In this guide you will learn how to identify the feature to take into account when choosing a laptop. But not just any laptop, choose the best among the best laptops to produce music. With our expert advice, fun facts and important information this guide is ideal for investing your money well in a laptop.
Let’s talk a little about music production, music editing and DJing in general. Nowadays and since the invention of art, music has been a fundamental part of the human being. Music has reached such a level of importance that more and more editing techniques are being used.
Anyone can be a musician, but not everyone knows how to edit, master, equalize or produce a song. It takes years of practice and knowledge to do a good job of music editing. And nowadays, a good laptop is an important tool for music production.
| Ranking | Name | Best Feature | Current Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple MacBook Air (13 inch) | Intel Core i5 dual-core 8th Gen Processor | ||
| Medion S3409 | 8 GB RAM & 256 GB SSD |
Contents
What Is Important in a Music Production Laptop?
For a DJ or music producer a very important tool is the laptop, in which they can do the work. Knowing which technical specifications are the best for our ideal laptop is very important when choosing it.
See Also: Industrial Design Laptop
In this comparison we do not take into account the audio output to the speakers, because we try to do it in the best possible way when listening to our work and for that we have good headphones.
The most important thing is the music editing programs, DJ and mixes that we can use. To be able to count on this and not have problems, we must unify certain specifications to obtain our work tool.
That’s why we present you below the features you should consider and why, when choosing your best option in laptops for music production
See Also: Photo Editing Laptop
Operating System
Our laptop consists of two parts: software and hardware. The software is everything we cannot touch, which contains the algorithms and is essentially made up of the programs. And by everything we see on the screen.
The computer can be of two types, 32-bit and 64-bit. With the passage of time, laptops with 32-bit systems are increasingly obsolete. With 64-bit and more dominating the market today.
The best thing we can do is to choose to buy a laptop with a 64-bit system and include the operating system (software) that we like or prefer. Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS are two of the most used operating systems.
It is important that we know that each operating system comes with its unique applications. Programs like Garageband are unique to macOS while Power Sound Editor is exclusive to Windows.
We recommend that depending on the operating system you choose, be it Windows, Apple or Linux, you choose the most up-to-date system. Windows 10, macOS v10.14 or the Linux of your preference.
See Also: Live Streaming Laptop
RAM Memory
Our computer needs to process the information from the programs and to achieve this faster, it uses a special type of memory. RAM (Random Access Memory) is the memory that retains the data that the programs use for a moment and then deletes it.
This type of memory is known as “volatile” because when the laptop is turned off, the data it contained is deleted. Music production, music editing and DJ programs require a minimum of available RAM memory to run smoothly.
The programs we will need, depending on their characteristics, will require between 4 GB and 8 GB of RAM. Why? Music executables are programs that do not work with extremely high data, such as videos or high quality images.
That’s why 8 GB of RAM is very usable in terms of laptop RAM. We should also know that there is a RAM standard that will give us limits on transfer speed, power consumption and total or partial use of memory.
There are currently RAM memories in the market with DDR3, DDR4 and even DDR5 standards. The higher the number of standards, the better the technology, and therefore, the better the performance.
See Also: Laptop for College Student
Processor
As for the processor, our laptop must have a good generation and cores. The processor is the unit that takes care of everything that happens inside our laptop. It is important to have a processor that ensures speed and good performance.
Music production, editing and DJ programs require at least an i5 processor from Intel, this is what developers recommend. We must know what to look for in the processor when choosing our ideal laptop.
Data such as generation, number of cores, clock frequency and model is important to choose a good processor. We recommend you to buy a laptop that is i7 or higher, with 2 cores or more and with a clock frequency equal or higher than 2 GHz.
Storage
When we talk about laptop storage, we mean the amount of memory available that can be kept permanently. It is the opposite of “volatile” memory and therefore, when the laptop is turned off, data is not lost.
See Also: 2 in 1 Convertible Laptop
This memory will keep all the data we ask it to remember, plus the data necessary for the operation of the operating system and programs will be installed in it. It is important to have a good amount of storage memory.
There are two types of storage nowadays: Solid-State Disk (SSD) and Hard Drive Disk (HDD). The first one is faster than the second one because of the technology it uses and it is also more expensive. Between the two types there is also a third type: hybrid which is storage that is based on both types, both SSD and HDD.
See Also: Interior Design Laptop
We recommend that you choose SSD storage because of its speed in accessing data. Much better would be a hybrid storage but this option is contemplated for those who can spend a little more.
And remember, the more storage, the more space to save data therefore, direct access to the information we require.
See Also: Best 3D Modeling & Rendering Laptops
To be able to hear and appreciate your work well, it is best to use good headphones or external amplifiers.
Graphics Card
A graphics card or GPU graphics processing unit is a great way to take advantage of music production programs. Some music editing programs also come with video editing functions, so a graphics card is not out of place.
The recommendation we give you, if you want to take advantage of these programs in addition to having excellent graphics for anything, is that your ideal laptop has a dedicated graphics card brand NVIDIA with at least 2 GB of GRAM.
See Also: Best Programmers Laptops
Screen
It is important that our laptop has the appropriate resolution that allows us to visualize music production programs without problems. For this, we look at the maximum resolution supported by the screen in addition to the size in inches.
A good size in inches for a laptop screen is 15.6. It is not a small or very large screen, which prevents us from easily transporting it. And that supports at least the HD resolution which is 1320 x 768 pixels.
Many music production, DJ and audio editing programs require a minimum HD resolution.
