$1200 budget, which MacBook should I buy for school?

[jagfanjosh]

I am going to school for Computer Science so will learning coding and such. Need something to last me 5 years at least.

Any suggestions?
Will the Air do just fine? Then spend the other $200 on upgrading to 16GB?

Buying this weekend. Live in the US

Thank you

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don’t see why the new M1 MBP couldn’t work for you.

Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro M1 Chip with Retina Display (Late 2020, Silver)

Buy Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro M1 Chip with Retina Display (Late 2020, Silver) featuring Apple M1 8-Core CPU, 8GB Unified RAM | 256GB SSD, 13.3" 2560 x 1600 IPS Retina Display, 8-Core GPU | 16-Core Neural Engine, P3 Color Gamut | True Tone Technology, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) | Bluetooth 5.0, Touch Bar |...

www.bhphotovideo.com

 

[jagfanjosh]

I don’t see why the new M1 MBP couldn’t work for you.

Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro M1 Chip with Retina Display (Late 2020, Silver)

Buy Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro M1 Chip with Retina Display (Late 2020, Silver) featuring Apple M1 8-Core CPU, 8GB Unified RAM | 256GB SSD, 13.3" 2560 x 1600 IPS Retina Display, 8-Core GPU | 16-Core Neural Engine, P3 Color Gamut | True Tone Technology, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) | Bluetooth 5.0, Touch Bar |...

www.bhphotovideo.com

The baseline $1200 one?

 

[Apple_Robert]

The baseline $1200 one?

Yes, that is what i linked.

 

[jagfanjosh]

Yes, that is what i linked.

Sorry. For some reasons I didn’t see the link

thank you.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Sorry. For some reasons I didn’t see the link

thank you.

Click that blue link below.

Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro M1 Chip with Retina Display (Late 2020, Silver)

Buy Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro M1 Chip with Retina Display (Late 2020, Silver) featuring Apple M1 8-Core CPU, 8GB Unified RAM | 256GB SSD, 13.3" 2560 x 1600 IPS Retina Display, 8-Core GPU | 16-Core Neural Engine, P3 Color Gamut | True Tone Technology, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) | Bluetooth 5.0, Touch Bar |...

www.bhphotovideo.com

 

[jagfanjosh]

Click that blue link below.

Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro M1 Chip with Retina Display (Late 2020, Silver)

Buy Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro M1 Chip with Retina Display (Late 2020, Silver) featuring Apple M1 8-Core CPU, 8GB Unified RAM | 256GB SSD, 13.3" 2560 x 1600 IPS Retina Display, 8-Core GPU | 16-Core Neural Engine, P3 Color Gamut | True Tone Technology, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) | Bluetooth 5.0, Touch Bar |...

www.bhphotovideo.com

Definitely worth getting the 8GB MBP over the 16GB MBA?

 

[richmlow]

I am going to school for Computer Science so will learning coding and such. Need something to last me 5 years at least.

Any suggestions?
Will the Air do just fine? Then spend the other $200 on upgrading to 16GB?

Buying this weekend. Live in the US

Thank you

It should be fine!


richmlow

 

[trevpimp]

Baseline M1 MBP is great

Coming from the current specs in comparison to M1 and beyond you have more than 5 years of performance that can keep up

The air is another great choice adding 16GB ram is more than capable machine

 

[Apple_Robert]

Definitely worth getting the 8GB MBP over the 16GB MBA?

I see no reason to overspend. The M1 can do a lot more than 8GB of RAM than the older models. Don’t get too caught up on numbers. Don’t forget, you have extended holiday return until 1/8/21. That should be plenty of time to put the machine to the test.

 

[delsoul]

Be sure to check with your school first about what programs you’ll be using. When I studied networking, we had to use Windows based because a few of the programs were not available on Mac.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Pay attention to what delsoul wrote in the post above this one.

The m1 MacBooks CAN'T RUN bootcamp and I'm not sure if they'll work with Windows emulation, etiher (perhaps others will correct me if I'm wrong).

If you're going to be needing Windows, you'd probably do better with an INTEL-based MacBook instead...

 

[EmmEff]

Be sure to check with your school first about what programs you’ll be using. When I studied networking, we had to use Windows based because a few of the programs were not available on Mac.

This is one of those instances where it still makes sense to buy an Intel-based Mac. That is if you need to run Windows (ie. through virtualization or BootCamp) and still want a Mac.