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Started By
Message
Laptop for low level music recording.
Posted on 1/15/26 at 1:19 pm
Posted on 1/15/26 at 1:19 pm
Looking to dip my toes into recording music. I have some edrums, a bass and electric/acoustic guitars. I have a GK mb210 bass amp and a Boss Katana 100 gen 3 guitar amp and a handful of effects pedals. Also a focusrite Scarlett audio interface. I'm looking to do some very basic music recording just for fun. Not looking to become a professional musician by any means. This is just a hobby of mine. And I’m not that good to begin with lol
Looking for a laptop dedicated to this. I want to download ezdrummer 3 and Boss Tone Studio and a basic music recording program on it. I know laptops can get expensive but I’d love to something in the $500 range if possible. Max budget would probably be around $800 but I definitely do not want anything overkill for my basic needs.
I saw a new 16gb MacBook Air m4 at Costco on sale for $799 but it only has 256gb storage. Not sure if that'll be enough even for my basic needs.
The Apple certified refurbished MacBooks are more expensive than the new ones are of the same model at Costco.
I saw a refurbished 8gb m1 model on Backmarket for around $500 with 512gb storage. I know that site has mixed reviews but it looks like they have the best deals.
Also saw an 8gb refurbished m3 model with 512gb storage on Best Buy for $750.
Do any of these sound good? Too much/not enough? I’m leaning towards a MacBook but should I consider a windows laptop as they are cheaper and may be all I need? Thanks in advance for any advice.
Looking for a laptop dedicated to this. I want to download ezdrummer 3 and Boss Tone Studio and a basic music recording program on it. I know laptops can get expensive but I’d love to something in the $500 range if possible. Max budget would probably be around $800 but I definitely do not want anything overkill for my basic needs.
I saw a new 16gb MacBook Air m4 at Costco on sale for $799 but it only has 256gb storage. Not sure if that'll be enough even for my basic needs.
The Apple certified refurbished MacBooks are more expensive than the new ones are of the same model at Costco.
I saw a refurbished 8gb m1 model on Backmarket for around $500 with 512gb storage. I know that site has mixed reviews but it looks like they have the best deals.
Also saw an 8gb refurbished m3 model with 512gb storage on Best Buy for $750.
Do any of these sound good? Too much/not enough? I’m leaning towards a MacBook but should I consider a windows laptop as they are cheaper and may be all I need? Thanks in advance for any advice.
3
Posted on 1/15/26 at 2:04 pm to 4thand20
You should be storing your music projects on external drives/cloud whatever. On the laptop you just need space for your OS, programs you need to run and some overhead to store some files locally.
Posted on 1/15/26 at 2:51 pm to 4thand20
Any of the Macs you listed should handle what you are looking to do without any issue. Mac used to dominate any of the creative industries and for good reason, but not so much anymore for audio production. If you get more and more into it and are needing to upgrade, a Windows laptop will be easier and cheaper to do so. However, cheaper laptops may not give you a lot of options to upgrade.
Audio recording does not use near as many resources as video or image editing, so the entry point into it is drastically cheaper. You don't need a ton of CPU cores, a beast of a GPU, or a ton of RAM. An i5 or Ryzen5 will be more than adequate on the CPU side and 16GB of RAM will do just fine for you. Just make sure the drive is at least a solid-state but an NVME will be better.
Upgrades would only need to be additional RAM and storage drives. The RAM would only be needed to improve overall system performance if you add a bunch of effects on your tracks or have a lot of VST instruments. Adding a 2nd drive for storage will also help. Run your OS and application on the main drive and record/playback on your storage drive. I would prioritize the drive over the RAM.
If there is anywhere to splurge it is your audio interface. However, there are some really good options on a budget. Focusrite and Motu have some incredible options for around $200. These and just about any other interfaces come with at least a very basic recording program with upgrade paths to more professional-level options.
The key is to have the lowest amount of latency possible. If the latency is too high, recording over playback won't sync up right. Any extra RAM will prevent "bogging down". NVME drives will give faster read and write speeds and with a 2nd storage drive, the recording/playback won't have to fight for read/writes on the OS/application drive. Also, if you go with a windows laptop, get a fresh install of the OS or remove any of the bloatware that comes on it.
And now that you have my brain working . . .
You'll also want to consider your monitors (speakers) while you are playing back. The built-in laptop speakers or even external speakers you get from Best Buy will not be able to give you the frequency accuracy you will want. Everything will just sound "off". Using some good quality studio-grade headphones will work ok but you'll miss how things sound in a room. Even some non-budget headphones will do in a pinch, but expect the sound to be "colored" by the headphones. What sounds good in your headphones will sound very different from your car. Go with over-the-ear headphones and DO NOT use earbuds or AirPods.
