My M4 Pro MacBook Pro Testing video is here! Watch it ➡ua-cam.com/video/hccy19Hm6M8/v-deo.html 🔥NEW VIDEO: My Analysis & Breakdown of the New M4 iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro for Music Production ua-cam.com/video/POKZlRo-Lgo/v-deo.html ▶ My $12,000 Video/Music Production Desk Setup, Powered by an M1 Max MacBook Pro: ua-cam.com/video/cA3ms_2Yn-A/v-deo.html
You’ve made my decision, Mac Book Pro M2, 512 GB, 16 GB Ram 14.2”, for my small home studio for recording and video editing, Thank You The Air is probably enough but I want that extra.
Finally, performance tests that actually make sense for audio production. So many testing methods focus solely on gaming or video editing aspects of a computer. These are the actual scenarios I encounter, and was the first test that truly gave me important information relevant to what I am doing myself😅
@@JamesZhan Your results with Reaper are interesting; in an interview the developer of Reaper said that he had difficulties getting Reaper to work well with these new Apple chips. Thus it would surprise me if Reaper did better than Logic; I am a Reaper user.
@@JamesZhan Hi, James! Please advise if the Macbook Air M2 will cope with my needs: I am a vocalist, I record vocals to order, so I have up to 40 vocal tracks in one project. I am also starting to learn to write music. Of the programs - the main Logic Pro, maybe sometimes video editing. I have an external ssd too. Which is better: 16/265 or 8/512? I would choose 16/512, but the price is already too high for me😭
2014 Mbp 16gb ram 2.8 Intel. Just moments ago, I loaded 22 tracks, 18 of them had alchemy, amplitude, compressor, chromaverb. I had 10 wave files with effects, I had 12 synth/ drum tracks. My memory pressure was barely green and my usage for cpu was 62%. I added 6 more tracks for 28 total. 75%. No crackle. Crazy. So if you are thinking you NEED m1 or m2 MacBook or mini or whatever, test this out yourself. I am so used to working with 16 tracks, that’s my baseline because I don’t like over complicated projects. good day!
This is the most helpful set of music benchmarks I’ve seen on UA-cam. Seeing the 8GB M2 Air crush the RAM test gives me confidence that I don’t need to shell out for a MBP, at least not to get more RAM. Thanks!
...after watching you review went to the store and bought mb air 13' m3 with 512ssd and 16gb ram....OMG!! this little baby is actually a beast!! runs logic and cubase like a joke with many plugins....thank you James for your amazing detailed reviews!! respect
Thank you for this! All of the other music producer videos that I found had automatically upgraded to more RAM and a bigger SSD. Yours is the only music production oriented video I've seen using the entry level specs. I'm just a bedroom artist - it looks like the entry level machine will more than meet my needs.
Glad you liked my video! Yeah, nowadays people always tell you to get more, more and some more, while that's not always necessary. Future-proofing is sometimes just an excuse to justify unnecessary extra expense imo 😂
I haven’t upgraded to the M2 Air. My M1 Air can handle the 24 orchestra tracks I use regularly. I’m still running 8gb of ram, and using a external hard drive for storage. When I get a major film score I’ll upgrade to a M1 MacBook Pro. Until then, the M1 Air will still be my workhorse.
@@wren23_bass-synths we use the same instruments that’s great to know. I’m was looking into getting the MacBook Air 16gb but if 8gb is good enough to run AL v5, Pigments, and other power intensive plugins then I could save money. Its for modern music production/mixing purposes. Thank you!
@@wren23_bass-synths some years back it was advertised to max out your ram. I guess that’s not the case anymore with these new chips if you don’t have extremely huge sessions and are just making beats.
Great video !! I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to music production and daw usage even tho I'm a singer. Whenever I watch this video , I'm fully convinced that m2 air is my right choice to make. But then other tech channels put down the m2 air and deny its usability for basic music production. So I come back and watch your video again !! Picking up my m2 air next week !!
Great experiment. Very articulate and straight to the point with the visuals. All business, no gimmicks. Excellent. A great add-on test would be render time on bouncing a project with maximum tracks all loaded with plugins.
What is also important is the heat development. As soon as it gets too hot in the fanless MacBook Air, the CPU throttles down, and there are audio dropouts.
Hi James, I just discovered your channel through your Ultimate M1 Mac buying guide vid. The thoroughness of your info and the clarity and conciseness of your presentation is first-class. Unlike all the other reviewers of Macs for audio production that I’ve seen, you at least touch on recording physical instruments 🤙🏽. Your analysis has convinced me that for my modest tracking and editing needs an upgraded M2 Air should be more than adequate to replace my venerable mid-2015 MacBook Pro. Now I’m just waiting for the 15” version rumored to be coming in (hopefully early) 2023.
Wow, thank you so much for your kind words. I really appreciate it. I'm just glad you found my video helpful! And yeah, I'm pretty sure more M2 computers will be released soon!
Be carefull with the base model macbook air m2. The read and write speed of the 256gb ssd is garbage in comparison to the twice faster 512gb or the I think 8x faster 2TB SSD
@@jalunow That speed difference will not be relevant in a music production context imo. Even normal HDD speed is more than enough for music production!
M1 Pro is easily still running ableton logic and Final Cut Pro without any issues. And I have over 100 heavy cpu plugins. I got the 32gb ram 14in M1 Pro MacBook Pro. 500 gb storage.
Brilliant video, you really put these machines through their paces!! Something you don't see too often. I think it's safe to say that for most music producers, especially part timers/hobby types, the M2 chip should be just fine.
