Apple Macbook Pro Music Production

If you're looking for the best Mac for music production – get a Mac with minimum Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD. Macs are among the best music-making laptops.

1. Apple Macbook Pro Music Production Setup
2. Apple Macbook Pro Music Production Guide

As a beginner or pro music producer, you'll love the above iMac Pro 27-inch for composite video or mus productions. Its Retina 5K display is thin (5mm), in-built CPU, and built-in speakers.

If you're a traveling producer, get a sleek, light, and compact Mac. MacBook Pro 13-inch is excellent for on-the-go music production (when you're traveling). Read Also: Good camera for music videos.

In the new MacBook Pro, the Touch Bar provides a better way to interact with the computer. You will work in particular like the multi-touch dial that will give you the studio feel. The computer can be easily customized and is powerful enough to handle all the tasks involved in music production; How to choose the Best Mac for Music Production. Logic Pro puts a complete recording and MIDI production studio on your Mac, with everything you need to write, record, edit, and mix like never before. And with a huge collection of full-featured plug-ins along with thousands of sounds and loops, you'll have everything you need to go from first inspiration to final master, no matter what kind of music you want to create.

Reviews: Top 9 Best Mac for Music Production in 2020

1. MacBook Pro 16-inch – Best Mac Laptop for Music – #1 Pick

This portable MacBook Pro 16-inch comes is a beast for audio engineers and musicians. Has improved speakers plus high-quality display – you can upgrade to 8TB of storage plus 64GB Ram.

MacBook Pro 16-inch comes with a 16GB RAMp plus a 6‑core i7 processor. This gives a pro performance since minimal monitoring and recording projects could choke it.

Sneak Peek:

• Processor: 8-core i9 processor
• Storage: 1TB storage (SSD)
• Memory: 16GB RAM allows smooth multitasking
• Screen size: 16-inch display Retina
• Design: 0.61 inches thick
• Ports: USB 3.1 Gen 2; 4 Four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) for DisplayPort and Charging; and 40 Gbps Thunderbolt
• Headphone Jack: 3.5 mm

In addition to high portability, this MacBook Pro has a large screen and will also effectively run the DAW software plus plugins with little latency – great video editing laptop.

I tested this MacBook Pro's low-latency performance using Ableton Live in Pro Tools and stand-alone with excellent results. It has pro ports – (4) 40Gb Thunderbolt 3 that also act as USB‑C connections.

Despite that, the 16-inch screen can't compare to the 27-inch in iMac Pro, MacBook Pro is significantly better than most Macs when it comes to less software clustering for music production.

MacBook Pro 16-inch has a Touch Bar that'll work great with Logic Pro X. You can use its six operation modes, and you can use it as a MIDI controller (with a plugin) or quickly move through the tracks.

However, this MacBook Pro has limited USB ports besides the 4 USB-C ports. Therefore, you'll require a different cable or dongle to connect any USB-A peripherals.

MacBook Pro also has a 6-speaker system that will overshadow your headphones plus studio monitors- plus it as the 'Force Cancelling' woofers – check these affordable noise-canceling headphones.

With an 8-core i9 processor, 1TB Kite compositor 1 9 4. SSD, and 16 GB RAM, this MacBook Pro is great for music production. Its studio-quality mics plus 6-speaker surround – sharp treble, crisp and pronounced bass.

On graphics, the MacBook Pro 16-inch comes with its onboard Intel chipset (plus man AMD chip) that'll become functional when during low demand for visual performance.

On microphones, this Mac has three mics, and thus your calls will be much clear – including on iPhone with better sound fidelity and improved noise reduction.

2. Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch Space Gray – #2 Pick

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch is similar (with Touch Bar to improve music making productivity) to Apple 15″ MacBook Pro but with a smaller sized display and some trade-offs in features.

The machine has an Intel Core i5 (2.4GHz) style quad-core processor. Further, the SSD (Solid-state drive) type of storage you can easily (and quickly) navigate various music or audio files.

