OT Macbook for student

[Chris]

My daughter is headed off to college in a couple of weeks. She has some money from a local scholarship that she is going to use on a laptop. Definitely going to be a Mac (her choice). The thread I found was 2011. I know next to nothing about these things, so I am appealing to the collective wisdom. Which model? Which size?

[AngryScientist]

does she know what she will be majoring in yet? or concentrating on?

i'm so far from college it's comical, but i believe the universities may list some minimum requirements for computers with their "welcome packages".

i'll tell you this: i travel a ton for work, and when given the option, i got the smallest laptop the company offered, for ease of travel. when i'm working home or in the office, i just put it in a docking station and go, but if i have to do some work out of a hotel room or remote office, it's a pain in the butt to do actual work on the super small laptop. the keyboard is cramped, and the touchpad is too close to everything else, and of course - the screen is too small to really multi-task.

so - if she winds up wanting a small one, probably plan for an external monitor, keyboard and mouse for the dorm room and maybe your home. small laptops are great for travel, but less so to do productive work on.,

just a thought.

[AngryScientist]

oh, and congratulations to you!

i think being a parent, it's a massive accomplishment to simply keep kids fed and alive; getting one to college is worthy of congratz!

[smontanaro]

MacBook Pro was just updated. The other MacBook models have been a year since last update. Is go with the Pro if she can swing the price.

The Mac Rumors buyers guide:

https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

Tells you how long it's been since last release for all of Apple's products and has links to roundups of features, CPU specs, memory, etc.

[Tony T]

MacBook Air used to be the best to carry around, but the MacBook is just as small and light as the Air now,
so I would stay away from the MacBook Air.
MacBook Pro is bigger and heavier.
If I were getting a new Mac, I'd get the MacBook (I have a MacBook 11" Air now): https://www.apple.com/macbook/

For a comparison see: https://www.apple.com/mac/compare/

Best bet is to go to your local Apple Store and take a look.

.

[semdoug]

There is, in some cases, a compatibility issue. Our daughter has a Mac laptop (I'm not sure of the exact model) she uses for college, but some courses and professors use Microsoft or other products that aren't always Mac friendly. For example, she is currently in a GIS course and her Mac does not work for the programs used. Luckily, there are computer labs on campus for such cases.

[rwsaunders]

Three kids have graduated from high school, two from college, and one from grad school using MacBooks and the third one was just given an iPad Pro by his school, as he’s starting college in the fall. I personally don’t think that the MacBook Pro is worth the expense for a college student and it’s heavy. The MacBook Air and iPad are powerful and light but they’ll need a separate storage device or iCloud as your kids will need a larger place to store data. Invest in AppleCare as my kids each had to replace a hard drive at one point.

[Tony T]

There are programs (i.e. Parallels) that allow the MicroSoft OS to be run on a Mac along with macOS. Gets expensive as you need to buy a copy of Windows.

[Tony T]

Oh, and ask about the Apple Student discounts when you're ready to buy.
https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/back-to-school

[Chris]

Her current plan is to major in physiology (pre-med) minors in Spanish and business. She has checked with her department and there are no requirements.

[rwsaunders]

PS...most colleges also heavily discount software like MS Office or even give the kids free access or downloads. You might want to check on that.

[batman1425]

I wouldn't get an Air. It's due for a big update, it isn't appreciably different than the last overhaul 3 or so years ago.

The Pro is a lot of machine but a lot of money too. If you want more than 2 peripheral ports (which are also the charging ports), you have to bump up to the middle level model with the touch bar. I bit the bullet 9mo ago and bought a MBP with the touch bar to replace my mid 2009 MBP. The touch bar is gimmicky and I don't use it a ton, but I needed the extra ports and wanted the faster processor to future proof it a bit. The MBPs are coming with the better, later generation processors compared to the other laptops so should be a bit more future proof than other cheaper options. If she is good about looking after her stuff - I would get her the best computer you can afford. I got 7 years out of my first MacBook, 8 years out of the MBP that replaced it and now have the new MBP. She might have this for a while, so make it as future proof as possible.

A few things to note:
You can run windows on a mac with out a whole lot of fuss. VMware Fusion is one platform, there is also Parallel desktop and Bootcamp. I like VMware Fusion for the ease of switching back and forth between the Mac and Windows OS and used it regularly on my work MBP for 3 years with out issue.