Whenever I watch something like this it’s comforting to know that the more affordable thing works well enough, but I always remind myself that people have been doing much more with much less anyway
As a Studio Owner, logic user and computer enthusiast I would venture to say that the optimizations in Reaper come down to 2 things. Reaper has been built for ARM on Linux for almost 6 years now. I have a video from a year before Apple moved to ARM showing how to install Reaper on an ARM based Linux laptop called a Pinebook Pro and it ran fine on the fanless Pinebook even though the Pinebook has a very old and outdated ARM chip the RK 3399 that is used in small single board computers. But I think the time spent making Reaper work with small ARM machines like the Raspberry Pi and the Pinebook Pro have shown the Reaper developers how to get the most out of very low end chips and this just scales up to Apple's way more powerful M Series ARM processors.
Wow! More than half the power of a 16 inch M1 Max for around 1000$/€ is pretty impressive!! Great comparison!! I wonder how much better the M1 Macbook Air would be against the M2 in these kind of stress tests! I might go for the M1 Pro 14 inch Macbook Pro base model when prices drop right after the release of the M2 version. In don't think I'll need more than that for years to come!
This actually made me more confident in my base model M1 MacBook Pro from 2020. One day the 8 GB of RAM probably won't be enough, but for the time being, it handles the work I do tracking rock bands and lightly mixing. I rarely use samples, but when I do, it doesn't skip a beat. I haven't experienced any significant hiccup since purchasing this machine for just over $1000. It's not the laptop in this video, but it just goes to show that macbooks are beginning to offer exceptional value for performance.
That's what finally convinced me to buy the MAC Mini M4 base model. That's all I need. For maybe 20-30 tracks the M4 pro would be way too much. Thank you very much!
Any new MacBook is gonna smoke my 2014 Intel MacBook Pro for music production. Feeling better about getting an M2 MacBook Air 15” now. Awesome channel and great video!
Thank you for this video. For me the dilemma was upgrading the ram and/or storage vs buying a nice guitar with the extra money. This helped so much knowing that the base model is decent enough for the job.
This is a great example of why we shouldn't get extra specs just because we can afford it-the money saved could be used on something you get more value out of! Glad the video helped :)
You had me at Superior Drummer 3! I want an ultrabook for general use that can also serve as a brain for my Roland V-Drum kit, and your test proved that can be a reality. Just purchased the 16GB with 1TB storage (for all my drum samples) in Midnight. Brilliant walkthrough of the specs and performance. Thank you.
I'd say over 32 gb its a luxury but u could say u're future proofin your machine, 16 gb looks like a sweet spot and the 10 cores m1 pro for music production 👀
Got the Macbook Pro M2 13. 8 ram & 512 storage. Lite like a ipad. Perfect 4 ableton 11. No problems. Get the Anker PowerExpand 7 in 1 USB C hub. Glad I didn't wait for 14 & 16 in MBP 2 arrive. Cheers.
Man imagine the heat you get from other asians for being a music producer. I'm southwest asian and I get flamed and called lazy for even being into music a little. You're a legend bro!
I overloaded (on purpose) my brand new macbook air m2 (8gb) with my DAW (studio one 5) with 20 tracks plus two VSTs (Arturia Juno & Addictive drums 2 drum set, both recording at the same time). Not only that but I opened one Adobe Illustrator file, one Adobe Photoshop file, netflix and youtube playing at the same time and I barely loaded my 8gb memory to 7gbs of memory pressure. Now, I know that is not just matter of opening programs, streams and windows again and again to know how many damage are you doing to your mac (you can affect your battery life, hardware, etc), but, knowing that you won't use all that together at the same time, I think that it actually works very well. So when I'll work with my music I'll know it will be all fine, just as if I'm working on my design programs they won't be no problem. This is just my experimentation as a new (2023) user of MACOS, I'm not an expert so even with this said, be careful with what you do to your computer. In conclusion I can say that if you're willing to work with a DAW including VSTs, MIDI, tracking and mixing the Macbook Air M2 (8gb) works just fine. But once again, be careful with what you do with your mac, and even with this, do research about what you especificly need for your work.
thank you for this video, it convinced me to pick up a second hand base model m2 air (got for an incredibly low price from the first owner) coming from years of using either i3 old laptop or an intel inside (don't ask why lol) using the m2 for production feels like I'm in literal heaven, thanks again!
Thanks for this video! I’m looking at a new laptop based setup and always assumed more was better. Then I started wondering about the M2 Air and after watching your video this seems very encouraging. Thanks again! Andre
"More is better" is exactly what Apple (and other tech companies) want you to think. That's why I like making videos about how you should buy according to your needs!
Good to see you here! Hope you enjoy the video ☺ 👉16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro Review for Music Production: ua-cam.com/video/uX4cBOWFL0U/v-deo.html 👉Which M1 Mac to Buy for Music Production? The Ultimate M1 Buying Guide: ua-cam.com/video/BCZplL8ov0k/v-deo.html
this video was extremely helpful to me. I’ve been a music producer for a little over 10 years now and still currently using a 2013 MBP with only 8gb of ram but it’s finally time to upgrade. Often in sessions I create with Ableton and FL studio, a lot of times even simultaneously running together too (drums in FL and melody in ableton until i bounced out one to drop into the other) I was deciding between the current mbp (m3) or the mba (m2), while the pro would be great, it is a bit overkill for me as I mainly produce in sessions and don’t do heavy mixing. the video helped me decide that the air would be enough for me to work the way I work as well as making the workflow smoother, as having an m2 chip is already a huge leap from my current 2013 mbp. also i plan to upgrade the 8gb ram to 16 just to be safe
Teleprompter or not , you are one smart well spoken dude! Learning a lot today and very grateful for your hard work, your present ion, and your channel! New subscriber today. Wish you well!
Thanks for you review! Reaper is the most efficient DAW in my experience, it comes from true hardcore developers with no doubt, and that's why their default settings are so bad imo, they're good at coding but bad at UX design. I already optimized my Reaper to be smooth like GarageBand, will share it to the community in the future.
Great ❤ video. All Macs with Apple Silicon are extremely powerful and efficient. Even the MacBook Air M1 2020 with only 8 GB of RAM is capable enough for most producers. I’ve subscribed.