New features include the True Tone display, Hey Siri, and an improved Magic keyboard – just like in MacBook Air with the physical Escape key and essential travel being 1mm.

Sneak Peek:

• Processor: 8th-Gen (quad-core) Core i5
• Storage: 256GB SSD
• Memory: 8GB RAM
• Screen size: 13-Inch (Brilliant Retina)
• Design: 14.9mm thick
• Ports: 4 Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C)
• Headphone Jack: 3.5 mm

But with the highly portable 13-inch MacBook Pro (thin and light), I can now work at coffee shops, trains, or planes. This Mac has analog modeled plugins and fabulous mixing headphones to allow fast editing tune vocals and drums while traveling.

The MacBook Pro has a silicone layer below every key, and thus you won't experience stuck keys. With its 2560 * 1600 pixels' True Tone display is colorful, bright, and sharp in resolution. It has Intel Iris 655 Plus graphics, which are awesomely helpful for video and photo editing.

Increased portability – While editing my band's drums and tracks, I would suffer from the cold fluorescent lights. This made me seek increased portability of my music-making machines and devices. Its Thunderbolt 3 will support 2 – 5K displays and a 40GB/s data transfer for music-making.

With the True Tone technology, your display will change the panel of Mac's white balance to match the color temperature. Therefore, you'll have better viewing when making music for an extended period.

With the new T2 chip to allow full disk encryption for secure booting and for storing data in the SSD. Further, the Hey Siri will allow you to use your voice to change settings while producing music. It has 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports and the 720p HD camera (Face-time) to allow better video calling.

Ample SSD Storage – It has 128GB SSD storage to allow power-efficient and high-speed memory. Therefore, you can start multiple apps or import huge files very fast. The 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with two speakers that'll offer you balanced and abundant audio. Further, it has a 58 watt-hour battery that will guarantee a more extended power supply for the laptop.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with fast processors for recording or handling various audio work. For the 2018 MacBook Pro, you'll get an additional Ram and a 2TB SSD.

MacBook Pro is the top music production laptop, performing & recording. Your DAWs, API, or sub-systems (CoreAudio) must be super responsive.

3. iMac Pro 27-inch – Best Studio Mac for Audio Production – #3 Pick

iMac Pro 27-inch is great for large video or audio editing projects, including 4K & 8K plus for VR simulations and 3D rendering. You'll get a powerful iMac to record and produce with most DAWs.

For your home studio, I recommend this iMac Pro 27-inch as it has many USB and USB-C ports plus adequate power to run your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software easily.

Sneak Peek:

• Processor: 8-Core Xeon w
• Storage: 1TB storage (SSD)
• Memory: 32GB RAM upgradable to 64GB / 128GB
• Screen size: 27-inch display (diagonal) + its Retina 5K
• Design: 5-mm-thin
• Ports: 4 USB 3, 4 Four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C),
• Headphone Jack: 3.5 mm, four mics, Stereo speakers

The Radeon Pro Vega 56 graphics (with 8GB HBM2 memory) are great for music and video editing. The 5-mm thin screen and built-in CPU won't take much space and will display vast information compared to the 21.5-inch model.

You'll get an SDXC slot and the headphone mini-jack that'll allow the production of fantastic sound from your internal stereo speakers. In addition to the Mac Pro features, this iMac Pro has a 5K retina that's simple to set up.

After giving an update to the Logic Pro X, this iMac Pro is even better for production. Logic Pro X now supports eighteen processor cores (named 36 threads). It can now run many plugins plus tracks and sample libraries.

The iMac Pro will easily handle 12 times more plugins in real-time DAW working compared to the previous iMac model. The machine will export multi-track sessions about five times faster.

Further, Sculpture & Amp Designer are better in this iMac Pro and will thus give about 12 times more performance. Also, you may connect two additional 5K monitors to your iMac Pro.

