Any specific computer needs for performance music major?

College Majors Music Major
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We are computer shopping for the college laptop. Does a student who is a performance music major have any specific computer spec needs in terms of a laptop (apart from the norm of a college student)?
Thanks!

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You can’t really go wrong with a Macbook. With most music majors, there are probably some music tech classes, and Macbooks are best for that sort of thing.

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When my D was in school, music students used Apple. A macbook would be a good choice, imo. Nothing special was needed.

Fwiw, she also uses her Ipad for all her music during rehearsals. Some use a binder with sheet music. But my D saw a pro opera singer use an ipad during rehearsal and switched over. For instrumentalist it certainly could be different (on using an ipad). Still Apple products seem the most popular with musicians…to my limited knowledge…

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Mac’s are expensive. No school or class can require that students have an Apple MacBook or MacAir or whatever.

For music technology, many software programs work with both PC’s and Mac’s. If a student wants to do music production, it is probably better to have a Mac because a few programs, like LogicPro don’t work with PC’s. Ditto composers who work with computers/electronics.

But for performance I think a PC under $500 (like the Acer Aspire) or even a chromebook is fine.

Using an IPad for scores while rehearsing and performing is very common, yes.

Eventually an external hard drive comes in handy because music students tend to have a lot of videos and recordings saved, as well as various software programs.

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The short answer is no, a music student is unlikely to have computer needs beyond what’s typical for the average college student. My son has a MacBook air and it’s done everything he needs. He added a basic iPad and Apple Pencil this year for music and scores (voice, conducting, choir) when it suddenly got hard to print things due to the pandemic, and loves it. We paid for an app to organize all that, I’d have to ask him the name. He doesn’t use the iPad for. His cello music as far as I know though so it may be different for instruments vs voice/conducting.

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