Apples range of Macs is an obvious choice for those looking for a computer to make music with. The choice can be overwhelming though with everything from the Mac mini all the way up to a Mac Pro. Which is Best: Mac or PC for a Music Computer Straight Talk from Tweak. G o to any computer gear-head forum, including studio-central, and simply ask this troubling question.
In this article, we will review the 12 gadgets, 9 best laptops for music production 2018 and the 3 best desktops for music production 2018 that any music producer will find handy.
Some prefer desktops over laptops because of more cored processors and for several other reasons. Desktops are much preferred in bigger studios of larger music producing companies. For that reason, we will review 3 desktops for music production, recording and mixing. If you landed in this page while trying to learn more about desktops you can skip laptop section and go directly to desktop reviews.
Laptop Suggestion for music production, music recording and music mixing
Laptop with proper configuration is the key to buying a worthy laptop for music production and other related stuffs like mixing and recording. Whether you like MAC or windows, a fast processing CPU (more plugins require much faster processor), at least (very least) 8GB of RAM, lots of space (preferably SSD PCLe),at least one 3.0 USB port are the minimum requirements of a laptop that can be used for music production, mixing, recording etc. Here is a quick overview:
- Processor: Intel® i5/AMD 10 or Better
- GPU: Good to have a discrete GPU
- Storage: At least 256GB or more depending on your need, preferably SSD
- Ports: At least one USB 3.0, much better if you have at least one Thunderbolt III or USB 3.1 (type c)
Now, we will provide you 9 samples of best laptop for music production. These laptops are optimal for mixing, recording and sampling etc. These laptops also assure smooth operation of music production software like logic pro X, Ableton live, Avid pro tools, etc.
Best laptops for music production | Music Recording | Mixing | Sampling 2018
Laptops | CPU | RAM | USB 3.0 | SSD | Price |
Acer Aspire V15 | Intel® i7 | 16GB | 2 | 256GB | Under $1200 |
ASUS ZenBook Pro | Intel® i7 | 16GB | 3 | 512GB | Under $1500 |
HP 15 | Intel® i5 | 8GB | 1 | 128GB | Under $500 |
Acer Aspire E15 | Intel® i5 | 8GB | 1 | 256GB | Under $700 |
MacBook Pro | Intel® i7 | 16GB | 2 | 256GB | Under $2000 |
Acer Aspire S13 | Intel® i5 | 8GB | 2 | 256GB | Under $800 |
LG Gram | Intel® i5 | 8GB | 2 | 256GB | Under $1000 |
Dell XPS 15 | Intel® i7 | 8GB | 2 | 256GB | Under $2000 |
Dell Inspiron i7559 | Intel® i7 | 16GB | 3 | 128GB | Under $1300 |
Acer Aspire V 15 VN7-592G-77LB- Top laptop for music production in 2018 – Recommended for professionals.
Acer believes in customer satisfaction and apparently they have engineered a great laptop to record music that is available in the market as Acer Aspire V15.
We believe Acer Aspire V15 is a great buy for the professionals while we argue amateurs and non-career professionals should refrain themselves from spending upwards of $1000 on a laptop for music production.
For a price tag of under $1200, Acer Aspire V15 comes with many features to make itself a great laptop to produce and record music.
Configuration of the Acer Aspire V15
- Processor : Intel i7, 4 cores, up to 3.5GHz
- RAM: 16GB (DDR4)
- Storage: 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD
- Ports: 1 USB type C, 2 USB 3.0
- Important information: does not have optical storage, 4 speakers are built in for better sound.
That’s a very good configuration for a music production laptop. Besides those, this Acer Aspire has 15.6 inch FHD screen and NVIDIA GTX960M graphics card.
You can expect comfortable computing with this best laptop for music production and create awesome music with its help! Highly recommended for music producers, especially professionals.
If you are looking for good 17 inch laptop for music production, mixing or recording, you can get the Acer Aspire V17 instead of the V15. They have almost similar configurations, major difference being the screen size.
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ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501VW- Excellent 15 inch ASUS laptop for music mixing, recording and production in 2018
You can smoothly run Logic pro, Ableton, cubase or any other similar programs on this Windows 10 laptop.
ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501VW is the latest edition of ASUS laptop and it fortunately comes with all the features that are essential for producing and mixing music.
This top laptop for recording music is high performing, multi-purpose laptop with a budget price tag of less than $1500.
Quad core Intel i7 processor, 16GB RAM, 512 GB PCLe® SSD make it an optimal laptop to produce music. It has three 3.0 USB ports as well as one Thunderbolt III port which you can use to connect your external gears.
