MacBook Air or Pro for Uni?

[Durron]

Hi all,

I've recently realized that I need to purchase a new laptop for Uni, and since I have always wondered what it would be like to use a Mac, have decided to purchase either a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air. I am taking a part-time Business degree course, and currently the software aren't so intensive, and I don't foresee any of my future modules to require high-spec'ed laptops. Can anyone advise me on these:

1) Does the AppleCare have any expiry date? I purchased an AppleCare for a friend many years ago for the MacBook/MacBook Air/13" MacBook Pro, and I wonder if it is still valid. I still have the sealed package with me since it was never given to the person, and I tried calling Apple to check but they were not able to give me an answer. For reference, the barcode shows MFG: 2011-04-20, though I am not sure if I got it 6 years ago. This definitely has a big impact on my future purchase since if it is still valid, I will be less hesitant to purchase the pricier MacBook Pro over the Air.

2) Should I even consider the 13" MacBook Pro 2015? It is bulkier and heavier than the entry-level 13" MBP 2016, but it also has legacy ports. I am leaning towards the entry-level 13" MBP 2016 at the moment since I can just get an adapter and it might be slightly more future-proof spec-wise, and it has better display plus being lighter and smaller is very nice too. I'm not sure if the keyboard is better for the 2015 too after trying out the demo sets briefly.

3) Should I even consider the 12" MacBook?

4) Is it okay to purchase it at Nubox or EpiCentre and get the small bundled items or its best to purchase from the Online Apple Education store? Was told that Nubox offers the MacBook Air an additional 2 years warranty with just $59 additional, which would make my enquiry above (1) moot.

5) Is 128GB enough for a MacBook? Somehow I don't feel so..

These are the specs of the MacBooks I am looking at:

MBP 13" 2016 ($2118 Edu)
2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
8GB 1866MHz memory
256GB PCIe-based SSD
Intel Iris Graphics 540
Two Thunderbolt 3 ports

MBP 13" 2015 ($1708 Edu)
2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
8GB 1866MHz memory
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Two Thunderbolt 2 ports

MBA 13" ($1258 Edu)
1.6GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel HD Graphics 6000

 

[duhduhduh]

Why not the normal macbook range?

 

[renfred89]

Narrow down to how much you are willing to spend first.. you seem a little cost restricted.

Apple care by right got no expiry, but I'm not sure if Apple will cancel the old unused Apple care to avoid fraudulent use. There is a 50% chance it might not work on the model you bought too.

Posted with Samsung Galaxy S7 edge HardwareZone Forums app

 

[EJB]

Hi all,

I've recently realized that I need to purchase a new laptop for Uni, and since I have always wondered what it would be like to use a Mac, have decided to purchase either a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air. I am taking a part-time Business degree course, and currently the software aren't so intensive, and I don't foresee any of my future modules to require high-spec'ed laptops. Can anyone advise me on these:

1) Does the AppleCare have any expiry date? I purchased an AppleCare for a friend many years ago for the MacBook/MacBook Air/13" MacBook Pro, and I wonder if it is still valid. I still have the sealed package with me since it was never given to the person, and I tried calling Apple to check but they were not able to give me an answer. For reference, the barcode shows MFG: 2011-04-20, though I am not sure if I got it 6 years ago. This definitely has a big impact on my future purchase since if it is still valid, I will be less hesitant to purchase the pricier MacBook Pro over the Air.

2) Should I even consider the 13" MacBook Pro 2015? It is bulkier and heavier than the entry-level 13" MBP 2016, but it also has legacy ports. I am leaning towards the entry-level 13" MBP 2016 at the moment since I can just get an adapter and it might be slightly more future-proof spec-wise, and it has better display plus being lighter and smaller is very nice too. I'm not sure if the keyboard is better for the 2015 too after trying out the demo sets briefly.

3) Should I even consider the 12" MacBook?

4) Is it okay to purchase it at Nubox or EpiCentre and get the small bundled items or its best to purchase from the Online Apple Education store? Was told that Nubox offers the MacBook Air an additional 2 years warranty with just $59 additional, which would make my enquiry above (1) moot.

5) Is 128GB enough for a MacBook? Somehow I don't feel so..

