What MacBook for uni?

I need to get a laptop for university and I’m starting in September.

My parents are going to pay for it and I do want a MacBook but I’m deciding between the Air or the Pro.

I’ll be studying philosophy and will need the laptop to last a long time at least 6 years.
I don’t think I’ll be doing any video editing or anything that’ll require too much power.

I think all I’ll need it for is typing up essays and streaming Netflix and stuff like that.

I think I might play some games as well like Sims or Minecraft. But that’s the most o would ever use it for. And if I can’t that’s fine since I can just bring my Xbox to uni for games.

Also I was wondering how much space I’ll need. All documents can be uploaded to the cloud so it won’t take up much space. So do you think getting the lowest storage would be enough. I could always increase it later on or get an external hard drive.

So which one should I get the Air or the Pro and which storage?

Moved to 'Laptops, netbooks and tablets'

Spoiler alert: I'd let you know but I have no insight/knowledge :tongue:

Reply 2

barror1

Study Forum Helper, Universities Forum Helper

20

After having a quick glance at the specs, I would personally choose the pro!
Besides the higher RAM, touch bar, etc. it is really important to consider the screen size! The Air caps out at 13 inches but the pro can go up to a 15-inch display. This will give you more room to play with in regards to having multiple tabs on one screen, easier gaming, etc.
That being said, this is your call in the end and what you find most important in a computer is completely personal to you :smile:

Reply 3

emeraldde

6

I sold my pro and I got myself a tiny macbook. The pro is heavy! And now I am contemplating of getting an ipad for notetaking. Will I survive without an ipad and just use a paper and pencil???

Reply 4

barror1

Study Forum Helper, Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by emeraldde

I sold my pro and I got myself a tiny macbook. The pro is heavy! And now I am contemplating of getting an ipad for notetaking. Will I survive without an ipad and just use a paper and pencil???

If you really want to change to iPad, have you considered using Evernote/ OneNote?
That way you could keep all of your notes together digitally, though pen and paper is always a great shout!

Reply 5

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by Rhodesian

I need to get a laptop for university and I’m starting in September.

My parents are going to pay for it and I do want a MacBook but I’m deciding between the Air or the Pro.

I’ll be studying philosophy and will need the laptop to last a long time at least 6 years.
I don’t think I’ll be doing any video editing or anything that’ll require too much power.

I think all I’ll need it for is typing up essays and streaming Netflix and stuff like that.

I think I might play some games as well like Sims or Minecraft. But that’s the most o would ever use it for. And if I can’t that’s fine since I can just bring my Xbox to uni for games.

Also I was wondering how much space I’ll need. All documents can be uploaded to the cloud so it won’t take up much space. So do you think getting the lowest storage would be enough. I could always increase it later on or get an external hard drive.

So which one should I get the Air or the Pro and which storage?

I guess it probably comes down to budget and requirements.

I use a 2014 macbook pro, and have done my undergrad and masters on it, its still pretty good. Apple really squeeze the packaging on laptops so inevitably if your planning on using graphic intensive stuff it will get hot, knock on effect on the battery & cpu. So if you are planning lots of hugly intensive tasks I would say get the pro.

But my MBP has stood the test of time pretty much (5 years), the only thing is the battery life has shrunk considerably now, probably about 3-4 hours of normal use now, but a replacement battery is £160ish, im gonna get it replaced and hopefully keep for another 5 years.

I have found its pretty good for uni, excel, word and endnote all sync to onedrive automatically, I use some pretty powerful engineering programs and it handles them well. I also use a lot of SD cards for additional storage and i can run apps of these cards with no lag.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 6

emeraldde

6

Original post by barror1

If you really want to change to iPad, have you considered using Evernote/ OneNote?
That way you could keep all of your notes together digitally, though pen and paper is always a great shout!

I was just at apple this afternoon and I really like the ipad pro. I can use it mainly for notetaking and watching on netflix but the price is offputting. Almost £1200 without the pen :frown:

Reply 7

barror1

Study Forum Helper, Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by emeraldde

I was just at apple this afternoon and I really like the ipad pro. I can use it mainly for notetaking and watching on netflix but the price is offputting. Almost £1200 without the pen :frown:

That's a bummer!
Depending on how much screen size you need, you could always upgrade to the Samsung note 9/10.
The screen is much smaller (smartphone size) but you can take notes on it and it comes with the S pen!

Reply 8

emeraldde

6

Original post by barror1

That's a bummer!
Depending on how much screen size you need, you could always upgrade to the Samsung note 9/10.
The screen is much smaller (smartphone size) but you can take notes on it and it comes with the S pen!

i think Samsung note is too small for notetaking. A tablet is better in my opinion.

