A good laptop has become a necessity for students if they are studying online or going to school. When it comes to buying a laptop, the parents and the students are considering investing in a MacBook. However, you need to keep a note of a few things before you purchase a new MacBook.
Choosing a laptop is primarily based on your choice, preferences, and budget. First of all, you need to select your kind of laptop among MacBook Air or MacBook Pro – Apple’s two lineups.
The MacBook is known for its exceptional longevity and efficiency. There are always some back-to-back school offers meant for students, particularly in the festival or holiday season. If there are budget constraints, you can opt for Apple’s refurbished MacBook that you can buy at a comparatively lower price.
MacBook Air or MacBook Pro? Students often find it difficult to make a decision on which model to buy. For a quick comparison, students generally prefer buying a MacBook Air due to its long battery backup and lighter configuration that covers almost all the basic requirements of the students.
Screen size
Apple’s popular lineup, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, offer different and unique features that make the work easier for students. When it comes to screen size, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro both come in 13-inch screen dimensions. In case you want a 16-inch screen, you may opt for a MacBook Pro model.
Along with the screen size, you need to check for the laptop’s overall weight as a lighter laptop is more portable, and you can easily carry it with you. The bigger the screen, the more the weight will be. The weight of the laptop affects its portability aspect to a greater extent. MacBook Air weighs around 2.8 pounds, whereas MacBook Pro (16 inches) is 4.3 pounds. In addition to this, the configuration of these two laptops has a huge performance difference.
Processor
MacBook Air comes with the latest M1 processor that is developed by Apple, whereas MacBook Pro comes with either an M1 chip or Intel i5/i6/i7 processor. Apple’s laptops do not give space to change, upgrade, or swap parts in any MacBook models. Therefore, you need to make sure that you choose the right processor for an excellent speed as it will influence the system’s performance in the long run.
If your daily work includes preparing not-so-hard assignments, taking notes, or making reports, you can opt to buy any of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Moreover, if you need to create digital work such as graphic designs or other similar tasks, you would require the latest and a faster processor.
RAM
RAM plays a vital role in making your work easier as a student, so you have to choose the right specifications for your system. Moreover, always keep in mind that you cannot upgrade RAM in most of Apple’s latest laptop lineup. If you want to access your data quickly without lags, you need to have a bigger RAM.
For running multiple applications simultaneously, you should go for at least 8GB RAM. Apart from studies, you must be using your MacBook for playing games. Therefore, it is important to have a higher RAM so that you can use your MacBook to play high-end online games.
Storage
When it comes to storage, we all prefer to buy as big as we can. However, you must consider buying 512 GB of RAM as 256 GB of the hard drive will not be enough for most of the students. Moreover, you might require to download some of the best apps on your laptop, for which you will need to optimize your system often by uninstalling other apps or removing resource-consuming programs to make more space.
If required, you can move your important data to a Cloud storage drive for all time and anywhere accessibility. When you buy a MacBook, make sure to invest in buying a device that offers optimal storage for balanced performance. As far as the storage is concerned, Apple’s laptops integrate solid-state drives that are powerful in terms of performance, so as a student, you will hardly find any issues working on your system. Moreover, you can also connect an external hard drive for moving or storing data.
AppleCare +
Being a student means you will be spending more time with your laptop, so purchasing AppleCare+ is important to provide additional protection to your MacBook. As we all know, MacBooks are not cheaper to buy, and it will be expensive-to-replace hardware without a warranty. AppleCare+ gives you an extended warranty for 3 years on hardware replacement from the time of purchase.
You can either buy it at the time of purchase or within the first year. When buying a MacBook for students, keep in mind that Apple provides discounts to qualifying students all year round so that they can purchase a laptop at the best price.