These are the specs of the MacBooks I am looking at:

MBP 13" 2016 ($2118 Edu)
2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
8GB 1866MHz memory
256GB PCIe-based SSD
Intel Iris Graphics 540
Two Thunderbolt 3 ports

MBP 13" 2015 ($1708 Edu)
2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
8GB 1866MHz memory
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Two Thunderbolt 2 ports

MBA 13" ($1258 Edu)
1.6GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel HD Graphics 6000

1. There shouldn't but the ACPP back then is for that generation, I doubt you can register for the current. Note that 13", 15" and MBA are different products, so the ACPP if bought for MBA cannot be used on 13" or 15" etc, it's quite messy back then on the pricing + usability.

2. USB-C converters aplenty and have been using them on my 2016 MBP (TB). Don't really see an issue apart from the battery life isn't what I've been promised so far.

3. No.

4. Education store is definitely cheaper than outside, the money you saved jolly well can be used to purchase the free items given.335.

5. Give you 1TB also won't be enough la... do frequent housekeeping will help, I do suggest 256GB at least tho'.

 

[duhduhduh]

OH on the 128, i dont think its enough.

 

[li9ht5peed]

Almost every week, you will find someone letting go a BNIB or hardly used macbook air or pro. Why dont you go for these if you are on a budget?

SSD wise, I suggest at least 256GB. So you got enough space to bootcamp. Some useful software which works on both windows and osx, are actually fully featured only on windows. Eg matlab

 

[Durron]

Thanks for the replies guys.

My budget I guess is $2118, which is what the entry-level 13" MBP 2016 costs on the Education store. And now its only between that or the MBA with the upgraded 256GB SSD at $1607 ($1548+$59 Nubox's additional 2 year warranty). Am also not 100% comfortable to get a used MacBook.

I did try out the keyboards more at a retail shop yesterday and felt that the MBA's older keyboards feel much nicer, but the lesser display (non-Retina, lower resolution) still bugs me. Not sure if i should spend the additional $500, excluding $348 AppleCare if I really can't use my old one, to get the MBP over the MBA. I will also use some Windows programs, and read that Parallels is recommended more than Bootcamp, and am not sure that the MBA would be powerful enough to comfortably support that.

I called Apple again this morning and they said they will schedule someone from their AppleCare side to call me back on Monday. If its still usable then I would have no qualms about spending more for the MBP.. This is the AppleCare that I have on hand now:



Anyway, I need the laptop before next weekend, so I'll need to grab either by next midweek.

 

[li9ht5peed]

For university use, MBA is enough. If you need windows, bootcamp is the way to go. Run windows natively for maximum speed. Parallels comes close when run inside OSX, but I am not satisfied performance wise. By using bootcamp, you have the best of both worlds - either run parallels inside osx, or boot using bootcamp for maximum performance.

The thing about running parallels inside osx without bootcamp, is that if the virtual harddisk file gets corrupted, you lose the entire windows and all your work. It happened to me once many years ago. But with bootcamp, windows is installed natively and there is no such risk.

Applecare is up to you. Except for my MBA and iphones, my other apple products - MBPs, ipad and ATV4 never breakdown. My MBA used to have Xcode installed and I compiled and ran molecular dynamics simulations on it. I also used it to visualize the trajectory. The MBA was used to run flat out (100% cpu utilisation) for weeks and months with hardly any breaks. Maybe thats why the battery charging module failed years later.

For MBP, I would prefer 15", 8GB memory and around 512GB SSD. MBP was intended to be a desktop replacement. So I would either choose MBA for portability, or just flat out pay much much more to get the 15" MBA

 

[EJB]

Thanks for the replies guys.

My budget I guess is $2118, which is what the entry-level 13" MBP 2016 costs on the Education store. And now its only between that or the MBA with the upgraded 256GB SSD at $1607 ($1548+$59 Nubox's additional 2 year warranty). Am also not 100% comfortable to get a used MacBook.

I did try out the keyboards more at a retail shop yesterday and felt that the MBA's older keyboards feel much nicer, but the lesser display (non-Retina, lower resolution) still bugs me. Not sure if i should spend the additional $500, excluding $348 AppleCare if I really can't use my old one, to get the MBP over the MBA. I will also use some Windows programs, and read that Parallels is recommended more than Bootcamp, and am not sure that the MBA would be powerful enough to comfortably support that.