The new MBPs are essentially un fixable if they ever break it. Most of the major components, including the touch bar, keyboard and mouse are integrated into the logic board and not individually replaceable. If something goes pear shaped, it will cost A LOT to fix. I don't typically advocate for the Apple Care plans, but this is one particular machine where it has the potential to save you a LOT of money. I opted to get the plan and option I bought also came with a reduced cost accidental damage repair option. I get one screen replacement for a flat fee or something like that if I drop it, spill liquid on it, etc. CNet destroyed one of them just trying to get inside to poke around.

[veloduffer]

I would check with the college about any requirements. At my son’s college (Marist), the campus tech will not service any computers that are not bought through the school. I’m not sure of the rationale but on-campus repair is a key issue.

He had a Macbook Air from high school but the nearest Apple Store was some 12 miles away; so repairs wouldn’t be convenient (and usually happens when you need your laptop the most!).

So we bought a new Lenovo (his choice for music and other programs) through the school.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[oldpotatoe]

My daughter is headed off to college in a couple of weeks. She has some money from a local scholarship that she is going to use on a laptop. Definitely going to be a Mac (her choice). The thread I found was 2011. I know next to nothing about these things, so I am appealing to the collective wisdom. Which model? Which size?

Congratulations to you both..might look there..less $ with a warranty

https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro

[verticaldoug]

Check with the college for any college specific discounts, ask Apple for the general student discount. No need to overthink this.

My daughter was double CS/Business. She had a macbook in high school she brought to college. For any of her business classes which require excel libraries in windows, she just installed bootcamp. It was fine until her junior year, when her mac was too old for the latest OS upgrade , could not install the latest bootcamp and then was incapable with some of her stats libraries for class. She ended up buying a Surface or something just to use for 2 classes and exams. Its the way tech rolls.

If there is an apple store near her university campus, buy the computer there. Apple is aggressive with acquiring college students because they see this as a customer for life and can surprise you with the level of support they will give. At least that was my daughter's experience, but YMMV

She now works for a tech startup and between personal tech products, and work provided tech, she has way too many Apple products in her house. So, Apple's strategy appears to be working.

[thegunner]

FWIW the latest touchbar macbooks have annoyingly soft keyboards (and the touchpads are finnicky at best). the 2018 models seem to have throttled the CPU in order to avoid overheating :confused: i'd get a macbook air unless i had to write code or render graphics.

[djg]

I would check with the college about any requirements. At my son’s college (Marist), the campus tech will not service any computers that are not bought through the school. I’m not sure of the rationale but on-campus repair is a key issue.

He had a Macbook Air from high school but the nearest Apple Store was some 12 miles away; so repairs wouldn’t be convenient (and usually happens when you need your laptop the most!).

So we bought a new Lenovo (his choice for music and other programs) through the school.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'll just sing the song again: check with the college. Many offer similar deals (having shopped among packages), and similar guidelines, and most, I suspect, can accommodate all sorts of things. Still, they are not all the same, and having things be awkward or inconvenient, say, in the 9th week of fall semester, is not necessarily awesome for a college freshman.

My eldest is soon to enter her fourth year. At her college, students can get a free MS Office 2016 license -- and free is cheaper than the student discount. There's other software that students can get access to. YMMV.

At my kid's school, there's a particular arrangement with Dell for student-discounted laptops which, if bought through the college bookstore, can be serviced at the bookstore. They have some separate discount/arrangement for Macs as well, but I got the sense that the Dell arrangements were better. OTOH, there was no generic impediment to using a Mac. Otherwise, their requirements/suggestions were real, but fairly generic.

Here they are (at one school, which might not be attended by the OP's kid), in case they are of interest:

Bring your own Computer
Do you already have a computer that you plan to bring to campus? Information Technology recommends that all computers have at minimum:

Intel i5 processor or higher
256GB hard drive or higher
8GB of RAM or higher

Academic programs may have different computer requirements


[So ... something, but nothing special, and check with your anticipated program]

[jtakeda]

Her current plan is to major in physiology (pre-med) minors in Spanish and business. She has checked with her department and there are no requirements.

Congrats. If she sticks to her major and actually goes into med school she will need to upgrade her computer by the time she finishes her years in undergrad.


I wouldn’t go all out thinking if you get the very best now you won’t have to buy again in 4 years.

Any computer with a decent screen size and processing capability (pretty much anything these days) will do.

If I were you I’d look for a Mac package that included MS office and the latest version of creative suite. Everything else is probably cloud accessible at this point.

