Best student Macbook?

[blades]

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.

See more...

Exactly how I look at things a long time ago in a galaxy far away when I used to use windows machines I basically used to write them off after two years and buy a new one - twice/three times longer lasting is easily achievable

[Camsmummy]

Ds is in his 2nd year of A levels and hopefully going to university next year.His HP laptop died a few months ago so we got a MacBook Air when the student offer was on with free AirPods.He loves it and he also has iPhone and iPad so they all sync together well.

[theCMG]

Education sector is in the main moving to Chromebooks from what I've seen, trend led from the US

[kathrynmc]

Originally Posted by Camsmummy

Ds is in his 2nd year of A levels and hopefully going to university next year.His HP laptop died a few months ago so we got a MacBook Air when the student offer was on with free AirPods.He loves it and he also has iPhone and iPad so they all sync together well.

See more...

We got the same offer as you, expect DD chose an iMac. She loves it and uses it to watch Netflix, Amazon prime

[tspill]

Originally Posted by blades

Exactly how I look at things a long time ago in a galaxy far away when I used to use windows machines I basically used to write them off after two years and buy a new one - twice/three times longer lasting is easily achievable

See more...

There is one big problem with Macs. Because they last so long, it is really hard to justify buying a new one.
Mine is nine years old (I think - would need to check) and I would love to buy a new one. I have looked many times in the last year.
Problem is, my existing one works perfectly for everything I do. Never needs rebuilt. Just works flawlessly.

[Guest]

lets be honest, for most school / uni ( all except video editing ) work a 1/2 decent win laptop will be fine, which will cost you £500 - £600

i do swear by a chromebook for research and simple doc making, you cannot beat a chromebook

[macdonald]

This thread has given me a lot of insight ..i have found it really helpful, thank you so much everyone

[Sew109]

Originally Posted by kathrynmc

We got the same offer as you, expect DD chose an iMac. She loves it and uses it to watch Netflix, Amazon prime

See more...

Al, thinks that can be done just as well on something far cheaper.

My main HP laptop is 6 years old and cost £279 I have added £30 on additional ram and £70 on a ssd and it flys.

as I said I have a Mac book air as well there is nothing I can do better on the Mac than the PC and I challenge any Mac owner to provide something to the contrary and justify it being with £700

[Sew109]

Originally Posted by 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.

See more...

YT what size monitor is that I am looking at an ultra wide but 43” ones I think are silly expensive wmd I am concerned the smaller ones not big enough. Ta

[BevS97]

I must be the most unlucky Mac owner. I got a MacBook for my 40th, within 3 years they had made it obsolete and it couldn’t be upgraded. I continued using it until it was about 7 years old but it would be a lie to say it was just as fast and easy to use as when i bought it. It got slower and less responsive just like a windows pc.

I have a Mac mini I use for work. It gets very very little use as it’s just for setting up iPads. I don’t use it for my day to day work. That also got slower and slower over the years and this summer it just stopped working completely and had to be replaced. It was 6 years old. Had a very easy life.


I like using them but I haven’t found them the dream machine.

DD has a HP laptop she uses for photoshop and CAD. It was about £700 and runs like a dream.

There are plus & minus to both but my Mac experience isn’t all singing and dancing.