The Mac is an apparent candidate for those who’re searching for a pc with which to make music. The selection might be overwhelming, although, with units starting from a number of hundred {dollars} or kilos to hundreds greater than you may spend on a automobile. On this article we examine all of them and clarify which Mac is best for you.
There was a time when music manufacturing required hiring a studio, however know-how strikes quick. Throughout the Eighties, there was a revolution in analog dwelling recording equipment; then the Nineteen Nineties noticed dwelling computer systems step by step take over. Right this moment, you are able to do every part from recording pop songs to mastering film soundtracks on a Mac. However which Mac? That’s the query we’re right here to reply!
Why use a Mac for music manufacturing
Whether or not you select a Mac or PC for music manufacturing is basically right down to the platform you favor and who you’re collaborating with. Nonetheless, there are a number of the explanation why musicians who select to make use of Macs accomplish that.
One purpose is the easy incontrovertible fact that Macs are extremely straightforward to make use of, so musicians don’t get sidetracked attempting to set issues up or repair issues. The current addition of the M-series of Apple-made chips additionally implies that they’re very highly effective, usually outperforming Intel-equipped PC equivalents. Mac laptops are additionally slim and light-weight, with very good construct high quality – a profit if you’re carrying them round to gigs in addition to utilizing them in a studio.Â
Finest Mac configuration for music manufacturing
If you will make music with a Mac then there are a selection of issues that it’s worthwhile to think about. We’ll run by means of every of those beneath that will help you make your closing resolution.
Software program
The software program you employ – your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) – is as arguably as necessary as the pc you select. There are many choices accessible on macOS, which you’ll be able to examine in our round-up of the best music recording software for Mac.
Two spectacular packages you possibly can solely discover on Macs are Apple’s personal Logic Pro and its enthusiast-focused cousin GarageBand. (Learn our Logic Pro and Garageband evaluations.)
GarageBand is basically an audio sketchbook, albeit a robust one in the correct fingers. It’s nice for shortly getting down the bones of songs or compositions, with loads of help for plug-ins. We all know of a number of skilled musicians that use it for creating demos of concepts, which they will then share with different musicians within the early stage of writing. Better of all, GarageBand comes free with each Mac, simply one other good purpose for utilizing Apple’s computer systems to create your music.
Once they wish to get severe although, there’s a superb likelihood they’ll change to Logic Professional X, which is the much more highly effective and feature-rich DAW.
RAMÂ
Music software program is notoriously hungry for reminiscence. An absence of RAM (in Apple phrases that is known as Unified Reminiscence) turns into a severe bottleneck in any pro-level mission. You’ll be capable to run fewer devices and fewer results; you’ll spend extra time rendering and fewer time doing issues reside.
Think about 16GB your minimal. This shouldn’t be troublesome, all Macs and MacBooks might be outfitted with 16GB RAM – and we advocate that you simply do configure your Mac to at the very least this stage, if no more. Be aware that M3, M2 and M1 Macs ship with 8GB RAM as customary. The M2 and M3 Macs might be up to date to 16GB RAM and prime out at 24GB, whereas M1 Macs may solely help as much as 16GB RAM. If you happen to suppose you may want 32GB RAM then you have to to improve to the Professional model (e.g. M3 Professional) which is an choice within the MacBook Professional or Mac mini and comes with 16GB as customary and helps 32GB. For 64GB or 96GB RAM, you want the Max (e.g. M3 Max) an choice for the MacBook Professional or Mac Studio. And for 128GB or 192GB RAM you’ll want to take a look at the Extremely (e.g. M2 Extremely) within the Mac Studio or Mac Professional.
Storage
Storage is prone to be an necessary consider your resolution. All Apple Macs use SSDs and have finished so for a few years now. This can be a profit as a result of arduous drives could be a bottleneck as a consequence of their comparatively low pace in comparison with SSDs, and they are often noisy.
Nonetheless, SSDs are far costlier per GB than arduous drives. Entry-level Apple notebooks have 256GB SSDs, however professional instrument and results collections when put in can require a whole bunch of GB, and that’s earlier than you even begin to add your personal music information. So that you in all probability desire a minimal of 512GB SSD along with your Mac. Another excuse to avoid the lower-capacity Macs is that previously we’ve discovered the smaller SSDs to be slower than their larger-capacity counterparts – although it seems Apple has addressed this now: the 256GB MacBook Air doesn’t suffer from the slow storage problem.
You will need to determine what you’ll want, and whether or not belongings shall be saved internally or externally. Exterior drives might be effective for big pattern libraries and the like, particularly when related utilizing Thunderbolt, however you then want to find out methods to take every part with you for those who’re a musician who works with folks in many various places. Cloud storage may be a superb choice right here: try our Best Cloud Storage Services for Mac.
Portability
Talking of being at totally different places, you need to resolve whether or not you want the Mac to be transportable or not. If you happen to’re all the time transferring round, working with varied musicians in several international locations, a Mac Studio in all probability gained’t slot in your hand baggage. However for those who’re a solo musician who solely ever creates music in a house studio, you would get extra bang in your buck with a desktop machine such because the M2 Professional Mac mini.
