Create a sick media server with Plex. One of the best reasons to use an NAS is as a way to have your own media server for music, movies, and photos. Plex is easily the best solution.
When choosing a Mac for music production, you have a few choices.
The first thing you have to decide is if you rather have a desktop computer or a laptop.
Typically, if this is your first mac, or you don’t already have a reliable laptop, I’d recommend going for a laptop. Having the ability to bring your studio anywhere is important.
- Channel D Pure Music 3 $129 Pure Music is a great piece of software at a price that even a flea market-scrounging hobbyist audiophile can afford. Combine Pure Music with any recent Mac computer and you have a front end that will play back any digital file from FLACs to lowly MP3s on up to 192/24 high-resolution files with ease.
- The power of Mac. Dedicated apps for music, TV, and podcasts. Smart new features like Sidecar, powerful technologies for developers, and your favorite iPad apps, now on Mac.
If you prefer to have a large screen when making music and don’t plan on working in too many locations, a desktop computer might be a better option for you.
Once you have made that decision, you have to choose the best model for you.
Down below are my top 5 picks for the best Macs for music production.
Tip: When writing this article, I found that most of these computers were cheapest on Amazon. I recommend comparing prices on Amazonbefore buying directly from Apple.
Mac Pro
If money is not an issue, go for a Mac Pro.
Not to be confused with the Macbook Pro, the Mac Pro is apple’s most powerful desktop computer.
Its price starts at $3000.
The Mac Pro is packed with 12GB of ram. Its processor is quad-core and is 3.76GHz.
There are 4 usb 3.0 ports and 6 thunderbolt ports. As for connecting display, you can use either the provided thunderbolt ports or the hdmi port.
Use Mac Mini As A Music Server
The hard drive is 256GB. Don’t be alarmed by the small storage capacity (compared to the 1TB+ computers that are standard today). The hard drive is a solid state drive (SSD). This means that there are no moving parts.
Solid state hard drives are a LOT faster than normal hard drives. Doing anything, from booting up, to loading up your favorite DAW, will happen in a fraction of the time that it would with a normal hard drive.
The newest Mac Pro model is noticeably compact.
The first thing you’ll notice about the Mac Pro is how small and compact it is. It is perhaps one of the smallest powerhouse computers in the market.
You can tell that the Mac Pro was designed very well. It runs incredibly efficiently and stays cool during use.
iMac
The nice part about buying an iMac, compared to a Mac Pro, Is that the display is built-in. No additional purchases are needed to get up and running with the iMac.
There are 2 main types of iMacs you could get: The Retina and non-Retina version.
The best iMac available is the 27 inch iMac Retina display model.
The Retina iMac starts at $2000 and has a few different variations.
The baseline iMac has 8GB of ram and a 1TB hard drive. It has a nice and powerful 2GB video card as well.
For the average producer, this is more than enough power. Even if you need more power down the road, the iMac is upgradable to 32GB of RAM.
To save some money, you can buy the non-Retina version for only $1099. It still has plenty of power from its 8GB of ram, 500GB hard drive, and 1.4GHz processor.
Mac Mini
Mac Minis have gone down in price a lot over the years.
They are still an amazing performer in the studio and have quite impressive specs for their price.
The cheapest one you could get is $500. If this is all you are willing to spend, by all means go for it, but I would recommend the next option up.
The next option up is $700, BUT has twice the ram, a 1 terabyte hard drive, and a much faster 2.5GHz processor.
Music Server For Mac
The Mac Mini has 4 usb 3.0 ports, 2 thunderbolt 2 ports, and also an hdmi connector if you prefer hdmi over thunderbolt.
$700 is an incredibly low entry barrier to get a Mac. Of course you also need a monitor. Apple has their own expensive displays, but if you’re on a budget, you can pick up a third party thunderbolt monitor, such as the ASUS MX279H for only a couple hundred bucks.
Overall, the Mac Mini is an excellent choice for music production.
Macbook Pro
Without a doubt, the Macbook Pro is the best laptop for music production.
Out of all of the few laptops that Apple offers, the Pro model is the most powerful. While it is not as thin as the Air, it is still a lot more portable then most other laptops in the market.
Just like the iMac, there are both Retina and non-Retina versions. The non-Retina Macbook Pro starts at $1099 while the Retina Macbook Pro starts at 1299.
The Retina Macbook Pro comes in both 13 and 15 inch variations. It has 8Gb of RAM and a 2.7Ghz processor.
There is even a 128GB SSD hard drive built-in. If you pay a little more, you can get a 256GB hard drive.
The Macbook Pro has a long-lasting battery that will last for 10 hours. (That would probably translate to roughly 6 hours of heavy audio-editing in a DAW.)
Macbook Air
I included the Macbook Air on this list because it is what I found to be the cheapest Apple Laptop that would hold up to music production.
The Macbook Air starts at $900 and goes as high as $1199.
You can get your Air in either 11 or 13 inch variations. I would recommend going with the 13 inch model. Those extra 2 inches make a big difference!
The baseline 13 inch Macbook Air will cost you $1000. It has a 1.6GHz processor and has 4GB of ram. You’ll immediately notice that the Macbook Air is really fast! This is because of the 128GB flash SSD hard drive inside.
I don’t think I even need to mention how portable the Air is. You can stick the think in an envelope if you wanted to!
Overall the Macbook Air is a dream for producing on the go! It is surprisingly powerful and inexpensive.
Summary:
So there you have it!
I hope you have learned a bit more about which mac are best for music production. If you still have a question, drop a comment down below!
Best Mac Mini For Music Server
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