The music production industry doesn’t only require musical instruments and relevant gear but also requires the best computers for editing, mixing, and mastering your music. DJs requires a perfect blend of some high-quality laptops’ specification for song recordings including both software and hardware specs.
Some heavy-weight music production software like Logic Pro X, Cubase Elements, Studio One Artist, FL Studio, and Magix Music Maker comes with higher demands of hardware needs. Therefore, your laptop should be up to the task.
Many of the time it becomes difficult for a DJ to find an affordable but high-quality laptop. Therefore, for your feasibility, we have tested many laptops.
After the complete research, we found the below-mentioned laptop as the Best DJ Laptops Under $500. We also mentioned their specific and unique features along with their negative and positive aspects.
Best Laptops for Music Production Under 500
Following are the best DJ laptops under $500
1. HP 14″ Laptop
This 14-inch laptop is known by name of the butter and bread model of HP because of its slim screen. It is portable enough to go anywhere with you so you can do your music production work even when you are traveling.
Its 1080p screen resolutions provide you with vibrant and clear display quality. The display comes wrapped up with micro-edge bezels and also includes an anti-glare screen that protects your eyes even if you are spending all day in music production.
In the testing, we have found that it has a long-lasting battery life and allows you to do your work for 9 hours and 45 minutes continuously without requiring recharging. It also has fast charging properties by which you can charge your laptop from 0 to 50% within a 45-minute duration.
With the powerful performance of its AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor, you can use all kinds of music software for creating, editing, and mixing your music.
We also get to know from its testing that its 8GB RAM and 256 GB SSD storage play an important role in boosting the performance of your laptop. Also, it provides you with 15x faster performance as compared to any traditional hard drive and enables you to store as many files and data as you want.
It also provides you with an HD camera and integrated digital microphone which let you attend virtual meetings with your music production team conveniently. Furthermore, it also includes stereo quality and exceptional speakers.
Pros
- Lightweight
- Cools down quickly
- Perfect screen size
- Great screen resolution
- Touch-pad works well
Cons
- Not a gaming laptop
2. Lenovo IdeaPad Laptop with Useable Ports
The IdeaPad is much more compact than other devices of this range because of its lightweight. It comes equipped with a 14-inch display screen which can be upgraded and is perfect to be portable. The display includes a 1366p x 768p screen resolution which is not that great but still, it doesn’t affect your music production work.
The integrated 4GB RAM is good enough if you are working with single music at a time. But if your work requires multitasking at the same time then this laptop is not for you.
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Its 64 GB eMMC flash memory is a good addition as it enhances its storage capabilities and provides streamlined data management. This is also good for HD video playback and boots up in no time.
The body of this Lenovo model is made from plastic and comes wrapped up in a silver-grey color with black bezels on the sides. During testing, we found its keyboard and wrist rest area much more comfortable.
It also includes only a 140-degree hinge for opening its lid which is relatively less than its remaining models. However, its built-up quality is not great but that will not cause any issues for your music production.
It includes many ports to be connected to multiple devices including 2 x USB 3. 0, an HDMI, a Media Card Reader, and a Combo of headphone and microphone audio jack.
Pros
- Light-weight
- Easy to use
- Portable
- Easy to set up
- Comfortable keyboard
Cons
- Slower than expected
- Heat sensitive
3. Newest HP 14″ HD Laptop
This 14-inch display screen laptop is designed with micro-edge bezels present at its sides. The display includes WLED-backlit and provides brighter visuals with its 1080p screen resolution so you can have clear and vivid image quality while creating your music.
The thing which attracts us the most while testing it is its 8GB RAM which is perfect to run multiple music software like Serato DJ smoothly during music production. Therefore, it is considered as an ideal RAM for affordable laptops for music production. You can also play heavy games with this laptop in your spare time to feel fresh.
With its 64GB eMMC + 256GB SSD storage, you can expect reliable and fast performance even when you are doing multi-tasking. This also enables you to store a large amount of data including your music files so you can hear them anytime you want. You can also locate them easily without facing any loading times.
Its AMD 3020e processor is a dual-core processor having 4 Threads providing powerful and faster performance to your laptop. It also includes 3 Cores Radeon Graphics so you can also enjoy watching your favorite movies and video songs in your extra time.
