Macbook Air or Pro
Hey everyone,
Basically I'm planning to buy either a macbook air or pro for university next year, but I'm completely confused as to which one best suits my needs, here's my requirements
I'll hopefully be studying art and design so it'll need to have...
large storage space ( photos and music)
relatively portable (to carry to and around uni)
quite fast in speed
CD/DVD drive (would possibly buy a superdrive but i prefer not to)
Mostly I'll be using it for web browsing, Microsoft office, downloading and listening to music and uploading photos, so which would be better suited, i've always used mac products and had a great experience of them, so i prefer to stay with apple
Basically I'm planning to buy either a macbook air or pro for university next year, but I'm completely confused as to which one best suits my needs, here's my requirements
I'll hopefully be studying art and design so it'll need to have...
large storage space ( photos and music)
relatively portable (to carry to and around uni)
quite fast in speed
CD/DVD drive (would possibly buy a superdrive but i prefer not to)
Mostly I'll be using it for web browsing, Microsoft office, downloading and listening to music and uploading photos, so which would be better suited, i've always used mac products and had a great experience of them, so i prefer to stay with apple
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Original post by Graham 14
Hey everyone,
Basically I'm planning to buy either a macbook air or pro for university next year, but I'm completely confused as to which one best suits my needs, here's my requirements
I'll hopefully be studying art and design so it'll need to have...
large storage space ( photos and music)
relatively portable (to carry to and around uni)
quite fast in speed
CD/DVD drive (would possibly buy a superdrive but i prefer not to)
Mostly I'll be using it for web browsing, Microsoft office, downloading and listening to music and uploading photos, so which would be better suited, i've always used mac products and had a great experience of them, so i prefer to stay with apple
Basically I'm planning to buy either a macbook air or pro for university next year, but I'm completely confused as to which one best suits my needs, here's my requirements
I'll hopefully be studying art and design so it'll need to have...
large storage space ( photos and music)
relatively portable (to carry to and around uni)
quite fast in speed
CD/DVD drive (would possibly buy a superdrive but i prefer not to)
Mostly I'll be using it for web browsing, Microsoft office, downloading and listening to music and uploading photos, so which would be better suited, i've always used mac products and had a great experience of them, so i prefer to stay with apple
If portability is a must; go for the MacBook Air or 13" rMBP. If you would rather performance, faster processor, better graphics & larger size screen I would go for the 15" rMBP. Also, it doesn't look like your going to be doing much processor-heavy stuff; so an Air would probably be better suited and better value for money. That's unless your going to be doing editing in AE or Photoshop, then you would probably want the rMBP, as they pack the better processors and graphics; and the 15" rMBP has the 16GB RAM which is needed for video editing and the likes, more so.
I've just bought a 15" rMBP for Uni & I'm glad I went for the performance over the portability; it's worth paying the extra for the bigger screen and faster processor in my opinion. Mine is the base 15" rMBP model and it boots up and logs in, in around 10 -15 seconds which is very good in my opinion.
Also, rMBP no longer have optical drives for CD/DVD's in order to have such a slim and lightweight frame. You can pick up an external/USB optical disk drive at relatively low prices if you need one anyway.
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(edited 9 years ago)
I bought a macbook air to replace my pro within a month of starting uni because the pro was too heavy to carry around with everything else. It doesn't have a dvd drive though, which initially was putting me off of it, but the sales guy was totally right when he pointed out that most students watch downloads or things online, not from a disc. Almost a year later and I haven't missed it once.
I just got a macbook air 13" a couple of weeks a go and it is the best thing I own! 
Its really quick (as long as you don't have too many tabs open - I have 6 open now and its lagging slightly but just like a couple of extra seconds loading a page etc)! Super light, I can pick it up with one hand and hold it at arms length to show my family stuff across the room! And has plenty of storage (I think mines 120gb? And if you need extra storage you can easily buy a 2TB storage space which you hook up and its about the size of a pack of cards for about £60! Also Ive read on the internet that people have had theres since they first bought them in 2008!! It doesn't have a CD thing though but I don't miss it at all!
I promise I'm not a sales person I just really love mine haha!
I definitely recommend it! I'd probably give it an easy 9.5/10!
Its really quick (as long as you don't have too many tabs open - I have 6 open now and its lagging slightly but just like a couple of extra seconds loading a page etc)! Super light, I can pick it up with one hand and hold it at arms length to show my family stuff across the room! And has plenty of storage (I think mines 120gb? And if you need extra storage you can easily buy a 2TB storage space which you hook up and its about the size of a pack of cards for about £60! Also Ive read on the internet that people have had theres since they first bought them in 2008!! It doesn't have a CD thing though but I don't miss it at all!