Reply 9

wildern1217

9

Original post by emeraldde

I was just at apple this afternoon and I really like the ipad pro. I can use it mainly for notetaking and watching on netflix but the price is offputting. Almost £1200 without the pen :frown:

Have you considered a second hand iPad Pro . I recently bought a second gen 10.5 inch iPad Pro and pencil in perfect condition for £400. Obviously it’s not the latest model so may not last as long but it has almost the exact same functionality.

Reply 10

headieone

19

My tip would be buy a slightly old macbook, then swap out the RAM and SSD, and upgrade the software to mojave manually. Search it up on YouTube but this requires some technological knowledge. It saves quite a bit of money buying a brand latest new one while your still getting top end performance

Reply 11

Oli9050

13

You could also just get a much cheaper laptop from a different brand... Going Mac means spending an extra few hundred on the brand itself...

Reply 12

A_J_B

19

Exactly there are no honestly so many other options from windows. You can literally get so many features at the same price or lesser mate! Spend your money wisely and don't get trapped in the Apple ecosystem.
The Dell XPS 13 OR 15 is hella good if your budget is that high. You can also take a look at some Lenovo laptops like the yoga series.

Reply 13

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by Oli9050

You could also just get a much cheaper laptop from a different brand... Going Mac means spending an extra few hundred on the brand itself...

Yes but then you cant run osx, and unless you are a big gamer or need windows only industry software I do feel this is a much better OS, its cleaner & faster. Im assuming OP feels the same way hence is comparing the MBP v the air.

Reply 14

EstelOfTheEyrie

19

If you've definitely sure that you'll be gaming - even casually I'd recommend the Pro. And at least 8GB RAM

If you're going to use that instead on another device like an Xbox, then the Air.

Reply 15

spotify95

18

Original post by sam72016

My tip would be buy a slightly old macbook, then swap out the RAM and SSD, and upgrade the software to mojave manually. Search it up on YouTube but this requires some technological knowledge. It saves quite a bit of money buying a brand latest new one while your still getting top end performance

Macbooks after the 2012 Unibody variant have gotten very difficult to self repair, using soldered CPUs and RAM, and proprietary SSDs (which eventually became soldered too). So good luck trying to upgrade a Macbook's specs after purchase.

Original post by Oli9050

You could also just get a much cheaper laptop from a different brand... Going Mac means spending an extra few hundred on the brand itself...

Windows machines are indeed substantially cheaper than Mac OS machines. Unless the OP specifically needs software that only works on Mac OS, I'd advise a Windows 10 machine - which is what the university will be using anyway.

Reply 16

Phoenixfeather99

18

Get an Air. Pros don’t have usb slots, so you have to buy adaptors so to use a memory stick/mouse. And if you lose an adaptor they cost quite a few quid to replace.
P.s. I downloaded sims onto my Mac and corrupted the operating system (which apparently is a common problem) so be aware, it costs a lot to fix.

Pro

Original post by Rhodesian

I need to get a laptop for university and I’m starting in September.

My parents are going to pay for it and I do want a MacBook but I’m deciding between the Air or the Pro.

I’ll be studying philosophy and will need the laptop to last a long time at least 6 years.
I don’t think I’ll be doing any video editing or anything that’ll require too much power.

I think all I’ll need it for is typing up essays and streaming Netflix and stuff like that.

I think I might play some games as well like Sims or Minecraft. But that’s the most o would ever use it for. And if I can’t that’s fine since I can just bring my Xbox to uni for games.

Also I was wondering how much space I’ll need. All documents can be uploaded to the cloud so it won’t take up much space. So do you think getting the lowest storage would be enough. I could always increase it later on or get an external hard drive.

So which one should I get the Air or the Pro and which storage?

Get the Pro, it's still a very lightweight laptop and actually thinner than the Air is at its thickest point. In exchange the quad core processor will vastly improve the laptop's long term usability and help with basic gaming, which it's still going to be terrible at but it will be less terrible than the Air. As for storage, get whichever model your parents will pay for then supplement it with an external hard drive like you're already planning (fun tip; you can buy USB-C cables for external hard drives. I've met three mac users in the last month who are using a dongle to connect their hard drive with USB-A cable).

Original post by emeraldde

I sold my pro and I got myself a tiny macbook. The pro is heavy! And now I am contemplating of getting an ipad for notetaking. Will I survive without an ipad and just use a paper and pencil???