How to choose a laptop for music production in 2023

Buyer's guide to choosing the best laptop for music production for your budget

To produce electronic music, a good PC is indispensable. Rather than a fixed computer, many producers generally turn to portable devices. This way, you can jot down some musical ideas even on the move. If you then need a bigger screen for those times when you are in the studio, you can always connect an external monitor.

Of course, the budget is paramount, which is why we will divide the guide into price ranges, so that you can see which devices are compatible with your possibilities.

Consider that in a PC for audio production, the elements that count most are CPU and RAM. The graphics card is decidedly less important in audio work. Compactness and portability are also fundamental.

BUDGET $500-1000

This is the minimum figure from which to start when buying a laptop for audio production. Going below EUR 500 is strongly discouraged, because in the long run you may have performance problems that will not allow you to work properly.

HUAWEI MateBook D15

A cheap but good quality laptop, suitable for those on a fairly tight budget. The display is a 15.6″ Full HD with thin edges, which makes this laptop quite comfortable to use on the move without giving up a large screen. The weight is also quite low: only 1.53 kg.

The processor is an Intel Core i3-10110U and the RAM memory is 8GB, enough for not too complex projects. There is an SSD of only 256GB, which is very little for producing music. The number of samples and instruments that can be stored will be rather low, so you have to take into account that you will most likely need to purchase additional external memory.

The design is quite nice, and the presence of a fingerprint reader is very welcome. The price is 549 euros on Amazon.

ASUS VivoBook 15 S513EA and K513EA

Going up in price, we already find some more interesting features. On this VivoBook we find a 15.6″ Anti-Glare Full HD monitor, 11th generation Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor and 8Gb RAM. The SSD is 512GB, already something extra but still insufficient in many cases. Additional memory will almost certainly be needed in the future to store sounds. The design is discreet, fairly light (1.8Kg) but with not very thin bezels and not very 'premium' appearance.

It can be purchased at a price of around EUR 699. If you want, the K513EA variant is available, which has a much better processor, the 11th generation Intel Core i7-1165G7 at a price of 899 euros.

HUAWEI MateBook 14 2021

Excellent laptop with good performance and a great display. The screen is 14″ Full View with 2K resolution, the processor is an Intel Core i7-1165G7 with 16GB RAM. Sufficiently powerful for projects with a bit more complexity. Unfortunately, the SSD is 512GB, so not very capacious.

Apple MacBook Air M1

Macbooks are among the favourite laptops of electronic music producers and DJs. The main reason for this is the reliability of these computers, which always stay performing for several years. This MacBook Air has a 13.3″ Retina screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1660 pixels. The processor is Apple's M1 with an 8-core CPU, which is very powerful and can easily handle the most complex projects. The unified memory is 8GB. The SSD is only 256GB, far too little, requiring additional external media. Beautiful design and portability at its best. If desired, it can be configured with more unified memory and SSD capacity, but prices go up a lot.

Highly recommended if you are already familiar with the Apple ecosystem (but not only). List price is 1159 euro, but by now you can easily find it under 1000 euro on the internet. On Amazon, it can be purchased for around 999 euros.

BUDGET 1100/1999 euro

At these figures, one starts to enter the medium-high bracket with higher performance and larger memory capacities.

HUAWEI MateBook X Pro 2021

A respectable Windows PC with good performance and a great screen. The display is 13.9″ with 3K Full View resolution and a touchscreen, with very thin edges. The processor is an Intel i5-1135G7 with 16GB RAM. The integrated 1TB SSD allows you to store a lot of sound without any problems.

The design is also excellent, very neat, thin and light. You can buy it for around €1199.

ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 UX535LI

Again, this is a very good device. Aesthetically pleasing, very thin and light with a 15.6″ Full HD Anti-Glare screen. Intel Core i7-10870H processor and 16GB RAM. The SSD is unfortunately not very capable, only 512GB. It is worth choosing this laptop if you want a slightly larger screen but still a small size.

You can buy it for around 1499 euros.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603HE#B08CN1VGC6

High-performance computer, usually used for gaming, but can also be used for production if necessary. The monitor is 16″ with 1920 x 1200 resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. Excellent processor, 11th generation Intel Core i9-11900H with 16GB RAM. The only flaw is the SSD, only 512GB.

BUDGET 2000 euros +

We are in the 2000 euro+ range, where we find professional laptops suitable for those who often work with audio.

DELL XPS 15 9500

Interesting pc for its features in price ratio. The screen is 15.6″ with 3840 x 2400 resolution and Touch Screen. The processor is a 10th generation Intel Core i7 with 16 GB RAM. Fairly capacious 1TB SSD. Fairly neat design.

Buyable for around 2400 Euros.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603HR#B08CMZ8CQL

A more powerful version of the previous PC. The screen is the same except for a higher resolution (2560 x 1600) and 165Hz refresh rate. The processor is an Intel Core i7-11800H with 16GB RAM and the SSD reaches 1TB of space. A great PC for those who prefer to use Windows.

You can buy it for EUR 2600.

Apple MacBook Pro 2021

Introduced a short while ago by Apple, these laptops offer absurd power but with the advantage of unrivalled battery life. This makes them great for producing even if you are not in the studio.