A Mac. No, this is not the typical Mac vs PC argument waged by fanboys & girls for decades. I go back to the beginning of both and was a beta tester for IBM on the original PC and have supported both platforms in various jobs over the decades here in the Silicon Valley, I have reasons for my recommendation.

If using it only for Finale, there's nothing wrong with either platform. Same with word processing, internet and so on. The question is, "What else do you do with your laptop?" If making music, the Mac is normally the better choice. The MacOS does not have issues with the various versions of ASIO and other audio drivers—ever. Neither does it have sound card "issues" (re Finale, since 2014.5). Also, the latest Macs (since 2005) can run Windows if you need—even the latest Apple Silicon. Finale cracked the hi-res graphics issue for the Mac with 26 (did they get it for the PC with 27?) — this is important if using an external 4K or 5K monitor.

I'm sure that someone will post a PC laptop that does what you need but you asked for the Best laptop for Finale—and it isn't a PC.

You want to be running 27 for this one.

https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-16/ 

Last year's and 2019 models work best with 26 or later. Those introduced in 2017 run 25. You'll find those here.

https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/mac/macbook-pro 

First let me throw this out there: if you aren't using Finale on the road, you can hook up an audio interface like the Scarlett Solo and likely bypass the problem rather than buying a new laptop. I understand that it may not be a viable workaround though.

That said, I'm going to politely disagree with Mike. I don't think Macs are better for music software - or worse - but there are tradeoffs. You choose which set of quirks, bugs and limitations you want to deal with. What may be more important is to identify which environment most of the people you interact with are using, and stick with that. 

I use an older (2019) Windows laptop similar to this: Amazon.com: Lenovo Flex 5 14" 2-in-1 Touchscreen, Ryzen 7 4700U 16GB, 51: Electronics It runs Finale, my DAW, VSTs, mastering suite, a dedicated percussion sequencer, sheet music reader and much more.

You won't need to worry about matching the laptop to the version of  Finale. :-) FWIW, it's been almost 20 years since a Windows OS upgrade broke a piece of software I use on a regular basis - and I've been a professional software developer that entire time. YMMV, of course. Also, that wasn't always the case. Many of the problems ascribed to Windows used to be true.

None of my systems have a problem with ASIO4All or Scarlett ASIO, though the latter is better. My laptop's price/performance ratio is better than a Mac, and of great importance to me, it is upgradeable and repairable. One consideration is you may need to be a bit more hands on - with a Mac, things work, or they don't. With Windows, you might have to tweak some things... but at least you can. I have had one PC in the last 25 years that had a sound driver issue with Finale (due to a flaw in the motherboard BIOS) so in that one I dropped in a $59 aftermarket sound card and everything was fine.

Also, Finale 25 and 27 run just fine on my Windows desktop with dual 4k monitors, often stretched across both of them - I wasn't even aware there was a hi-res graphics issue.

Thomas is the one who posted

There is a large community that wants nothing to do with Apple.

My answer is still, So what? Except for the mention that I have extensive Mac and Win experience, I'll leave my resume out of this. Thomas does bring up a couple of points that should be addressed:

>I wasn't even aware there was a hi-res graphics issue.<

Yea, that...

Type 4k monitor into the search box and start reading the 217 results over 6 pages. It's a thing even if you aren't aware of it. Since the OP is asking about 25, it's an issue that was never resolved till 26 on the Mac. It may or may not have been fixed in one of the later Windows updates for 26—not finding release notes saying it was but it wasn't in the initial release. The 27 release was accompanied by this blurb.

"We’ve tackled a lot of known issues, such as unexpected installer behavior and unusable display scaling on Windows…" 

 

>None of my systems have a problem with ASIO4All or Scarlett ASIO, though the latter is better.<

Hmmm... typing ASIO4All in that search box reveals a number of issues, among which is that it's not supported and and that it doesn't work well for a number of users.. There have been recent issues with Focusrite ASIO, too. 

Anyway, the following are supported by Finale:

• ASIO, DirectSound, or WASAPI audio support

Other audio drivers can be made to work but you're on your own though some of the more knowledgable folks here do what we can, myself included. Of course, none of that is an issue on the Mac

I no longer work with computers for a living. It's mostly music these days but Mac & Win are nice little side hustles that bring in a few bucks now and then. At the risk of repeating myself, if one is going to ask Best laptop for Finale, I firmly believe it to be the Mac. I have experience with both.

Another thing to remember is that she is here because MM Support told her that the new laptop she's considering has an issue that they have yet to overcome. Perhaps some actual make/model recommendations from others with links where they can be purchased might be in order here. I've made mine.

Thanks for the replies. There are such smart people on this board. Before I go on, two quick points - I need to stick with Windows (for better or worse) no matter the benefits of a Mac, and I'm a man.

So...within Windows, I'm open to all suggestions.

    Thomas is the one who posted

"I need to stick with Windows (for better or worse) no matter the benefits of a Mac, ..."

I just bought a new Acer I5 latest generation, 512 SSD and 12 GB Ram.. It runs Finale 27 just fine. It was under $500 bucks. You don't need a supercomputer!

Admittedly I only use it when on location and not for a lot of original composing. I use a Dell, Win 10, desktop that is 4+ years old. It is an I7, 16GB of Ram and I have a 32" monitor. Both are running Finale 27 and GOP5 and COMB2 and Noteperformer 3 and Perfect Layout Silver just fine.

I didn't read all the above because it is always the same. But my preference for Windows, and I am no Microsoft fanboy at all, is they cost way less. Some years ago, I went purposely to Microcenter to buy a new Mac. However when I started looking them over I quickly found out they cost, not just a little more but, a great deal more money. The sad part is they don't offer any significant benefit for that extra cash outlay. If anything they offer way more issues with their convoluted OS system upgrades. I beta tested for a company that you would recognize the name of for several years and I can confidently say 80% of all the problem come from Mac users. 

However, all that said, once up and running you really can't tell much of a difference between the two. So, if you got the coin and you don't mind dropping it on a high dollar computer and you get it working, Mac's work just like a Win10 machine.