[VTCaraco]

We went with the highest available when my son was going into his sophomore year of HS. He's entering his sophomore year of college at this point and our collective sense is that THIS year will be the year to upgrade.
In other words, I think you can think of a 4 to 5-year commitment if you get the newest. That's likely a good investment, but that's been our experience.
Our plan will be to jump into whatever is the most current option either for Christmas or his June birthday next year ~ pending other needs and how it holds up this fall.

Some side-notes...he is VERY good about maintaining and caring for his machine (meticulous about keeping it physically clean and managing his memory/hd) and he's an Econ/PolySci major at this point, so a heavy user, but not coding or working with graphics.

[Gsinill]

If "new", get whatever model you/she decides refurbished from Apple.
Unless of course the student discount is bigger than the difference of a refurbished one compared to new.

I bought all my Macs refurbished and none of them was distinguishable from new.
Same warranty too.

[sitzmark]

No help on student use. My I7 MB Airs (11") from 2012 are still alive and kicking. Bumped one to 1TB of SSD and still has enough umpf to run the business apps I need - mostly Office suite, presentation, productivity, project-planning. Size slips in a folio behind note pad, so couldn't ask for anything more portable. Apps allow multi-monitors on the road using iPads/iPhone as second display using USB and 3 display devices when throwing the Thunderbolt port into the mix. (Now TB3 and USB-C).

I'd personally go MBPro in the current MAC laptops for the most expandability and protection from obsolescence. **Apple has announced it will stop using Intel chips in future Apple products beginning 2020. So far I haven't read anything about the implications for running Windows on future Mac O/S products, but that may further widen the divide between MAC and Windows machines for industry/study specific requirements. Something to consider if using Boot Camp as a cross platform bridge going forward.

Crongrats to you both! And good luck.

[tylercheung]

I would look at the new MacBook Pro 13's - the keyboards seem more durable. Get one with 8-16 gb RAM and 512 gb HD. The regular Macbook may do if she doesn't have to do a lot of photo/video/AV work.

If you can get a good refurb deal or student discount, that may also be worthwhile.

The old Macbook Airs are also rock solid.

That thing should last 10 years or so. Granted, laptops get bumped around so Applecare is a good bet.

Mac vs. Windows is a moot point these days - she will probably get an Office 365 subscription which comes w/ Windows for free. You do not need Boot Camp these days as modern processors and OS support virtualization, she can run Windows alongside the Mac OS concurrently (Oracle Virtualbox for free, VMWare Fusion which has more features but $$).

[tylercheung]

No help on student use. My I7 MB Airs (11") from 2012 are still alive and kicking. Bumped one to 1TB of SSD and still has enough umpf to run the business apps I need - mostly Office suite, presentation, productivity, project-planning. Size slips in a folio behind note pad, so couldn't ask for anything more portable. Apps allow multi-monitors on the road using iPads/iPhone as second display using USB and 3 display devices when throwing the Thunderbolt port into the mix. (Now TB3 and USB-C).

I'd personally go MBPro in the current MAC laptops for the most expandability and protection from obsolescence. **Apple has announced it will stop using Intel chips in future Apple products beginning 2020. So far I haven't read anything about the implications for running Windows on future Mac O/S products, but that may further widen the divide between MAC and Windows machines for industry/study specific requirements. Something to consider if using Boot Camp as a cross platform bridge going forward.

Crongrats to you both! And good luck.


The "end of intel" is a Bloomberg report that is unconfirmed. That being said, Apple's in-house ARM chips are getting so good I wouldn't be surprised...

[deechee]

The MacbookPro is a lot of power for school if you ask me. As others have said, when they break, they're impossible to fix yourself. Personally I would get a high end chromebook as they're lighter, and probably more secure since I'm pretty sure all of the assignments are submitted online now anyway. Not to mention, you can probably buy 2-3 chromebooks for the price of one MBP.

I'm currently using a 2017 15" i7 which is a work laptop. It's a brick. Carrying it everyday is a pain in my butt, especially if I'm biking. All the ports are USB-C, so I have two giant adapters hanging off of it to plug in the monitors, keyboard and to charge my phone. The battery life stinks compared to the 2015, which I had at my previous work. The 2015 was a better model in my opinion since it had a variety of usb and display ports. You don't need to carry around adapters. Also, from what I have seen there are very few options for external power adapters. If you break/lose it, another chunk of change gone.

There was a lot of talk about the lousy keyboards on the 2017 design, but I know a lot of coworkers whose 2015 keyboards are starting to fail as well - and we all have external keyboards in the office. For a daily device for school, this doesn't bode well. (Lots of commuting, food, and other shenanigans...)