Pros
- Compact and portable
- Easy to set up
- Great visuals
- Higher image quality
- Great battery life
Cons
- Works slower
- The screen color is not good
4. Lenovo Chromebook S330 Laptop
The Lenovo Chromebook S330 Laptop is one of the cheapest laptops for music production. However, even if it is a cheap laptop but it is rich in its performance. This Chromebook has covered all your required essentials for a DJ’s laptop. It is built with decent quality and also it is light weighted therefore you can carry it with you wherever you want especially during traveling.
The important thing that you should know is it doesn’t come with the intel or AMD processor instead, it comes with the Mediatek processor. It is still good enough for music production work because of its faster performance and it also helps in sterling the battery life of your laptop.
It comes with a 14-inch display screen and the thing which we found not so great about this laptop in the testing is its screen resolution of 1,366p x 768p which is probably less than any HD display.
In the testing, we also found that it includes the 180-degree hinge although it doesn’t make it a convertible laptop the hinge allows your screen to be folded up to 180 degrees for your convenience.
It is a well-built, lightweight laptop and is portable enough to be your companion on your business tours. In other words, it is the most suitable laptop for music production because of its higher performance and the great thing is that it is affordable too.
Pros
- Longer battery life
- Fast performance
- Great visuals
- Stunning design
- Awesome display screen
Cons
- Weak sound
5. ASUS Chromebook C223
The Asus Chromebook is designed sturdy and is one of the most lightweight laptops which makes it portable enough to go anywhere with you. It is manufactured with decent build-up quality and its body structure is entirely made up of plastic.
Although its display includes an 11.6-inch screen but still comes with only a 74% of screen-to-body ratio. But again it is not a big deal as this will not affect your music production work. Apart from that its display includes an anti-glare LED panel for your eyes protection.
In the testing, we realized that it comes with a 1366 x 768 screen resolution so there is nothing to be surprised about its not-so-good viewing angles. Therefore, you will be unable to see clear images on the screen when you are at an off-angle.
This Chromebook features a Dual-core Intel Celeron N3350 processor with a boot-up speed of 2.4GHz. it comes paired up with 4GB RAM for higher single-task performance as well as 32GB of built-in storage.
We also tested its performance by opening multiple chrome tabs at the same time and we have found that it can handle such action smoothly and easily. When talking about the performance one thing we want to mention is it is not a gaming laptop so don’t buy it if you want to play heavy games on your laptop.
Pros
- Affordable
- Decent sound quality
- Works great
- Easy to use
- Compact and light-weight
- Elegant look
- Longer battery life
Cons
- Not good for heavy software
6. ASUS L410 MA-OB24 Ultra-Thin Laptop
This Asus Laptop is manufactured with plastic having great entire finishing quality. It is a compact and light-weighted laptop that comes equipped with a 14-inch display. These features make it portable to be carried around with you wherever you are traveling. The display also includes a 1,920p by 1,080p screen resolution which provides wide viewing angles.
It includes a powerful Intel N5030 Processor with a boot-up speed of up to 3.1 GHz which gives you efficient and higher performance. The laptop features 128GB eMMC Flash Storage and 4GB DDR4 RAM which is appropriate enough for music production and storing your large amount of music-related data files.
It includes multiple ports for connectivity including USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, and HDMI which enables you to connect it with your music equipment.
Windows 10 is its installed operating system which is great for installing your music production software smoothly and enables them to run without any issues and glitches.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Faster performance
- Portable
- Affordable
Cons
- The sound is not good
7. ASUS ProArt StudioBook Pro 15 Mobile Workstation Laptop
The ProArt StudioBook Pro 15 is one of the compact and thin laptops and its 15.6-inch screen provides you with 1080p picture-perfect visuals every time you see it. Its body structure of the reinforced metal is much more durable and corrosion-resistant which protects its well from everyday wear and tear. It has NanoEdge thin bezels on its three sides, providing you 82% screen-to-body ratio display view.
The testing of StudioBook proves that it is a perfect blend of higher performance and portability as it is integrated with the Intel i7-9750H processor which is a great addition to mid-range laptops. The powerful processor allows you to create and edit as many music files as you want.
The 4K display included in this laptop provides you 4x more detailed quality images and gives you a perfect color vision. Its benchmark test shows that it produces noise of less than 39dB which is great for music production.
We have faced some heat concerns during testing but its heat management system has done a great job in cooling down both its hardware and software. Its embedded six pipes are doing their work efficiently by drawing away heat from the CPU and GPU.
It features multiple ports which are compatible with several peripherals and devices. The USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, also includes USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port as well as two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports. We also found a Display Port over USB-C to provide 60Hz 4K output to connected displays.