Thanks :) Right now this is by far the most informative video on the subject. This helped me go for the Macbook Air M2 8/256, and not over-do it on a higher model. Haven`t gotten it yet, but got it at a very good price, so we`ll see how it goes. Thanks again. Your vids are great!
@@benyamin.shults Hi. Bought it used. It was a brand new gifted M2 Air still in its wraping, and it turned out to be stolen... Luckily the seller was honest, and took it back, so i went for a used M1 MBP 13" 16/2TB insead, and that thing is a beast, if anyone was wondering :) (it was 400 bucks more tho) Believe i`ll keep that one for a few years. 😁
Hey I would love to see you do this test with an M2 MacBook Air versus an M3 MacBook Air! Edit: especially including FL Studio bc that’s ny DAW of choice
People still sleep on Reaper, but I switched over from protools and I couldn’t be happier. Give them the money. It’s dirt cheap and they don’t shake you down every month/year
Perfect video that I looking for M2 vs M1 Max comparisons. It’s the only video I found that goes in serious depth. I think i’m going to either wait for a Studio M2 Max or just get a Studio M1 Max.
I've always produced on Mac's using Digital Performer, Falcon & Komplete for over 2 decades. I'm actually thinking of switching to PC now that DP is multiplatform. Due to the excessive RAM and SSD cost with Mac. I have a M1 Pro 16Gb for work so maybe I'll test it, but my old 2012 Mac Mini i7 2.6 16Gb was upgradable and I got a good 8-10 years. Now it gets crushed with one high end piano on 96khz 512 buffer. Not sure I want to afford any Mac with 32 or 64Gb RAM. Maybe if a new M2 Mac studio came out. I can do a PC with better specs for half the cost.
Thanks for making this. I was torn between the 2 a couple months back and went for the MacBook Air. I loaded mine up with 16gb of ram and 1tb of ssd. It was about the same cost as the m1 pro base but with twice the storage. Plus it's more portable and has better battery life. It's a mixed use machine for me, so the fact that it can still do quite a bit of music stuff for me was enough. Got a desktop at home that can handle whatever this can't.
Seems like the faster m2 MacBook pro 13 with more battery life and faster with a quiet fane and cist the same if you upgrade the air gpu and charger. Has better soeajers and same screen tech. It loses on no notch or 1080p webcam 60 less pixels slightly smaller same brightness screen no colors no thin bezels no new model apple youtube hype
@@nicolasmasset It's been great. No complaints over here. I did some stress testing when I first got it. I got a session in Ableton up to about 70-80 tracks with random vsts and instances of Omnisphere before I noticed glitching. That's much beyond what I would typically do so it feels like enough headroom for me. I also don't make like massive DJ sets though, mostly just write songs and track out parts. Just make sure you don't get the absolute base model as the 256 tb version bottlenecks.
Hi James, I remember you from the URM forums back in the day. Glad to see the channel is doing well and appreciate the detailed review as it's new macbook season and a lot to consider. Peace and love.
@@JamesZhan Amazing James, I went with refurb base M1 Pro for now - im more on the programming side these days and only occasionally mix. Too much of a bargain to ignore. All the best.
been looking to upgrade from windows to mac, and this video helps a lot! love the benchmarks, and the video itself is so well made, thanks for this! keep up the good work
I greatly appreciate the obvious effort you put into distilling your video content. So many people rattle on, but you're concise and the information was precise and relevant to answering my question: would the mac air m2 be sufficient for my music production needs. Many thanks
I've switched to an M1 Macbook Air for music production, with only 16 GB RAM, and it honestly works far, far, better than I thought it would. Pretty seamless, in fact.
Great video! Very informative. I am on the fence deciding between an Air 15 M3 or Pro 14 M2Pro at similar price points both with 16GB+512GB (approx. USD100 more for the Pro). I think I am leaning towards the Air, even though most people tend to recommend the Pro. I know the Pro has better CPU performance, 120hz screen with better black levels, substantial better GPU performance and more ports. Its just that I really value the larger screen on the Air while still being lighter, which is something you will notice everyday. While the improved performance and additional ports on the Pro, I am really not sure that I will ever need since the Air is already so powerful.
been following your channel for a short while and i’ve learned so much already. that’s is for these tests as, like someone else pointed out, not many people post test results with so much comparative data. this makes me excited for the upcoming M2 laptops :) signed, a 2015 MBP user.
Thanks for the comparison. There are definitely advantages going with the air, especially with the option of a 15" screen. In comparison i think i will still go with MBP, $300 difference and i get hdmi and SDXC ports which I definitely need
Thank you so much James, this is what I’ve been looking for. About to upgrade from my mac pro trash can, 64gb ram, 500gb storage. I want to be able to produce music while on the road. I’ve been wondering if a MacBook Air would suffice. Most of my songs have about 40-50 tracks. I don’t do mixing myself so I don’t use a lot of those plugins. Main vsts I use are omnisphere, Kontakt, ez bass and percussion factory. I do add raum reverb and soundtoys fx rack on a few tracks. It doesn’t appear that going from 64gb to 24 will cause me any problems. I would get the 1tb version. I use logic, studio one 6, and soon cubase 13. 🎹💙
In essence, spec out a Mac Mini M2 to 24GB RAM and at least 512GBSSD and this will comfortably work a music studio with possibility for some workarounds where the M2 system start "coughing up blood" with increased complex workloads, but at least you get to utilize the full power of the M2 system. I find that a M2 Mac Book Air is reliable as a sound module for a keyboardist.
@@buuracevik i would assume yes, check other reviews. also you can freeze tracks and or convert your midi tracks to audio to save ram to make room for other virtual instruments
Thank you for this great and highly instructive review. Now what about for playing a piano vst, for example a Pianoteq, a Ravenscroft or a Noire. This is a situation where you just need one track but at 64 samples. Did you or someone else test this condition ?