My wife has a HP Spectre for her work and if you ask me, its a pretty nice machine as well. Its a lot more portable than the MBP, even the 13". Yes, Macs are nice, but its because most people compare them to cheaper PCs. The Ubuntu Dells that some of the guys have in the office here are insanely spec'd. My personal i5 thinkpad from 8? years ago still works fine. There's no need for the latest and greatest; especially if all you're doing is writing papers and being connected online.

[tylercheung]

FWIW the latest touchbar macbooks have annoyingly soft keyboards (and the touchpads are finnicky at best). the 2018 models seem to have throttled the CPU in order to avoid overheating :confused: i'd get a macbook air unless i had to write code or render graphics.

Fixed, in a firmware update.

All modern CPU's throttle to save battery life/heat. I suspect this was an Intel bug...Intel is notorious for buggy firmware code in their processors which have to be "fixed" in software....

[tylercheung]

Fixability is an issue with any modern laptop, sadly. If talking about the dinosaur-like mini-tower under the desk, then yeah, fixability becomes a debatable point. At least with Apple, you can walk into the local Apple Store and the Geniuses are generally good at dealing w/ hardware issues.

Chromebook hardware, while google is trying, they don't have the expertise of Apple, or even any of the other manufacturers, and weird bugs pop up now and then.

I do not trust my office Dell or HP laptops to last more than 2 years without the plastic on the case giving out, or the key caps of the keyboard falling off. They are really meant to be sent back to Dell/HP once they die, on the office IT contract, and a new machine sent back.


The MacbookPro is a lot of power for school if you ask me. As others have said, when they break, they're impossible to fix yourself. Personally I would get a high end chromebook as they're lighter, and probably more secure since I'm pretty sure all of the assignments are submitted online now anyway. Not to mention, you can probably buy 2-3 chromebooks for the price of one MBP.

I'm currently using a 2017 15" i7 which is a work laptop. It's a brick. Carrying it everyday is a pain in my butt, especially if I'm biking. All the ports are USB-C, so I have two giant adapters hanging off of it to plug in the monitors, keyboard and to charge my phone. The battery life stinks compared to the 2015, which I had at my previous work. The 2015 was a better model in my opinion since it had a variety of usb and display ports. You don't need to carry around adapters. Also, from what I have seen there are very few options for external power adapters. If you break/lose it, another chunk of change gone.

There was a lot of talk about the lousy keyboards on the 2017 design, but I know a lot of coworkers whose 2015 keyboards are starting to fail as well - and we all have external keyboards in the office. For a daily device for school, this doesn't bode well. (Lots of commuting, food, and other shenanigans...)

My wife has a HP Spectre for her work and if you ask me, its a pretty nice machine as well. Its a lot more portable than the MBP, even the 13". Yes, Macs are nice, but its because most people compare them to cheaper PCs. The Ubuntu Dells that some of the guys have in the office here are insanely spec'd. My personal i5 thinkpad from 8? years ago still works fine. There's no need for the latest and greatest; especially if all you're doing is writing papers and being connected online.

[thegunner]

Fixed, in a firmware update.

All modern CPU's throttle to save battery life/heat. I suspect this was an Intel bug...Intel is notorious for buggy firmware code in their processors which have to be "fixed" in software....

it wasn't an intel bug, i did see the update - it was an apple change, although clock speeds are still not *quite* what they should be.

doesn't fix the fact that the keyboard feels like rubbish either /end rant as someone who's forced to use one of new MBPs

[smontanaro]

doesn't fix the fact that the keyboard feels like rubbish either /end rant as someone who's forced to use one of new MBPs

I rather liked the feel of the "butterfly" keyboard on my wife's MBP, though I suspect it's not for everyone. Haven't tried the new iteration though. It's definitely something you should try before you buy though.

[thegunner]

I rather liked the feel of the "butterfly" keyboard on my wife's MBP, though I suspect it's not for everyone. Haven't tried the new iteration though. It's definitely something you should try before you buy though.

fair, i'm probably a bit harsh. i type a fair bit at work, and the fact that i can't reliably know if i've actually hit a key without hammering down is annoying to me. the short travel distance makes it a bit worse for me.

[scho74]

13 inch Macbook Pro without the touch bar, 16GB RAM, 256 SSD, call it a day. $200 off at B&H

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1343081-REG/apple_z0uk_mpxt21_bh_macbook_pro_i5_2_3ghz.html

[PSJoyce]

I just got one of these from B&H, and am very happy with it, the price and delivery.