The iMac Pro is a multi-purpose Mac like for music production, video editing, VR, 3D, or 2D design work. In addition to having SB 3 ports, this Mac has 4 USB-C – maybe connect an external SSD drive.

This iMac Pro has higher-bandwidth connectivity and advanced graphics technologies that will enhance your music production on this desktop computer.

For sound designers, film engineers, voiceovers, podcasters, and music producers, here're the consideration to make while selecting your Apple's iMac Pro.

However, the many peripheral ports are positioned at the rear end of the iMac Pro, which will be difficult to access regularly. So, get a USB hub for iMac the easy to access at the bottom of the display.

iMac Pro's 8-Core Xeon w chip is excellent for handling music production. This includes multitasking, editing, and selecting multiple music tracks, as shown in the video below.

4. Apple MacBook Air (13-inch Retina display – Latest Model)

The MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air for Music Production debate came up lately on an apple discussion. It has Thunderbolt 3 ports, a Retina display, a new trackpad and keyboard, and a modern Intel processor. http://awvkrwy.xtgem.com/Blog/__xtblog_entry/19079300-download-adobe-photoshop-cc-2018#xt_blog. Apple has maintained the 12 hours battery life, which is great for music production while traveling.

Apple Macbook Pro Music Production Setup

Compared to the old MacBook Air, this laptop has achieved a 30% upgrade on its Graphics performance. It has a 128GB SSD storage to take 1 GB/sec and 2 GB/sec in write and read speeds, respectively. This is blazing fast for a laptop its size.

MacBook Air Retina display comes with a 2560×1600 resolution (with DCI-P3 color gamut). This is four times better compared to the older MacBook Air. It has black bezels, lighter (2.75 pounds), and thinner – just about the size of the MacBook Pro. It has Touch ID, which provides the real ESC key and Function keys. The T2 processor allows audio processing, disk encryption, secure booting.

MacBook Air has a new butterfly-switch keyboard with a silicone membrane for a quieter typing experience. This is because MacBook Air has low travel and prevents dust. Further, it has louder speakers with bass response. It also comes with the modern Force Touch trackpad that is easy to click and is more substantial.

Apple has done away with the MagSafe connector, SD card reader, USB-A ports. Instead, MacBook Air adopted USB-C charging and has two Thunderbolt 3 connectors (40 Gbps). Due to a lack of USB-A connectors, you'll need to purchase a dongle.

5. Apple MacBook Pro Retina 2015 Core i7 2.2GHz

Macs are still a favorite with music-makers & DJs. Apple 15″ MacBook Pro Retina is robust, has many USB ports, MagSafe present, and no noisy butterfly keys. Further, It's compatible with many DAWs that are optimized to work with the Mac OS. Therefore, there are fewer performance issues or crashes.

But, why didn't I include the MacBook Pro 2016? Well, MacBook Pro 2016 has a decorative touchpad – whose application is not fully utilized for music production. But get some hard-drives for great studio work.

Also, the 2016 model lacks the MagSafe connector, Firewire sockets, and USB ports. MacBook Pro 2016's Touch-Pad may allow faster access to the tempo, record, stop and play controls on the Ableton Live.

Apple 15″ MacBook Pro will comfortably run sessions with many plugins and tracks running actively. This is because it has superior 16GB RAM and processing power (quad-core Intel Core i7). But this Mac has some noise fans that could disrupt your recordings – if you're doing this in the same space.

SSD storage (256GB) for large-sized files: Also, Apple 15″ MacBook Pro uses SSD storage (256GB), and thus you can easily store the large-sized files without slowing the machine. The base model has 8GB RAM and a 3.6 GHz processor (dual-core) that's making.

Here's how different music producers use their Macs. (1) Traditional production – Record music tracks via mics & instruments and finally mix. (2) DJs and performing musicians will use their Mac in recording and producing tracks and yet in playing. (3) Lastly, hip-hop artists and EDMs use DAW with Best Laptops For FL Studio, MIDI-keyboard controllers, & sequencers. Check a review video.