If you’re studio primarily based you might suppose that you simply want an iMac so that you could benefit from the big show, however you possibly can plug in an exterior show to any Mac, so even for those who had a laptop computer Mac you would fortunately use it with a 30-inch display if you find yourself at your desk.
Ports
You additionally want to contemplate the opposite equipment you wish to use. If you happen to don’t have any additional equipment (if your entire music-making occurs inside a Mac) then this gained’t be a priority, and, in principle, any Mac may do. However you probably have a pile of audio interfaces, USB devices, headphones, screens, and different important {hardware}, attempting to get by the 2 USB-C ports discovered on the MacBook Air and entry-level MacBook Professional fashions will drive you to despair. (Through which case you may want a USB hub to use with your new Mac).
Fortunately in current instances, Apple has added extra ports to its latest Mac laptops, so you will discover SDXC, Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, and extra on the aspect of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Professional. The Mac mini and Mac Studio even have a pleasant choice of ports.
Apple
Apple
Apple
Processor
Excessive-end audio work might be extraordinarily processor-intensive, particularly when utilizing skilled plug-ins and results. In case your calls for are nice, you’re going to wish a Mac with pretty severe processing energy. Ergo, whichever Mac you resolve to purchase, keep away from low-end fashions that appear to lurk within the line-up to allow Apple to say ‘from’ and use a lower cost tag in advertising materials. That stated, the present crop of entry-level Macs with their M3 chips are proving to be fairly formidable.
For the last word choice flip to the MacBook Professional with the M3 Professional or M3 Max, or await these chips to reach within the Mac mini or Mac Studio. The M2 Extremely within the Mac Studio and Mac Professional may also attraction, however would seemingly be overkill.
Graphics
There’s additionally the query of the GPU. Traditionally, recording and enhancing audio didn’t make the most of many graphics card assets, not like 3D design and video enhancing. Issues are extra difficult as of late as some audio software program is GPU-accelerated. It’s additionally an element must you require extra shows. Apple’s M2 Macs provide 8 or 10-core GPUS and may suffice typically.
If you happen to suppose you’ll profit from extra graphics prowess then look to the 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Professional with the M3 Professional (14 or 18 graphics cores) or the M3 Max (30 or 40 graphics cores). The Mac Studio and Mac Professional go additional providing the M2 Extremely with 60- or 76-core GPU (we’re nonetheless awaiting the M3 Extremely, however count on to see enhancements there).
Show help
Talking of exterior shows, observe that if you wish to plug in multiple extra show the usual M1 and M2 MacBooks gained’t formally help multiple extra show (though there are methods round this, see: How to connect two or more external displays to Apple M1 or M2 Macs). The Mac mini, Mac Studio and all different MacBooks help a variety of exterior shows. This might matter for those who want to use graphics with the music you play.
Finest Mac for musicians
1. MacBook Professional, 14-inch, M3 Professional (2023)
If you’d like a good-sized display, loads of ports, and loads of energy the 14-inch MacBook Professional is an efficient choice. There’s a M3 model of the 14-inch MacBook Professional, however we advocate the M3 Professional, or M3 Max fashions.
This Mac was up to date in October 2023 with the M3 Professional and M3 Max. There’s additionally a 16-inch MacBook Professional if you would like an excellent larger display, which additionally provides the identical M3 Professional chip and 16GB Unified Reminiscence (aka RAM) as customary. This may, after all, be upgraded on the level of sale, maxing out at 36GB for the M3 Professional (you possibly can rise up to 128GB within the costlier M3 Max fashions).
You’ll get 512GB or 1TB storage as customary, with the choice to extend that to a 8TB. There is no such thing as a 256GB SSD choice for the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Professional, which avoids the problem with slower SSDs that plagues the 256GB SSDs (though because the introduction of the M3 MacBook Air Apple appears to have addressed this issue).
The M3 Professional brings 14 or 18 GPU cores that can be utilized to crunch the numbers wanted when utilizing a great deal of plug-ins, VSTs or rendering multi-channel compositions onscreen. Do you have to need probably the most highly effective MacBook Professional you should purchase, then take a look at the M3 Max, which maxes out at 40 GPU cores.
That is an costly Mac, however we frequently see massive reductions so we strongly advocate that you simply store round to save lots of. Take a look at these MacBook Pro deals for the perfect costs.
Learn our full
Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3 Pro, 2023) review
2. MacBook Professional, 14-inch, M3 (2023)
The Professional or Max fashions are our first selection, however not each musician has the funds for Apple’s M3 Professional-powered MacBook Professional. The excellent news is the 14-inch M3-powered MacBook Professional is worthy of consideration for music-making.
The 14-inch MacBook Professional with M3 was launched in October 2023. It changed the 13-inch MacBook Professional with M2 chip. The M3 is highly effective sufficient to supply nice efficiency and make quick work of initiatives with loads of layered tracks, results, VSTs, and provides clean playback with out stuttering or overloading. True, the baseline mannequin does solely include 8GB of RAM, so we’d advise upgrading this to both 16GB or 24GB on the time of buy, as you possibly can’t make any changes afterward as a result of non-upgradable manner these are constructed.
