Intel and AMD have the monopoly here, and you get what you pay for.

In music terms, this dictates how many virtual instruments you can run at the same time, or how many effects you can add, or how quickly you can export your finished tracks.

The CPU is what powers the laptop as it processes commands.

Where gamers or video editors prioritise graphical and visual elements, for audio we need only focus on how fast the laptop processes things (CPU), its short-term memory (RAM) and its ability to access data quickly (storage): Laptops used with music production in mind tend to focus on three key features CPU, RAM and storage. (Image credit: Getty/Jose Luque/EyeEm) What are your budget music laptop essentials? On the Play Store there is a slimmed-down version of FL Studio which works a treat, while online you’ll find services like Audiotool and the Spotify-owned Soundtrap which give tech-savvy beatmakers the chance to produce tracks directly through a cloud-based browser interface.Ĭhromebooks aren’t going to be the first choice of most producers, particularly those recording and working directly with raw audio, but for anyone content to play around with loops and virtual instruments it’s definitely worth investigation. With Chrome OS, you are essentially limited to apps that can be found in Google’s Play Store, or run via a browser – assuming you don’t want to go down the Linux route, that is. But it does offer a glimpse at what the future might look like for computer-based audio production. It doesn’t have banks of power to draw from. The Samsung 4+ Chromebook won’t run regular digital audio workstations (DAWs) like Ableton Live, Cubase or Pro Tools.

Stay home with the best PCs for music productionīest budget laptops for music production: Product guideīit of a curveball, this one.

Bigger budget? These are the best laptops for music production.

In this guide, we’ll point out the things you should prioritise when choosing the best budget laptop for music production, along with offering some recommendations to get you started. And, while most - if not all - modern laptops will do a job, there are certain things that separate the best budget music production laptops from the rest.Īudio work requires a specific set of features that differ from gaming, for example, or everyday computing. Whatever your journey to this point, we can find a laptop for recording music to suit your needs.

Or maybe you’re rekindling an old passion and have seen the world has moved on from tape machines. Perhaps you’re new to the world of recording and don’t want to - or have - a huge amount of cash to spend. It can be tricky, if you’re new to the entry-level laptop world, to know where to start though.

Best laptop for recording music 2016