Music production requires some serious hardware and software, so you'll need a laptop that's up to the task. A good set of baseline hardware requirements for any laptop hoping to be used and future-proofed for music production are as follows: the laptop should have, at minimum, a core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and an SSD. Those specs still leave a lot of laptops on the playing field, so we've gone ahead and narrowed the selection down to the 9 best music production laptops currently on the market.
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Though it’s on the older side, the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro is a smart choice for music production, thanks to Apple's Core Audio infrastructure and the MacBook’s hefty base model specs. With a technical foundation like that and built-in, Apple-exclusive perks like Garageband, the MacBook Retina has the market cornered when it comes to proprietary Apple music technology. You also get a sizable 15.4-inch display, comfy keyboard and plenty of ports, including full-size USB, HDMI and an SD Card slot. This machine offers long battery life, too, in case you need to produce music without a charger. Key Specs: CPU: 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 256GB | GPU: Intel Iris Pro Graphics | Display:15.4 inches (2880 x 1800) | Weight: 4.02 pounds Credit: Laptop Mag
You'd be hard-pressed to find many laptops that are sleeker and more attractive than this one. Of course, the Dell XPS 13 9370 has the hardware and raw horsepower to handle any and all of your music production needs, but it's also designed to provide one of the slimmest, trimmest and most mobile (thanks to its excellent battery life) experiences on the market. It even manages to fit a gorgeous 13.3-inch, near-borderless display into its petite form. If you have big aims for your music production but not a lot of space to cram those ambitions into, this laptop is an obvious choice. However, be aware that the XPS 13 9370's speakers produce tinny sound, so it's best to have headphones handy when producing music with this laptop. Key Specs: CPU: Intel core i7-8550U | RAM: 8GB | Storage: 256GB | GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620 | Display:13.3 inches (1920x1080) | Weight: 2.65 pounds Credit: Laptop Mag
The Razor Blade Stealth is a laptop that's great for taking your music production with you wherever, whenever, as its durable-yet-lightweight aluminum body means it can survive a little jostling while only weighing you down by a paltry 3 pounds. Couple that strong but lightweight build with the Razor Blade Stealth's Core i7-8550 processor and 13.3-inch, super sharp touchscreen display, and you've got a laptop that's not only built to handle all of your music software at once, but also capable of letting you mix your music directly with your fingertips. All things considered, it's a fantastic laptop for music makers. Key Specs: CPU: CPU Intel core i7-8550U | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 512GB | GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620 | Display:13.3 inches (3840 x 2160) | Weight: 2.8 pounds Credit: Laptop Mag
Combining beautiful product design with an ultra-small, airtight build, not an iota of space is wasted in the HP Spectre 13. It's lightweight, strong, and perfect for a variety of processing-intensive computing tasks, meaning compact, mobile music production is a cinch on one of these bad boys. However, it has a relatively dim display and lacking battery life (barely 6 hours), so consider those pitfalls when deciding if the Spectre 13's size benefits are a big enough positive to outweigh the negatives for you. Key Specs: CPU: CPU Intel core i7-8550U | RAM: 8GB | Storage: 256GB | GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620 | Display:13.3 inches (1920 x 1080) | Weight: 2.4 pounds Credit: Laptop Mag
The Asus ZenBook Pro UX550VE is a strong, fast and capable music production laptop. While its speakers are underwhelming and it doesn't feature quite the same degree of horsepower as some of the other laptops on this list, it compensates for these drawbacks with a competitive price point that makes it an easier-to-swallow purchase than its fancier rivals. Key Specs: CPU: CPU Intel Core i7-7700HQ | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 512GB | GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti | Display:15.6 inches (1920 x 1080) | Weight: 4.29 pounds Credit: Laptop Mag
As one of the most affordable laptops on this list, the Lenovo IdeaPad 720S is more than capable of handling moderately intensive music production, all for one very low price. The IdeaPad 720S also features a great set of JBL-tuned speakers and adjustable Dolby Audio settings, which makes customizing the laptop for the perfect audio experience an easy task. And it's got a bright, colorful and rich 14-inch display, to boot. Key Specs: CPU: Intel Core i5-7200U | RAM: 8GB | Storage: 256GB | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, Intel HD 620 | Display:14 inches (1920 x 1080) | Weight: 3.29 pounds Credit: Laptop Mag
The MSI GS65 Stealth Thin has everything you need for effective music production. It offers a slim build, hefty hardware and fantastic sound quality. Said sound quality is a result of the laptop's superior speaker system as well as Nahimic's built-in audio software, which lets you tinker with how you listen to your music on the Stealth Thin. Overall, this laptop is a very smart voice for tackling music production. Plus, the GS65 Stealth Thin makes seeing your work easier, since its premium 15.6-inch display sports a 144-hertz refresh rate, meaning frustrations like screen tearing and latency issues should be far and few between when working on this laptop. Key Specs: CPU: 3.9-GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 512GB | GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 | Display: 15.6 inches (1920 x 1080) | Weight: 4.1 pounds Credit: Laptop Mag
Just like any other laptop on this list, the Asus ROG Strix GL7027C has some powerful hardware under the hood and a small, portable design (though this laptop is a bit on the heavy side). Additionally, it has a very bright and colorful 17.3-inch display. However, what gives this hardcore gaming and music production-equipped laptop a unique edge is its great set of speakers, which are invaluable in music production and sound mixing situations where headphones aren't readily available. If you need a laptop with fantastic audio quality and range, this one's a no-brainer. Also, if you're an AMD purist, this laptop fits that bill. Key Specs: CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 processor | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 256GB | GPU: AMD Radeon RX580 / 4GB | Display:17.3 inches (1920 x 1080) | Weight: 7.06 pounds Credit: Laptop Mag
The Razor Blade Pro is a great music production laptop disguised as a gaming laptop. Featuring hardware like a GTX 1080 and meaty quad-core i7-7820 CPU, these components make for a powerhouse of a music production machine. If you're looking to run music plugins and software that'd strain any other laptop to the breaking point, give the Razer Blade Pro a shot. Heck, it's even got a 4K 17.3-inch touchscreen display. This workhorse has all the bells and whistles any music producer could ever want. Key Specs: CPU: 7th Gen Intel Core i7-7820HK processor | RAM: 32GB | Storage: 1TB | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB) | Display:17.3 inches (3840 x 2160) | Weight: 7.69 pounds Credit: Laptop Mag
