The art of music production is simultaneously wide and deep, representative of the myriad different ways in which a music-minded individual can specialise.
Beat-making, songwriting, composing for film or media, recording other musicians – all fall under one big, beautiful music-production umbrella. These differing forms nonetheless have a great deal in common – the most important of which are the tools of the trade.
Yesterday’s producers relied on hardware to ply their trade, from drum machines to tape machines. Today’s digital landscape has levelled the playing field, democratising access to some of the most sought-after studio equipment in music history through emulation VSTs and software synthesisers. Meanwhile, the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) has revolutionised the way we approach recording for good.
To properly avail of today’s modern musical conveniences, though, you need a machine that’s up to the task. Many producers also need something a little more portable and practical than an at-home PC build, making laptop builds the platonic ideal. But with a wide world of laptops out there, how can you know if one is suited for music production?
The makings of a production powerhouse
When choosing a laptop for music production, one essential factor to consider is RAM.
RAM (Random Access Memory) is the memory used by your computer when it needs to access data quickly; in music production, RAM is vital for running concurrent patches or plug-ins, as well as the playback and manipulation of multiple audio tracks. If a given laptop does not have ample RAM, even relatively light DAW sessions can stutter and struggle.
Processing power is also a vital consideration. Music production software asks computers to multitask heavily, and the readiness with which a given computer can do that is partly down to the strength of its CPU. With limited processing power, crashes are far more likely, as are undesirable audio artefacts (which can be ruinously baked into works-in-progress).
The final piece of the puzzle would be the provision of solid-state storage, in the form of a built-in SSD. SSDs enable much quicker access to data, meaning sessions relying on large audio files are not hamstrung by the mechanical speed of an HDD. While less important than the ability of your computer to run complex algorithms and larger sessions, having an SSD can greatly speed up workflow.
In putting all this together, we are left with a basic blueprint by which to evaluate the many laptops on the market today.
Best laptops for music production at a glance
- Best overall: HP Envy x360 15-fe0019na Convertible Laptop – Core™ i7 - £799, HP
- Best for Apple aficionados: Apple 14” M3 Macbook Pro - £1579, Very
- Best for budding professionals on a budget: HP 14-em0005na Laptop – Ryzen™ 7 - £499, HP
- Best for the earnest beginner beatmaker: LENOVO IdeaPad 3i 15.6" Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5 - £379, Currys
- Best for indecisive producer-gamers: OMEN 16 Gaming Laptop 16-wf0005na - NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070 - £1999, Argos
- Best for gigging producers on the move: Dell XPS 13 - £898.99, Dell
- Best for multitasking hobbyists: ACER Aspire 3 15.6" Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, 512 GB SSD - £399, Currys
- Best for multimedia multi-disciplinaries: Alienware m16 - £2449, Dell
- Best for touch-sensitive tools: Microsoft Surface Studio 2 - £1980, John Lewis
- Best for dual-screen dynamism: ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo - £1149, AO
Here are ten of the best laptops for music production, that exhibit all these basic requirements and more besides.
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HP Envy x360 15-fe0019na Convertible Laptop – Core™ i7
Best: overall
Hewlett Packard is a household name for workhorse computers, and has been since the early days of home office computer ‘towers’ and internet that made that beepy noise.
Today, HP’s impact on the laptop market has been undeniable, with a vast majority of the UK’s digital marketing executives (amongst other remote workers) having been issued some form of HP laptop as their daily driver.
Becoming the unofficial work laptop of the nation doesn’t give HP enough credit for the capabilities of its more feature-rich entries, though. In fact, it is one such entry that stakes a serious claim towards being one of the best-in-class for music production. This entry is the HP Envy x360 15-fe0019na, a perhaps badly named laptop that nonetheless holds yogic propensities with an unusually powerful subset of hardware features and specs.
Its gen-13 Intel Core™ i7 processor is easily powerful enough to handle the vast majority of tasks thrown at it. Its roomy 16GB of RAM practically guarantees that there will be no slowdown or stuttering in even larger-scale sessions. It has plenty of I/O, too, with two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports for all the USB interfaces, MIDI devices and other peripherals you could think of. Its on-the-go credentials are sound, too, with a battery capable of lasting over 13 hours in the right atmospheric conditions.