6. Apple MacBook MLHC2EA 12-Inch Laptop with Retina Display

This MacBook MLHC2EA is also lightweight (just 2 pounds) and is thin in build. You'll find it very portable for your on-the-go music production, in addition to offering high performance.

With a native resolution of 2304 x 1440, LED backlights, and uni-body design that makes it highly compact. It has one USB-C port for both connectivity and power needs – thus, you might need a dongle.

So, for your recording studio work, you'll need to know the considerations to make for the MacBook MLHC2EA that'll capture your original sounds and audio.

Further, there is a wide selection of plugins and software available for Macs for recording music. Also, with MacBook MLHC2EA, you'll get adequate storage space and peripherals for studio work.

Innovative and smart people (including music producers) love working with Macs. Well, Macs are workhorses, beautiful, trendy, and dependable – also try these best keyboard workstation.

Considerations in Best Mac for Music Production?

1. Hardware Support Ports

Finally, get a Mac that has appropriate ports to work excellently with your hardware in the additional gear you'll connect to the computer.

For example, the Mac must have a USB-A port for connecting your MIDI controller keyboard plus a USB-C for connecting musical instruments and audio interface.

Further, you'll require some MIDI interface, good production headphones, and studio monitors. Also, get large-screen MAC like the 27-inch iMacs for better working space.

Sound professionals will use 'out of the box' audio through virtual instruments and sampled sounds while creating sounds. Other professionals will record the sound with acoustic instruments and voices while using microphones with their audio interfaces.

2. Mac with Audio Software

The Mac you choose must work seamlessly with your digital audio workstation (DAW). So, get a machine has above average compute specifications.

For example, the minimum MAC requirements for Ableton Live 10 are 4 GB RAM and Intel Core i5. Also, for Logic Pro X, get a mac with a minimum of 63 GB storage space and 4 GB RAM.

For your MAC, check these Ableton's guidelines on MAC specifications for producing music. But most DAWs won't need unique graphics cards.

Get multiple SSD internal storage, an Intel i7 or i5 multi-core processor, and 16+ GB of RAM. Check requirements for Audio plugins like the OmniSphere synthesizer – require 2.4 GHz+ RAM.

3. Macs are Reliabile and Stabile?

Considerably, Mac will be more reliable and stable than windows computers. For music production, you want a laptop with adequate RAM and CPU that won't max out.

So, I confirm that Macs will offer a reliable and stable recording environment. However, secure a dedicated production Mac to avoid inefficient processes running in the program's background.

For example, you might need to disconnect your internet and uninstall programs like Whatsapp or Facebook from the MAC. Also, have the audio software loading from a separate partition.

Further, to reduce possible compatibility problems, avoid upgrading to a new macOS version too soon. This must also be the case with updates with other plugins and production software.

On reliability, ensure that the battery life will be excellent to work great when unplugged in coffee shops and portable gigs.

4. Creative Space Support

The computer must give you adequate space to display and utilize your creativity. So, the Mac computer must have little frustration and friction while you're producing the music.

For example, some windows computers tend to delay starting up before they've fully installed many software updates – this can't happen with Macs.

Further, you might require to work simultaneously with many plugins, a mixer window, and tracks. Get a Retina display that's large enough to show the necessary extensive details.

Finally, the production room must be soundproof to avoid noise pollution while also isolation space from external noise – and hence such sound won't be picked by the studio mics for vocals.

Conclusion

On storage, you'll require a Mac with enough internal disk space for your current projects. But you'll need to transfer other files to an external SSD storage – about 500 GB.

Also, ensure that the room's surfaces and shape are appropriate so that they won't negatively affect the sound's EQ during the recording sessions. I recommend the iMac Pro 27-inch as the Best Mac for Music Production.

For the music producer, Apple's new Macbook Pro 2016, requires quite a bit of upfront investment.

