I would go with a 13” Air to carry around, she could always connect it to a display in her room if she has need of a bigger screen size.
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Best laptop for daughter @ college?
- Thread starter Tig Bitties
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Xeem
macrumors 6502a
If buying new, the MacBook Neo honestly will probably be good enough (depending on specific course needs), and if you can swing the extra money then the cheapest M5 MacBook Air will definitely be good enough. 13” is better than 15” in my opinion if she is attending classes in person and needs to carry it around.
By college do you mean University of whatever, or college, as in Arts and Science?
The major determines what you need. Engineering is Windows-centric, or possibly Linux. Art might well be prefer Macs, etc. Other majors may not care.
Basic75
macrumors 68030
Wow, all these recommendations and @Tig Bitties hasn't even told us what their daughter will be doing, whether she has the possibility to set up an external display on her desk, or what the budget is.
Astuces iOS
macrumors 68030
MacBook Air m5 is a good choice, there is also some refurbished MacBooks on the Apple Store like the m4 that can be a good deal.
Agree on the Neo and MBA.
On campus, portability is important. So, if she goes with the 13 inch, she can still bring a cheap 1080P 24 inch monitor for the dorm room when added screen real estate is necessary. You can find them on sale at BB for about $100.
conmee
macrumors 65816
This is daddy’s little girl we’re talking about, not your average looking for a deal/right tool for the job/working within a budget MR regular. The answer is clear: 16” M5 Max with 128GB memory and 8TB SSD! 😉
the air is basically the right answer for 90% of college students unless her major involves heavy compute — the 15" is nice for occasional dorm-desk use but she'll notice the weight difference walking between classes with textbooks. one thing worth checking with her college's IT before buying: some engineering / architecture / CS programs will list specific software (SolidWorks, some CAD stuff, occasionally certain stats packages) that either doesn't run natively on Apple Silicon or needs Parallels + a Windows license to work. worth asking her department directly instead of relying on the general college recommendation, since those are written for the average major.
retta283
macrumors 68040
If I had the choice I'd buy the Air with the hopes it'll hold up a bit better over four years, especially given double base storage and better battery life. Neo is definitely fine for now, though, if you're on a budget. Take advantage of the education discount if her school qualifies, which hopefully it should. Like some others have said it will depend on what the demands of the courses are, but the Air is almost certainly going to satisfy in any case.
cSalmon
macrumors 6502
What university is recommending Apple??? Where career path today ends with the Student using Apple???
Right. Doubful any university is recommending Apple over Windows. Some majors might because some career paths lean towards Apple such as graphic design, film, music, journalism and business like marketing, communications and admin.
Also, might MacOS be better when a student’s work depends on UNIX‑based workflows and compatible tools?
Unami
macrumors 68000
I'd get a macbook Air, but depends on her type of studies. As long as she doesn't do excessive video editing (I've worked professionally with 4k Video on a M4 Air with 32GB of RAM and it's totally fine or music production with a lots of virtual instruments or 3D rendering), an air should be up to the task.
Unami
macrumors 68000
nah, Final Cut has not been the industry's standard since more than a decade. Film still uses AVID and the Rest uses mostly Adobe Premiere, sometimes DaVinci Resolve. Still, a lot of people use macs for creative workflows, because they get less in their way and run more stable, and other creatives also use them, so it's easier to work with them. Also, Apple also got a lot of built-in creative tools where you'd have to use a third party software on a PC (e.g. the Audio-Midi tool, where you can create a single virtual audio interface from multiple physical interfaces - very useful, or most sound hardware you'd need a dedicated driver on PC work just out of the box and continue working long after there's no more driver for the latest version of Windows). Monitors are also typically more color accurate without having to calibrate them.
MacBH928
macrumors G3
my condolences...
what your daughter should buy is completely based on what she will major in.
Jumpthesnark
macrumors 68000
She knows the answer to that better than any stranger online here. Involve her in the decision.
Went to our local Apple store in the pouring 🌧️ today.
