MacBook Pro 16” for Academic Research

[rdavis41]

I apologize if this has been posted elsewhere (though I couldn’t find it in the search). I need to purchase a laptop for academic research, which includes writing, annotating research articles and statistical analysis. I’m trying to decide whether a MacBook Pro 16” is the laptop to use, or whether a lower model 13” Pro vs 13” Air is better suited for my needs and use. I like the 16” for the large screen for multi-tasking, but also realize a monitor can provide this as well, though you sacrifice the portability.

I generally don’t do major video editing, however with two kids in sports, I can see the potential of using it.

 

[lambertjohn]

Any current Macbook will do what you want to do. Even some of the older ones will work fine. The deciding factor, in my opinion, is what size screen do you want? 13", 15", or 16"? Costco has the base, 2019 Air for $799 right now. I'd probably snap one of those up and give it a try.

 

[K3it4r0]

The macbook pro 16 is probably an overkill for your use. I think it depends if you like the old keyboard or not. I do spend (as every academic out there) a lot of time writing papers/reports etc. and I bought the 16" right away just to get rid of the my old macbook pro and its awful keyboard.
However, that is me. Other people do not find it so bad as me. If you like the old keyboard, I think every 13 or 15 inch out there would be perfect for your use

 

[rdavis41]

The macbook pro 16 is probably an overkill for your use. I think it depends if you like the old keyboard or not. I do spend (as every academic out there) a lot of time writing papers/reports etc. and I bought the 16" right away just to get rid of the my old macbook pro and its awful keyboard.
However, that is me. Other people do not find it so bad as me. If you like the old keyboard, I think every 13 or 15 inch out there would be perfect for your use

Thanks for the response. The keyboard is a concern. I had an earlier 2016 MacBook Pro and couldn’t stand the keyboard clicking so loudly at times ( as I’m sure you’ve experienced with all the typing we do at times).
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Any current Macbook will do what you want to do. Even some of the older ones will work fine. The deciding factor, in my opinion, is what size screen do you want? 13", 15", or 16"? Costco has the base, 2019 Air for $799 right now. I'd probably snap one of those up and give it a try.

So do you think 8gb ram will suffice for statistical analysis and SPSS?? That is a concern of mine that also prompted me to post here.

 

[Successful Sorcerer]

No problem, SPSS has an official requirement of 1GB of ram. You'll have more than enough with 8GB but an older MBP with 16gb will be a lot cheaper than the 16inch. So is a keyboard and larger screen worth the extra money, that's up to you, the rest of the better specs is definitely overkill for what you'll use it for. I don't know if you work a lot from a specific place but you can add an external monitor and keyboard and use the smaller laptop screen on the go.

 

[Calleknug]

I’m buying a 16” to replace my 13” mbp because I want the larger screen size. Will use it for studying and some gaming and other entertainment on the side. I’m not staying at home alot, moving around for clinical rotations so the internal display is what I get to use mostly and fins 13” too small. Is it overkill? Yes. Do I care? No

Buy what you think suits you and try it and if you don’t like it make use of the extended return period to the 8 th of Jan and try another model

 

[Successful Sorcerer]

Yes of course, if you want to treat yourself just buy the 16 =) But 15,4 vs 16 inch screensize isn't that big of a difference and you can do a lot of fun things with the price difference.

 

[Baldrake]

Get the 16. You will like the larger screen when you have multiple windows going, and for all the typing you’re going to be doing, you should get the best keyboard they make.

 

[Fishrrman]

IF the base model 16" is within your budget, it should do everything you need.
And more.

 

[GrumpyCoder]

Smaller model is fine, I've been using a 13" for years now... but I'll switch back to a larger one, the 16". The 13" is ok for teaching and writing, but for the rest, I'd like more screen space, say when I'm at another institute, a conference, hotel room, etc. When I'm in the office, I have it hooked up to a dock/egpu (Radeon VII). I'd also like to have a bit more power when away from the university. The 16" is on my list, with 2TB, maybe the 2.4GHz CPU and maybe I'll up to the RAM to 64GB. Not sure about the last two options yet though (but min. 32GB). I'm mainly worried about the battery life when upping the RAM. But my focus is on general machine learning, sensor fusion and deep learning. The heavy workloads are done on GPU servers, but I think the 16" will increase my productivity, also for tasks like research and writing.

 

[semistandard]

I apologize if this has been posted elsewhere (though I couldn’t find it in the search). I need to purchase a laptop for academic research, which includes writing, annotating research articles and statistical analysis. I’m trying to decide whether a MacBook Pro 16” is the laptop to use, or whether a lower model 13” Pro vs 13” Air is better suited for my needs and use. I like the 16” for the large screen for multi-tasking, but also realize a monitor can provide this as well, though you sacrifice the portability.

