Laptop for Music Production Suggestions

pstarlord · December 13, 2023

I'm a music producer, a number of years ago I was able to run my studio on a Macbook Pro, but at a certain point it (and other laptops at the time) just weren't powerful enough to really handle bigger projects. So I've been using a desktop that I built in like 2015(ish) with an i7 7700k, it's 4.5Ghz works fine on most projects, but bigger (and more lucrative) projects are giving it some problems. I'm seeing that there are laptop processors that claim 5+ Ghz single core speed, and I'm wondering if that's legitimate. Are they actually able to hit those speeds, and is the cooling solution able to keep them running for an extended period of time? If that's so, then I'd be interested in a laptop that can check the following boxes.

What I'm looking for:
Preferences:

-Laptop - PC or Mac, don't care - with as much raw, single threaded CPU power as possible

-Variety, and or quality of ports is preferred. Multiple TB3 or USB4 would be the preference. I'm not adverse to using dongles if need be.

-14" is big enough, if specs dictate a larger model, I'm open to it. (i.e. some 15 or 16" models have more ports than the 14" variant, or support a better CPU)

-Metal housing, I don't like plastic housing with a bunch of flex.

Not Important:

-GPU doesn't matter at all. There is a very slight chance that I'd get into video editing, but I could figure that out later if need be.

-RAM is a non issue, looks like most that I've seen offer plenty of RAM at reasonable prices. (aside from Mac prices on RAM obviously...yikes! haha)

-Storage isn't an issue, most of the time projects are stored on external drives.

Obviously, if you think its just not likely that they'll suite my needs, then by all means do let me know. Thanks in advance!

Slottr · December 13, 2023

- Moved to Laptops and Pre-Built Systems -

emosun · December 13, 2023

28 minutes ago, pstarlord said:

Are they actually able to hit those speeds, and is the cooling solution able to keep them running for an extended period of time?

no , most if not all laptops suffer from lack of thermal mass which limits the speed the cpu can actually sustain. Kind of a physics problem nobody ever really solved without making more efficient cpus , software , or just larger cases.

31 minutes ago, pstarlord said:

-Metal housing, I don't like plastic housing with a bunch of flex.

You should probably put that into not important , as very few laptops have ever been retired due to plastic fatigue vs any other part failing long before the decorative shell does.

pstarlord · December 13, 2023

1 minute ago, emosun said:

no , most if not all laptops suffer from lack of thermal mass which limits the speed the cpu can actually sustain. Kind of a physics problem nobody ever really solved without making more efficient cpus , software , or just larger cases.

You should probably put that into not important , as very few laptops have ever been retired due to plastic fatigue vs any other part failing long before the decorative shell does.

Thanks for the advice. That's what I was figuring about the thermals. I don't often pay attention to the lap top space, so I was just making sure I didn't miss some massive advancement in cooling haha. The metal housing is totally personal preference, it's shallow of me I know, but I like the way it feels better. haha.

Thanks again.

emosun · December 13, 2023

8 minutes ago, pstarlord said:

That's what I was figuring about the thermals. I don't often pay attention to the lap top space, so I was just making sure I didn't miss some massive advancement in cooling haha.

the advancement comes from just making the cpu and software more efficient , which in turn generates less heat for the same task.

otherwise , just assume every laptop ever made is effectively hotter and slower than a similarly specced desktop. tends to be the commonality from the early 90s onward.