This iteration of the x360, then, is arguably the perfect all-rounder. It has more than enough RAM and processing power to handle multitasking and larger, tougher DAW-based assignments, while its form factor and flexibility make it both highly portable and pleasingly interactable – and all below £800.
Buy now £799.00, HP
Apple 14” M3 Macbook Pro
Best for: Apple aficionados
It is impossible to compile a list of laptops for music production without acknowledging the sheer stature of Apple within the music and wider creative industry. Apple computers have been indelibly linked to music production for decades, but it is the last two in particular that have truly defined the part that Apple plays.
This is due, in large part, to the proprietary DAW Logic Pro (and, to a lesser extent, its freeware counterpart GarageBand), an industry standard of which knowledge and understanding is practically expected in every studio environment.
This isn’t to discount Apple’s capabilities as a hardware producer, though – and, indeed, their capabilities shine with this entrant into our round-up: the M3 Macbook Pro. Macbook Pros have been a go-to on-the-go production tool for performing and recording artists alike, but Apple’s recent shift from Intel CPUs to their own proprietary Silicon designs have represented an epochal shift in hardware capability.
The M3 is the third iteration of this chip design, and is an extremely powerful thing, with an eight-Core™ CPU that trivialises runtime for even complex calculations and requests. It also has a 10-Core™ GPU that enables hitherto unseen ability to engage with large-scale video formats and complex editing for a machine of this size.
The M3 Macbook Pro, then, is a strong and versatile machine capable of handling practically anything you could wish to throw at it. Its premium price point, though, causes many to pause for thought – even if cheaper alternatives are unable to access powerful proprietary software.
Buy now £1579.00, Very
HP 14-em0005na Laptop – Ryzen™ 7
Best for: budding professionals on a budget
HP’s entries in the budget laptop space are innumerable, with a great many different models geared towards the simpler and lighter-weight activities of the average laptop user. Most of these lower-range laptops are largely unsuitable for production work, save for some low-effort fiddling-around in sampling software and browser DAWs like Bandlab. But there are a handful of models that straddle the line between budget entry and strong performer – the HP 14-em0005na Laptop – Ryzen™ 7 being a key example.
This sub-£500 laptop is pitched as a daily driver, with web browsing and file management in mind. However, its specs reveal 8GB of RAM (double that of the average browser’s laptop), and a mid-performance edition of the higher-powered AMD Ryzen7 processor.
While 8GB of RAM can absolutely bottleneck workflows in larger productions or in using high-quality samples, it is more than enough for a beginner to explore production without encountering major difficulties. The 2x4GB configuration of this RAM (as opposed to a 1x8GB configuration) doubles its bandwidth, with the result of better performance overall. The Ryzen™ 7 7730U is a nifty thing, too, contributing to fast and nimble operation.
The HP 14-em0005na is by no means a world-changer, but it is an astonishingly swift and serviceable laptop for its price point. Those at the start of their production journey couldn’t do much better for a budget laptop than this, which could handily manage many early explorations into music-making.
Buy now £499.00, HP
LENOVO IdeaPad 3i 15.6" Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5
Best for: the earnest beginner beatmaker
Lenovo is another household name with respect to laptops, and has built a strong professional reputation off the back of its rugged roster of reliable machines. The dependability of Lenovo laptops from the base level upwards makes them a strong choice for anyone’s laptop needs, music production included.
The IdeaPad 3i sits in the lower range of their laptop roster, but should by no means be sniffed at when it comes to getting to work. Its specs are not the platonic ideal, with the Intel Core™ i5 processor leaving a little less headroom than other more powerful entries; the 8GB RAM will also be somewhat limiting. But these limitations matter little for those at the beginner end of the spectrum, and the rugged build will ensure it survives a little more punishment than others might out and about.
This is undoubtedly a budget laptop, with budget specs to show for it. But between a good build quality and a surprisingly large screen for the price point, this is as good a start as any for those taking early steps into beatmaking.
Buy now £379.00, Currys
OMEN 16 Gaming Laptop 16-wf0005na - NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070 (2023)
Best for: indecisive producer-gamers
There’s a little bit of a cheat going around in the music production community regarding choosing the right laptop, where beginners and intermediate producers are commonly pointed towards gaming laptops as a reliable first choice.