Really good video, thank you. Thinking of upgrading to the new Air from my 2015 MacBook Pro so this was really helpful. I only really use it for running Logic.
cvI am very interested in how you transfer all the plug-ins you have from one computer to another in an orderly manner without missing a plug-in or encountering any problems of lack of synchronization, if you have a tip for this I would be really, really happy!
Big thanks for this video! I was looking at the new mb pro with the m2 pro and max for music production and your testing on the mb air is a lot more in line with how i think im going to use it and also saves me some money that I can use towards buying a better interface.
Great video! Using MBP 2015 with same configurations for 7 years, I think M2 Air will be good upgrade. But definitely need more storage space. Thanks for comparisons! Good luck ;)
Back your laptop up often and keep your 2015 mbp as long as possible. One day it will give up, but these old MacBooks are extremely great workhorses. Mine was even faster than my M1 MacBook Air…
I have the same thing running 16 gig ram. It’s just slow now. Running Ableton live with few plugins takes the toll out of it. So I am looking at something like this: Apple M2 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine • 24GB unified memory • 1TB SSD storage • 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone • 1080p FaceTime HD camera • MagSafe 3 charging port • Two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports • 67W USB-C Power Adapter • Backlit Magic Keyboard
Great video, James. I am not a musician but I enjoyed the video a was impressed with the presentation. Which software did you use to create the overlays for the video? It was nicely done.
Awesome videos my friend, really helpful. I’m planning to get the Mac Mini M2, 16GB, 1TB to replace my 2019 16” MBP i7 16GB 512GB, Logic is my DAW. What’s your opinion? Should I go for the M2 Pro version? 300 USD more for the same config here. Not a professional, just a bedroom producer, what’s your opinion?
Yes this is good info for music prod and good cons n pro stuff and nice benchmark stuff to see how capable the “different” systems are! Very relaxed to watch! Thank you much! + 1 sub
Hi James, really liking these videos, I'm a life long windows user and beginner at music production and looking to purchase my first mac, still confused though I want a mac thats gonna last meat least 7-10 yrs if possible. Looking at the mac studio m1 max but kinda thinking it's a little overkill, wish apple would make a mac studio with the m1 pro chip and 32Gb ram lol! But Thank You for all these videos really helping in my decision.
Glad you liked my videos! I think Apple might be release more M2 computers soon, so you might be able to get something like an M2 Pro with 32GB RAM. If you are in no hurry to get a new computer, might as well wait and see what Apple will release!
Thanks a lot for this video. I am a guitarist and I have just been deciding to return my PC (win11 based with 12th gen. of Intel) due to extremely poor performance under very simple conditions. As I can return the unit (just 1-month-old) I will check out M2 MacBookAir.
My M4 Pro MacBook Pro Testing video is here! Watch it ➡ua-cam.com/video/hccy19Hm6M8/v-deo.html
🔥NEW VIDEO: My Analysis & Breakdown of the New M4 iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro for Music Production ua-cam.com/video/POKZlRo-Lgo/v-deo.html
▶ My $12,000 Video/Music Production Desk Setup, Powered by an M1 Max MacBook Pro: ua-cam.com/video/cA3ms_2Yn-A/v-deo.html
You’ve made my decision, Mac Book Pro M2, 512 GB, 16 GB Ram 14.2”, for my small home studio for recording and video editing, Thank You
The Air is probably enough but I want that extra.
Finally, performance tests that actually make sense for audio production. So many testing methods focus solely on gaming or video editing aspects of a computer. These are the actual scenarios I encounter, and was the first test that truly gave me important information relevant to what I am doing myself😅
so many video editing tests, so many people making videos about making videos gets a bit meta.
Thank you for your kind words! And yes, the lack of testing in an audio engineering perspective is exactly why I made these videos!
@@JamesZhan Your results with Reaper are interesting; in an interview the developer of Reaper said that he had difficulties getting Reaper to work well with these new Apple chips. Thus it would surprise me if Reaper did better than Logic; I am a Reaper user.
@@musicalneptunian Maybe they figured it out!
@@JamesZhan Hi, James! Please advise if the Macbook Air M2 will cope with my needs: I am a vocalist, I record vocals to order, so I have up to 40 vocal tracks in one project. I am also starting to learn to write music. Of the programs - the main Logic Pro, maybe sometimes video editing. I have an external ssd too.
Which is better: 16/265 or 8/512? I would choose 16/512, but the price is already too high for me😭
Despite you named this review not a scientific one, man, it's the most scientific for me personally in terms of music production. Thanks a heap!
It's great to have someone look at these new M chips through the lense of a music producer!
Thanks a lot!
2014 Mbp 16gb ram 2.8 Intel. Just moments ago, I loaded 22 tracks, 18 of them had alchemy, amplitude, compressor, chromaverb. I had 10 wave files with effects, I had 12 synth/ drum tracks. My memory pressure was barely green and my usage for cpu was 62%. I added 6 more tracks for 28 total. 75%. No crackle.
Crazy. So if you are thinking you NEED m1 or m2 MacBook or mini or whatever, test this out yourself. I am so used to working with 16 tracks, that’s my baseline because I don’t like over complicated projects. good day!
This is the most helpful set of music benchmarks I’ve seen on UA-cam. Seeing the 8GB M2 Air crush the RAM test gives me confidence that I don’t need to shell out for a MBP, at least not to get more RAM. Thanks!
...after watching you review went to the store and bought mb air 13' m3 with 512ssd and 16gb ram....OMG!! this little baby is actually a beast!! runs logic and cubase like a joke with many plugins....thank you James for your amazing detailed reviews!! respect
& thank u for your affirmation!!! i’m gonna cop this one as well 👀
Thank you for this! All of the other music producer videos that I found had automatically upgraded to more RAM and a bigger SSD. Yours is the only music production oriented video I've seen using the entry level specs. I'm just a bedroom artist - it looks like the entry level machine will more than meet my needs.
