8 Best Laptop for Music Production (March 2023)

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If you just began your music production career and looking for the best laptop for music production, this list is just for you. We will give you some of the best laptops you can use to produce really dope music.

We tried to add laptops in every price spectrum so that you can get the best in your budget. Here you will also find some of the best budget laptops for music production and premium laptops for better music production. These laptops are capable of handling DAWs like Ableton LIVE, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Reaper, Reason, Studio One and other popular DAW that you might want to use. DPC latency is also low on these laptops, making them ideal for music production.

Also, I’ve been producing music as a hobby using FL Studio on Windows and Garageband on macOS.  I know what is required in an ideal music production laptop.

Also See: Best Gaming Laptop under $2000

8 Best Laptops for Music Production in 2023

Before curating this list of best music production laptops, we made sure that you get a smooth experience while working on DAWs or playing any MIDI instruments like MIDI guitar or MIDI keyboard. Usually, things get hard when a music producer tries to record multiple tracks or try to add plugins, and effects at once. To overcome that and for smooth working, get the highest processor, RAM & Storage variant that you can afford.

Sound libraries, plugins, and samples take a lot of storage and that is the reason why you need more storage like 1TB. To record music, add effects and work on multiple tracks, a good amount of RAM is required to keep everything running. Most of the DAW suggest 8GB RAM but more RAM would be better.

To manage everything properly, a good processor is all we need. Do not go less than the Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 processor. Prefer getting an i7 or Ryzen 7 processor for a smooth, responsive experience. So without any further ado, let’s start our list of best Laptops for music production in 2023 and drop some music albums:

1. Apple MacBook Pro – Best MacBook for Music Production

Whenever we talk about music production, content creation, video editing, photo editing, etc. MacBook Pro is something that strikes in mind first. MacBook Pro is a top-of-the-line laptop that is made for sheer performance. Take any DAW you want to use for music production, this Macbook Pro will give you the experience people dream of.

Under the hood, it runs on Apple’s very own M1 Pro chipset which not only gives you performance but also gives you long battery life that is not possible on any other laptop right now. The 10-Core CPU is optimized to give you a fluid experience. Along with that, we also have 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. You can also upgrade the specification up to 32GB RAM and 8TB SSD.

With this machine, you can run any DAW like Ableton LIVE, Logic Pro, Pro Tools and FL Studio to its full capacity. You can also ask Apple to install Logic Pro if you don’t have one already. We all know that music production software has gorgeous but heavy animations, spectrum graphs, and colors and other graphic-oriented interfaces.

So to process everything smoothly, Macbook Pro comes with a 16-Core GPU that handles all the graphics on the screen.

To display all those gorgeous interfaces, we have a massive 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display that looks absolutely gorgeous. It got the best dynamic range, contrast, and brightness up to 1000 nits XDR Peak Brightness and 1600 nits HDR peak brightness. Every music production software gives you top of a line user interface on this display.

You can also get a 14-inch display but the big screen is preferred for music production as there are a lot of knobs, and options that we want to see clearly and the small screen tightened up the whole interface. Talking about the big screen, you can check these 17 inch laptops for a better music production experience.

While producing music, a lot of gears and instruments are required and to connect them to your music production laptop, Macbook Pro offers you a 3x USB Type-C port, 1 HDMI port, 3.5mm headphone jack, and an SDXC card slot. RJ-45 Ethernet port is missing but if you really wanted to connect the ethernet LAN cable to your MacBook, you should see this guide to connect Ethernet cable without RJ-45 LAN port.

If you want to connect a MIDI keyboard or MIDI guitar with a USB Type-A port, you need to use an adapter which is totally okay considering the kind of powerful machine we are getting. The battery backup you are going to get is ~21 hours which is just amazing for a laptop.

The six speakers system on Macbook Pro is, no doubt, the best speaker setup with woofers but most music producers use Audiophile headphones or studio headphones to master the music which helps them to give an accurate idea about the sound, pitch, tone, velocity, transitions, effects etc. With portable monitors, you can extend the display and get more display area for producing music.

Overall, if you have the budget and looking for a professional or high-end music production laptop, this MacBook Pro is just the best laptop for music production. You can even edit professional-looking music videos on it.

Buy Now: Amazon

2. ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo – Laptop with Dual OLED Touch Screen

For almost the same pricing, Asus is giving you something that is just perfect for music production. With dual OLED touchscreens, Asus ZenBook Pro Duo looks like a laptop from the future but it makes perfect sense when it comes to music production.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo runs on 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, coupled with 16GB RAM & 1TB SSD. This specification can brilliantly handle all the music production software and MIDI instruments. You don’t need to worry while working on the multiple tracks with effects and plugins installed. Every DAW gives you a smooth, responsive user experience without any compromises. For graphics, we also have a 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU for handling all the graphics parts.

