FINALLY! A video addressing the AUDIO production of the laptop, which I find important and much appreciated, Ben! Thank you so much for all of your hard work.
Literally when window shopping new machines, Music Production capability is the MAIN thing I would like to know about and nobody ever covers it! THANK YOU.@@BenGKaiser
I really feel like I’ve grown a passion to this idk why it just feels right I’m usually a very lazy person but this has been something for years I’ve dreamed of started listening and studying different music category’s might sound like I’m just rambling but why not give it a try at least I can have fun doing it
Dear Ben, THANK YOU SO MUCH for covering a series on music production laptops. Been waiting for someone to talk about our workflows and needs for a long time. My workflow - I do all kinds of work from podcast editing (2 -5 audio tracks), audio mixing (8-50 tracks), music production (15-30 tracks) and film sound design(too many tracks lol) I am looking for a new laptop and have been using both Macs and PCs for a while. Personally, I am going to go with a windows laptop specifically the Asus Pro Art Studiobook for my needs. I know the Macbook can be less noisy but at the moment I really can't justify the price of those laptops for getting storage and RAM for my use. I also dabble in some game audio work so working with Unreal and Unity is preferable gonna happen on Windows. The other issue is Apple silicon compatibility, most audio engineers are using a huge variety of third party plugins and instruments not all of which are supported for Apple silicon. So the decision to move to a newer Apple silicon platform brings a few issues. I do wanna mention a few points that might make the job of someone else looking for a music production laptop easier. Have heard from a lot of folks that Dell's audio drivers tend to be really buggy so I'd say avoid that. On Windows, you will need to optimise your system's setting to get the best performance out of your system. For the noise issue while you are recording something, if you are only recording a small number of tracks (4-8) with an audio interface, then as your laptop is simply receiving the input from the interface and not doing the heavy lifting of the A-D conversion.
Hello. Your comment is very helpful. Finally, how does your Asus Pro Art laptop run? would you recommend it? Have you had PDC latency problems? I plan to use it for music production. I have also read about compatibility problems with plugins and operating system version on Mac. I am a sea of doubts. Thank you 🙏
Something to keep in mind as well as the onboard DAC on some Zephyrus laptops which allows you to handle pretty big sessions plugged in directly to the headphone jack. Same thing with latency results, which you can find in Jarrods Tech reviews. The audio interface takes care of both of these btw.
I do Instrumentals but I'm at the point now where the more Instruments added to the mix it slows down and stutters drives me insane..... so currently I need a new laptop. Great video.
I have a beast of a desktop recording system, but I wanted something more mobile for traveling. Didn't see this video until after I bought my laptop, but it does validate my choice of a gaming class laptop for recording. Thank you so much for looking at the specific application of production/recording.
Thank you for such review. Just wanna add one thing - I would expect that AUDIO engineers reviewers would review the DPC latency values! Since it is a quite crusial for music production at all (especially for real time audio processing). I've tried a lot of windows laptops... and they are quite awful with DPC latencies. CPU/RAM/SSD/GPU - of course, it is mandatory, but if manufacturer has not been optimized drivers to have a really low DPC latencies, all that worth nothing.
its generally assumed that people producing audio on their computers would be using a designated audio interface as their sound card which cuts out latency in most cases...
@charleswheeler3418 I would disagree. Cos all hardware that you're connecting to your laptop use drivers for interactions and transfer data. The more efficient and optimized vendors' drivers (I mean laptop vendor), the better performance you would have with your hardware. That's why even true counter strike or any active shooter gamers are doing the same (I mean optimizing DPC) to get fastest response from the input device (mouse controllers).
Complex workflow. One area you didn't cover but is absolutely critical is latency and specifically DPC latency. I've been working on a 2016 Dell XPS 15 3sgb ram and no matter what you do, you cannot get the dpc latency under control to these dell machines. It won't run Ableton stably below 256 samples even with virtually no instruments or plugins. Wish I new that before because it really curtailed my live music production made me more an arrangement editing type producer by necessity. Mac throughput is vastly superior but I don't like the price tag or many of the caveats that mac makes you suffer through. It would be a really crucial in future videos to access the newer Dell's for DPC latency and the other rigs to see what can actually run your sessions smoothly at low latency. Cheers.