It has 15.6 inches with 4k UHD for excellent resolution. This laptop has backlit keyboard and is a very powerful workstation laptop for music production.
This is an excellent choice for music producers who are looking for the best laptop for music production 2018!
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HP 15- Cheap, good laptop for music production under $500 in 2018
On a tight budget? Here is just the great laptop for you if that is the case. This is a good laptop for music production under $500.
Although it can be bought for a ridiculously cheap price of under $500, it does come with minimum required configurations of a laptop for music production.
HP 15 has Intel® i5 processor (2 cores, 2.3 GHz) installed in combination with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD. The HP 15 has just one 3.0 USB port available.
It comes with fairly good design & 15.6 inch FHD screen. HP 15 has good sound output, thanks to the DTS surround sound. It comes with latest Windows 10 pre-installed.
This laptop will handle most of the work, although but we ask the professional music producers to consider one of the other laptops from this list. But, this is a great option if you are on a budget or are a starter/amateur.
For the price, it is as good as it gets. We can confidently tag this laptop as one of the top laptop for mixing and other music works for under $500.
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Acer Aspire E 15 – Top laptop for music production under $700 in 2018
The Acer Aspire E 15 is another great laptop with the right configurations needed for a laptop for music production.
It comes with two high speed 3.0 USB ports to connect to your gears as well as one USB 3.1 (C), Intel i7 processor, 25GB SSD and 8GB RAM.
The Acer Aspire E15 is definitely worth checking out and we recommend this workstation laptop for music producing, recording and mixing purposes.
It is a great laptop, especially if you are using excessive plugins and tracks. If you need more than 2 high speed 3.0 USB, you can always consider buying a USB hub for under $50.
What about the price? Don’t worry, ACER got you covered as it can be purchased for under $700.
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Apple MacBook Pro- Best MacBook for Music production under $2000 – 2018
There are many different versions of Apple MacBooks. We went over a huge list of MacBook pros and it wasn’t really difficult to choose the winner for music related works. Our winner is Macbook Pro MJLQ2LL/A.
This is a 15.4 inch MacBook pro with solid configurations for audio recording, editing and production.
The MacBook Air is rated at 12 hours of battery life compared to 10 hours on the MacBook Pro, but unfortunately, it only gets a 30-Watt charger compared to the 61-Watt charger Apple supplies with the Pro model. That means it could take a little longer to charge the MacBook Air. Best battery for mac air 11. That said, one of the reasons the MacBook Air gets such great battery life is because its processor and GPU are not designed for performance. The MacBook Pro is around 50 percent faster in Geekbench 4 graphics testing, which is its biggest advantage. In Geekbench 4's multi-core test, the Pro scored quite a bit higher, and we saw the same thing in Cinebench R15's CPU test.
Configuration of MacBook Pro MJLQ2LL/A
- Processor: Intel® i7 (4 cores)
- RAM: 16GB
- SSD: 256 GB (PCLe®)
- Ports: three USB 3.0, two thunderbolt 2
Many professionals choose MacBook for audio related works. A MacBook in a work desk is fairly common sight these days.
Also, it has fantastic screen resolution and good sound outputs.
We believe this particular MacBook pro is best for mixing, audio recording and producing music.
BEST DESKTOPS FOR MUSIC PRODUCTION, RECORDING and Mixing 2018
We will tell you about 3 best desktops for music production. Many professionals prefer desktops for music production. That is true if the work is performed in large studios and demands more power.
Desktops for music production must have certain minimum configurations for them to work smoothly with audio programs. Below are the minimum configurations a desktop must have for recording purposes.
- Processor: Quad core preferably
- RAM: 8GB or more preferably
- Ports: at least one USB 3.0 (more the better depending on plugins)
- Storage: As your work requires. Lot better if it has SSD
Best Desktops for music Production 2018
Desktops | Processor | RAM | USB 3.0 | Storage | Price |
Dell XPS x8900 | Intel® i7 | 24GB | 6 | 2TB+256GB SSD | Under $1500 |
Lenovo ideacentre | Intel® i5 | 8GB | 4 | 1TB+120GB SSD | Under $700 |
HP ENVY 750 | Intel® i7 | 16GB | 4 | 1TB+128GB SSD | Under $1000 |
Those are our 3 picks for the best desktops for music production. As you see in the table, they have minimum required specs to run programs.
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We would like to wish you the best of luck in your music mixing and producing career. Let other readers know what laptop you currently wish or you think is the best in the comment section below. If you happen to own a blog related to music, please share this guide to buy top laptop or desktop for recording music! in your blog! and do not forget to share this great
Best Mac Computer For Recording Music
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