The first thing I wondered when I saw the Macbook Pro being introduced is how am I going to plug in my Cubase dongle? Let alone the many other audio hardware a typical music producer owns – from audio interfaces, MIDI controllers to drum pads & DJ controllers.

The Macbook Pro has been stripped off all traditional USB ports USB-C ports instead.

Well to use the latest Macbook Pro for music production, you'll have to invest in about $250 of dongles & special cables.

The New Macbook Pro For Music Production

How will the new MacBook pro do for music production? It's lighter, thinner and it comes with a nice new ‘touch bar'. The MagSafe power connector is gone, which is a shame really as it was a useful safety feature, so your Macbook does not fly off the stage if someone happens to trip over the power cable.

You can still use traditional USB2.0 & USB3.0 devices with USB-C

I don't know what type of musician or producer you are, but you're bound to have some controller or audio device that connects to your computer via USB. How to connect your USB devices like audio interfaces and controllers to the Macbook Pro then?

The good news is you can buy a USB-C to USB 3.0 cable, which would work with USB2.0 devices as well. But this means changing all the cables you have in your studio, which can get pretty costly.

Another alternative is to buy a dongle like the USB-C Hub to USB-A, for all your connection needs.

It does not end there. Those dongles are needed to connect your audio devices. What if you take pictures as well or have an audio recorder like the Zoom H6 that uses SD cards? Well, another SD card USB-C card reader dongle for you.

You plan to connect your Macbook Pro to an external monitor in your studio? Yup, another USB-C to VGA adapter for you unless you're waiting for the said new LG monitors that will be built with Macbook Pros in mind.

This might not be a deal breaker for many music producers, but I don't like the idea of carrying so many different dongles. They get broken quickly and worse, you're bound to forget a dongle and mistakenly leave it behind when you travel.

What about the new 'Touch Bar' for music production?

Since Apple developed Logic Pro X, we would think some kind of Touch Bar feature will be built for it. But it seems like while every creative app, like Final Cut X, Numbers & Pages got updated with Touchbar support, Logic Pro X did not.

I must say, the Touchbar feature looks amazing and cool. There are so many features that I could think off, would be really cool on the Touchbar. For example, imagine using the Touchbar as a transport bar, MIDI controller or a mixing control surface to mute/solo or perhaps tweak some pan pots.

Touchbar seems like a nice feature for the music producer, but do you really need it? I figured using a touch screen to control the knobs and faders on a DAW would be much more intuitive than trying to fiddle on a thin Touchbar strip.

The new Macbook Pro can only have max 16GB RAM

Apple Macbook Pro Music Production Guide

As a music producer, producing with lots of VSTs and effects through the years, you probably know how important RAM is for your setup.

Before you throw hate on Apple, understand that the Macbook Pro is a laptop. Apple macbook gallery. It is designed to be small and portable. If you're looking for super serious production work, it's best to get a desktop unit or something like the iMac 27.

The reason why the Macbook Pro only limits up to max 16GB of RAM is possibly to make up for its higher battery life. Some users also noted that the MacBook Pro is using an LPDDR3 RAM which uses more power as compared to DDR4, in which surprisingly Apple did not put in.

However that being said, it's still possible to do serious production work on a Macbook Pro. The SSD speeds on the MacBook Pro will aid with any heavy audio recording or processing in the studio or on the roads.

It also has a bumped up battery life to 10 hours between charges, so producing music on the road will be a breeze.

Isn't the MacBook Pro a little expensive?

The standard 13-inch MacBook Pro (without the Touchbar) starts at $1499 instead of the previous pricing of $1299. And this model is without the TouchBar, which in my opinion, kind of defeats the purpose of upgrading to the new MacBook Pro. Besides, the entry Macbook Pro also comes with only 2 USB-C ports which is quite a deal breaker for music producers.

