The m1 being better than the M2 comes from the performance vs efficiency core ratio and iirc it only applies to the pro version of the chip. I would look at the number of E vs P cores of those two and compare. You want more P cores cause those are the only ones ableton live uses; it ignores the E cores. Like they aren’t even there 
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super helpful - thanks
I’ve had a MacBook Air M1 (8 GB/512 GB) since January 2021. Until then, I bought a new computer every three or four years. But this time it’s different. I don’t even come close to its performance limit. Even the battery health is still at 92.1%.
Well, I only use it to make electronic music with Ableton and a handful of selected plug-ins, a bit of office stuff and occasional non-professional photo and video editing.
I’m as enthusiastic as I was on the first day. Actually, even more so than on the first day. Because back then I didn’t know that the MBA would make me happy for such a long time.
Sorry. That was a lot of text to simply recommend the MBA M1 
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Macbooks & Macs tend to be the most reasonably prices computers around these days. A used Macbook Air M1 should run you well under 1000€ (I bought mine new back then for 899€) and it should outperform anything PC-based at twice that price when using Ableton Live.
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I’ve the same model and produce, mix and master on it every week and not had a single issue.
Sometimes the processor percent usage goes up in Ableton but I flatten few tracks and all good again.
I’ve been thinking of updating it to a newer model but I really don’t need to
Are you sure that’s 8gb ram that’s enough?
Its enough until its not enough I guess.
According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, the new MB Airs could be out this week.
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On the M1 Mini it’s enough for Ableton, easy. Mines only chugged when I’ve used Adobe After Effects when making videos.
This could be a terrible month for my savings…
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Most people just get a real interface or an Apple Pencil + iPad Pro for that (super happy with a m1 iPad and pencil, never liked the quality on most all interfaces I’d tried or the windows drivers.)
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I was waiting for an M4 MacBook air to come out for ages, but looking at the specs, price and availability of the base M4 MacBook Pro. I think this is a better option as it has 16gb of RAM plus a 512gb drive and you can get the refurb from Apple at a good price.
I guess everyone has give you the answer you don’t want, so I’ll pile on. I’ve tried getting windows laptops to work with ableton and music production in general for years. Frustrating, rage inducing years. You have to have so much luck to get something that doesn’t introduce weird DSP Latency issues, and even then, there’s nothing even close to CoreAudio internally in Windows. WASAAPI might be better than ASIO4ALL and its equivalents, but its not supported with Ableton, so who knows.
And you basically have to shell out near the same amount of money for a decent windows laptop that might not have compatibility issues. I just bought a M4 Macbook Pro, and it was so fucking expensive I wanted to throw up when I clicked confirm for the purchase. But I’ve never regretted spending stupid money on something less in my entire life. It’s a fucking dream to work with, I’ve not had a single audio related issue since getting it, I can throw the kitchen sink at it when it comes to DSP and it just swallows that shit.
Now, not saying you should go that much over your budget, but there are options in the Apple world that will be nearer to your budget, and will save you so much frustration, and keep you from feeding the psychiatric industry with your money for years after buying it.
Edit: I still have a desktop Windows for gaming. Horses for courses and all that.
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According to several articles, the M4 MacBook Air is likely to come out this week. When it does, the M2 MacBook Airs still out in the wild, will probably be another $100 to $200 cheaper than they are already discounted.
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Following all your answers I will therefore stay with Apple.
I will therefore go for an AIR M1 or Pro M1 with 256GB 8 Ram.
Does all this seem OK to you? Do I have to pay attention to the year?
My use:
- Ableton 12 Suite and MaxDSP tools only + Vahalla
- Feedback routing and other routing between tracks
- I do not do super heavy projects
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The 8gb of ram maybe a bit low, but based on your description it should probably be fine. If you’re doing some production on your Mini, maybe take a peek at what you tend to use for your projects, so you get some metrics for that? It would be a bummer to get that laptop and immediately realise that you’re coming up against a bottleneck with the ram.
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No need to pay attention to the year IMO…regarding RAM and storage, always get as much as you can afford because (as you probably know) there’s no upgrade path for them…at least that I’m aware of.
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Ok you think that with an M chip, 16GB is important? My mini has 16 indeed… I’ll think about that.
Do you also think that there is a real difference between a refurbished Apple and a non-Apple?
I see some Macbook Pro cheaper than Air ; both with M1 8/8 512GB and 16 Ram. A reason for this?
I personally haven’t purchased a refurbished machine, but everything I’ve read suggests the Apple refurbs arrive just like new and have a one-year warranty. You can also extend that with AppleCare.
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