I promise I'm not a sales person I just really love mine haha!
I definitely recommend it! I'd probably give it an easy 9.5/10!
I got the 13" MBP. It's my baby! I have no problems with the portability. I took it to placement everyday for a month (although I do intend on buying an iPad for this purpose). Despite what someone else said, I wanted the disk drive because I do use DVDs and CDs still 
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Original post by Graham 14
Hey everyone,
Basically I'm planning to buy either a macbook air or pro for university next year, but I'm completely confused as to which one best suits my needs, here's my requirements
I'll hopefully be studying art and design so it'll need to have...
large storage space ( photos and music)
relatively portable (to carry to and around uni)
quite fast in speed
CD/DVD drive (would possibly buy a superdrive but i prefer not to)
Mostly I'll be using it for web browsing, Microsoft office, downloading and listening to music and uploading photos, so which would be better suited, i've always used mac products and had a great experience of them, so i prefer to stay with apple
Basically I'm planning to buy either a macbook air or pro for university next year, but I'm completely confused as to which one best suits my needs, here's my requirements
I'll hopefully be studying art and design so it'll need to have...
large storage space ( photos and music)
relatively portable (to carry to and around uni)
quite fast in speed
CD/DVD drive (would possibly buy a superdrive but i prefer not to)
Mostly I'll be using it for web browsing, Microsoft office, downloading and listening to music and uploading photos, so which would be better suited, i've always used mac products and had a great experience of them, so i prefer to stay with apple
Portability between the retina Pro and the Air is negligible. The main differences are the processor and screen, and whether you want to pay more for these features.
If you need a disc drive (don't consider the old Pro, it's too old and has been out for over two years now), get an external disc drive which you can just leave somewhere for when you occasionally need to use it. It doesn't need to be Apple's superdrive either, most manufacturers are compatible and a lot cheaper (starting under £20).
Original post by Graham 14
Hey everyone,
Basically I'm planning to buy either a macbook air or pro for university next year, but I'm completely confused as to which one best suits my needs, here's my requirements
I'll hopefully be studying art and design so it'll need to have...
large storage space ( photos and music)
relatively portable (to carry to and around uni)
quite fast in speed
CD/DVD drive (would possibly buy a superdrive but i prefer not to)
Mostly I'll be using it for web browsing, Microsoft office, downloading and listening to music and uploading photos, so which would be better suited, i've always used mac products and had a great experience of them, so i prefer to stay with apple
Basically I'm planning to buy either a macbook air or pro for university next year, but I'm completely confused as to which one best suits my needs, here's my requirements
I'll hopefully be studying art and design so it'll need to have...
large storage space ( photos and music)
relatively portable (to carry to and around uni)
quite fast in speed
CD/DVD drive (would possibly buy a superdrive but i prefer not to)
Mostly I'll be using it for web browsing, Microsoft office, downloading and listening to music and uploading photos, so which would be better suited, i've always used mac products and had a great experience of them, so i prefer to stay with apple
Go on the refurbished section on the apple website, I just got the latest top spec MacBook Pro, but because it had been refurbed it was so much cheaper
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Original post by Ellie.Mortlock
Go on the refurbished section on the apple website, I just got the latest top spec MacBook Pro, but because it had been refurbed it was so much cheaper
Posted from TSR Mobile
Posted from TSR Mobile
Also, consider student discounts. I don't think you can get student discounts on refurbished models though, only the 'proper' ones, so it might not be worthwhile going for a refurbished one. MacBooks roughly have around ~15% off for students, and the AppleCare plan (3 year warranty and phone support) is just ~£50 (vs. £200 for non-students).
In total my mid-tier 13" rMBP (8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 2.6GHz i5) was £1070 with AppleCare, and I'm very happy with it.
I'd go for the Macbook Pro. I got the 13" Retina version, entry level, and it is so so so beautiful. It cost me 849 with education pricing, and you can get a 1tb external hard drive for 43 pounds on Amazon to keep all your libraries on. I was going to go for a Macbook Air with 8gb ram (to future-proof it), and the entry level Pro was about 60 pounds more. I'd really consider the Pro over the Air.
I'd go for Pro, if I was carrying around the air for uni I would feel like it would break a lot more easily. Pro isn't too heavy, i have a 15 inch and can easily carry it around all day
I have a 11 inch macbook air 2011, and recently upgraded to the macbook pro retina 2014. The only reason why I had to replace my mac was that the battery life started dying on me, and it was only 64gb, which was a hassle at times.
