MacBook - air vs pro

My daughter has hinted that she wants a MacBook for her birthday and I would like some advice on what I should buy.

She will be starting college next month so will use it for her coursework. She mainly uses her existing laptop for downloading/streaming movies and music.

Will the cheaper air version be suitable for her needs or will pro be better long-term?

endacl

She won't use it for college work. She'll use it for Facebook!

hoodwinked

what course will she be doing?

if she's is doing a design/computing/course where she is running specific programs then the macbook pro will be best,

if it is typing essays/using college email/administrative services, then the air will be just fine.

She has me blocked on FB, enda, so I can't answer that!

Hopefully, all going well with results next week, she will be starting a 3/4 year psychology course. I guess it will be more administrative than anything else.

I'll probaby install an ODT if there isn't a software programme already installed.

5uspect

The Air has exceptional battery life ~11 hours. It's also super thin and light making it very portable.
The 13" Pro has more CPU grunt (dual core) and a snazzy retina screen. ~9 hour battery life. It's also pretty thin and light.
The 15" Pro has a lot more CPU grunt (Quad core) the retina screen 8 hour battery life. It's a lot bigger.

The older non-retina 13" pro is also still available. It's much easier to upgrade than the others. You can swap out the RAM, hard drive etc. The newer models have moved to soldered in parts in the pursuit of thinness.

If she's doing work that requires a bigger or better screen like Photography or design, and cpu intensive stuff like scientific and numerical coding then consider the Pro. If she just wants to write a few reports then the Air is fine.

All new Macs come with Apple's equivalent of Office too.
Also you can get Educational Discounts on the Apple Store.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't know about the educational discount direct from Apple. €200 is a decent saving.

sebphoto

Milkshake I'm wondering why Macbook?

Because she's a proper little madam and that's what she's asked for!

Silverman11

5uspect wrote: »

The Air has exceptional battery life ~11 hours. It's also super thin and light making it very portable.
The 13" Pro has more CPU grunt (dual core) and a snazzy retina screen. ~9 hour battery life. It's also pretty thin and light.
The 15" Pro has a lot more CPU grunt (Quad core) the retina screen 8 hour battery life. It's a lot bigger.

The older non-retina 13" pro is also still available. It's much easier to upgrade than the others. You can swap out the RAM, hard drive etc. The newer models have moved to soldered in parts in the pursuit of thinness.

If she's doing work that requires a bigger or better screen like Photography or design, and cpu intensive stuff like scientific and numerical coding then consider the Pro. If she just wants to write a few reports then the Air is fine.

All new Macs come with Apple's equivalent of Office too.
Also you can get Educational Discounts on the Apple Store.

Is the Apple equivalent of Office any good?

5uspect

Yeah, but a bit lighter in comparison. MS Office tries to be everything to everyone and suffers for it. It's too clunky for basic use and too much of a mess for serious use. I detest the ribbon interface paradigm so that doesn't help.

The apps 'formally known as iWork' are aimed pretty clearly at pretty straightforward tasks. The interface in the current versions have been stripped right back and many power users aren't happy.

I do most of my writing in LaTeX, most of my number crunching in Matlab and Python. Keynote blows PowerPoint out of the water, given the choice I'd use it a lot more.

Silverman11

5uspect wrote: »

Yeah, but a bit lighter in comparison. MS Office tries to be everything to everyone and suffers for it. It's too clunky for basic use and too much of a mess for serious use. I detest the ribbon interface paradigm so that doesn't help.

The apps 'formally known as iWork' are aimed pretty clearly at pretty straightforward tasks. The interface in the current versions have been stripped right back and many power users aren't happy.

I do most of my writing in LaTeX, most of my number crunching in Matlab and Python. Keynote blows PowerPoint out of the water, given the choice I'd use it a lot more.

Thanks for the reply.

Is the Apple version free?

I am trying to decide whether to go for an apple macbook air/pro or a cheaper laptop.

If iwork is free then it means €130 that would have been spent putting MS Office on a non Apple laptop could be put towards the more expensive Apple Macbook.