Most bedroom producers are completly in the box and pull off vocals from youtube or splice if they need. the problem with (fan) noise is therefore not live recording. it simply that noise makes mixing very difficulty also for headphone mixes. It introduces frequencies that will mask issues in a mix and it makes it overall very difficulty to focus on your music. I want to hear nothing but my music when I produce.
I’m not sure how loud your fans are but that has never been a problem for me in any situation. There are many noises in live performances which is where I mostly mix. If you can’t train to focus on what you are mixing/ single out tones/instruments then you may need different exercise’s because it seems to me that fan noise has never been an issue with studio speakers, laptop speakers, or headphones when I reference my mix.
@@Creator_Veeto_PAEACPexactly what u said mixing and making are 2 different things ig he’s saying he doesn’t have the skills for it because i understand what he’s saying. being in the box forces u to have in the box solutions
I've been watching your videos since I started looking for a new laptop. I know that your content is toward content creators such as digital artists, video editors, etc, but I didn't expect you to cover music production as well. I bought the Asus G14 2022 from your recommendations, and I'm producing music using Ableton Live 11, and it's been a joy to me. Definitely going to upgrade the RAM sometime soon!
@@KHACDII my two year old g15 got bricked for DAW use after a reinstall, I tried a new g15, it had the same issue right out of the box... I suspect it's nvidia driver problem. Not sure if I should test another windows laptop or just get macbook. Thanks for the info tho!
@@krisxmelderis hmmm honestly, the reason why I chose g14 over the macbook pro 14 was that I game lol. If I only need a machine for music or media production, Macbook is always better in terms of stability IMO
One Windows based recommendation would be the Asus ROG Strix G17/15 AMD Advantage Edition. Been using mine in my Mastering Studio for some time now. The reason I chose this is that there's very little drop in performance in the silent mode. I can't remember whether it was one of your videos @Ben G Kaiser or one of Jarrods Tech videos, but there was a benchmark test that showed very little drop in performance. Anyway I bought it and I'm super happy with it. No issues with any heavy Mastering Sessions or even 60-70 track mix sessions, and it runs nice and quiet.
I would use the laptop by starting my online/in person personal fitness coaching (and also do some gaming of course) as that’s my dream job and want to start sometime next year! Even if I don’t win I love your videos Ben and will be sharing this video
Excellet video and I see a lot of comments from people that are more accostomed to DAW and hardware but for someone that's just getting into understanding this vast field, its an amazing video. The comments do help to understand the subject even better so, over all; the video is what it's meant to be, to educate the watcer. Mission accomplished! If there was no video, there wouldn't be comments.
You can't imagine how this video helped me, I keep going back to it for years! It's the only video to actually explain what to look into laptops and not only brands, thank you !
Thank u for this useful info specifically for some of us who know some but not everything about the function fundamentals of this laptops specs… I could really use one of them legions to come back to my music since my laptop was damaged after a busted pipe after a freeze down here in TX ,water pipe busted and my studio got the worst so starting from scratch again …best luck to everyone GB 🙌🏽
I loved this video! you can hardly find any videos on youtube talking about music production laptops and let alone one for windows users. I loved how you easily explained all the information that a music producer will need to know.
Thanks! You've been very helpful, I did not expect to mac win this one for my nearest goal for saving, but it did! Thanks for opening up options for me
You can get full performance on a gaming laptop without being plugged in to a charger if you go into advanced audio settings on windows 11 and change cpu max and min to 100% when not being charged.
I want to start doing live performances, mainly on social platforms, and I currently use a Lenovo Thinkpad...but one with better specs would be used very well! Hope you hit 100K!
hey just found this channel and i am super grateful for this video. i've been researching this topic for a minute and this was some great info. i see you're trying to get to 100k subs. let me tell you that upping your presentation would go a long way towards helping with that. better setup and lighting is needed if you want to get more subs quicker. just some advice.
Great Video, learning a ALOT from you! Before I watched this video I bought a LG Gram i7-1360P from Costco with Iris Xe graphics (32GB, 1TB) that is coming today to use for Pro Tools, but thinking of returning it before I use it. I want to get a “High End” unit like the Lenovo Legion 7i or the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 with dedicated graphics. I don’t think the LG Gram a “High End“ for Pro Tools and what catagory would you put it in (Mid, Mid-High, High)? Do you have some newer High End choices with 2023 processors. Thanks Ben!
