Best student Macbook?

[YorkshireT]

Some sensible observations above.
I’d have been less enthusiastic recommending MacBooks though before the just released M1s.
They managed to get the same or more processing power out of vastly reduced wattage. In real life this means your £999 MacBook Air can crunch highly intensive tasks now (and is more future proofed) without even a fan inside as it doesn’t get hot.
So to give you an example. I’ve got a HP top end 2020 laptop here as well as a AMD Ryzen 2019. Both as expensive as a MacBook.
If I try to edit 4k60fps 10 bit pro res on either, they are stuttering about big time, in fact it’s almost impossible to do. Fans are whirring like crazy as the processors are getting too hot.
I can now edit the same footage on my new MacBook M1, as if it’s nothing. The fan doesn’t even switch on (and the Air if you get one does not even have a fan). As I say it’ll edit 8k no issues- the others can’t even play 8k.
These new MacBooks are astonishing.
Now your daughter may not be editing 4K 10 bit footage but will have that power under the hood.
But a cheaper Windows can also be a good choice for reasons given above.

[storm]

DD Macbook has had a tough life.

Year at school/4 yrs at Uni/3 years as her "life" inc being used to teach her class/teams/zoom etc during lockdown.

8 years of daily use ,never let her down, worth every penny.Her friends have had to replace laptops several times.

[blades]

There is a company that does refurbished ones - google them, I bought a Mac mini from them fo a few hundred and then upgraded the HD to a SSD one - this is for pictures/home use. I've run Mac's for years and only ever had one go wrong and once again I swapped the HD out for a SSD one and my son has it now. My current work one is a 2017 MacBook Air and I run parallels with windows 10 on one screen as I use programming/drawing software which only works on windows. I've swapped the HD for a 480GB SSD so it has more capacity than a Tesla and the current 8gb of Ram does handle things ok. It can get a bit warm when I've got it in the dock and I'm running 2 x 32 inch screens, windows 10 for programming, Mac for my emails/general use but I must admit I am giving it a right good thrashing. Don't worry about the screen size as there is a simple lightening to HDMI connector so you can use any TV/Screen you want with it (I also use a startech hub that splits the screens into two and also has the inputs for my external keyboards/trackpads and the HK speakers).

To summarise I wouldn't worry about screen size as if you are working for it for any prolonged period of time you can connect an external one and don't worry too much about storage as even a dunder head like me can swap the HD's out (although I would really recommend a SSD one).

[YorkshireT]

Good advice Blades. Note however you cannot swap the SSD or memory out on the new M1s.
The SSD you can however buy a USB 3 or Thunderbolt if you run out of space. I do video editing so got the internal SSD of 512mb and bought a 512 Samsung one which connects to my Thunderbolt monitor hub. The Thunderbolt monitor is great as you just plug one lead in and it supplies the picture and power to the laptop, plus it automatically connects the Samsung external SSD all through the monitor hub without having to physically connect anything else. I’m then backing up to Time Machine on this external SSD which you can’t even see as it’s hidden in a flap on my monitor.
Then I’ve just got another 1gb external SSD to hold my large video files.
But OP won’t have to worry about this, just get the 8gb memory smallest 256m SSD M1 (make sure it’s that one) MacBook Air.
I bought 16gb of memory in mine but to be frank it’s hardly worth it as the memory is unified on chip, and it’s not like the old intel based macs or Windows PCs- all the benchmarks show the Air M1 is phenomenally powerful in its most basic format.
This is my new setup when I’m using the MacBook at my desk. The MacBook sits in a shelf under the desk, as I say just plug 1 lead in and away you go with the power, monitor and external SSD all connected. The screen is curved Ultrawide and the equivalent of two big monitors side by side.
Look at the new M1 Macs Blades, huge power.

[YorkshireT]

I forgot to mention battery. The new MacBooks have basically doubled battery life as well which could be important. Up to 20 hours but in real world a good day out of them. Windows laptops cannot do that unless it’s a hulking monster.

I will stop enthusing about MacBooks now.

[ely3857]

Originally Posted by macdonald

Can anyone offer advice on the most appropriate Macbook to buy for a 16 year old now starting her GCSES..

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I bet you wish you’d never asked 😆

[Lisa123wm]

My daughter has the latest MacBook Pro - she’s at Uni though and is an Apple snob. She finds it useful as she can take her iPad to uni for notes instead, which she can save to her MacBook.

My 15 year old uses his gaming PC for all school work - easily good enough for GCSEs tbh.

[tspill]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

I simply don’t agree get one with Windows on, something you see regularly on here.
Macs are vastly superior to Windows laptops in my experience, my daughter and most of her friends have MacBooks for school. Go into any University and Macs are incredibly popular as well. MacBooks will last a lot longer than a Windows based laptop in my experience. I’ve just passed my 8 year old iMac to my son and it’s still doing the basics perfectly and looks like brand new.
The new M1 Macbooks are epic, the performance is amazing. Get her the base MacBook Air M1 chip £999 without discount. There’s not a Windows laptop in the price range that comes close as an all round package. I’ve just got the MacBook Pro M1 which isn’t actually much faster than the M1 Air and it will, for example, edit 8k video and export it as quickly as a £4000 Mac (not MacBook) Pro. The new M1 chip is amazing and Intel simply cannot compete.

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Totally agree. They last way longer - probably twice as long. And have better resale value. And I think it is a bit of a fallacy to say they are much cheaper. If you spec up a Windows laptop, you come pretty close to the price of a Mac. Over time, Macs will likely work out cheaper.

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by tspill

Totally agree. They last way longer - probably twice as long. And have better resale value. And I think it is a bit of a fallacy to say they are much cheaper. If you spec up a Windows laptop, you come pretty close to the price of a Mac. Over time, Macs will likely work out cheaper.

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And you can't get a Window's laptop now that performs as well as the M1 Air for the money that I know of. They put it up against the new high end Dells, lower end of that XPS line costing £300 more, and there was no comparison.

[stupet11]

I switched to a Macbook air after years of pcs slowing down, constant virus issues, software downloads, and not just mine, friends of the family used to bring there's to me to get stuff of it, or coz stuff no longer worked / ran slowly...clicke don a button and was full of ads / virus warnings.

I have had this Macbook air since 2014, and works exactly the same as the day I bought it, and not had any of the above issues. My daughter bought one a year later and had the same experince.

My boys have gaming pcs, and have issues, but at least it's their thing, they often change parts / upgrade, and run scans etc, so their machines run at optimum level.

So depends what you want, prepared to do.

For GCSE's I would actually recommended a Chrome book - my son had one for uni - English lit, as he wanted to spend more on his gaming pc, but have a laptp to take to lectures etc. It did the job, and died shortly after he left.

For a Uni - I'd go for a Mac... knowing it is likely to be hassle free and last the full course.