See Also: Best Gaming Monitor for RTX 4090

Now let’s talk about the displays which are the main attraction of this laptop. The main display of the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo is a 15.6 inches OLED touchscreen display with 4K 3840 x 2160p resolution. You can turn all kinds of knobs, set reverb, delay, play drums, piano, tune the mixer using your own hand. The touchscreen display is just perfect for music production. It is kind of an instrument itself.

Along with that gorgeous OLED display, we have another 14-inch 4K display with a matte finish over it. Asus calls it ScreenPad Plus. ScreenPad Plus acts as an extension to the main display and you can also split screens. If you are looking for the best laptop for music production and video editing, Asus ZenBook Pro Duo is just for you. The music production on Asus ZenBook Pro Duo is absolutely the dream of many budding music producers.

Check out this Asus Zenbook Pro Duo demo video with Bitwig Studio which is another popular DAW available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Apart from all that, we have a couple of connectivity ports that let you connect to MIDI instruments, guitar amplifiers, mic, and whatnot. The port includes USB 3.2 Type-A, 2x Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C, HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm Headphone/mic combo jack and a DCI-in port. You will also get ASUS active stylus pen that you can use to draw sound patterns, play with graphs, and much more.

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If you are looking for the best music production laptop, Asus ZenBook Pro Duo is just the epitome of music production laptops. Running on Windows 11, Asus ZenBook Pro Duo is the best laptop for music production one can get.

Buy Now: Amazon

3. MSI Creator M16 – Best Creator Laptop

MSI never fails to impress me and MSI Creator M16 is another reason why. As the name is suggesting, MSI Creator M16 is a laptop made for content creators. Be it music production, video editing, LIVE streaming, gaming or anything you can imagine. It is a fully loaded laptop that is also brilliant for music production.

Under the hood, MSI Creator 16 runs on the 12th Intel Core i7, 8 Core processor coupled with a whopping 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD. If you still have questions about the performance of this laptop, you need a new perspective on how you think about laptops. It is just perfect for professional-grade music production and other creator work.

Every music production software, plugin, and effects run buttery smooth without any sort of jitter, lag, or whatsoever. Since it is a creator laptop, you also get to see 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU which will majorly improve the graphics on the display. You can also connect the monitor for RTX 3060 for an even better viewing experience.

Be it animations or video rendering, this GPU is powerful enough to give you super gorgeous on-screen graphics. If you are looking for the best laptop for music production and video editing, there is nothing better than MSI Creator M16.

Moving forward to the display of this laptop. MSI Creator M16 comes with a massive 16-inch display with a 16:10 Aspect ratio. Usually, you will see a 16:9 aspect ratio in laptops but this laptop is made for more screen area. Along with that, we also have better screen resolution. While other laptops come with Full HD resolution, this laptop comes with QHD+ 2560*1600p resolution covering 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. Accurate, bright colors are what you can expect with this laptop.

The cooling system of MSI Creator M16 is also designed in such a manner that keeps the system cool so that you can get maximum performance while rendering multiple tracks or recording multiple tracks. MSI has equipped 2 fans and 4 heat pipes that make sure that CPU and GPU remain cool while you are rendering multiple tracks to make that magical song of yours on Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Ableton LIVE or any other DAW.

MSI Creator M16 is also rich in ports & connectivity options. We have 2x USB 3.2 Type-A ports, 1x USB Type-C port, HDMI port, a 3.5mm headphone/mic combo jack & RJ-45 LAN port. With these wide arrays of connectivity options, you will be able to connect mic, MIDI instruments, Mixers and other gear and equipment at once which is a little convenient when you are playing with multiple pieces of equipment.

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Running on Windows 11, MSI Creator M16 is one of the best Windows laptop for music production. If you are looking for the best laptop for music production, video editing & gaming, there is no nothing better than this powerful windows laptop.

Buy Now: Amazon

4. ASUS VivoBook 15 – Cheap Laptop for Music Production

The above-mentioned laptops are top-of-the-line laptops for music production but if you are looking for the best laptop for music production under $300, Asus Vivobook 15 is something you can consider. It comes with a decent specs sheet which is enough for beginners. This laptop is not powerful enough to handle multi-tracks and that is something you should know.

Under the hood, Vivobook is powered by an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 processor. Intel Core i5 processor fulfills the minimum requirement to run DAWs like FL Studio, Ableton Live and other popular DAWs. Along with that, we have 12GB DDR4 RAM and 512GB M.2 SSD. Everything on Vivobook is satisfactory and this laptop checks everything you need for music production. Asus laptops are also known for low DPC Latency which is definitely a good thing for music production.

The storage is very limited on this laptop but as an alternative, you can easily connect a 1TB external SSD for backup and storage. For installing DAWs, 128GB is good enough.