Gaming laptops typically have powerful CPUs and large amounts of RAM, making them ideal for avoiding bottlenecks when messing around with weighty audio files or CPU-intensive digital effects and synthesis.
Even if the powerful GPUs that gaming laptops offer are a little wasted on the burgeoning producer, choosing a gaming laptop is a great starting point for someone with computer-spec blindness or decision paralysis. The Omen 16 is a particularly good choice in this regard, too – being cheaper than many in its spec range. This model offers 16GB of RAM and an Intel Core™ i7 CPU for by-now well-understood speed and bandwidth, with the Omen’s architecture enabling much more labour-intensive multitasking.
Sometimes, gaming laptops can suffer at the hands of the ‘RGB tax’ – that is, a premium levied on devices that use flashy lights and ‘gamer colours’ to entice a subset of consumers. The Omen 16 does have RGB, but does not charge overmuch for its highly capable internals either. If you don’t mind looking a little edgy, this is an ideal workhorse for intensive production tasks (and can even handle video production with ease).
Buy now £1999.00, Argos
Dell XPS 13
Best for: gigging producers on the move
Dell is a heavyweight in the field of accessible workhorse laptops, and was many people’s first laptop in the heady days of Windows 7 and candy-coloured laptop cases. Dell’s laptop roster, like HP’s, runs the gamut; there are entry-level web-browsing netbooks and supercharged business-friendly workstations, with a great deal in between. Despite Dell’s attempts to curry favour with creative consumers, its reputation is closer aligned with the corporate – which is precisely why models like the XPS 13 are overlooked for their potential.
The XPS 13 is a diminutive thing, with a 13.4” screen that will feel on the cramped side for those used to larger machines. However, the small form factor hides a powerful computer, with a 12th-gen Core™ i7 processor and 16GB of RAM for heavier-duty work. The aluminium chassis is hard-wearing, and a tonic against the plastic finishes of many budget competitors. The I/O suffers a tad for the size, with only two Thunderbolt 4 ports; this, however, should be no problem for producers on the move (or indeed anyone with at least one USB-C expander).
The Dell XPS 13 is a sleeper agent, with the form factor of a netbook but the hefty brains of a competent audio workstation. While not ideal for sitting in a settled studio environment, this is an extremely powerful machine to be able to carry around with you. If you’re songwriting with other producers or simply cramming a rough mix on a long train journey, this is the perfect companion for your efforts.
Buy now £848.99, Dell
ACER Aspire 3 15.6" Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, 512 GB SSD
Best for: multitasking hobbyists
The ACER Aspire 3 is another surprisingly inexpensive entry in the mid-range laptop space, boasting a capacious SSD and 16GB of RAM. Its Core™ i5 processor is not setting the world alight, but is perfectly perfunctory for most exploratory production tasks. This laptop won’t be ideal for handling large professional recording sessions or big production jobs, but will easily manage songwriting, demo-making and medium-sized instances in your DAW of choice.
The reason this laptop makes the list, though, is its price and size against its relatively high specs. A 15.6” screen is a relatively luxury, as is the presence of a numpad – which can make a great deal of difference to efficiency and productivity in and out of music-making. This is a great choice for an all-rounder laptop that can manage day-to-day work with ease while allowing you the chance to dip your toes into the wonderful world of music production.
Buy now £399.00, Currys
Alienware m16
Best for: multimedia multidisciplinaries
Here, we’re taking the aforementioned gaming laptop ‘cheat’ to its logical conclusion, with a near-£2,500 entry from Dell-owned gaming heavyweight Alienware. The extremely high price point of this laptop is enough to turn many away, but is not over-inflated on account of its RGB tax. Actually, the price is somewhat equivalent to that of a new 16-inch Apple Macbook Pro – and there are a fair few instances where Alienware’s specs win out handily.
For one, the m16 enjoys 32GB of RAM, giving you enough headroom to never need to worry about performance issues, slowdown or project crashes. The 13th-gen Intel Core™ i9 processor is absurdly powerful, too; you’d be hard-pressed to find a DAW project or session you couldn’t run with this thing. Its I/O isn’t to be sniffed at either, with myriad ports all located at the back of the laptop for a tidy desk and a tidy mind.
