MacBooks and music production have gone hand-in-hand for over a decade now, and whether it's DJing, live mixing, or recording multi-instrumental tracks, the MacBook is many musicians' first choice. The best MacBooks provide musicians and producers with performance speed, ease of use, and access to certain applications, such as Logic Pro, that enable them to assemble tracks quickly. Whether you are looking at a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air, there's a MacBook out there for you to help your music dreams become a reality.

Our picks for the top MacBooks for music production in 2023

If you are a professional audio/video editor, there's no better pick for a MacBook Pro than the most recent MacBook Pro M3 Max 16-inch. It's one of the best laptops on the market when it comes to creative workflows. Apple's new 3nm M3 Max chip provides you with up to 16 cores of raw processing power to tackle even the most complicated workloads in any digital audio workstation (DAW) of your choice. Working with the processor, there's 36GB of unified memory for a seamless multitasking experience.

Connectivity-wise, the MacBook Pro M3 Max 16-inch comes with three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an SDXC card reader, an HDMI port for connecting to an external display, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Thunderbolt 4 ports allow you to use our favorite Thunderbolt 4 docking station in order to plug in your own interface. You'll also be able to utilize the best portable SSDs with the additional Thunderbolt 4 ports, and the SDXC slot is a great and convenient way to export audio files without having to take up a Thunderbolt port.

Ultimately, it is a bit overkill specification-wise for audio production, but if you're a true audio or audio/video pro, it's the best laptop you can buy right now that will last you years. When you're not working on audio production, you can stream content or work on visual projects with the 30-core GPU and beautiful 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with a native 3456x2234 resolution.

If you don't need the absolute best-of-the-best MacBook Pro, the 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 Pro still provides exceptional value for any musician or audio producer. You'll still be getting the same Apple M3 processor that is in the M3 Pro Max and the same selection of Thunderbolt 4 ports.

The primary difference will be felt in the performance of the MacBook Pro M3, although it's not too much of a step-down from the Max. Chassis-wise, it is still the same laptop with the same beautiful 3456x2234 resolution Liquid Retina XDR display. The main difference with the Pro M3 is that, while you do get the same number of cores, there are fewer efficiency cores active in the Pro M3 when compared to the Max. But, for musicians or producers, this isn't going to impact your experience producing tracks too much. Sure, it won't be as insanely fast as the M3 Max, but it's still going to be one of the fastest audio editing experiences on the market.

While you do get three Thunderbolt 4 ports, you'll see us recommend picking up a Thunderbolt 4 dock with any of the MacBooks on this list. The primary reason, is it makes your audio workflow a lot easier with the additional ports added by a docking station. In total, there's only a slight step down in performance and a step-down in price with the MacBook M3 Pro, making it a better value purchase for an audio pro than the previously highlighted M3 Max.

If you are a musician who needs a laptop for gigging on the road, the 16-inch MacBook might feel too big for you. That's where the smaller 14-inch MacBook M3 Pro comes in, providing any musician with enough power to run a Pro Tools setup or any other DAW. Performance-wise, the 14-inch MacBook M3 Pro is noticeably less powerful than the Max and Pro models of the 16-inch MacBook Pro, but the 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 holds its own in productivity and creative applications with 8 cores of processing power.

The battery life is rated for up to 22 hours, so you will get a full day out of it before needing to recharge. One of the big benefits of the M3 processor in the 14-inch MacBook Pro models is the improvements to battery life, adding about ten additional hours when compared to the prior M1 and M2 MacBook Pros. Connectivity-wise, you'll still have the Thunderbolt 4-enabled ports, allowing you to connect multiple audio interfaces to this small laptop.

The 14-inch MacBook M3 Pro, in addition to being smaller, is considerably more affordable than the 16-inch MacBook Pro, with a starting price of $1600. It's a great laptop for taking on the road for your music career, and it's a lot lighter on the wallet than the 16-inch but with a similar level of performance for DAW applications.

The 2023 15-inch MacBook Air is our favorite from the most recent MacBook lineup. It's the first time Apple has designed the MacBook Air with a 15-inch screen, something that fans of the Air have been asking to get for quite a long time. Now, with the MacBook Air 15, there is a solid option for anyone who doesn't need all the bells and whistles of the Pro series of MacBooks but still wants a powerful machine that can easily handle complex audio projects.

Unlike the MacBook Pro, there's no upgrade path for the MacBook Air, so you'll want to make sure you are purchasing a MacBook Air that will have enough system memory for your audio production needs. I personally recommend going with a minimum of 16GB for efficiency in whichever DAW you work in, and I would also recommend starting with the 512GB SSD over the 256GB. With these additions, you can still pick up the MacBook Air for around $1580, making it one of the best-value MacBooks for musicians on this list.

The biggest drawback to the Air series is the lack of ports. You technically have everything you need for a solid audio workflow, but you'll definitely want to invest in a Thunderbolt docking station as you only get two Thunderbolt 4 ports in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. There's no HDMI or additional data ports, so beware that you'll need a dock if you plan on plugging in multiple interfaces or mixers.

Like with the newer MacBook Air models that we've highlighted, there's no upgrade route for the 2020 M1 MacBook Air, so we highly suggest picking up a model that comes with 16GB of unified memory. This will allow you to work in whichever DAW you choose faster and easier, while preventing slowdowns or shutdowns of the DAW when you start building more complex musical projects. Port-wise, you only get access to two Thunderbolt 3 ports, so you'll definitely need to go and pick up a dongle or dock if you need to connect to multiple USB-C or USB-A devices. There's also no HDMI port, although the USB-C ports do support DisplayPort Alt mode.

The 2020 MacBook Air is going to be the best choice for the new musician who is looking to take their first steps into audio production. It's also an incredibly portable package, coming in at 13-inches and weighing just 2.8 lbs. It's incredibly thin, so it can slip into a bag easily, making it an ideal companion for music class or for taking on the road to your next gig.

Bottom line: The best MacBooks for music production

There's a lot of variation today when it comes to buying a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air. Now, with Apple's own silicon being used, there hasn't been a better time to pick up a new MacBook. The experience with the M1, M2, and M3 processors is all great, and I've personally been using MacBook's since before the transition to Apple Silicon, and I can't say enough good things about the performance of the MacBook's with Apple Silicon. These are truly creative beasts that can handle the toughest workloads, be it in audio production, film editing, or for creating the next big hit. If you're a true audio professional, we recommend going with the MacBook Pro M3 Max, as you will be able to hold onto this laptop for the next couple of years with unbeatable power for creative applications. But, if you don't need the most high-end option, you have a wide range of options from the M2 MacBook Air, to the M3 MacBook Pro, both of which provide more than enough power to cut through any music workflow.