The best laptops for music production in 2022

If you're looking for the best laptops for music production in 2022, then we're here to help. Laptops have become essential tools for music producers and musicians, with music production software now turning these portable computers into mini studios.

With the right setup, you can plug in various microphones, amps, instruments, MIDI controllers and more, and record, edit and export your compositions. There's a huge range of music production software out there that lets you record on multiple tracks, while also offering plenty of effects and editing tools.

+Excellent performance+Very good speakers-Expensive

The MacBook Pro 14-inch is currently the best laptop for music production you can buy right now. Coming with either an M1 Pro or M1 Max chip, this is an incredibly powerful laptop that can handle even the most complex projects with ease. There's a good reason why many music producers and musicians favour Apple products, and macOS, the operating system the MacBook Pro 14-inch comes with, supports a huge amount of music production applications.

It also has some of the best speakers we've heard on a laptop, making it ideal for using when you can't hook up external speakers, and there's an excellent array of ports. The battery life is also seriously impressive. It's expensive, but you won't find a better laptop for music production any time soon.

CPU: Apple M1 chip with 8‑core CPUGraphics: Integrated 7-core – 8-core GPURAM: 8GB – 16GB unified memoryScreen: 13.3-inch 2560 x 1600 Retina displayStorage: 256GB – 2TB SSD+macOS Big Sur is fast and responsive+Battery life is great-Fanless design could impact performance

While Apple may not be the first company you think of when you read the word 'value', its latest MacBook Air actually offers fantastic value for money for music producers. This is because it offers a stylish thin and light design, plus excellent performance thanks to the M1 chip, while also being much cheaper than the MacBook Pro 14-inch above, and even other Windows-based alternatives.

The fact that it's almost two years old also means that prices have fallen even more, but don't let its age put you off - this is still a fantastic laptop for music production, and can run any application the more expensive MacBook Pro can.

There's another benefit, as Apple has made the MacBook Air fanless. This means it is completely silent when in use, which is a huge bonus if you're recording via microphones. It doesn't offer a huge amount of ports, however, so you'll probably need to invest in an adaptor, but for many people, that will be a compromise worth making.

CPU: 10th-gen Intel Core i7-Core i9Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070RAM: 16GBScreen: 15.6-inch 4K OLED (3840 x2160p) Touchscreen, 0.2ms, 440 nits, Pantone-validated; 14-inch 3840 x 1100p, anti-glare IPS secondary displayStorage: 256GB – 2TB SSD+Gorgeous main display+Second display actually useful-Expensive-Poor Battery life

If you want a brilliant high-end laptop for music production, then the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 UX582L could be for you. Not only does it come with some incredibly powerful components, including a choice of Core i7 or i9 Intel processors, but it also has a unique design that includes a second screen above the keyboard.

This touchscreen can be used with music production applications to provide extra control, such as sliders for mixing tracks. It gives the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 UX582L a level of versatility that other laptops lack. Both screens are OLED as well, which means they look absolutely stunning as well.

However, the unique design won't be for everyone, and it does make the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 UX582L more expensive than other laptops on this list. Battery life is also impacted, which means you'll need to make sure you carry around the power supply if you're planning on using this out and about.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HSGraphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 4GBRAM: 16GB DDR4Screen: 14-inch, IPS, 2,560 x 1,440, 120HzStorage: 1TB Samsung M.2 SSD+Great CPU performance+Good battery life-Expensive

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan Walker Special Edition is a rather unique laptop for music production, as it's been designed in collaboration with the popular YouTube DJ. Not only does this mean it has exclusive colours compared to the regular Zephyrus G14 laptop, but the actual box it comes with can be used as a controller for mixing or as a synth pad that connects through USB-C to use with a dedicated app.

This means you can start creating straight away, but if you think this is a gimmick, or you already have your own equipment, then you'll find this laptop to still be an excellent investment, with plenty of ports and some decent specs that means it'll handle any music production app with ease, however.

CPU: Apple M1 Pro 10-core – M1 Max 10-coreGraphics: Integrated 16-core – 32-core GPURAM: Up to 64GBScreen: 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR displayStorage: Up to 8TB+Extremely long battery life+Plenty of ports-On the bigger side

While the MacBook Pro 14-inch is the best laptop for music production in our view, if you'd like a bigger screen, then we've got some good news, as Apple also launched a 16-inch model, which comes with essentially exactly the same specs.

This means that you get a brilliant laptop for music production that performs spectacularly well, even when working on the most complex of projects, brilliant speakers and microphone, and plenty of ports. You also get a much larger 16-inch screen. Many people may find this makes the 16-inch model more comfortable to work on, especially if you're working on multiple tracks at once.

The reason why it doesn't land as high up as its 14-inch counterpart, however, is because the extra screen size means this is a much larger laptop that's harder to carry around. There is also a price increase as well, which is why we think the 14-inch model is the best choice for most music producers.

CPU: Up to 11th Generation Intel Core i9-11980HKGraphics: Up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6RAM: Up to 64GB DDR4-3200MHzScreen: 17.0" FHD+ (1920 x 1200) InfinityEdge Non-Touch Anti-Glare 500-Nit – 17.0" UHD+ (3840 x 2400) InfinityEdge Touch Anti-Reflective 500-Nit Storage: Up to 4TB M.2 PCIe NVMe+Great performance+Gorgeous design-Lack of ports

If you want a gorgeous and large display to do your music production on, then the latest Dell XPS 17 is the laptop for you. Usually, 17-inch laptops are large and uncomfortable to carry. However, with the XPS 17, Dell has crafted a stunningly thin large screen laptop, and it's impressively light as well.

This means you can carry it around with you, while still benefitting from a much larger screen to comfortably work on. Power-wise, this is a brilliant laptop, featuring up to an Intel Core i9 processor, 64GB of RAM and an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU. Any music production software is going to run brilliantly well on this. It is expensive, however, but for many people, the premium design will definitely be worth it.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 4680U - 11th Gen Intel Core i7Graphics: Intel Iris Plus GraphicsRAM: 8GB – 32GBScreen: 13.5” 2256 x 1504 PixelSense Touch DisplayStorage: 256GB – 1TB+Comfortable keyboard+Beautiful screen-Expensive

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 is pretty much the best laptop the company has ever made. It's god a beautiful, premium, design, a stunning screen and plenty of power beneath the hood.

It's also got a long lasting keyboard that means you can use this when out and about without worrying about it running out of charge. As a Microsoft product, it's also a showcase for the company's software, especially Windows 11. Any music production app you want to use will run with ease, and the built-in speakers are also impressive, considering the size of this laptop. It could do with a few more ports, but overall this is a stylish laptop that's great for music production.

CPU: 11th-generation Intel Core i7Graphics: Intel Iris Xe GraphicsRAM: 16GB LPDDR4XScreen: 17-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) IPS LCDStorage: up to 2TB NVMe SSD+Excellent battery life+Large, high-quality display-Expensive

The LG Gram 17 is another great choice for a laptop for music production that offers a large screen. This makes working with multiple tracks and complex arrangements much easier, as you get to see more of your project at once.

Like the Dell XPS 17 also on this list, the LG Gram 17 pushes back against the notion that 17-inch laptops need to be big and bulky. In fact, LG has really made an impressive effort here, and the LG Gram 17 is actually lighter than many smaller laptops. This means it's a great laptop for carrying around with you, and you still get the benefit of that large screen. It also has some great specs that ensures Windows and any apps you want to use all run well. Battery life is also excellent, but it is an expensive laptop. For the screen size and portability, however, it's a great investment.