Glad you liked my video! Yeah, nowadays people always tell you to get more, more and some more, while that's not always necessary. Future-proofing is sometimes just an excuse to justify unnecessary extra expense imo 😂
Nah upgrade the ssd at the very least if you do any level of music production you should know that 256 is not enough..
@@samnene Nah, If he can only choose one to upgrade it should be the RAM. SSD can be extended through external SSD anytime of the day.
@@bassyeygood point
I haven’t upgraded to the M2 Air. My M1 Air can handle the 24 orchestra tracks I use regularly. I’m still running 8gb of ram, and using a external hard drive for storage. When I get a major film score I’ll upgrade to a M1 MacBook Pro. Until then, the M1 Air will still be my workhorse.
What plug-in instruments do you use?
@@Magnetic1908 Arturia Analog V, Native Instuments, Spitfire Audio, are the main ones but I use many different ones
@@wren23_bass-synths we use the same instruments that’s great to know. I’m was looking into getting the MacBook Air 16gb but if 8gb is good enough to run AL v5, Pigments, and other power intensive plugins then I could save money. Its for modern music production/mixing purposes. Thank you!
@@wren23_bass-synths some years back it was advertised to max out your ram. I guess that’s not the case anymore with these new chips if you don’t have extremely huge sessions and are just making beats.
@@Magnetic1908 there’s been sometimes I have 4 or 5 plugins running at the same time In Ableton with no lag or freezing up.
Great video !!
I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to music production and daw usage even tho I'm a singer. Whenever I watch this video , I'm fully convinced that m2 air is my right choice to make. But then other tech channels put down the m2 air and deny its usability for basic music production. So I come back and watch your video again !!
Picking up my m2 air next week !!
Did you pick it up? How has it been?
I have a M2 Air (8gb RAM, 512GB storage) and love it for doing edits on my projects that I record over on my M1 Studio. I love your tech videos.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Great experiment. Very articulate and straight to the point with the visuals. All business, no gimmicks. Excellent. A great add-on test would be render time on bouncing a project with maximum tracks all loaded with plugins.
Good point!
The lack of a fan is a real advantage for certain audio applications like putting it in a VO studio or ADR studio.
I thought so too, but I returned mine due to coil whine that my condenser mic picked up. Waiting for a replacement currently.
I am just thinking about swapping from Win to Mac and being a part time musician, this video really helps to optimize the budget. Nice work mate!
What is also important is the heat development. As soon as it gets too hot in the fanless MacBook Air, the CPU throttles down, and there are audio dropouts.
Hi James, I just discovered your channel through your Ultimate M1 Mac buying guide vid. The thoroughness of your info and the clarity and conciseness of your presentation is first-class. Unlike all the other reviewers of Macs for audio production that I’ve seen, you at least touch on recording physical instruments 🤙🏽. Your analysis has convinced me that for my modest tracking and editing needs an upgraded M2 Air should be more than adequate to replace my venerable mid-2015 MacBook Pro. Now I’m just waiting for the 15” version rumored to be coming in (hopefully early) 2023.
Wow, thank you so much for your kind words. I really appreciate it. I'm just glad you found my video helpful! And yeah, I'm pretty sure more M2 computers will be released soon!
Be carefull with the base model macbook air m2.
The read and write speed of the 256gb ssd is garbage in comparison to the twice faster 512gb or the I think 8x faster 2TB SSD
@@jalunow Good point!
@@jalunow That speed difference will not be relevant in a music production context imo. Even normal HDD speed is more than enough for music production!
M1 Pro is easily still running ableton logic and Final Cut Pro without any issues. And I have over 100 heavy cpu plugins. I got the 32gb ram 14in M1 Pro MacBook Pro. 500 gb storage.
Brilliant video, you really put these machines through their paces!! Something you don't see too often. I think it's safe to say that for most music producers, especially part timers/hobby types, the M2 chip should be just fine.
God, I love your MacBook reviews in a music production/audio context!
Always looking forward to new spec tests and updates!
Whenever I watch something like this it’s comforting to know that the more affordable thing works well enough, but I always remind myself that people have been doing much more with much less anyway
As a Studio Owner, logic user and computer enthusiast I would venture to say that the optimizations in Reaper come down to 2 things. Reaper has been built for ARM on Linux for almost 6 years now. I have a video from a year before Apple moved to ARM showing how to install Reaper on an ARM based Linux laptop called a Pinebook Pro and it ran fine on the fanless Pinebook even though the Pinebook has a very old and outdated ARM chip the RK 3399 that is used in small single board computers. But I think the time spent making Reaper work with small ARM machines like the Raspberry Pi and the Pinebook Pro have shown the Reaper developers how to get the most out of very low end chips and this just scales up to Apple's way more powerful M Series ARM processors.
Wow! More than half the power of a 16 inch M1 Max for around 1000$/€ is pretty impressive!! Great comparison!!
I wonder how much better the M1 Macbook Air would be against the M2 in these kind of stress tests!
I might go for the M1 Pro 14 inch Macbook Pro base model when prices drop right after the release of the M2 version. In don't think I'll need more than that for years to come!
Hi! I'm going foto the exacto same laptop, around what time do You think prices for the m1 pro Will fall? I'm looking to buy one in the next 4 months
@@benjaminjacome New ones just arrived! Places like best buy would have sales first I believe compared to the actual Apple stores
This actually made me more confident in my base model M1 MacBook Pro from 2020. One day the 8 GB of RAM probably won't be enough, but for the time being, it handles the work I do tracking rock bands and lightly mixing. I rarely use samples, but when I do, it doesn't skip a beat. I haven't experienced any significant hiccup since purchasing this machine for just over $1000. It's not the laptop in this video, but it just goes to show that macbooks are beginning to offer exceptional value for performance.
