The best laptop for music production and DJs

If you're a DJ, or you're looking for the best laptop for music production, then you've come to the right place, as we've gathered together the top laptops for making music on.

For the best laptop for music production, you're looking for a machine that has plenty of processing power and RAM to handle multiple music tracks. A large (and fast) hard drive or SSD (solid state drive) is also essential, as you're going to be working with large file sizes. Excellent speakers, or at least connectivity to external speakers, is also important.

If you're a DJ and are looking for the best laptop for your needs, then you're going to need something that is reliable and robust, so it can withstand knocks and bumps as you travel from gig to gig. As you're going to be doing a lot of travelling, a laptop that is thin and light is also preferable. The best laptop for DJs will also have a large hard drive or SSD to store all of your track on. There's loads of choice out there, and while Apple products are the main choice for music makers, there's a lot of excellent Windows laptops available for DJs and music production as well.

To make your choice easy, our price comparison tools will show you where you can buy each one for the absolute cheapest price, so you won't have to trawl through the web comparing prices. If you want to see a more comprehensive list of prices and retailers, simply click the 'view all prices' link on each widget!

The best laptops for music production and DJs:

The new Apple Macbook is the slimmest, slickest and best-looking Macbook Apple has ever built and it's one of the most popular and best-selling laptops on the planet. This, along with the excellent music production software available for Macs, means it's the best laptop for DJs and Music production. It's a super slim and light Macbook that you can take anywhere without even noticing the weight, and gives you the same slick OS X performance.

Read the full review: Apple Macbook

If you're after the latest and greatest laptop from Apple, welcome to the 13-inch Macbook Pro with touchbar. It's the best laptop Apple has ever made, and builds new features into the classic design. Of course the headline feature is the touchbar - it's a thin OLED display at the top of the keyboard which can be used for any number of things, whether that be auto-suggesting words as you type or offering Touch ID so you can log in with just your fingerprint. The Macbook Pro also offers more power than the Macbook, which means if you're a music producer, this is the best laptop for you, as it can handle complex arrangements with multiple audio tracks with ease. There's cheaper alternatives on this best laptop for DJs and music production list, but if speed and quality are the most important considerations, then this is the laptop for you.

Read the full review: Apple Macbook with touchbar (2017)
See more like this: The best Macs and Macbooks 2017

The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is 2017's best laptop for you if you're looking for the perfect cross between a nimble Windows tablet and a fully functional laptop. The base version of the Surface Pro 4 is just a tablet - you get the main unit itself with kickstand but if you want the Surface Pen or the fantastic Type Cover keyboard you'll need to pay extra for a bundle or buy it separately. Again, this is a great laptop for writers who can use a stylus to jot down their notes to later turn into editable text. As the Surface Pro 4 is a tablet 2-in-1 that runs the full version of Windows 10, it means it is an extremely portable device that can run any music mixing and editing programs that are available for Windows.

Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Pro 4
See more like this: The best 2-in-1 laptops 2017 

For a few years in a row now, the Dell XPS 13 has been one of the best laptops you can buy, and the 2018 iteration keeps this tradition going. For aspiring music producers, the XPS’ move to an 8th-generation Intel Kaby Lake R CPU should be appealing, as it will trim down the time it takes to process tracks, allowing you to minimize downtime. Unfortunately you won’t be able to find a 1TB storage drive anymore, but when you get a laptop as fast as this – and looks good to boot – it’s a worthy tradeoff.

Read the full review: Dell XPS 13 (2018)

If you're after a cheap laptop for writing that offers something a bit special, look no further than the Lenovo Yoga Book 2017. As with all Yoga devices, the screen folds flat so you can use it either as a tablet or a laptop. To add more versatility, Lenovo has now added the option to buy it with either Windows 10 or Android 6.0 onboard - which one you choose will depend how you're more likely to use the device. The screen on this thing defies the cheap asking price and the keyboard and capacitive touch-keyboard are both fantastic too. While this is a bit under-powered for music production, if you're a DJ looking for the best portable laptop for playing and mixing your music, this is an excellent choice.

Read the full review: Lenovo Yoga Book
See more like this: The best 2-in-1 laptops 2017

The Macbook Air is in an interesting spot. While it's still one of the most popular and well-known notebooks around, the iPad Pro and 12-inch MacBook have stolen much of its thunder. That is, unless you need the legacy USB 3, Thunderbolt 2 and SDXC card connectivity. Even without a Retina display or Force Touch trackpad, the 13-inch MacBook Air is a very capable machine, even if the 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage leave a lot to be desired. Plus it still has the beloved MagSafe 2 charger onboard as well as an impeccable battery life. So, if you don't mind having a slightly older machine, the Macbook Air is an excellent - and now more affordable - choice for DJs and music production.

Read the full review: 13-inch MacBook Air (2015)

If you're looking for a larger and more powerful laptop for running music production software on, then the Dell XPS 15 could be for you. Packing the same InfinityEdge technology as the smaller XPS 13, the screen extends right to the edge of the machine which means it's as small as it's possible to make a 15-inch laptop in 2017. It's quite pricey though, depending on which version you get. The very top end version has a 4K color-accurate display, which can give you an excellent overview of all the tracks you're working on.

Read the full review: Dell XPS 15

• Want more choices? Check out our list of the best laptop 2017

April 27, 2018 at 10:15PM
Matt Hanson