9/9/2023 0 Comments Laptop for audio production![]() ![]() ![]() So there's not a lot in it, to be honest, but you can say it's an 8% uplift for the M2 over the M1. Our M1 got to 92 tracks before continuously falling over, whereas the MacBook Air M2 got to 100. With this, you load up the project and then add tracks on until 'System Overload' is achieved. These were pretty inclusive results, so we then turned to some more trusted tests and downloaded the Logic benchmark project from and. When we then bounced the same track to audio, there was much less in it with the M1 doing the job in 18.95 seconds and M2 creating the stereo file in 18.17 seconds. We loaded up this identical song from scratch on both systems and the M1 booted up and loaded the song in 12.26 seconds while the M2 did it in a significantly less 10.75 seconds. It's quick, of courseĪpple MacBook Pro 14" : Probably still king of the Mac laptop with huge potential for RAM and storage upgrades.Īpple MacBook Air M1 : Not quite as much power but a lot less cash outlayĭell XPS 13 OLED (2021) : Still one of the best Windows laptops for music productionįirst we did some tests using the same Logic project on both machines. It also has bigger padded feet that allow greater circulation beneath and some heat to dissipate when the Air is placed on a desktop. Not spectacularly so - and as you will see, we did push the machine to its limits - and not as much as our Pro does. Indeed we're not sure that returning to such a fan-based machine for music is now a viable option.ĭoes the new Air get hot though? Apple says that it doesn't need a fan as the new M2 chip is efficient and fast enough not to require one but the machine does warm up. And going back to our 'work' MacBook Pro to write this review, we were almost insulted when its fan started whirring into action. With no fan, the MacBook Air music making and listening experience is that of pure silence, and more akin to using an iPad than any previous laptop. ![]() ![]() For the first three days or so of using the MacBook Air M2 in our tests, there was something missing: the noise we've become so used to hearing when using a standard Apple laptop. As music producers we'd disagree, to a point anyway, and say that having no fan is an advantage. Some have said that not having a fan to cool it down is a big disadvantage when you compare this MacBook Air to the latest MacBook Pro. That all said, and as we hinted above, this is possibly the one laptop where connecting an audio interface might not be your first priority, as it handles both listening to music and (light) mixing so well. These support Thunderbolt 3, USB 4 and USB 3.1 gen 2 so will connect a decent number of quality audio interfaces, but if you want more than a monitor and said interface connected, you might need to think a little outside the (small) box. You also only get two Thunderbolt USB 4 ports on the Macbook Air compared to three on the 2021 MacBook Pro. The battery life is good, although at a quoted 18 hours, it's not quite up there with the 20 hours you get on a new M2 13-inch MacBook Pro (which we'll compare and contrast more with later). Don't get carried awayīefore you think we're being too gushing, there are negatives, so we'll get those out of the way now. And for more detailed mixing and mastering, just plug in some decent studio headphones - yes there is an actual wired headphone socket - and you have the perfect lightweight mobile studio. You're not going to be using it for detailed mastering, granted, but it's almost good enough to mix with and very decent just for music listening. The sound emanating from its four speakers (which also support Spatial Audio) is so much better than a small form device like this should be capable of. You can hold it with two fingers (please don't, use at least three) and the all-new colours will have you showing off even more (we opted for the light gold Starlight, although the Midnight finish was also a tempter).Īnd not only does Air M2 fit into our lazy new post COVID world, it has many musical extras. At just 1.24kg, it's Apple's lightest machine and also its thinnest, just 11.3mm deep. This is probably why we've been so looking forward to getting the new MacBook Air. (Yes, lying down and writing reviews with one on our chest is one well-used scenario we're not particularly proud of.) But what about actual real-life, day-to-day use? Like many, we have become bigger laptop fans thanks mostly to extended lockdowns, working from home and needing a computer to be portable and used in all sorts of traditional and not so traditional ways. ![]()
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