I generally don’t do major video editing, however with two kids in sports, I can see the potential of using it.

What do you mean by statistical analysis?
If I understand you correctly, you basically need something to type on.
I think 2400$ laptop is an overkill for this task.

 

[rdavis41]

What do you mean by statistical analysis?
If I understand you correctly, you basically need something to type on.
I think 2400$ laptop is an overkill for this task.

Quantitative and qualitative analysis, SPSS work, Utilization of programs such as ATLAS.ti, video and audio recording storage and playback of interviews for coding.

 

[Daeve]

That’s what I use mine for, and the 15” >>> 13” (2012 top cpu retina MBP 16GB). Looking to upgrade to the 16” now as it’s had its day and been through 2 new batteries over the years. The extra screen size meant paper writing, pdf annotating etc was a lot easier than on a 13” I had before - two pages side by side and readable was the main draw for me. Power/spec depends on the type of statistical analyses you’d do, some of mine struggle now as the datasets are too big (transcriptomic/proteomic). If it’s just excel and the odd T-test then any cheap laptop would do, but if its running R scripts on huge datasets in the background while trying to write papers or you need to VM to Windows/Linux for some different analysis software then I suspect the new one would do you fine (especially if MacOS is your preference)

 

[rdavis41]

That’s what I use mine for, and the 15” >>> 13” (2012 top cpu retina MBP 16GB). Looking to upgrade to the 16” now as it’s had its day and been through 2 new batteries over the years. The extra screen size meant paper writing, pdf annotating etc was a lot easier than on a 13” I had before - two pages side by side and readable was the main draw for me. Power/spec depends on the type of statistical analyses you’d do, some of mine struggle now as the datasets are too big (transcriptomic/proteomic). If it’s just excel and the odd T-test then any cheap laptop would do, but if its running R scripts on huge datasets in the background while trying to write papers or you need to VM to Windows/Linux for some different analysis software then I suspect the new one would do you fine (especially if MacOS is your preference)

Yep. I work with Windows on my university computer and I much prefer the ease of use of MacOS than what our college runs.

 

[danwells]

Either a base 16" (perhaps with an upgraded drive if you're going to be storing a lot of video clips of interviews) or wait for a 13-14" with the new keyboard if you'd like something smaller. This is assuming your stats are on reasonable-sized data sets - but your mention of interviews and coding makes me think you're in the social sciences an probably have fewer individual data points than someone whose data points come out of a machine (coding even hundreds of interviews is just a ton of work, while some types of modeling and some experiments in the natural sciences can churn out a million data points fairly quickly).

 

[rdavis41]

Either a base 16" (perhaps with an upgraded drive if you're going to be storing a lot of video clips of interviews) or wait for a 13-14" with the new keyboard if you'd like something smaller. This is assuming your stats are on reasonable-sized data sets - but your mention of interviews and coding makes me think you're in the social sciences an probably have fewer individual data points than someone whose data points come out of a machine (coding even hundreds of interviews is just a ton of work, while some types of modeling and some experiments in the natural sciences can churn out a million data points fairly quickly).

Good call. I am in the social sciences (medical social work/health care to be exact). Most of my data sets are qualitative in nature. At the end of the day, I first tried the Macbook Air and found the keyboard too annoying to work with and the speed not to my liking so took it back. I then a few weeks ago got the base 16'' Pro and LOVE the screen real estate and keyboard change is quite good to type on. I find the i7 6 core to be plenty speed for my needs currently and will use a Samsung 1 TB external for high size storage needs.

 

[simonmet]

The macbook pro 16 is probably an overkill for your use. I think it depends if you like the old keyboard or not. I do spend (as every academic out there) a lot of time writing papers/reports etc. and I bought the 16" right away just to get rid of the my old macbook pro and its awful keyboard.
However, that is me. Other people do not find it so bad as me. If you like the old keyboard, I think every 13 or 15 inch out there would be perfect for your use

Without knowing the type, level or amount of analysis OP is doing, this advice is unwarranted. If OP is working in psychology for instance then I agree you don’t need the 16” per se because their data sets are typically quite small relative to other fields. But in physical, natural and environmental sciences, data sets can be enormous; hundreds of GBs or even TBs each. Analysing large amounts of image, climate, or spatial data can be particularly challenging.

I’m sure OP will often make graphs and charts in SPSS or elsewhere, and bigger screens are always much nicer for these tasks in my opinion. Making posters also benefits from larger screens, as does viewing content side-by-side as I’m sure you concur.

If you’re an educator Apple gives you a discount, so I’m sure affording the 16” isn’t an issue.

The only real advantage of the smaller models (apart from price) at present are portability and perhaps if you like to write on a plane a lot because 15”—16” laptops are borderline unworkable; at least in most economy seats.