The display of Asus Vivobook 15 comes with 15.6 inches display with Full HD 1920x1080p resolution. The display looks absolutely gorgeous and bright. Every option in DAW is clearly visible on this display and there is nothing you are missing.

For connectivity, it comes with a wide range of ports like USB 3.2 Type-A, USB Type-C port, HDMI, Card Reader, and 3.5mm headphone mic combo jack. You will also see a fingerprint reader on the Vivobook just for the sake of security. Asus also added a backlit keyboard which is definitely a good add-on especially if you like to produce music on a low-lit room.

Overall, Asus Vivobook 15 is a well-balanced laptop that gives you great value for money. If you are looking for the best laptop for music production under 300, Asus Vivobook 15 is something worth considering.

Buy Now: Amazon

5. HP Pavilion 15 – Affordable Laptop for Music Production

Moving forward to another budget laptop for music production and here we have HP Pavilion 15 which comes with everything you need to produce high-quality music. If you are specifically looking for a laptop with an Intel i7 processor at an affordable price, HP Pavillion 15 is for you.

It runs on the latest 12th Gen Intel Core i7, 10-core processor coupled with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. HP Pavillion 15 is offering you 10 core processor, which is any day better than Quad-core or 4-core processor in Asus Vivobook 15 mentioned above. I would highly recommend you to go with the processor with more cores as you will see a significant difference in both processors. Also, there are no huge differences in the pricing.

This laptop also checks everything you need to smoothly run music production software. The 512GB SSD is something that might bother you in the future but an external SSD can solve the problem. Considering the price point, the i7 10-core processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD, it is a totally value for money laptop.

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Talking about the display, it has 15.6 inches Full HD 1920x1080p resolution IPS display that looks pretty good to the eyes. The bezels are thin which also gives you a sense of widescreen and an immersive viewing experience. The 15.6-inch size is also suitable for music production. The colors and viewing angles of the display are satisfying. The whole user interface of DAW looks pretty slick on the display.

The battery backup of the HP Pavillion 15 is just brilliant. You can get battery backup of up to 7 hours on a single charge and with fast charging, you get 0-50% battery with just 45 minutes of charge. That is pretty good for those who produce music on the go while traveling.

For connectivity, we have 2x USB ports, 1x USB Type-C port, an HDMI port, an SDCard slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack. With these ports, you will be able to connect all sorts of MIDI instruments, mics and other gears, and equipment. Unfortunately, this laptop doesn’t have an ethernet port but you can still connect an ethernet cable without an ethernet port if it is important to you.

Overall, HP Pavillion 15 is a good laptop for music production. For its price, we are getting a pretty good package. If you are looking for the best budget laptop for music production, this is good to go.

Buy Now: Amazon

6. Apple MacBook Air – Affordable Macbook for Music Production

Now if you don’t want to spend much on Macbook Pro but wanted to use Logic Pro or Garageband in the macOS ecosystem, Macbook Air is here for you. This Macbook Air is good for everyone who wanted a super portable yet extremely powerful laptop for music production.

MacBook Air runs on Apple’s very own M2 chip which is an 8-core processor, ready to give you a fluid, high-quality music production experience. To make things run smoothly, we have 8GB RAM and for storage, it comes with 512GB SSD. There is another $300 cheaper variant of the Macbook Air that comes with 256GB SSD.

If that makes sense, you can consider that one. If you want my thoughts on that, I will say, go for 512GB SSD if you are looking forward to adding more sound samples, plugins and other add-ons. As mentioned by Apple, 72GB of space is required if you want to install the full sound library of Logic Pro. So, act accordingly.

The specs on this Macbook Air fulfill the minimum requirement of all the popular music production software. If you only use Logic Pro and Garageband, you don’t need to worry as Macbook is fully compatible.

Apart from that, 13.6 inches Liquid Retina display looks absolutely gorgeous. For graphics, we also have a 10-Core GPU that gives all the gorgeous colors and smoothens the animations. With a peak brightness of 500nits, the display is never an issue on Macbook.

For connectivity, we have MagSafe charging port, 2x thunderbolt USB Type-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Unfortunately, there are no USB Type-A ports and if you have a MIDI keyboard (like Akai MPK25) that works with USB Type-A, you need to buy a USB Type-C to USB Type-A adapter or cable.

MacBook Air is the most affordable Apple laptop for music production that also comes with a powerful M2 Chip with 8GB RAM. There are no audio latency issues on Macbooks and works smoothly with Logic Pro, GarageBand as well other DAWs. If you are looking for the best laptop for music production, Macbook Air is an easy recommendation.

Buy Now: Amazon

7. ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 – Windows Laptop for Music Production

Here we have the best Windows laptop for music production at an affordable price tag. Also, ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is powered by AMD Ryzen 7 processor which is equivalent or says slightly better than the Intel Core i7 processor. Let’s talk about ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 in detail.