If you’d like energy and portability, then the 14-inch MacBook Professional with M3 is sort of the workhorse.
Learn our full
Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3, 2023) review
3. MacBook Air, 13-inch, M3 (2024)
The 13-inch MacBook Air with M3 is one other Mac laptop computer that could possibly be thought of in your DAW. When it comes to weight, it’s the lightest of the present crop at 2.7 kilos/1.24kg, however that doesn’t imply it’s a light-weight within the efficiency stakes.
Resulting from Air’s energy effectivity, the laptop computer additionally comes and not using a fan, which could possibly be a godsend for those who document close to the laptop computer. As with all Macs, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack so you possibly can edit on the go with out worrying about latency.
With a decrease beginning value than the MacBook Professional with M3, the MacBook Air with M3 is a pretty choice. You might up storage and RAM and nonetheless lower your expenses in comparison with the equal MacBook Professional. The 512GB MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM prices $1,499/£1,499 from Apple, in comparison with $1,899/£1,899 for a similar spec within the MacBook Professional.
To save lots of more cash you may think about the M2 MacBook Air, which is offered for $999/£999, it’s a superb Mac, however the value distinction is so small our recommendation is to spend the small $100/£100 extra for the M3 mannequin, or lower your expenses by buying round for a superb deal on the M3. See: Best MacBook Air deals. You’ll be able to see how the 2 totally different fashions examine by studying our MacBook Air (M3) vs MacBook Air (M2) article.
4. MacBook Air, 15-inch, M3 (2024)
Really feel just like the display on the 13-inch MacBook Air may be too cramped in your wants? Apple additionally sells a 15-inch MacBook Air. It prices greater than the 13-inch MacBook Air, however really represents good worth for cash compared to the 14-inch MacBook Professional, which has a similar-sized display however prices much more. See: 15-inch MacBook vs 14-inch MacBook Pro for extra info.
Learn our full
Apple 15-inch MacBook Air (M3, 2024) review
5. Mac mini, M2 Professional (2023)
Worth When Reviewed:
1 549 €
If you happen to don’t want the portability of a laptop computer the perfect worth for cash Mac for musicians is the Mac mini with M2 Professional, which launched in January 2023. For $1,299/£1,399 you will get the identical chip that may price you $1,999/£2,149 within the MacBook Professional. Certain you’ll want a separate display, mouse and keyboard, however it’s nonetheless going to save lots of you a ton of cash.
It’s small, quiet, and has nice connectivity choices, together with an extra audio-in port that could possibly be helpful for legacy merchandise. What extra may you ask for?
We simply counsel that you simply wait as a result of we count on that Apple will replace the Mac mini with an M3 Pro very quickly.
Learn our full
Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023) review
6. Mac mini, M2 (2023)
If you happen to don’t want the M2 Professional there’s an ordinary Mac mini with M2 chip, which begins at simply $599/£649. If you have already got a show, keyboard, mouse and are simply searching for an engine on which to make some music, the Mac mini is a stable selection.
It’s small, quiet, and has nice connectivity choices, together with an extra audio-in port that could possibly be helpful for legacy merchandise.
The Mac mini is presently accessible with the M2chip and 256GB SSD for simply $599/£649. There’s additionally a 512GB mannequin for $799/£849. Double the RAM to 16GB, for an additional $200/£200.
If funds are low, the Mac mini is a superb selection for making music. Listed here are the best prices for the Mac mini. However count on a M3 mannequin to launch quickly.
Learn our full
Apple Mac mini (M2, 2023) review
7. Mac Studio, M2 Max (2023)
Worth When Reviewed:
2 399 €
These seeking to create professional-level music within the dwelling or studio will wish to take a look at the Mac Studio. Aimed on the Professional market, however nonetheless inexpensive, this beefed-up Mac mini boasts the M2 Max SoC, with a 12-Core CPU and 30-Core GPU, or the M2 Extremely for 24-core CPU and as much as 60 or 76-core GPU. Each choices ship enviable ranges of efficiency.
Add to this as much as 64GB RAM for the M2 Max, or 192GB RAM for the M2 Extremely, and as much as 8TB of storage (all of which might be upgraded on the level of sale) and you’ve got an extremely potent Mac that may deal with something you throw at it. There are many ports accessible, together with 4x Thunderbolt 4 and 2x USB-C and 2x USB-A, so your entire outboard equipment ought to be capable to plug straight into the Mac Studio. As with the Mac mini, you’ll have to carry your personal show, keyboard, mouse and audio system.
Just like the Mac mini count on this mannequin to be up to date quickly, the Mac Studio with M3 Max will seemingly be launched across the time of WWDC in June.
Take a look at the best deals for the Mac Studio to see if it can save you on the same old value of $1,999/£2,099.
Learn our full
Apple Mac Studio (M2 Max, 2023) review