Glad to hear you've been loving your Mac!
That's what finally convinced me to buy the MAC Mini M4 base model. That's all I need. For maybe 20-30 tracks the M4 pro would be way too much. Thank you very much!
I'm happy with my M2 Mac mini 16GB. Works well for my small projects. Mostly covers and some jazz tracks, 5-10 tracks.
5-10 tracks you can handle in a windows pc from 2007 :dude just saying
Any new MacBook is gonna smoke my 2014 Intel MacBook Pro for music production. Feeling better about getting an M2 MacBook Air 15” now. Awesome channel and great video!
Thank you for this video. For me the dilemma was upgrading the ram and/or storage vs buying a nice guitar with the extra money. This helped so much knowing that the base model is decent enough for the job.
This is a great example of why we shouldn't get extra specs just because we can afford it-the money saved could be used on something you get more value out of! Glad the video helped :)
You had me at Superior Drummer 3! I want an ultrabook for general use that can also serve as a brain for my Roland V-Drum kit, and your test proved that can be a reality. Just purchased the 16GB with 1TB storage (for all my drum samples) in Midnight. Brilliant walkthrough of the specs and performance. Thank you.
Hell yeah! Hope you enjoy your new laptop!
I'm on this exact quest!
I'd say over 32 gb its a luxury but u could say u're future proofin your machine, 16 gb looks like a sweet spot and the 10 cores m1 pro for music production 👀
Got the Macbook Pro M2 13. 8 ram & 512 storage. Lite like a ipad. Perfect 4 ableton 11. No problems. Get the Anker PowerExpand 7 in 1 USB C hub. Glad I didn't wait for 14 & 16 in MBP 2 arrive. Cheers.
Is the 13 inch screen enough?
@@iPaTOuT96 Yeah. Perfect can hold with 1 hand. Battery life insane. Use ableton 11 suite. Portable. Runs all my Vst. Cheers.
@@SwDiwano Sounds good. But I feel like I need the 16gb for all the vsts and fl studio
@@iPaTOuT96 yeah go 4 it. In OZ Apple wanted 2 much $$$ 4 the extra 8 gig ram. Cheers.
Same machine I got and it's just awesome! Don't get all the hate it's been getting
Man imagine the heat you get from other asians for being a music producer. I'm southwest asian and I get flamed and called lazy for even being into music a little. You're a legend bro!
I overloaded (on purpose) my brand new macbook air m2 (8gb) with my DAW (studio one 5) with 20 tracks plus two VSTs (Arturia Juno & Addictive drums 2 drum set, both recording at the same time).
Not only that but I opened one Adobe Illustrator file, one Adobe Photoshop file, netflix and youtube playing at the same time and I barely loaded my 8gb memory to 7gbs of memory pressure.
Now, I know that is not just matter of opening programs, streams and windows again and again to know how many damage are you doing to your mac (you can affect your battery life, hardware, etc), but, knowing that you won't use all that together at the same time, I think that it actually works very well.
So when I'll work with my music I'll know it will be all fine, just as if I'm working on my design programs they won't be no problem.
This is just my experimentation as a new (2023) user of MACOS, I'm not an expert so even with this said, be careful with what you do to your computer.
In conclusion I can say that if you're willing to work with a DAW including VSTs, MIDI, tracking and mixing the Macbook Air M2 (8gb) works just fine. But once again, be careful with what you do with your mac, and even with this, do research about what you especificly need for your work.
🔥JUST PUBLISHED! ➡The Ultimate M1/M2 Mac Buying Guide for Music Production (2023):
ua-cam.com/video/VFpCbT3Rx4Y/v-deo.html
thank you for this video, it convinced me to pick up a second hand base model m2 air (got for an incredibly low price from the first owner) coming from years of using either i3 old laptop or an intel inside (don't ask why lol) using the m2 for production feels like I'm in literal heaven, thanks again!
Thanks for this video! I’m looking at a new laptop based setup and always assumed more was better. Then I started wondering about the M2 Air and after watching your video this seems very encouraging. Thanks again! Andre
"More is better" is exactly what Apple (and other tech companies) want you to think. That's why I like making videos about how you should buy according to your needs!
Good to see you here! Hope you enjoy the video ☺
👉16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro Review for Music Production: ua-cam.com/video/uX4cBOWFL0U/v-deo.html
👉Which M1 Mac to Buy for Music Production? The Ultimate M1 Buying Guide: ua-cam.com/video/BCZplL8ov0k/v-deo.html
this video was extremely helpful to me. I’ve been a music producer for a little over 10 years now and still currently using a 2013 MBP with only 8gb of ram but it’s finally time to upgrade. Often in sessions I create with Ableton and FL studio, a lot of times even simultaneously running together too (drums in FL and melody in ableton until i bounced out one to drop into the other) I was deciding between the current mbp (m3) or the mba (m2), while the pro would be great, it is a bit overkill for me as I mainly produce in sessions and don’t do heavy mixing. the video helped me decide that the air would be enough for me to work the way I work as well as making the workflow smoother, as having an m2 chip is already a huge leap from my current 2013 mbp. also i plan to upgrade the 8gb ram to 16 just to be safe
Teleprompter or not , you are one smart well spoken dude! Learning a lot today and very grateful for your hard work, your present ion, and your channel! New subscriber today. Wish you well!
Thanks for you review! Reaper is the most efficient DAW in my experience, it comes from true hardcore developers with no doubt, and that's why their default settings are so bad imo, they're good at coding but bad at UX design. I already optimized my Reaper to be smooth like GarageBand, will share it to the community in the future.
Excited to see this!
Great ❤ video. All Macs with Apple Silicon are extremely powerful and efficient. Even the MacBook Air M1 2020 with only 8 GB of RAM is capable enough for most producers. I’ve subscribed.
Just what I needed! Thanks!