This laptop is powered by a 4th 2.9GHz AMD Ryzen 7, 8-Core Processor. The performance of AMD Ryzen 7 is top-notch and can easily handle all the popular music production software. AMD Ryzen 7 processor when coupled with 16GB RAM can do wonders for you. The smooth performance and fluid multi-tasking are all you can expect. For storage, we have 1TB SSD which is good enough to install plugins, DAWs, samples, loops and whatnot.

If you are looking for a portable 14 inch laptop for music production, ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is good to go. It comes with 14 inches Full HD 1920x1080p resolution display which not only gives you a great viewing experience but also gives you an extreme level of portability. With a 120hz of refresh rate, you can also use this laptop for gaming.

See Also: Best Large Screen Tablets for Music Production

We also have a 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU which is an additional feature for better graphic processing. The animations on the DAWs like spectrum graphs and other sound patterns animations look clean and smooth on G14.

Connectivity-wise, G14 has a wide range of ports to offer. You will see USB Type-A, USB Type-C, HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, and DisplayPort in the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14. Whether it is a MIDI instrument, pedals, sound mixer or an external monitor, you can connect everything with this powerful laptop.

For its price, ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is a well-built laptop that gives you great value for money. The music production experience on ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is smooth and feels professional. If you are looking for the best windows laptop for music production with a portable design and affordable price, go for it.

Buy Now: Amazon

8. Alienware M15 R6 – Best for Music Production, Video Editing & Gaming

Alienware is a popular gaming laptop brand from Dell. It got powerful hardware that can easily run all sorts of music production software, DAWs, and Plugins and give you a great user experience. Dell promotes it as a gaming laptop but it got all the hardware you need for high-end music production, video editing, photo editing and whatnot.

Alienware M15 runs on 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H, 8- core processor coupled with huge 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD. This is a very powerful specs sheet that is ready for all the music you want to make. It fulfills the recommended system requirement of popular DAWs like Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Abelton LIVE, FL Studio and any other DAW you wanted to use.

Along with all that, we also have an 8GB Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU that gives you high-end graphics, and animations on the screen. Graphics and processing is a never an issue on this Alienware M15.

Talking about the display, it comes with 15.6 inches Full HD 1920 x 1080p resolution display which is good and gives you a better user interface than 13-inch displays. Although we don’t need response time and refresh rate for music production but if you are looking for a laptop for music production and gaming, it got a 1ms response time and 360hz refresh rate for smooth gaming performance. You can check 4K monitors here for a crispier, sharper display.

Connectivity-wise, we have ample ports for connecting MIDI instruments, microphones, guitar pedals, and amplifiers. We got USB 3.2 Type-A ports, USB Type-C ports, 3.5mm headphone jack, HDMI 2.1, Killer E2600 1Gbps rated RJ-45 Ethernet port & DCI-IN power port. Running on Windows 11, Alienware M15 R6 is a solid laptop that fulfills all the requirements for running music production software and gives you a smooth working experience. If you have a good budget and wanted the best laptop for music production, Alienware M15 R6 is just a brilliant choice to with.

Buy Now: Amazon

Best Laptop for Music Production: Final Verdict

Here we are with all the best laptops you can buy for producing music. These laptops not only fulfill minimum system requirements for popular DAWs like FL Studio, Logic Pro, Abelton LIVE, Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, Reason, Garageband, etc. but are equipped with the latest processors, the highest RAM, and large SSDs. With the above-mentioned laptops, you will be able to produce professional-grade music.

If you want to remain in Apple Ecosystem and want to use LogicPro, there is no other choice than Apple Macbook Pro and Macbook Air. MacBook Pro is a powerpack, high-performance laptop for producing music on the other hand Macbook Air is an extremely portable, lightweight, laptop that gives smooth performance but in terms of performance, it is not as great as Macbook Pro which is quite obvious. Similarly, if you want the best cheap Apple laptop for Music production, Macbook Air is an easy recommendation.

On the contrary, if you want the best Windows laptop for music production, we have some really great choices. If budget is not an issue, simply go for MSI Creator M16, Dell Alienware M15 or Asus Zenbook Pro Duo which is a super intuitive laptop you can use for music production.

If you are looking for the best laptop for music production for under $1000, we have Asus Rog Zephyrus G14 which is an outstanding laptop with a 14-inch portable size.

On the other hand, if you are looking for the best music production laptop under 300, Asus Vivobook 15 is something you can consider.HP Pavilion 15 is also an ideal laptop for those who have an extremely limited budget and no room for budget expansion. You will be able to use all the popular DAWs on these laptops but compared to high-end laptops, performance will lack somewhere.

Now if you are asking what is the best laptop for music production, you have some great laptop options to go with. Consider any laptop in this list that fits in your budget and fulfills your purpose of producing music.

Frequently Asked Questions