Is the new Macbook Neo the ultimate budget music computer?
In our coverage of the Neo’s introduction, we noted “This isn’t the Mac for power users, and for most ‘content creators’. ”
This in-depth review of the MacBook Neo focusing on music production, by James Zhan, challenges that assumption, and argues that it’s a great ‘first computer’ for music making.
Zhan tests the MacBook Neo with a real mixing and mastering Reaper project, with 100 tracks and 140+ plugins, and a Logic Pro 12 project with sample libraries for an entire orchestra.
His conclusion? Zhan argues that the MacBook Neo gives you incredible value for the money, especially when you consider the price of Apple Creator Studio.
Topics covered:
0:00 Start
0:32 Music Production Tests Overview
1:17 MacBook Neo Build Quality: Incredible for the Price
1:58 Mechanical Trackpad Issue
2:26 A Different Testing Approach Than My Previous Videos
3:09 MacBook Neo Audio Processing Benchmarked Against M-Series Chips
3:25 Efficiency Core vs Performance Core Usage on MacBook Neo (A18 Pro)
3:51 My Goal for This Video
4:08 MacBook Neo Tested with a Real Mixing & Mastering Project in REAPER
8:08 MacBook Neo Tested with a Real Mixing & Mastering Project in Logic Pro 12
9:14 MacBook Neo vs M1 Max: Render Speed Test
9:53 Addressing MacBook Neo’s 8GB of RAM (unified memory)
10:17 Brief Explanation of RAM’s Role in Music Production
10:43 MacBook Neo’s 8GB RAM Tested: Full Orchestral Project
11:48 Heavy Multitasking on MacBook Neo: Logic Pro Orchestral Project + REAPER Mixing Project
12:31 Heavy Multitasking on MacBook Neo: Audio Projects + 4K Video Timeline with Colour Grade
13:29 Heavy Multitasking on MacBook Neo: Audio Projects, Video Project & RAW Photo Editing
15:02 James’ Take: Why MacBook Neo Is the Best Laptop for Audio/Photo/Video Work for the Price
15:29 Neo’s Advantage #1: Portability + Good Performance
16:18 Neo’s Advantage #2: Colour-Accurate Display (Compared Against Apple Studio Display)
17:08 Neo’s Advantage #3: MacOS Means Access to Apple Creator Studio
18:28 James’ Thoughts on Creator Studio Being a Subscription
19:10 Should You Get MacBook Air Instead?
What do you think? Share your thoughts on the Macbook Neo as a starter music computer in the comments!
I love James’s videos, his logical approach to testing, the video quality, and he keeps it straightforward with no nonsense or typical Youtubers ego and acting. Just clear, honest and practical analysis with all of the interesting information based on actual testing.
And I appreciate that he also tests low buffer settings.
I’m looking forward to more even though I’m not in the market for a new computer 🙂
I would say “No,” only because storage is becoming insanely priced thanks to AI & crypto. A Mac this trim would surely need several outboard drives to do the heavy lifting. 8 GB of RAM will handle quite a bit under Silicon, but storage for the kind of space audio requires is another story. Plan ahead.
Its a decent starter Mac and probably good as a Mac lite for travel or quickie sessions. Just believe me when I say the storage issue can bite you on the butt. I got an M1 and under-gauged that. I beefed up an M4 and its been seamless.
Good point , storage is definitely limited, and even the 500GB version can fill up quickly. But it might not be much of an issue if you’re mostly creating with plugines.
It’s also better for anyone who already has an external SSD since like you said prices have gone up considerably now due to AI demand. I guess even USB 2 would be sufficient to expend storage, even external magnetic drive might be sufficient for audio work.
the hard drive space doesn’t matter at all to me
different workflows exist
no
############
Admin: Personal attack/hate speech deleted.
Keep comments on topic and constructive in the future, and they will not be deleted.
People can debate whether a machine like this is powerful enough to make music with, but literally all the music we grew up with was sequenced with Ataris and limited computers like that, or chopped and arranged on an MPC with 32mb of RAM.
Some people think they are Hans Zimmer and need a terabyte of RAM for their sound libraries.
Word!
i am mostly dawless so its been great for me so far
Yes. Also If you prefer hardware over plugins and have external samplers etc this is more than enough.
No. The base M4 Mac Mini is the ultimate budget music machine.
Not portable => not great for students. This excellent video repeatedly makes the point of how great this computer is for students learning music-making, sound engineering, composition, video-making etc.
I’m not a student and there’s nothing portable about my synth studio. I need a solid machine that can run a DAW and plugins, my Mini is absolutely perfect for the role.
Excellent Video and it demonstrates how capable AS CPU’s are, even the older ones that MacBook Neo is based on…
It also makes me wish that I could run macOS on my 13″ M4 iPad Pro…
nope
I’ve got a mac mini m4 and MacBook air M1, which is fairly comparable to the Neo. I rarely need the extra power of the M4, but it’s nice to have. They are a pretty good combo, and both together are cheaper than my PC( my main recording computer but is nearing retirement age). The only problem with apple stuff is that they are really unfriendly to user repairs. It seems the neo is better on this issue which is great.
It’s too bad we never got a laptop with an inexpensive (and otherwise less-capable) CPU paired with a modern variant of the Motorola 56K in it. *That* would have been “the ultimate budget music computer”. Even better, combine the ColdFire processor and a couple 56300 processors in a single chip manufactured with a 60 nm or 30 nm processor node (for reference, the NXP 56300 was produced using a 500 nm process node and the NXP ColdFire was produced using a 90 nm process node) and you’d have an incredibly powerful “music computer”.