Looking to buy a new MacBook...

[shadow.]

I've been a Windows user my whole life, but I would like to buy a MacBook for its portability, OS, and battery life (my current Windows laptop is pretty heavy and coding is difficult on it). I'm a typical college computer science major, so I will be using it for coding (including code compiling and remote ssh'ing), Spotify (which I'm already familiar with so I don't plan on using iTunes, and no downloading), word processing, web browsing, and at most maybe one virtual machine or light (not 3D) photoshopping. I will use my Windows laptop for gaming and anything heavy, so this is really just going to serve as a second laptop.

I've been looking at refurbished laptops (trying to save money... typical college student ) and my biggest question is how much RAM and hard disk space I need for doing this sort of stuff (and whether an Intel Core Duo 2 would be enough or if I should stick with Intel Core i5/i7). Currently I'm looking at a MacBook Air (2012 edition) with 8gb RAM, 128GB flash memory model with 13" screen and i5 processor, for a little future proofing (I plan to use it for maybe two or three years) for a cost of ~$575. Is this okay or can I cut down on specs for better cost or should I add more for better performance?

The laptop is coming from OWC computers so if anyone has any insight on them that would be helpful too.

 

[BrettApple]

If you want good battery life, you will want to go with a 2013 model or later. They made vast improvements over the 2012 model. The 2013/2014 models are pretty similar, and the 2015 ones have Broadwell over Haswell CPU/GPU's. For the cost I'm sure you can find a decent used/refurbished 13" 2013 MacBook Air, preferably with 8GB of RAM. Though 4GB will suffice for what you plan on doing. The i5 should do just fine as well.

 

[0007776]

Currently I'm looking at a MacBook Air (2012 edition) with 8gb RAM, 128GB flash memory model with 13" screen and i5 processor, for a little future proofing (I plan to use it for maybe two or three years) for a cost of ~$575. Is this okay or can I cut down on specs for better cost or should I add more for better performance?

I have the 11" version of that model, and I wouldn't get anything less if you are wanting to make it last for two or three more years. It probably is good enough to last a few more years, I haven't seen anything in new models to make me want to upgrade and I'm probably sticking with this one until it dies, hopefully still a few years from now.