In practicality though, Ryzen 9 is beast for music production... DAWs (almost all) these days can take advantage of multi-core power as well as single core power... Dom Sigalas did a video on this... Very insightful... He did the test on Cubase
The Lenovo Legion 5 pro (or the Legion series in general) is what I seem to be dreaming of more these days for the shear power at the price point... It's rather pricey (exchange rate for my currency as a factor) for me but it has the power for me... An M2 Macbook air or pro(not the base variant) would be but then again, price. Nothing beats a Mac so far for mobility and their power unplugged
Man thanks for this video. Found the sweet spot for me on accident. Zephyrus G14 on sale, $500 off. For a semi complicated setup using Arturia virtual instruments, Bitwig in place of Ableton and also my Akai MPC One, which is the most underrated Akai standalone. Underrated bc of ease of use the button lay out is awesome. I pick my laptop up tomorrow. From what I understand a few DJs really prefer the Zephyrus. Maybe the M16?
Thank you so much for making these videos. They’re super helpful and genuinely appreciate it. I liked and subscribed looking forward to watching your 2024 video next in just a minute 😊
I would use the computer to go to school and get my degree in music production! It would probably be a great leap into my journey as I am very excited to get my degree in music production!
Dude the Lenovo Legion 5pro is what im looking for! Damn! Im an Artist myself and i am working with a 12 years old Laptop whcih has to be replaced... So would be nice to have one of these for real! Super Video, not many on this level out here on RU-vid!
Thank you ! 👊 I’m new to music production. Using a bad laptop. Saving money to buy better laptop. Doing research and this video is very helpful and informative. I’m having a lot of fun learning. Thank you so much 😊playing with beats and creating sound and music it’s very addicting.
AMAZING! Great to find a Tek Nerd willing to get into the nitty gritty when it comes to audio production. Also if you are looking for the best bang for buck audio production desktop that is made for super extreme workflows, "Mix engineering from a live environment 32+ channels 10 ish groups and 100 + plugin instances" Let me know.
Thanks for sharing so much interesting info. I'm gonna buy a new laptop for Ableton live performance. Low latency and smooth flow working are the elemental aspects for me. I'm looking for some second hand stuff under 500€. My options (random / not in order of actual preference): 1 - Dell precision 7520 (i7 6820HQ / 24gb ram) 2 - Hp Envy (i7 8550 U / 16gb) 3 - Asus ROG Strix (i7 7700HQ / 16gb) 4 - MSI GS43VR 7RE PHANTOM PRO (i7 7700HQ / 16gb) 5 - Dell Alienware 15 (i7 6820HQ / 16gb) Could you simply write the number of your option? Thanks a lot!!
I use the Zephyrus M16 for amateur music production and it works great! I do wish the fans ran quieter so I could crank up the performance, but keeping it in Silent performance mode it isn't audible, and it runs everything in FL studio just fine!
I wish that I knew about DPC latency before I spent £2,650 on an MSI GE77HX Raider, (i9 12900HX, 32GB RAM GTX 3070 Ti, 8GB VRAM, 2TB SSD). My old £1,650 Alienware R3 15, (i7 7700HQ, 16GB RAM, RTX 1060, 6GB VRAM, 512GB SSD, 1 GB HDD), handled far more VSTs in Reason 12 than this otherwise awesome gaming laptop. It can't be emphasised enough how important a system's DPC latency is.
This is a fantastic video which has cleared up a lot for me. Thanks! I have a digital mixer which can input multiple channels into my DAW, so I want to use it to create some live recordings, as well as using it for my own stuff at home. My emphasis is on recording live instruments. How much of a factor is DPC latency on real-time playback, and do you have a recommendation for a machine to minimise this?
Hello there! What do you think about framework? I just lost 2 MacBook Pro in the last 2 years and I’d like to buy a computer that is reparable as much as possible. Thanks a lot for your great video!