The StudioBook enables you to listen to your produced music with stereo configurations as they keep the thumping music base very well along with the sparkling highs.
Pros
- Works well
- Powerful GPU
- Slim
- Lightweight
- Fast performance
- Easy to carry
Cons
- The build-up quality is not that good
Buying Guide for Best DJ Laptops Under $500
As we know now hardware specification is the most important factor in producing music and if you know what are the things you must look for in your desired laptop then it wouldn’t be difficult for you to choose affordable laptops for music production.
Therefore, before moving on best laptops for music production under 500 you must be aware of some particular specs that should be present in your laptop which are mentioned below.
The key element you have to remember while choosing the cheapest laptops for music production is the best hardware specs are those which are suitable to run your required music production software smoothly.
Processor
A DJ’s laptop requires a powerful processor which can support all the software, required by the artist. Your laptop should have at least a dual-core processor for better performance and producing music when you are looking for an affordable laptop.
It will also help you to manage multiple software at the same time while maintaining the speed of your laptop. However, if you want higher performance then go with the quad-core processor as it can also process more data.
RAM
RAM is also one of the essential things which affect the performance of your cheapest laptops for music production. A 4GB RAM is the minimum memory required by any music-producing laptop as it works well with the DAW software.
But if your work requires a lot of plugins and your works ask you to manage more than one track simultaneously. Then you should buy a laptop having 8GB RAM. You can also choose a laptop with upgradeable RAM as you may require increased RAM in the future for complex software.
Solid State Drive
After the RAM the next thing you must look for in the DJ’s laptop is the SSD storage. For music production, a laptop including 512GB SSD storage is a great option. As it is perfect storage to run DAW software for music production.
But at this time as you are tight on your budget then go with the laptop having at least 256GB SSD storage or less than that as you can use HDDs for storing your data and files if needed.
Display Size
As for the screen display of music production laptops, 2k or 4k displays are more than enough. Also, an HD display will work great for you.
Therefore, you don’t have to worry much about the display size but still, you have to make sure that you are getting a laptop with a clear and vivid display.
Portability
Your laptop should be portable enough according to the location and how you want to use it. If your work requires a lot of traveling, then go with the laptops having less than 15-inch screens as they are easy to carry because of their lightweight.
In case you only require it to be used in the office then a screen size of 15-inch or more than that will be a great option for you. Because the bigger screen sizes for music production laptops are much more convenient than the smaller ones.
Number of Ports
The number of input and output slots also matters a lot when you are looking for the cheapest laptops for music production. Because during music production your laptop needs to be connected to multiple devices including microphones, amplifiers, and speakers. For such concerns, different ports and more number of ports are important factors.
Therefore, we recommend you check whether your laptop has enough ports or not according to your requirements. Otherwise, if your desired laptop doesn’t include many ports you can also use port extenders for connecting it to another device.
Battery Life
Battery life is also one of the important things in music production as obviously you don’t want your laptop to be dead during your work. Usually, a good battery timing lies between 8-10 hours.
However, if you want your battery to last more than that then you can also go with the laptops having 15 hours of battery life
Heat Management
The last thing you must check on your laptop is its heat management. A DJ’s laptop should have a good heat managing system as it plays an important role in making the laptop last for a longer time.
Furthermore, for a great heat management system, there should be large vents for easy ventilation in your laptops. Also, the laptop must include fans to cool down your device.
Apart from that you also have to make sure that the fans installed in your laptop are not making any kind of unpleasant noise which may affect the sounds of your music while producing it.
Final words
For this article, we have done brief testing on all of the above-mentioned products. We also have written everything about our experience with them including good and bad things. There is one product which is like the most from the above-mentioned product and that is ASUS ProArt StudioBook Pro 15 Mobile Workstation Laptop: because of its perfect music relevant specs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it appropriate to use a gaming laptop as a DJ’s Laptop?
Yes, a gaming laptop comes with stacked RAM, a beefy processor, and a huge memory which are necessary things for a DJ’s laptop.
How much RAM is required for a DJ’s laptop?
Mostly a DJ’s laptop can work greatly with 4GB RAM but still if you don’t want to run into any issues and glitches during your work then go with a laptop having more RAM than that.
Is a core i3 processor a good option for a DJ’s laptop?
It’s undoubtedly one of the cheapest processors but still, it is good enough for your laptop. As laptops including this processor have a powerful and faster performance.
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