Best laptops for music production 2023: Best overall, best battery life, and more

If you’re looking for a good all-arounder, the Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED is a good bet, as it ticks a lot of boxes. For one, the 4K OLED display is superb. Not only does it produce crisp images, but it’s also a good option for those who suffer from eye strain and tension headaches. If you spend endless hours looking at a screen as you edit and mix tracks, you might as well invest in one with a crystal-clear picture. The VivoBook also packs a serious punch when it comes to processing power.

The Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU is plenty fast enough for basic music production needs and everyday use. This laptop is also packing 32GB of memory and a whopping 1TB of PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD storage. That’s plenty for firing up multiple applications and storing audio files. There are a couple drawbacks you should be aware of: The webcam isn’t great (not surprising) and the fingerprint reader can have a mind of its own. Overall, however, the VivoBook Pro is a fantastic machine that any musician or DJ would love.

If you’re working with a limited budget, the Acer Swift 3 is a great option. It has an Intel Core i7-11370H with four cores, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. That’s a good amount of power and space for most music production tasks. The build quality is solid, the keyboard is comfortable to use, and the display delivers “rich, lifelike color.” The one knock we have against this machine is the battery life. Unfortunately, the laptop died after about five hours. That’s the type of result we’d expect from a gaming laptop, which drains easily due to the power-sucking components. That said, if you don’t mind sticking close to an outlet, than this a good budget buy for most musicians.

If you’re an on-the-go musician, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 offers incredible battery life as well as a versatile 2-in-1 design. When we put this laptop through our battery rundown test, it lasted a total of 14 hours. That’s pretty rad, right? In addition to the awesome battery life, you’re also getting a high-contrast 15.6-inch OLED screen and zippy performance thanks to its 12th-gen Intel Core i7-1260P processor. The model we reviewed came equipped with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. That’s plenty sufficient for running multiple applications and working with uncompressed audio files. Although we weren’t super impressed with the keyboard or webcam, we feel the pros far outweigh the cons, especially where performance and battery life are concerned.

If you prefer the portability and versatility of a convertible laptop, you may want to pick up the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14. You can prop it up like a painter’s easel or swing the screen around and use the laptop like a tablet. It features 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and strong battery life. You can also expect reliable performance thanks to the 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor. It has four performance cores and eight efficiency cores. The more cores, the better, especially if you’re working with multi-track songs.

The 74 watt-hour battery is also surprisingly large for such a slim machine. It lasted 12 hours during our battery rundown benchmark, which is more than a full work day. The speakers are surprisingly punchy, too. This is important if you’re editing a song and aren’t able to plug into external speakers. While this convertible laptop has a lot to offer, we had a few nitpicks with it.

The display’s 16:9 aspect ratio may be a problem, as it makes for a squashed-looking picture. It’s not a deal breaker, but we tend to prefer taller displays. The trackpad is also smaller than we like, which takes time getting used to. The port selection is a bit limited as well. That said, if you don’t mind those small factors, then the Yoga 9i is a fabulous machine worth considering.

If you’re looking for a laptop that’s both portable and powerful, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 will surely fit the bill. It weighs a little over three pounds, which puts it in the ultraportable category. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor delivers zippy exceptional. Plus, you’re getting 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. That’s an epic combination for heavy-duty music production sessions. The keyboard is less-than-stellar, though. It feels a bit soft and the backlighting is nothing to write home about. That said, if you’re in the market for a lightweight laptop that delivers reliable performance, you really can’t go wrong with the Zephyrus G14.

The HP Dragonfly Pro comes with all of the attractive design, incredible efficiency, and great performance of a MacBook Pro but in a Windows device. HP partnered with AMD to create this slim laptop that packs the latest-generation Ryzen 7 processor with eight high-performance cores and a robust Radeon 680M graphic card. All of the performance features are great for music production, but as an added bonus, we were incredibly impressed with the quad speakers on this laptop. Everything from loud action movies to intricate electronic music songs sounds crisp and clear without noticeable distortion.

The laptop also has a thin and attractive design, built with a high-quality aluminum and polycarbonate. However, this laptop takes a minimalist approach to ports, which means if you rely on a bunch of plug-in accessories you’ll need to buy a dock. The display is nice enough, but it does have some catching up to do if it hopes to rival Apple’s best. Still, for a laptop that is significantly cheaper than the current line of MacBook Pro models, this Dragonfly Pro laptop from HP is a more than worthy competitor and the high-quality speakers will allow you to continue producing your masterpieces on the go.