Best Laptops for Beat Making: Top 5 Laptops for Making Beats

So, you want to make beats or a hip hop music producer? Or maybe you’re already making beats, and you are searching for the best laptop to take your skills to the next level. Well, in this short guide we have compiled a list of some of the best laptops for beat making available. But before we proceed with our list, let’s first have an idea about beat making and hip hop music production in general.

What is beat making?

You might not know it, but beat making and music production are different things. Beat making has become an established art form. Beat making is the process of creating instrumental tracks for hip hop artists, which is actually different from music production, because a music producer is usually capable of creating music for a wider range of styles, and a music producer often uses more tools and techniques for making music.

What do you need to start making beats on your laptop?

The most important thing you need to have before you can start creating beats is a decent laptop. But there are also a number of other tools that you’ll need, in terms of software and hardware:

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)-  

DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation, and it is the software used to create music. Most  DAWs offer features such as virtual instruments, adding audio effects, sequencing and arranging your instruments…etc.  There are a lot of DAWs available out there, and depending on your knowledge, you can choose the best one for your needs. Some of the most popular DAWs are FL Studio, Ableton Live, Pro Tools, and Logic Pro. We have also compiled some of the best laptops for FL studio here, and for Ableton Live here.

Audio interface-

An Audio Interface is a small device that can be connected to your computer and processes the sound acting like a preamp. The Audio interface usually has inputs for mic and instruments (in case you’re recording) and outputs for your speakers or studio monitors. An audio interface is also useful when recording sounds, because it contains a sound card that ensures a low latency when recording instruments.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller-

Any serious beat making will require a MIDI controller. A MIDI controller is a keyboard/piano that controls any virtual instrument inside of your DAW, be it pianos, synths, bass, strings…etc.  Midi controllers come in a variety of sizes and some of them also include other features such as drum pads or audio effects.

Speakers and headphones

Picking up a great pair of headphones and/or studio monitors is essential in order to get an accurate mix. Choosing quality speakers is must too, because you need to hear each sound in your mix the way it actually sounds without any effects or enhancements.

How to choose a laptop for beat making?

So, now that you have an idea on beat making and the types of tools you’ll need, let’s check some of the things you should pay attention to when looking for a laptop for making beats:

Processor: The processor is the primary factor in your ability to run your favorite music production software and be able to multi track projects with no delays. As a rule, for audio production and beat making, get the fastest multicore processor that you can afford, because on most laptops, you will be able to upgrade the RAM and the hard drive, but not the CPU.

RAM:  It is highly recommended that you get a laptop that has at least 8GB of RAM as a minimum. Why? Because most DAWs will eat up your RAM, and if you are going to be using lots plugins or VSTs, you will certainly face lags and delays when previewing your tracks, which can be very frustrating.  Most laptops offer the possibility of adding more RAM, but some of them are easier to upgrade than others. So check that before making your purchase.

Storage:  We always recommend Solid State Drives (SSDs), since they are extremely faster in comparison to traditional mechanical drives, and they make your laptop more responsive. However, they are expensive per GB and thus will really add up to the price of your device. Most manufacturers will only include a 256GB drive if it’s an SSD (and even less for budget laptops), while you can get a cheaper laptop with a bigger capacity mechanical drive. To decide whether you will need an SSD or a traditional drive take a look at the programs you will be using: do you need your laptop to be more responsive and to load files almost instantly? In this case, go with an SSD if it is within your budget. In 2017, large SSDs are still prohibitively expensive. If you will need lots of space, to install sound libraries or samples, it is recommended to get a regular hard drive.  This is of course a matter of personal preference: you can always upgrade from a mechanical drive to an SSD, or choose a laptop with small capacity SSD, and store all your big files on an external drive for example.

Mac or PC, which is best for beat making?  The answer is both. While all Apple laptops come with high end specs, PCs offer a much wider choice, and are significantly less expensive and more flexible: the rule here is to simply choose a good system, and go with the operating system you’re familiar with. However, you should consider the programs you will need to run, some DAW applications are only available for Mac users, others are only available under Windows platform.

We hope that this short guide might answer some of your questions about beat making on a laptop, and now, let’s find out about some of the best laptops for making beats available right now.

Best Laptops for Beat Making:

Acer Aspire E15 E5-576G-5762

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As you know, I (as well as thousands of other happy buyers) am a big fan of the Acer Aspire E15 series , they are reliable, and offer plenty of value for the money. If you are looking for a budget laptops for making beats, then the first thing that comes to mind is the Aspire E15. Although the Acer Aspire E15 E5-576G-5762 isn’t exactly what you’d call a cheap laptop, it still manages to stay relatively affordable, and most importantly, offers more features than similarly priced laptops. The Aspire E15 is packing an 8th generation I5 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB solid state drive and a dedicated GeForce MX150, which is an equivalent of the Nvidia 1030.

The fact that the Aspire E 15 comes with a solid state drive and 8GB of RAM makes the laptop more responsive, and the overall performance is very good. The Aspire E15 can handle anything you throw at it, even gaming. This laptop also offers easy upgradability: you can add more RAM (up to 32GB) and second hard drive too.

Battery life is another thing to note about the Aspire E15: while Acer claims a battery life of 12 hours, you can expect an average of 8 hours in real world use, which is excellent at this price range!

Asus ZenBook UX431FA-ES51

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The Asus Zenbook UX431FA-ES51 is a perfect choice if you’re looking for a premium ultrabook to make beats on the go! It features an 8th gen Intel Core i5-8265U processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. The Zenbook UX431FA-ES51 is capable of handling DAWs with no issues.

But the main advantage of the ZenBook UX431FA-ES51 is the fact that it comes in such a slim and stylish design. The laptops has a maximum thickness of just 0.65 inch, and weighs only 3.2 lbs. The bezels around the screen are minimal, and help make the device more compact.

The ZenBook UX431FA-ES51 has a Full HD 14 inch IPS display, that produces vivid colors and offers generous viewing angles.  Battery life is around 9 hours in real world use.

Apple MacBook Pro 15

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How can we talk about music production laptops without including the Macbook Pro? The Macbook Pro 15 is one of the most popular laptops among beatmakers and music producer, not only because it’s capable of running Logic Pro, but also because the Mac OS handles audio and video very well.

The New Apple MacBook Pro 15 has 6 core intel i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD, and a dedicated AMD Radeon 555X graphics card. Performance is nothing short you’d expect from a Macbook, this laptop has everything it takes to get your beat making skills to the next level.

The MacBook Pro also comes in a stylish, aluminum chassis, has a thickness of only 0.61, and weighs just above 4lbs. Battery life is great, and you can expect a solid 9 to 10 hours of use.

MSI

MSI PS42 8RB-060

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The MSI PS42 8RB-060 is a professional looking laptop designed for creative minds. It features an 8th Gen Core i5-8250U, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a dedicated Nvidia MX 150 graphics card, all in a 14 inch format.

The build quality is very good, and the PS42 8RB-060 only weighs 2.62 lbs, which is great if you’re looking for a device that you can carry around easily. In terms of battery life, expect up to 9 hours from a single charge.

Dell XPS 9380

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The Dell XPS 9380 is a high end 13.3” 4K (3840×2160) touch screen laptop. It features an 8^th generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of solid state drive for the best performance. It includes the Windows 10 Pro operating system.

The XPS 9380 is an exquisitely beautiful and portable machine. It comes with a high definition narrow bezel designed display, a backlit keyboard and a fingerprint reader. The XPS 9580 is definitely one of the best laptops compromising between ease of use, portability and high performance.