I called Apple again this morning and they said they will schedule someone from their AppleCare side to call me back on Monday. If its still usable then I would have no qualms about spending more for the MBP.. This is the AppleCare that I have on hand now:



Anyway, I need the laptop before next weekend, so I'll need to grab either by next midweek.

Parallels shouldn't have issue running off MBA, only issue is the applications that you intend to run off Windows in OS X is alright?

Bear in mind OSX is using resources, Parallels are using resources available after OSX has grabbed them. Windows are using a subset of the resources available within Parallels (defined by your settings).

Eg: 4gb ram, 2 cpu.

Would that sufficie? If not then you might want to go MBP instead.

I'm running VMWare on my 2010 MBP with SSD + 8GB RAM, it's alright IYAM. Running virtualization ideally would be having more resources at the base OS is best.

 

[chenaz]

Get MacBook . MBA really cannot . I use MBA for 2 months and sold it. The resolution really pain my eyes in the ass .

 

[Durron]

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies and offers, really appreciate it.

Just managed to speak to someone from Apple this afternoon who confirmed that my AppleCare is still valid. I will go ahead and make the purchase for the 13" MBP without the TouchBar on the Education store.

 

[Calvin83]

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies and offers, really appreciate it.

Just managed to speak to someone from Apple this afternoon who confirmed that my AppleCare is still valid. I will go ahead and make the purchase for the 13" MBP without the TouchBar on the Education store.

Good choice.

The MBA is a dinosaur, outdated in many ways. Apple is not ousting it just so they still have a laptop at that price range. But honestly, it is not a lousy laptop and should suffice for your needs. Just that it's not "cool" anymore.

 

[trento]

All macs can perform even intensive tasks cos it's well optimised. Down to yr budget eod

 

[trento]

Get MacBook . MBA really cannot . I use MBA for 2 months and sold it. The resolution really pain my eyes in the ass .

Tats for u. Performance of mba still as good

 

[Kikstyo]

Tats for u. Performance of mba still as good

Performance is decent but the resolution too low.

 

[MrMundy]

macbook for uni enough le.. somemore TS will probably be using excel, pdf, word ,ppt for his work assignments
light and easy to carry

 

[boiboi86]

Need help from the gurus here for recommendation.
This macbook pro is for polytechnic course, video editing is required..
Cant decide between the below options.
Are the 13 inch MacBook pro specs powerful enough? i5 vs i7?

If the i5 is powerful enough, between options 1 and 2, I was thinking that RAM is more important as I can always buy external storage. Correct?

Option 3 seems like a better choice if i7 is recommended and option 4 is overkill.

1) 13-inch MacBook Pro w Touch Bar and Touch ID
2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
8GB 2133MHz memory
512GB PCIe-based SSD
Intel Iris Graphics 550

2) 13-inch MacBook Pro w Touch Bar and Touch ID
2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
16GB 2133MHz memory
256GB PCIe-based SSD
Intel Iris Graphics 550

3) 13-inch MacBook Pro w Touch Bar and Touch ID
3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor
Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
16GB 2133MHz memory
512GB PCIe-based SSD
Intel Iris Graphics 550

4) 15-inch MacBook Pro w Touch Bar and Touch ID
2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
16GB 2133MHz memory
256GB PCIe-based SSD1
Radeon Pro 450 with 2GB memory

 

[PetPet]

If you're willing to hog around an external drive, or invest in iCloud storage options. Then go ahead with the 16 gig ram and 256 gig option.

If you're going to bootcamp.

Go 16 gig and 512.

 

[parchiao]

Anything video, get quad core, lots of ram, graphics card and higher capacity hard drive, less regrets.

 

[ashhong]

I would rather you get the option 3 but with the default i5. Why? because a dedicated graphic will have more significant impact. nevertheless, it is still a capable machine for fcpx.

if you are doing video often enough, 256gb is really tight and you need to make transfer to external storage frequently.

like PetPet said, if you are going to bootcamp, 256gb is super difficult to work with because you ended up with not much storage available on both macOS and Windows.