Go for the 11 inch macbook air, and max the hard-drive capacity. It is definitely the better option for your needs.
Also you don't really need a CD drive, as you can just download everything. If you really would prefer it, then just get a laptop. They are cheaper, and clearly has everything you want. Just go for something with Windows 7, as Windows 8 is pretty ****.
Go for the 11 inch macbook air, and max the hard-drive capacity. It is definitely the better option for your needs.
Also you don't really need a CD drive, as you can just download everything. If you really would prefer it, then just get a laptop. They are cheaper, and clearly has everything you want. Just go for something with Windows 7, as Windows 8 is pretty ****.
I would say, get the cheapest one in terms of storage space and buy an external hard drive to save you paying through your nose for a larger drive in the Mac. They are quick but they're only really useful for booting up and large programs like video and photo editing software. Files are better off stored on an external hard drive. And it also means you can take all your file with you without bringing your laptop everywhere.
Also, if the CD/DVD drive is a must, then you should probably look somewhere else or buy an external one which can be quite expensive but that is the way it is going with tech trends now.
Also, the latest rMBP are so much lighter and thinner, only slightly larger than the current MBA at its thickest point (18mm in rMBP compared to 17mm in MBA) so portability with a Mac is true for both, but the Air is definitely ultra portable.
If battery life is a problem, the Air is probably better but you do lose a bit of performance for an extra 3 hours supposed battery life (9hrs with the rMBP vs 12 hours with the MBA).
Finally, there have been talks of an updated MBA so if you can, you could wait but its not really a must. My opinion would be to get the rMBP, I feel it offers more performance compared to the Air for a package, not that much bigger.
Also, you may want to look at the Surface Pro 3. Portability to performance ratio is probably the best here, but you do lose OSX and also USB ports, however you can easily buy a cheap 7 port USB 3 hub from Amazon for next to nothing. Just consider your options from both Windows and Mac.
Also, if the CD/DVD drive is a must, then you should probably look somewhere else or buy an external one which can be quite expensive but that is the way it is going with tech trends now.
Also, the latest rMBP are so much lighter and thinner, only slightly larger than the current MBA at its thickest point (18mm in rMBP compared to 17mm in MBA) so portability with a Mac is true for both, but the Air is definitely ultra portable.
If battery life is a problem, the Air is probably better but you do lose a bit of performance for an extra 3 hours supposed battery life (9hrs with the rMBP vs 12 hours with the MBA).
Finally, there have been talks of an updated MBA so if you can, you could wait but its not really a must. My opinion would be to get the rMBP, I feel it offers more performance compared to the Air for a package, not that much bigger.
Also, you may want to look at the Surface Pro 3. Portability to performance ratio is probably the best here, but you do lose OSX and also USB ports, however you can easily buy a cheap 7 port USB 3 hub from Amazon for next to nothing. Just consider your options from both Windows and Mac.
(edited 9 years ago)
I bought a a 13" Pro in 2009 and it's still running well! I'm so impressed by it, the only thing that needs fixing is that it needs a new battery but not urgently. When this one eventually conks out I'll definitely pay for another Pro, I think they're worth every penny. I've never had an experience with an Air but I'll say that I've probably used my disk drive about 5 times in the 5 years I've had my Pro.
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Original post by MTennison
MacBooks roughly have around ~15% off for students, and the AppleCare plan (3 year warranty and phone support) is just ~£50 (vs. £200 for non-students).
A 3 year repair warranty is absolutely FREE when you buy it from the education store (with a full university discount). Apple do their best to hide this by selling the £50 'uplift' which is in reality just extends the phone support from one year to three, but I'd say it's a waste of money if you're anywhere near an apple store as you can just take it in for any repairs.
Check out this (from the education store) showing what's free and what isn't...
Alex
Oh, and to answer the question, I'd say you probably won't regret whichever Mac you end up going for. The Pro display (retina) in my 15" absolutely spectacular but could hardly be described as essential. Battery life takes a bit of a hit, it's not as good as a 13" Pro and a way off what you can get out of an Air. Hardly a great conclusion, I know, but out of your options you'll struggle to make a bad choice.
Feel free to message me if you want some more advice (I've just spent a good couple of weeks weighing up the current Mac range for my own uni laptop!)
Feel free to message me if you want some more advice (I've just spent a good couple of weeks weighing up the current Mac range for my own uni laptop!)
I have the air love it, portable and daily carried in my handbag, my friends with pro hardly bring it anywhere as they weigh a lot. Haven't missed not having a DVD drive, I got a portable one incase I needed to download certain software, only ever used it twice. So Air is the better option.
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