choice of two setups for college

baby and crumble

Hey guys,

It looks like I'm going to be going back to college while working for a few years- I don't have a laptop or pc currently (tbh my phone does the job for 99% of what I do online these days), but will need to get one for writing essays, studying etc. The course is a distance course, so most of the time I'll be working from a home office, then a few weeks out of the year I'll be attending intensives in a different city so will need to have something to take notes and work on when I'm away. I used to have a Mac for my last college work and loved it, and I want something that will last the full 4-5 years that the course is going to take. A €300 windows laptop just won't cut it I reckon. I have an iphone so want everything all synced etc.

I will be buying a screen for the home office anyway for watching movies and playing xbox (the office will be a mix between office/ den/ spare room for guests) which makes me think that a mac mini with an ipad (possible the pro so I can use the ipad with pencil for taking notes when I'm at lectures- is it worth the extra cost?) might be a good idea. I don't like typing notes when i'm at lectures, but having reams of paper notes doesn't appeal to me. Would probably get a decent keyboard cover for it so I can use it to work on an essay in the library in a pinch.

The other option is just to get a macbook air or similar, no ipad. That has the advantage of being really portable with everything I need at my fingertips but it does mean paper notes etc when I'm away, no ipad to bring on conferences/ use for personal use.

I plan on using Pages etc in the cloud as my word processor.

Prices at the moment are roughly similar (my max budget is probably about €1300 all in)

Macbook Air (1.6GHz Processor; 128 GB Storage) : €1179

Macbook Mini: €569
Ipad Pro (9.7 inch 32g): €699.
Ipad Air 2: 32g- €449/ 128g- €559

Any opinions from folks who have similar setups? Thanks.

baby and crumble

I won't really need them until August/ September, so I'm in no rush. I guess I'm just trying to figure out what the best options might be. I know the mini is definitely due an upgrade, but I dunno- any chance it might get dropped out of the lineup?

Sad Professor

Until Apple provide evidence to the contrary, best to assume the Mac Mini is discontinued. Unless you are interested in the current outdated and overpriced model, I wouldn't even think about it.

An iPad isn't suitable for college work IMO.

Apple's plans for the Air aren't clear. We can't assume the 12-inch will come down in price to replace it since Apple has been pushing prices up across their product lines.

You have time, so wait and see would be my advice.