5uspect

iWork is free with all new Macs. It's tied to your Apple ID so you can install it on any OS X or iOS devices you own. You also get a lot more than iWork. Since Mavericks, new versions of OS X are free too. OS X is a very good operating system, it has system wide behaviours like a spell checking, text editing, dictionary, indexed search that make life much easier. Like Linux it supports multiple desktops and window management but with great gesture support. Their trackpads are truly exceptional. The Preview app lets you view, create and edit PDFs natively. It supports nearly all camera RAW formats, Nikon charge for the Windows version. The file system is journaled; you can just roll back through version of files. You also get a POSIX system with a proper Unix terminal emulator.

I've LaTeXit app, which part of the MacTeX distro convert people to OS X.

Apple computers are expensive, but they hold their value. I recently sold my 2010 13" MBP which I paid about €1k for at the time for €600, which is going towards a 2014 model. A cheap plastic notebook won't be worth more than €50 after a few years.

Silverman11

5uspect wrote: »

iWork is free with all new Macs. It's tied to your Apple ID so you can install it on any OS X or iOS devices you own. You also get a lot more than iWork. Since Mavericks, new versions of OS X are free too. OS X is a very good operating system, it has system wide behaviours like a spell checking, text editing, dictionary, indexed search that make life much easier. Like Linux it supports multiple desktops and window management but with great gesture support. Their trackpads are truly exceptional. The Preview app lets you view, create and edit PDFs natively. It supports nearly all camera RAW formats, Nikon charge for the Windows version. The file system is journaled; you can just roll back through version of files. You also get a POSIX system with a proper Unix terminal emulator.

Apple computers are expensive, but they hold their value. I recently sold my 2010 13" MBP which I paid about €1k for at the time for €600, which is going towards a 2014 model. A cheap plastic notebook won't be worth more than €50 after a few years.

Thanks for the detailed descriptions. Lots of people I have asked don't know much about these things.

I am doing a Web Development and Creative media course next year so I wonder if the Apple mac are better than normal laptops for programming, photoshop and the likes.

5uspect

It all depends. Xcode, also free, is Apple's development suite, which comes with command line tools. So you can develop to your hearts content in Vim, compile in the command line or work entirely in the snazzy IDE. Both have strengths but it depends on your needs. Certainly the scientific community is more Unix based so you'll find people writing in Fortran like its 1977. The Xcode side of things speaks for itself.

Creative media is an area where OS X has a major historical advantage. Obviously Adobe software is available on Windows and Mac but OS X has built in utilities for colour management for example. They also have exceptional screens and battery life.

Personally I use Windows, OS X, Linux, Android and iOS on a daily basis. If you want a fast gaming powerhouse, use Windows. If you want a solid laptop get a Mac. If you want a heavy duty workstation, use Linux. If you want a solid cost effective mobile OS, use Android. I prefer iOS on tablets so...

Silverman11

5uspect wrote: »

It all depends. Xcode, also free, is Apple's development suite, which comes with command line tools. So you can develop to your hearts content in Vim, compile in the command line or work entirely in the snazzy IDE. Both have strengths but it depends on your needs. Certainly the scientific community is more Unix based so you'll find people writing in Fortran like its 1977. The Xcode side of things speaks for itself.

Creative media is an area where OS X has a major historical advantage. Obviously Adobe software is available on Windows and Mac but OS X has built in utilities for colour management for example. They also have exceptional screens and battery life.

Personally I use Windows, OS X, Linux, Android and iOS on a daily basis. If you want a fast gaming powerhouse, use Windows. If you want a solid laptop get a Mac. If you want a heavy duty workstation, use Linux. If you want a solid cost effective mobile OS, use Android. I prefer iOS on tablets so...

The main thing I would be using it for is my coursework, surfing the web, facebook and also watching movies/tv shows etc.

What's the main differences between the Air and Pro?
I have heard that the Pro would be better for my type of coursework but the Air is better for watching shows/movies.