Ports
More and more laptops are manufactured without ports or only with some of them. The ports that the laptop has, no matter what type, are necessary for the external connection of information.
See Also: Best Business Work Laptops
With the ports we can receive or send information in different ways. The types of ports that our laptop can have are USB, SD, HDMI, Ethernet, among others. USB ports are very useful because they transmit in both directions a lot of information.
We can connect a DVD-ROM drive, connect a small amplified speaker, access removable drives and more just with the USB ports. Also a slot for an SD card is very good because we can work with it directly when passing data from one place to another.
If we want to watch a movie or make a presentation in a conference room, the HDMI port will be of great help. And if the wireless connection starts to fail, we need a more stable connection and we have a wired network, the Ethernet port can help us.
Finally, take a good look at the ports your laptop has when you buy it.
See Also: Best Architects Laptops
The Best Option for Professional Producers
If you’re looking for the best laptop for music production and don’t know which one to choose, here’s the answer: Apple MacBook Air 13″.
Apple MacBook Air (13 inch)
Apple is a brand that produces notebooks with incredible processing speeds, stylish for carrying comfort and also with unique technologies, which are very useful.
See Also: Best Ultrabooks Laptops
It has a 13.3-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 and True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the color of the display based on the ambient color temperature. It has 48% more color than the previous generation.
In terms of processing, this laptop has everything and more for the music production programs that every DJ needs. An Intel Core i5 dual-core, eighth-generation processor running at 1.6 GHz to 3.6 GHz with Turbo Boost. Accompanied by 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD storage. Guaranteed speed.
See Also: Best SSD Laptops
Another innovative Apple technology is Touch ID, which allows us to easily unlock the laptop without passwords, protects files and allows us to open them without further ado and provides security over all our information. A vault with Apple’s T2 Security that encrypts all our data without any leakage.
The RAM memory can be expanded to 16 GB, making it a real powerhouse in data processing. And not only this, its design based 100% on recyclable aluminum material gives it a weight of no more than 1.25 kg and a thickness of 1.56 cm. This laptop is the most portable of the laptops.
See Also: Best Laptops without an Operating System
It also gives us safely up to 12 hours of battery life that will allow us to work where we want, when we want without worrying about finding a power source.
The Apple MacBook Air has only ThunderBolt 3 (USB-C) ports which is multifunctional no matter which one is being used. You can charge your laptop, connect monitors, transfer data and even synchronize mobile devices all from the same port.
And as for laptop sound, important to professional music producers, this generation comes with 25% more volume than the previous one, a wider sound range means twice as much bass and a set of three microphones that record with great precision and the least possible noise.
See Also: Best Laptops without Breaking the Bank
With nothing more to add, this laptop is the best choice for professional music production.
MacBook Air is a powerful notebook that compensates the range of its processor with the speed offered by its unique SSD storage. In addition, it has cutting-edge technology, design and unique features that always position it as an excellent option, not only for producing music but for any work in general.
See Also: Best Small & Mini Laptops
For Djs or Producers with Limited Budget
We should not worry about spending thousands of dollars on a laptop for music production when there are good, cheap options. One of them and the best one is: Medion S3409.
See Also: Best Linux Operating System Laptops
Medion S3409
With a weight of 2.1 kg this laptop is light and has 13.3 inches of screen, enough to work without problems because it comes with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels which is FullHD.
An Intel Core i7-7500U dual-core processor from 2.7 GHz to 3.5 GHz frequency along with 8 GB of DDR3L RAM. In addition, its 256 GB SSD storage gives us the necessary speed so that we never waste time processing our mixes.
See Also: Best 4k Screen Resolution Laptops
It has an integrated Intel HD Graphics card, which is not bad for the graphics that DJex programs use. It comes with Windows 10 Home 64 bits, the whole office package and more.
It offers us battery life of around 8 hours, depending on the use and performance we give it. It also comes with 3 ports, 2 USB and one HDMI so we don’t lose connection in any way.
This laptop has everything to be used by DJs who want to produce their songs.
See Also: Best Ultra Lightweight Laptops
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Do the laptops in the comparison include the music production programs?
No, they do not. We must download them directly from the network, with a DVD-ROM drive or with the software that installs it. There is a lot of variety in free music editing software.
Q: What are the best music editing programs?
Programs such as Audacity, Wavepad, FL Studio and Pro Tools are widely used in the music industry. Also this Power Sound Editor exclusively for Windows; Fission and GarageBand for Mac. Logic Pro X is another excellent software that has many interesting editing features.
Q: How much RAM does my laptop need for music production?
If you read the article, you should know that between 4 GB and 8 GB are excellent amounts of RAM for music production programs used by DJs. 4 GB is the minimum and 8 GB is the optimum. More than that, we will have plenty of RAM that will allow us to run more programs more easily.
Q: Will I need instruments to be able to compose, record or listen to my music?
With the advance of technology, it is possible to create music without playing a single instrument. Music editing programs come with something called “plugins” which are responsible for the very real sound that we will be able to use in our compositions.
You don’t necessarily need to have the instrument by your side, play it and record it to add it to your track. With the extensions of the programs and the technology MIDI, your music does not have limitations.
Keep visiting Laptop Guide to read latest reviews, news related to upcoming laptops and more.
References
https://www.podcastinsights.com/best-music-production-laptops/
https://musiccritic.com/equipment/studio/best-laptops-music-production/
https://www.musicradar.com/news/best-laptops-for-music-production
