Top-tier budget laptops for musical creation in 2025: Budget-friendly notebooks ideal for music production
In the ever-evolving world of music production, having a reliable and efficient laptop is essential. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned professional, there are several budget-friendly options available that cater to various needs. Here's a roundup of some of the best budget laptops for music production in 2024.
Under $800: Acer Aspire 5 (Core i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD)
The Acer Swift 3, with its aluminium and magnesium-aluminium alloy case, offers phenomenal battery life, making it a dependable laptop for day-to-day music production tasks. It delivers a lot for your cash, boasting one of the best processors in this round-up, plus decent memory and storage [1]. Despite its plastic build and limited USB-C connectivity, it handles beginner to intermediate digital audio workstation (DAW) projects well.
Around $750: Acer Aspire 14 AI (Intel Core Ultra 5)
Another affordable pick is the Acer Aspire 14 AI, featuring an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor with competitive performance and useful ports. This laptop is suitable for budget-conscious users needing decent power for creative tasks [5].
Premium Budget (above $1000): MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo
If you can increase your budget above $1000, laptops like the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo offer powerful Intel Lunar Lake CPUs, 32GB RAM, and excellent portability, making them well-suited for more intensive music production workflows [3].
Very Tight Budget (~$300): Asus Chromebook CM14
Chromebooks such as the Asus Chromebook CM14 are excellent very low-budget choices, offering smooth ChromeOS performance, long battery life, and decent build quality. However, they generally won’t handle demanding music production software that requires Windows or macOS [4].
The ASUS VivoBook Flip: A Versatile Option
The ASUS VivoBook Flip is a convertible laptop/tablet suitable for music production, running full Windows 11 and having a decent baseline spec. The ability to split the laptop to a tablet allows it to be great for producers moonlighting as live sound engineers [2]. However, it's important to check the specifications to ensure it has the necessary ports for music making.
Using a touchscreen to control a DAW like Ableton has benefits and occasional drawbacks, but it's a solid, versatile entry-level option for budget-conscious producers [6].
When testing a budget laptop for music production, small tweaks to a laptop's internal spec can have a huge impact on its ability to perform. Budget laptops tend to be better chosen when they have an end goal in sight [7].
For example, if your setup involves using lots of loops and samples, then the speed at which the laptop can grab them from your external storage will be paramount. For users with lots of MIDI tracks in their compositions, CPU is king [8]. GPUs can also be helpful for music production, particularly for editing promo videos and AI-powered tasks like stem separation [9]. An SSD can help speed up production tasks like loading project files and importing samples [10].
Finally, an 8-core Ryzen or 12/13th Gen Intel processor is suitable for handling the majority of audio production tasks [11]. The Apple MacBook Air M1 13-inch and the HP Pavilion x360 offer suitable specs for music production, with the M1 processor being more than suitable for Macs in music production [12][13]. The HP Victus 15 is a great choice for music production and gaming, offering plenty of power for CPU-intensive tasks and the addition of a GPU for light video editing [14].
In conclusion, whether you're a beginner or a professional, there are various budget-friendly options available for music production laptops in 2024. From the Acer Aspire 5 and Acer Aspire 14 AI under $800 and $750 respectively, to the premium MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo above $1000, there's a laptop to suit every budget and need. And for those on a very tight budget, the Asus Chromebook CM14 offers basic laptop tasks, albeit limited for professional music production.
- Incorporating technology into one's lifestyle, such as using recent advancements like Chromebooks for music production, can potentially lead to innovative workflows.
- In the realm of entertainment, exploring cross-platform options like MIDI control on touchscreens can add an extra layer of versatility to a music production setup.