5uspect

Silverman11 wrote: »

The main thing I would be using it for is my coursework, surfing the web, facebook and also watching movies/tv shows etc.

What's the main differences between the Air and Pro?
I have heard that the Pro would be better for my type of coursework but the Air is better for watching shows/movies.

The Air has an ulv processor and a non-retina display. I wouldn't consider it better for watching video. Its main advantage is form factor (it's impossibly thin) and battery life. It would suit someone who travels a lot and mostly does email and document preparation workloads.

The sweetspot is probably the 13" retina with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM. The screen is gorgeous. The CPU and igp are more powerful and can drive an external 4k display. So great for video. It also has enough power for the kind if apps you'll be using.

Unfortunately in the pursuit of thinness ALL of these machines have soldered in parts with the exception of the PCIe SSD. So there is no scope for upgrades beyond expanding storage. So plan ahead.

The older non-retina 13" pro is still available. It's not really on par with new new models in terms of specs but you can change the RAM, standard SATA SSD/HDD and it has an optical drive. Remember optical disks?

Silverman11

5uspect wrote: »

The Air has an ulv processor and a non-retina display. I wouldn't consider it better for watching video. Its main advantage is form factor (it's impossibly thin) and battery life. It would suit someone who travels a lot and mostly does email and document preparation workloads.

The sweetspot is probably the 13" retina with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM. The screen is gorgeous. The CPU and igp are more powerful and can drive an external 4k display. So great for video. It also has enough power for the kind if apps you'll be using.

Unfortunately in the pursuit of thinness ALL of these machines have soldered in parts with the exception of the PCIe SSD. So there is no scope for upgrades beyond expanding storage. So plan ahead.

The older non-retina 13" pro is still available. It's not really on par with new new models in terms of specs but you can change the RAM, standard SATA SSD/HDD and it has an optical drive. Remember optical disks?

Is the 13' retina with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM the Pro? That is roughly €1500 I think which is a lot of money but as you know is probably the best about.

I recently got a €500 gift voucher when someone heard I needed a laptop which means I can contemplate an Apple Macbook.
I honestly haven't a clue which to go for.
Do the Apple Macbooks last for long (as in years not battery life)?

5uspect

Yes, the 13" Macbook Pro with retina display. Its €1456 on the edu store. Certainly not cheap.

I had my 2010 MBP's battery replaced for free after almost three years as it was giving a service warning. It was still giving about five hours of life. I had AppleCare but EU law gives you good coverage too. As above I sold it on pretty easily.

There are ways to preserve your batteries life.
http://www.apple.com/batteries/
This applies to any similar device of course.

Best thing to do is get some hands on time with OS X and read reviews on places like Anandtech and watch a few videos.

Silverman11

5uspect wrote: »

Yes, the 13" Macbook Pro with retina display. Its €1456 on the edu store. Certainly not cheap.

I had my 2010 MBP's battery replaced for free after almost three years as it was giving a service warning. It was still giving about five hours of life. I had AppleCare but EU law gives you good coverage too. As above I sold it on pretty easily.

There are ways to preserve your batteries life.
http://www.apple.com/batteries/
This applies to any similar device of course.

Best thing to do is get some hands on time with OS X and read reviews on places like Anandtech and watch a few videos.

That's fine. Thanks for the advise.

Dingle20144

Hi guys,

Im going back to college to complete a HDip in software design and development. I have it in my head now to buy a Mac because the timing of college and everything is perfect. Ive gone through 2 laptops in my undergrad degree, and i just rather spend the money knowing that the macbook will last me years. In terms of the course which Mac would you go for guys?

Thanks amillion

5uspect

Dingle20144 wrote: »

Hi guys,

Im going back to college to complete a HDip in software design and development. I have it in my head now to buy a Mac because the timing of college and everything is perfect. Ive gone through 2 laptops in my undergrad degree, and i just rather spend the money knowing that the macbook will last me years. In terms of the course which Mac would you go for guys?

Thanks amillion

See above. If you're not doing anything computationally intensive get the Air.