Of course, a lot of the list price is justified by its graphics capabilities and the quality of its screen, things that most producers would not necessarily be concerned with. However, in unique instances such as game soundtrack design (or indeed soundtrack composition in general), having a computer capable of running complex sessions in video editing software or CG suites can make project management and creative progress a collective breeze.
The m16 would be an ‘extra’ choice for a production laptop, given its gainly size and absurd graphics-oriented specs, but choosing it would practically guarantee freedom from restrictions or bottlenecks, even when running a DAW and a video editing program concurrently. This, then, would be the choice for the multimedia multidisciplinary.
Buy now £2448.99, Dell
Microsoft Surface Studio 2 (14.4”, Intel Core™ i7)
Best for: touch-sensitive tools
Microsoft’s Surface range has been at the forefront of the touchscreen revolution, even if only as a necessary competitor to the increasingly-powerful iPad.
While tablet technology has come along a great deal, there is still a disconnect in reputation between portable touchscreen technology and ostensibly more powerful laptops. The Surface Studio 2 brings the tactility and usefulness of the tablet into the realm of high-powered workstations, being perhaps the definitive 2-in-1 laptop.
The Surface Studio 2 is a remarkably powerful device for its footprint. An Intel Core™ i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and at least 512GB of SSD storage ensure swiftness from start to finish, and the ability to work on complex or outsized projects without concern. The gimmick here is the razor-thin screen, which folds pleasingly over the keyboard to sit before your trackpad as a tablet device. It can be folded flat into full-on tablet ‘mode’ too; in tandem with (sadly separately-sold) Surface Pen, this screen can be mighty handy for tasks that benefit from fine motor skill.
Usually, such devices are best-utilised by visual creatives, whether graphic designers or illustrators. But here, the combination of processing power and precise touch screen presents new opportunities for producers. Automation tasks and punch-in effects manipulation become more tactile, enabling more musicality in even the most basic of parameter changes.
The price is a lot to ask for the specs given, but the touchscreen and its capabilities could be just the trade-up that an intermediate producer needs to re-engage with their craft.
Buy now £1980.00, John Lewis
ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo
Best for: dual-screen dynamism
ASUS is better-known for its gaming devices nowadays, with the ROG (Republic of Gamers) brand dominating the gaming laptop field. But here, it is actually one of ASUS’ non-gaming devices that steals the show – and not just with regard to computing power. The ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo is a unique laptop in today’s market, on account of being one of few with two screens.
Dual-screen setups have become an essential aspect of many computer users’ setups, and this is just as true of recording engineers and producers as it is of the average office worker – but until now, there hasn’t been a particularly viable way to bring dual-screen utility into the realm of portability (beyond spending extra on bulky second screens and other peripherals). The Zenbook Pro 14 Duo has an elegant solution, though, with a half-height touch screen that tilts up to append the bottom of the main screen.
Having the second screen makes in-the-box mixing much easier for producers, being the perfect place for a mixer window; that it is touch-sensitive is another boon, as it makes intuitive and tactile responses to creative impulses far easier. Thankfully, the hardware under the hood is just as impressive as the features that adorn it, with 16GB RAM (at minimum) and a Core™ i7 processor.
The ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo, then, is just as capable as any other mid-weight laptop with regards to hefty session requirements. The second screen may appear a gimmick, but stands to be a powerful ancillary tool when it comes to in-the-box mixing and MIDI interaction.
Buy now £1149.00, AO
Verdict
Picking out a Best laptop is not the easiest of tasks, particularly when the needs of each music producer or engineer can differ so completely.
It would be difficult not to namecheck the Apple 14” M3 Macbook Pro, given the sheer importance of Logic Pro to many professional workflows and the sheer power of this cutting-edge Silicon-era machine.
However, in terms of all-around usability, price point and accessibility, the HP Envy x360 15-fe0019na Convertible Laptop – Core™ i7 has to take the top spot. It is powerful, versatile, eminently portable and far more affordable than most of its similarly-specced competitors.