13 inch Macbook Pro without the touch bar, 16GB RAM, 256 SSD, call it a day. $200 off at B&H

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1343081-REG/apple_z0uk_mpxt21_bh_macbook_pro_i5_2_3ghz.html

[Spaghetti Legs]

My wife’s 2011 MB Air 13” is still going strong. Our younger son dropped it and cracked the screen in 2013; sent it to iResq for repair and no problems.

I like the SSD on the Air and IMO contributes to the longevity and reliability. I don’t think a big HD is as important these days wth cloud based storage. My older son, who is also starting college this fall, had a School issued Chromebook through high school, which is cloud based storage. In our family we also use the Mac MS Office products that I got through a university discount for something like $50.

I’m going to let my son pick between MacBook and Air; I think the Pro is more than most college students need.

[djg]

I just got one of these from B&H, and am very happy with it, the price and delivery.

I've purchased gear from B&H and I've been happy with them too.

Of course, not every set of parents will prefer to shell out 1500 bucks for a freshman's laptop, even if many folks regard it as a good value. We didn't do it for the first kid, who seemed happy with a less expensive purchase, and has done pretty darn well through three years of college with that same laptop. And I don't intend to do it with kids 2 & 3, either (at least, not in today's dollars).

I intend no criticism of those who would spend more than I did -- or who do it ten times over. I've spent money on all kinds of things myself. Just sayin' . . . you know, different folks face different budget constraints, and those college costs do add up.

[deechee]

Fixability is an issue with any modern laptop, sadly. If talking about the dinosaur-like mini-tower under the desk, then yeah, fixability becomes a debatable point. At least with Apple, you can walk into the local Apple Store and the Geniuses are generally good at dealing w/ hardware issues.

Chromebook hardware, while google is trying, they don't have the expertise of Apple, or even any of the other manufacturers, and weird bugs pop up now and then.

I do not trust my office Dell or HP laptops to last more than 2 years without the plastic on the case giving out, or the key caps of the keyboard falling off. They are really meant to be sent back to Dell/HP once they die, on the office IT contract, and a new machine sent back.

I probably should've said upgrade-ability / simple fixes. Laptops are just as modular as those old desktops were, I've upgraded RAM, HDs, replaced CPU fans etc on plenty of laptops. The problem is Apple continues to make even the simple act of opening their laptops problematic with proprietary screws, or soldered RAM.

Apple MBP teardown (https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Touch+Bar+Teardown/73395)(1/10) vs a simple SSD/HD change on a similar spec Dell XP13 (https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Dell+XPS+13+9350+Solid+State+Drive+(SSD)+Replaceme nt/89135) or HP Spectre (http://www.tomsguide.com/faq/id-3367726/disassemble-spectre-x360.html)

[kppolich]

My daughter is headed off to college in a couple of weeks. She has some money from a local scholarship that she is going to use on a laptop. Definitely going to be a Mac (her choice). The thread I found was 2011. I know next to nothing about these things, so I am appealing to the collective wisdom. Which model? Which size?

Macbook Air, 13", 256GB HD, battery life of 10+ house and ultra portable. Wait til ebay has 10% off and grab a new one.

[pasadena]

you can get a great used one at macmall.com
That's probably the best deal. Perfect for a student.
They upgrade with SSD's or you can do it yourself with one of their kits.

[stien]

I say Mac, even if you can’t get campus It to service it. But I’d be shocked if that was the case. Get the air, which still has real USB ports. I have both the previous generation pro, 2013 air (fully specced at the time) and the newest air and I can’t really tell them apart except for the size when closed. You’ll want to skip the usb-c only ridiculousness and butterfly keyboard of the new pro. The future may be usb-c but now it means adapters for adapters. These macs stay viable for years beyond the Windows counterparts. My 2013 still works great.

Also I rechecked the majors list for tech nerd, so I skipped the “Ubuntu on anything” recommendation. I have a techhy job and I love my macs but also love being able to have a fleet of old repurposed windows zombie laptops to do my bidding.

[Tickdoc]

Late to the party, but just went thru this with our son. We stopped by the student store on enrollment day and bought him a 13" MacBook then. Skipped the pro-touch bar, upgraded the memory, they installed microsoft windows for free, and got a bundle deal that included protection, case, speaker, usb cable, charger, memory stick, and a speaker.

The student store was very helpful selecting which one would be best for him with his major and the bundle deal along with the student discount made it an easy choice.

His first mac and he's pumped.

Best of luck to you and your student!