Let's take a look at some strong options for you to consider. The best laptops for music production to buy now.
Not a huge generational leapIf you're after the latest and greatest laptop from Apple, we suggest you look into the 2019 model of the 13-inch Macbook Pro with Touch Bar. While Microsoft had the performance edge over last year's MacBook Pro, with the Surface Book 2, Apple has come out swinging with some seriously beefed up specs for the 13-inch MacBook Pro 2019, and even more so if you go for the larger 15-inch model.
As such, right now it's the best laptop for music production.The headline Touch Bar – a thin OLED display at the top of the keyboard can be used for any number of things, most notably the features within Logic Pro X 10.4.5. It's certainly retained Apple's sense of style, but it comes at a cost. This is a pricey machine, so you may want to consider one of the Windows alternatives in our best laptops for music production guide.If you're open to switching to a PC, definitely consider the XPS 13 or the excellent MateBook X Pro. But, if you're a steadfast Apple diehard, this is definitely the best laptop for you!Read ourThe online right now. White option is pricierThere’s a good reason why this one was at the top of our best laptops for music production list for three years running. The 2019 Dell XPS 13 is a slimmer, more powerful version of the award-winning laptop with a stunning 4K display, touchscreen and a stunning silver of black carbon colour options.The Dell XPS 13 rocks an 8th-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and a bezel-less ‘Infinity Edge’ display, this Dell XPS 13 continues to be the most popular Windows laptop in the world.What’s more, there’s a wide range of customisation options, so you can really make the Dell XPS 13 the best laptop for your music production needs.Read our. No Thunderbolt 3The Huawei MateBook X Pro is our pick for the best laptop for music production money can buy in 2020.
After years of this list being dominated by the (still excellent) Dell XPS 13, the MateBook X Pro has proved to be a truly brilliant challenger.This is a gorgeously-designed laptop with a stunning screen (albeit with a rather odd aspect ratio), and it comes packed with cutting edge components that allows it to perform brilliantly, and a battery life that runs rings around many of its rivals.It also has a very competitive price, giving you features, design and performance for quite a bit less money. Sadly, it's not available in many countries, so if you struggle to grab hold of it, look into getting the Dell XPS 13, which is our number two pick for the best laptop.
Too few ports for its sizeMicrosoft's second attempt at a pure laptop device is an absolute winner in our view, and while it doesn't represent 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 laptop experience. If you're not sold on the 2-in-1 nature of the Surface Book 2, but love Microsoft's premium build quality and design, then the Surface Laptop 2 is the laptop for you. A very worth addition to our best laptops for music production guide.Read our full. Not the most discreet!At the higher end of the gaming PC spectrum - not a bad place for music producers to look when sheer power 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 16 GB of RAM, you know this machine can chew through any audio production task you throw at it.Hudson Mohawke, the Scottish electronic producer, is a known fan, and with good reason. Once you get past the garish colour scheme and 'edgy' gamer branding, you have an immensely capable, lightweight computer that would rival many traditional desktop arrangements. Battery life could be betterMSI is one of the more respected names in gaming PCs, so it figures that their flagship mid-range offer features some decent internals. The MSI GF63 is the ideal blend of performance and aesthetics, and would make a superb laptop for anyone using their laptop for live performance or as a portable studio on account of its thin form factor and cooling features.Performance-wise, it's packing a 2.4 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 up to 64GB so the potential for future-proofing your rig is clear. As your live sets or studio sessions grow in size, so too can your laptop.
Not a lot of spec for the moneyAs Microsoft's riposte to Apple's dominance, the stakes were high when it released the Surface Pro series. With Apple's hold on creative professionals being so strong, the Surface Pro had a lot to live 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 be, but as a device geared towards portability it's near impeccable.The main stumbling block will be 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 can throw at you, it's a solid option. A quoted full day of battery life is not to be sniffed at either. Down-firing speakersWhile you may have been convinced that ‘budget Ultrabook’ was an oxymoron up until this point, the Acer has turned this common misconception on its head with the Swift 3.
That’s because the company has taken the all-aluminum chassis of the Acer Swift 7 and stuffed some more affordable components inside for everyone to enjoy.It doesn’t run macOS, but the Acer Swift 3 does put the age-old MacBook Air to shame in about every other regard, including the nigh-unbeatable price tag. Of course, in the process of demolishing the competition, Acer did have to cut a few corners in order to keep the price so impressively low.So although you can’t expect much in the way of an Ultra HD display or quality onboard sound, the performance benchmarks alone give even the Surface Laptop a run for its money.
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