Whoever you are thank you’re like the most concise person on earth
that was super helpful! thanks!! :D
Thanks :) Right now this is by far the most informative video on the subject. This helped me go for the Macbook Air M2 8/256, and not over-do it on a higher model. Haven`t gotten it yet, but got it at a very good price, so we`ll see how it goes. Thanks again. Your vids are great!
Did you get it? How is it?
@@benyamin.shults Hi. Bought it used. It was a brand new gifted M2 Air still in its wraping, and it turned out to be stolen... Luckily the seller was honest, and took it back, so i went for a used M1 MBP 13" 16/2TB insead, and that thing is a beast, if anyone was wondering :) (it was 400 bucks more tho) Believe i`ll keep that one for a few years. 😁
Hey I would love to see you do this test with an M2 MacBook Air versus an M3 MacBook Air!
Edit: especially including FL Studio bc that’s ny DAW of choice
Please compare regular M4 chip MacBook Pro with basic level M4 Pro chip, I would like to see Ableton
Thank you for this video. I was wondering about getting an M2 MacBook Air.
Thank you I needed help w information to pick a laptop for my son . He’s looking into working w music and videos. Thank you!
People still sleep on Reaper, but I switched over from protools and I couldn’t be happier. Give them the money. It’s dirt cheap and they don’t shake you down every month/year
Perfect video that I looking for M2 vs M1 Max comparisons. It’s the only video I found that goes in serious depth. I think i’m going to either wait for a Studio M2 Max or just get a Studio M1 Max.
I've always produced on Mac's using Digital Performer, Falcon & Komplete for over 2 decades. I'm actually thinking of switching to PC now that DP is multiplatform. Due to the excessive RAM and SSD cost with Mac. I have a M1 Pro 16Gb for work so maybe I'll test it, but my old 2012 Mac Mini i7 2.6 16Gb was upgradable and I got a good 8-10 years. Now it gets crushed with one high end piano on 96khz 512 buffer. Not sure I want to afford any Mac with 32 or 64Gb RAM. Maybe if a new M2 Mac studio came out. I can do a PC with better specs for half the cost.
Thanks for making this. I was torn between the 2 a couple months back and went for the MacBook Air. I loaded mine up with 16gb of ram and 1tb of ssd. It was about the same cost as the m1 pro base but with twice the storage. Plus it's more portable and has better battery life. It's a mixed use machine for me, so the fact that it can still do quite a bit of music stuff for me was enough. Got a desktop at home that can handle whatever this can't.
You definitely made a great choice there!
Seems like the faster m2 MacBook pro 13 with more battery life and faster with a quiet fane and cist the same if you upgrade the air gpu and charger.
Has better soeajers and same screen tech.
It loses on no notch or 1080p webcam 60 less pixels slightly smaller same brightness screen no colors no thin bezels no new model apple youtube hype
How has the m2 been running? Still satisfied for music production? Have you gotten it to fail yet?
@@nicolasmasset It's been great. No complaints over here. I did some stress testing when I first got it. I got a session in Ableton up to about 70-80 tracks with random vsts and instances of Omnisphere before I noticed glitching. That's much beyond what I would typically do so it feels like enough headroom for me. I also don't make like massive DJ sets though, mostly just write songs and track out parts. Just make sure you don't get the absolute base model as the 256 tb version bottlenecks.
Hi James, I remember you from the URM forums back in the day. Glad to see the channel is doing well and appreciate the detailed review as it's new macbook season and a lot to consider. Peace and love.
Thanks! I will be reviewing the new M2 MacBook Pros in the future :)
@@JamesZhan Amazing James, I went with refurb base M1 Pro for now - im more on the programming side these days and only occasionally mix. Too much of a bargain to ignore. All the best.
been looking to upgrade from windows to mac, and this video helps a lot! love the benchmarks, and the video itself is so well made, thanks for this! keep up the good work
I appreciate the quality of your work. Congrats!
that was very clear and informative, thank you for putting in the time to run these tests, very much so appreciated !
Legit the best music production perspective review i could find.
Wow, I appreciate the kind words!
1:30 seconds he just tells you what you need to know. Thanks man
I greatly appreciate the obvious effort you put into distilling your video content. So many people rattle on, but you're concise and the information was precise and relevant to answering my question: would the mac air m2 be sufficient for my music production needs. Many thanks
I've switched to an M1 Macbook Air for music production, with only 16 GB RAM, and it honestly works far, far, better than I thought it would. Pretty seamless, in fact.
That's the thing. When it comes to these Apple Silicon computers, we can't just look at the specs. They work far better than you think they would.
Great video! Very informative. I am on the fence deciding between an Air 15 M3 or Pro 14 M2Pro at similar price points both with 16GB+512GB (approx. USD100 more for the Pro). I think I am leaning towards the Air, even though most people tend to recommend the Pro.
I know the Pro has better CPU performance, 120hz screen with better black levels, substantial better GPU performance and more ports. Its just that I really value the larger screen on the Air while still being lighter, which is something you will notice everyday. While the improved performance and additional ports on the Pro, I am really not sure that I will ever need since the Air is already so powerful.
Wow great video and content! Thank you! Makes me feel much better if I get the MBA m2, instead of getting a MBP.
This is super useful, in particular seeing the absolute numbers of instances that you're able to run simultaneously before crashing
been following your channel for a short while and i’ve learned so much already. that’s is for these tests as, like someone else pointed out, not many people post test results with so much comparative data. this makes me excited for the upcoming M2 laptops :)
signed, a 2015 MBP user.
Glad you liked my videos! Appreciate the kind words.
Stay with that 2015 mbp as long as possible, these machines are some of the best MacBooks ever!