If you don't already have a mic, don't go cheap but also don't feel like you have to spend $2k to get a good sound. Pro studios still use the tried and true Shure SM57/58. Get a stand to go with it and a pop filter for vocals, and you don't need to spend a lot here to get started.
For all this extra stuff, and even the audio interface, give Sweetwater a look. Their reps are still salespeople, but they are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They can put you on the right stuff for what you need and there are even some very affordable packages that include all that you would need.
Audio recording does not use near as many resources as video or image editing, so the entry point into it is drastically cheaper. You don't need a ton of CPU cores, a beast of a GPU, or a ton of RAM. An i5 or Ryzen5 will be more than adequate on the CPU side and 16GB of RAM will do just fine for you. Just make sure the drive is at least a solid-state but an NVME will be better.
Upgrades would only need to be additional RAM and storage drives. The RAM would only be needed to improve overall system performance if you add a bunch of effects on your tracks or have a lot of VST instruments. Adding a 2nd drive for storage will also help. Run your OS and application on the main drive and record/playback on your storage drive. I would prioritize the drive over the RAM.
If there is anywhere to splurge it is your audio interface. However, there are some really good options on a budget. Focusrite and Motu have some incredible options for around $200. These and just about any other interfaces come with at least a very basic recording program with upgrade paths to more professional-level options.
The key is to have the lowest amount of latency possible. If the latency is too high, recording over playback won't sync up right. Any extra RAM will prevent "bogging down". NVME drives will give faster read and write speeds and with a 2nd storage drive, the recording/playback won't have to fight for read/writes on the OS/application drive. Also, if you go with a windows laptop, get a fresh install of the OS or remove any of the bloatware that comes on it.
And now that you have my brain working . . .
You'll also want to consider your monitors (speakers) while you are playing back. The built-in laptop speakers or even external speakers you get from Best Buy will not be able to give you the frequency accuracy you will want. Everything will just sound "off". Using some good quality studio-grade headphones will work ok but you'll miss how things sound in a room. Even some non-budget headphones will do in a pinch, but expect the sound to be "colored" by the headphones. What sounds good in your headphones will sound very different from your car. Go with over-the-ear headphones and DO NOT use earbuds or AirPods.
If you don't already have a mic, don't go cheap but also don't feel like you have to spend $2k to get a good sound. Pro studios still use the tried and true Shure SM57/58. Get a stand to go with it and a pop filter for vocals, and you don't need to spend a lot here to get started.
For all this extra stuff, and even the audio interface, give Sweetwater a look. Their reps are still salespeople, but they are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They can put you on the right stuff for what you need and there are even some very affordable packages that include all that you would need.
Posted on 1/15/26 at 5:27 pm to The Next
quote:
The Next
Thank you for the detailed reply but oh man, most of that went way over my head lol. I should’ve noted that I’m borderline computer/tech illiterate. Which probably means I just need the bare minimum laptop to get started and if it’s something I really get into then I can get a beefier setup.
So you think I should stay away from 8gb RAM altogether? Because some of the refurbished laptops I was looking at only had 8gb. Also I do have a Scarlett audio interface. And some Audio Technica headphones for playback and a Shure (can’t remember the model) microphone although I don’t plan on doing any vocals as my singing is worse than my playing lol
Posted on 1/15/26 at 9:18 pm to 4thand20
If 8GB of RAM is all that’s available, that might be enough to at least get you started playing around to figure out if you want to stick with it. It just won’t be the snappiest machine you’ve worked on. I would definitely make sure it can be upgraded later if needed. And make sure it comes with at least a solid-state drive. If the description says anything about a Hard Disk Drive or HDD, I’d look elsewhere.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 7:25 am to 4thand20
Better off getting a MacBook pro. Unlike the air, it has cooling fans and is more of a workhorse for editing and recording.
Posted on 1/16/26 at 10:40 am to prplhze2000
Yeah I’m sure the pro would be way better. And I do love a snappy machine so I know the 16gb would be better. I’m just getting to that point where it’s like ‘if I spend this much then I may as well pay a little more and get a bigger this or a better that’. And in the end I really think I just need something that will work good enough for now.
I saw an 8gb MacBook Air M1 with 256gb storage for $371 off of backmarket. I’m leaning towards just going with that. Then I can see what I need/want don’t need/want and it won’t break the bank. If I only get a year or two of use out of it then I’m fine with that. I can just turn around and trade it in on something better
I saw an 8gb MacBook Air M1 with 256gb storage for $371 off of backmarket. I’m leaning towards just going with that. Then I can see what I need/want don’t need/want and it won’t break the bank. If I only get a year or two of use out of it then I’m fine with that. I can just turn around and trade it in on something better
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