Was very fast in there, walked into the laptop section, guy asks to help me, I say MacBook Air 32GB and 1TB in silver and a mouse. He LOL'd said ok you know what you want
Only thing was no 32GB versions in stock, highest was 24GB. Then he discussed screen size right my daughter that 15 inches can be a bit much lugging around in your backpack and just taking it out and putting away easier, he strongly suggested the 13 inch for college. He then suggested buy a 1440p stand alone monitor to plug the MB Air into back in the room. So need to look into that.
Decided on everything. He said get a clear case or a case, and gave us the Tech 21 case.
Paid with Google Wallet and it was all good to go.
We were in and out in 15 minutes.
Was very fast in there, walked into the laptop section, guy asks to help me, I say MacBook Air 32GB and 1TB in silver and a mouse. He LOL'd said ok you know what you want
Only thing was no 32GB versions in stock, highest was 24GB. Then he discussed screen size right my daughter that 15 inches can be a bit much lugging around in your backpack and just taking it out and putting away easier, he strongly suggested the 13 inch for college. He then suggested buy a 1440p stand alone monitor to plug the MB Air into back in the room. So need to look into that.
Decided on everything. He said get a clear case or a case, and gave us the Tech 21 case.
Paid with Google Wallet and it was all good to go.
We were in and out in 15 minutes.
1BadManVan
macrumors 68040
So you ended up with the 24gb/1tb model? That should be more than enough for her and last her through college no problem. Unless she had some heavy programs to run in college, she would honestly probably been fine with the base 16/512 model. But as an owner of a 13" M5 Air 24/1tb, its a beast of a little machine and super portable, she will be very happy with it once she gets used to navigating macOS
Look into Dbrand skins for the laptop. I personally don't like cases for my laptop, but a little customization and protection goes a long way.
Le_Chiffre
macrumors 6502
Congrats on your purchase OP and congratulations on your child going to university. 🍻
Don’t be surprised if they come home with an iPhone. 😊
Don’t be surprised if they come home with an iPhone. 😊
danpass
macrumors 68030
Check Costco for monitors. One indirect tech spec to look for would be 'gaming monitors'. These tend to have the higher refresh rates, which is good for any computer usage. The curved monitors I saw there yesterday provide a lot of screen size for nominal height which could be a benefit in a dorm room.
For several years in my home office my desktop monitor was a 43in Samsung 4k TV, until it started getting a vertical white line in the lower right of the screen. This had a 60Hz refresh rate which I consider the bare minimum.
These days I'm using a dedicated Dell 43in 4k monitor, U4320Q, but I only got it because it has various computer ports built in that give it a pseudo hub function, otherwise I would have gotten a newer 43in 4k TV lol.
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MacBH928
macrumors G3
43inch? thats almost the size of tv i watch movies on. How can you read text on that?
surely you use it as a screen for previewing media or some sort of a dashboard? how far you have to sit away from the screen?
danpass
macrumors 68030
About 30 inches of separation. I made a custom desk for my home office, albeit I find a 30in deep desk to be suitable for any monitor. I never could tolerate the 24in desks that are available everywhere .....
Text size can be adjusted in-computer, though I run the smallest size and have six windows set up on a single view.
This is mainly where the refresh rate comes into play. Anything less than 60Hz and the text gets too fuzzy regardless of text size.
If she is going to carry it to classes then she might a lite model as long as it meets her college's recommendations.
Abydos
macrumors 6502a
tough call, I'm pre microcomputer grad, my daughter had original iMac as undergrad (classics), and MacBook as graduate student (mathematics) - as a mathematics major only numerical analysis required computer resources so I see the problem as major dependent. I assume essays will be required for social studies/humanities courses (I assume electronic submissions to cut down on printer clutter) so it creates a software compatibility issue so follow school's computer guidelines and plan on roughly 5 year need (seems to be the normal time from entry to graduation in many fields) not very helpful I'm afraid, but its a bit of an ill defined question
Personally I wanted the 15-in monitor for her. I like more screen real estate
But my daughter said hey Dad I've been using a Chromebook for high school which is 13 in for the last 4 years and I'm used to that size so she's like I'm fine with a smaller one. Plus it fits in her bags easier and she says it feels a little lighter more portable.
But my daughter said hey Dad I've been using a Chromebook for high school which is 13 in for the last 4 years and I'm used to that size so she's like I'm fine with a smaller one. Plus it fits in her bags easier and she says it feels a little lighter more portable.