Thanks for the comparison. There are definitely advantages going with the air, especially with the option of a 15" screen. In comparison i think i will still go with MBP, $300 difference and i get hdmi and SDXC ports which I definitely need
Thank you so much James, this is what I’ve been looking for. About to upgrade from my mac pro trash can, 64gb ram, 500gb storage. I want to be able to produce music while on the road. I’ve been wondering if a MacBook Air would suffice. Most of my songs have about 40-50 tracks. I don’t do mixing myself so I don’t use a lot of those plugins. Main vsts I use are omnisphere, Kontakt, ez bass and percussion factory. I do add raum reverb and soundtoys fx rack on a few tracks. It doesn’t appear that going from 64gb to 24 will cause me any problems. I would get the 1tb version. I use logic, studio one 6, and soon cubase 13. 🎹💙
Great video! Very useful. Thank you for adding Reaper in the balance; the most underrated fantastic daw in history IMO.
This is a great perspective James! Extremely helpful for music creators, artists and producers. Appreciate it :D
In essence, spec out a Mac Mini M2 to 24GB RAM and at least 512GBSSD and this will comfortably work a music studio with possibility for some workarounds where the M2 system start "coughing up blood" with increased complex workloads, but at least you get to utilize the full power of the M2 system. I find that a M2 Mac Book Air is reliable as a sound module for a keyboardist.
thank you so much it was really helpful and decisive to listen to your video!
Finally the video I was looking for.
thank you for this video, now I can say, I can work on macbook air m1/m2 in terms of mixing. but i might up the storage to 500GB ssd, and 16gb RAM
8 cpu 16 gb ram. Is it enough for music production ?
with m2 air
@@buuracevik i would assume yes, check other reviews. also you can freeze tracks and or convert your midi tracks to audio to save ram to make room for other virtual instruments
❤️
Another fantastic video. Thank you sir.
This is the most helpful practical review I've seen when it comes to MacBook Air's. Thank you 🙏
Great review, thanks for sharing it! Why not get the M1 Air, and why get the M2 instead?
thank you a lot for this video, now I'n mot afraid about my new MBA :D
Fantastic video! Super helpful
You are the best, James🙌🙌🙌
this is an incredible video. kudos!
Another great video, thank you! I think I'm getting closer to mkaing a decision on these new Macs now.
Thank you so much for this video!!!! ❤️
Thank you for this great and highly instructive review. Now what about for playing a piano vst, for example a Pianoteq, a Ravenscroft or a Noire. This is a situation where you just need one track but at 64 samples. Did you or someone else test this condition ?
Thanks a million James. Instant subscribe as your videos are exactly what I was looking for to help my buying decision. Youre a star. Blessings.
Really good video, thank you. Thinking of upgrading to the new Air from my 2015 MacBook Pro so this was really helpful. I only really use it for running Logic.
cvI am very interested in how you transfer all the plug-ins you have from one computer to another in an orderly manner without missing a plug-in or encountering any problems of lack of synchronization, if you have a tip for this I would be really, really happy!
Hi James, grateful for this video as the M2 Base Air is more than sufficient for music production. Thanks.😊
Big thanks for this video! I was looking at the new mb pro with the m2 pro and max for music production and your testing on the mb air is a lot more in line with how i think im going to use it and also saves me some money that I can use towards buying a better interface.
Exactly the info I needed. Thank you! Great video.
Great video! Using MBP 2015 with same configurations for 7 years, I think M2 Air will be good upgrade. But definitely need more storage space. Thanks for comparisons! Good luck ;)
Back your laptop up often and keep your 2015 mbp as long as possible. One day it will give up, but these old MacBooks are extremely great workhorses. Mine was even faster than my M1 MacBook Air…
I have the same thing running 16 gig ram. It’s just slow now. Running Ableton live with few plugins takes the toll out of it.
So I am looking at something like this:
Apple M2 chip with 8-core
CPU, 10-core GPU and
16-core Neural Engine
• 24GB unified memory
• 1TB SSD storage
• 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone
• 1080p FaceTime
HD camera
• MagSafe 3 charging port
• Two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports
• 67W USB-C Power
Adapter
• Backlit Magic Keyboard
Great video. Your video helped me to feel sure for buy a MacBook Air M2
Your video has confirmed my decision thank you 😊
Great video, James. I am not a musician but I enjoyed the video a was impressed with the presentation. Which software did you use to create the overlays for the video? It was nicely done.
Awesome videos my friend, really helpful. I’m planning to get the Mac Mini M2, 16GB, 1TB to replace my 2019 16” MBP i7 16GB 512GB, Logic is my DAW. What’s your opinion? Should I go for the M2 Pro version? 300 USD more for the same config here. Not a professional, just a bedroom producer, what’s your opinion?
very good comparison, exactly what I was looking for at the moment. thanks you very much! :)
I been waiting for this!
Great video dude 💯
Yes this is good info for music prod and good cons n pro stuff and nice benchmark stuff to see how capable the “different” systems are! Very relaxed to watch! Thank you much! + 1 sub
Hi James, really liking these videos, I'm a life long windows user and beginner at music production and looking to purchase my first mac, still confused though I want a mac thats gonna last meat least 7-10 yrs if possible. Looking at the mac studio m1 max but kinda thinking it's a little overkill, wish apple would make a mac studio with the m1 pro chip and 32Gb ram lol! But Thank You for all these videos really helping in my decision.
Glad you liked my videos! I think Apple might be release more M2 computers soon, so you might be able to get something like an M2 Pro with 32GB RAM. If you are in no hurry to get a new computer, might as well wait and see what Apple will release!
Do you prefer MacBook Air M2/M3 with 16gb ram for live performance of solo electronic performances with using push 2 to and other instruments?
Thanks a lot for this video. I am a guitarist and I have just been deciding to return my PC (win11 based with 12th gen. of Intel) due to extremely poor performance under very simple conditions. As I can return the unit (just 1-month-old) I will check out M2 MacBookAir.
Did you end up checking out the M2 MacBook Air? Just wondering how it panned out for ya