I used to recommend fellow music producers who wanted a Macbook Pro, to go for the base 15-inch model as it comes with higher disk space and also with a maxed out 16GB RAM. It wouldn't be worth the price difference if you were to get the 13-inch model and upgrade the disk space and RAM.

However, the new MacBook Pro 15-inch model now starts at $2300 and even higher for people in Europe at €2799 (which is reported to be a 50% increase in price from the last pricing).

Even though Apple is a company that prides on their higher priced products, the price increase this round has caused lots of grumbles. Many users are talking about going back to run on a refurbished 2015 unit instead of getting the new Macbook Pro 2016.

Switch To Windows For Music Production?

Mac used to be the computer you want to get if you are into music production. But that isn't the case anymore these days. There is no reason why you can't produce great music on a Windows based computer system.

In fact, I'm using both the Mac and Windows for music production. The ONLY complaint I probably have for a Windows machine is the absence of a robust audio driver like CoreAudio on a Mac.

There is also a few great reasons why you would consider the switch to a Windows machine. Again, I'm not biased and this is not a Windows to Mac debate, but it's cheaper to start off your music production journey on a Windows machine. You get more power for the price you pay for in most Windows based machine.

Some MacBook Pro alternatives for music production

Here are some great laptops you can consider if you're in for the switch to Windows. The laptops recommended here are near the Macbook Pro in terms of portability and battery life.

1 – Dell XPS 13″ (Kaby Lake)

Coming with a new 7th generation processor, this is one of the best MacBook Pro alternatives you can find for music production. The Dell XPS is super portable, and it also comes with an excellent battery life, said to last up to 14 hours on web browsing – better than a Macbook Pro.

The laptop also comes with touch display, which can be used to control your DAW. For $1399, the highest model, you get an i7 CPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD and a beautiful 3200 x 1800 touch display.

2 – Microsoft Surface Book i7

If you're into full portability, consider the Surface Book i7. The Surface is easily mistaken as a tablet PC with touch display but is in fact pretty powerful for music production.

The Surface more towards a mid-range to a high-end computer but you get lots of performance while it being extremely portable as well with 12 hours of battery life. At $2699, you get an i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and also a NVIDIA graphic card.

The Surface wouldn't be a great choice if you're into high graphic work, but for music production, the touch display and the performance it comes pack with are superb.

3 – ASUS GL552VW

This laptop packs lots of power at the expense of having less battery life. It's a gaming laptop but a good choice for music production as well.

It comes packed with an i7 processor and RAM upgradable up to 32GB, and this laptop is a powerhouse when it comes to processing and recording audio. Another thing to note is that it comes with an SSD and also a 1TB mechanical hard disk. This means you can put your system files on the SSD and your samples on the mechanical hard disk.

The cons to the ASUS GL552VW ROG is sadly that ASUS shipped many laptops that had graphic driver issues. I suspect it's a hardware issue, but there is no solid answer. Just make sure you test the laptop thoroughly to check for any fault when you receive it.

4 – Microsoft Surface Studio

Not a portable computer but it definitely caught the eye of many creative professionals. It looks near to an iMac, but it's more than just a regular computer.

The Surface comes with 28″ touch display, giving you lots of display screen real estate. The 4500 x 3000 Pixelsense display also gives you true colors, which would be amazing for design – showing you the actual colors. Upgradable up to 32GB RAM and has plenty of ports of all your audio hardware, it also comes pack with lots of CPU power with a

What really makes the Surface studio shine, is the Surface dial. Can you have snapchat on a macbook. It's a new accessory that works with the Surface studio by just placing it on the display.

Secret folder pro 9 7. Imagine the things you could do with the Surface dial, from drawing in automations, using it as a fader and more. We don't know the possibilities that it can do for now, but pretty sure more support for it will be launched soon.

Your Turn – Thoughts For The New MacBook Pro for Music Production?

What do you think about the new MacBook Pro and how will it fit into your studio?

Let us know in the comment section below. Will you stick to Apple and buy the MacBook Pro or is it time to look for an alternative?