I've got the book3 360, 13" 1335u 16gb (today).. is the best choose in my case .. I do produce in Ableton live,and use to play live loops with a midi keyboard and I'm musician so I play reading with music sheet, so the tablet mode is perfect, and to do some quick photo and video edits..
I'd use it for music production, and designing merchandise as well as making motivational videos for people wanting to join the Marine Corps and veterans
lol I have a 5 year old laptop with i5, 6GB Ram, and 1TB hard drive, I run Cubase and Fl studio, with numerous 3rd party plugins, never had a problem!!!!
I would use the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro as my music machine: vocal mixing, recording, audio mixing, recording, mastering, making beats. I am looking for a new pc to upgrade from my 2015 pc thats is outdated and it would be very great if I was able to get that laptop.
Hi Benji, Love this video and have watched it, and several other of your videos, multiple times. I hope to build a simple recording studio, like the idea of getting a 2-in-1 laptop, and am trying to decide between - a Lenovo Yoga 7i, 16" 2-in-1 with 32GB & 1TB (@1399.99) and - an Asus Zenbook 15 Pro Flip OLED (Q539) with 16GB & 1TB (@ 1119.99) In your Zenbook Flip review, you mention the laptop is really silent on Whisper Mode, which would be great for recording, but i question if i may in the future want more RAM to run the DAW of my choice On the other hand, although the Yoga 7i i found offers plenty of RAM, i'm concerned it may not be as quiet when it comes time to record Both laptops have dedicated/discrete GPUs What do you think? Which of the two laptops would you go with? Hope this finds you well and look forward to hearing back. UPDATE: Went ahead and purchased the ASUS Zenbook. Decided that the complete silence of Whisper mode on the Zenbook trumped the extra RAM on the Yoga 7i for my recording studio needs. fyi: i used the link from one of your your Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED reviews to make the purchase, so you should be getting a commission from the sale. Hope you're doing well and really appreciate everything i learned from your vids. Shabbat shalom :)
Great review you cover everything helping creators with it all! I'm going to enjoy the Lenovo Legion 5 that I'm going to win from you! 🎉 C'mon 100k🎉 So Close 🎉
..considering buying a Schenker/ XMG laptop for audio..fan noise is always a thing and under maximum load in benches..but you are not running always on 100% Capacity with modern cpu..and usually you can set up different energy profiles..on some devices even a custom fan curve..
Great content I really would love one of those legion laptops I'm an audio engineerand could truly be blessed is I had one of these and being a husband and dad of two kids most of my finances go into taking care of my family so it would be great if you chose me thanks oh and I never win anything in my life so that would be cool too 😂 keep up the great work
I have a complicated workflow, and a variable budget. Because I also have a gaming pc in my studio (2 monitors). But because I’ve had some difficulties with the pc, I want a laptop as back-up. And so I can work remotely, if I need to. So I don’t really need a amazing performance graphic wise. I work on FL, so a macbook is not an option for me. I’ve heard to many stories about complications with those 2 not working together. I am doubting between the Acer Swift X (because of the price). And between the Asus ROG Zephyrus M16. If I go up a price class I think I’d still rather get a macbook and start working on ableton xD. Because then I’d just be buying a second gaming device haha.
Awesome video Ben congratulations!!!! I have a question if you or someone could please answer. I cant decide between an Intel Core i7 1260p with 32gb of RAM and an Intel Core i7 1255u with 64gb of RAM. I will use it for music production using different daws and a lot of libraries and virtual instruments. Both with 2TB SSD. I would appreciate any recommendations.... thank you!
Does the entry level options laptops that you recommended also just as silent as the MacBook Pro? As a voice over artist, I run a very simple work flow, and I'm currently in search getting a new laptop. I am looking for the most silent laptop that my condenser mic won't be able to pick up. What would you recommend as a super silent laptop for a very simple work flow? Appreciate your recommendations and this video is just so helpful 🙏
A very well detailed and informative video from someone with apparently no experience in music production 😂 Well done! But my choice would be legion 5i pro since it has a lot of ports an great performance! Being portable is not for everyone I guess 😅
@@letitanetlaplume it tends to get noisy if yo push it really hard! Nothing unmanageable though! You can use the silent mode when recording and performance mode when silence is not a concern! And be aware that unplugging it drops the performance so not a choice if being portable is a concern
