MBA M1 or M2 for College?

[dmk1974]

A thought… What does each college recommend for a laptop? I lucked out with using my Mac(s) for school, but I did run into some issues where the software was Windows specific and had to use my computer at work.

It seems to depends on the college and the major. I only really searched the business schools, but I think some are more geared towards each OS or indifferent. Each university should have a website somewhere with some guidance. I'm not certain kids even use pencils and paper anymore.

 

[beach bum]

It seems to depends on the college and the major. I only really searched the business schools, but I think some are more geared towards each OS or indifferent. Each university should have a website somewhere with some guidance. I'm not certain kids even use pencils and paper anymore.

That makes sense. Given that they will both be on campus, if they do run into any OS specific software, they should be able to use on-campus computers. If I recall, I only had that issue with 2 of my classes. Also, the welcome packet for each school may have those type of recommendations.

Good luck!

 

[jav6454]

It seems to depends on the college and the major. I only really searched the business schools, but I think some are more geared towards each OS or indifferent. Each university should have a website somewhere with some guidance. I'm not certain kids even use pencils and paper anymore.

Yes, each specific college (or rather school within the college) has their own requirements in terms of software. Although they aren't specified as requirements. Usually it's software that is accompanying lectures or is used thru several courses. Which type of laptop to get boils down to that software.

For example, for me as an Electrical Engineer, MATLAB and MultiSIM were essential. MATLAB has a Mac program available but not MultiSIM. I was lucky as I could bootcamp into Windows, but you can't do that on Mac anymore. Furthermore, support for a Windows VM is sketchy at best as MS isn't able to release it officially due to a Qualcomm agreement.

So if the business school has any programs that are suggested, I would look to see if they are offered for Mac as well.

 

[ahurst]

For example, for me as an Electrical Engineer, MATLAB and MultiSIM were essential. MATLAB has a Mac program available but not MultiSIM. I was lucky as I could bootcamp into Windows, but you can't do that on Mac anymore. Furthermore, support for a Windows VM is sketchy at best as MS isn't able to release it officially due to a Qualcomm agreement.

In my personal (potentially non-generalizable) experience, university courses with Windows-only software generally anticipate that quite a few students will have Macs and either have computers with the necessary software preinstalled in-class or in a nearby computer lab.

Last year, I took a biomed engineering class on signal processing to fulfill a degree requirement and it was all in LabVIEW. LabVIEW itself is cross-platform, but they recently discontinued their USB data acquisition board drivers for macOS and Linux which made it hard to follow along in class during labs. Thankfully, the class had like 5 or 6 desktop PCs in the classroom so those of us with only Macs could still do them. I think there are too many MacBooks on campus nowadays for most courses to be able to teach anything Windows-only without flexible alternatives.

Also as an aside, I understand enough of them to be useful, but as an R/Python/C guy my goodness do I ever dislike LabVIEW and MATLAB. Programming with flow charts makes sense for some situations I’m sure, but once you’ve already learned the flexibility of a real programming language it’s really hard to go back to something more limited. MATLAB is awful for a completely different set of reasons, but mostly that it’s extremely idiosyncratic in terms of its language, the integrated IDE is unpleasant and hard to escape, and the package ecosystem feels 2 decades out of date relative to Python or R. Still annoyed that legacy momentum means a lot of neuroimaging software/packages are written MATLAB-only.

 

[jav6454]

In my personal (potentially non-generalizable) experience, university courses with Windows-only software generally anticipate that quite a few students will have Macs and either have computers with the necessary software preinstalled in-class or in a nearby computer lab.

Last year, I took a biomed engineering class on signal processing to fulfill a degree requirement and it was all in LabVIEW. LabVIEW itself is cross-platform, but they recently discontinued their USB data acquisition board drivers for macOS and Linux which made it hard to follow along in class during labs. Thankfully, the class had like 5 or 6 desktop PCs in the classroom so those of us with only Macs could still do them. I think there are too many MacBooks on campus nowadays for most courses to be able to teach anything Windows-only without flexible alternatives.

Also as an aside, I understand enough of them to be useful, but as an R/Python/C guy my goodness do I ever dislike LabVIEW and MATLAB. Programming with flow charts makes sense for some situations I’m sure, but once you’ve already learned the flexibility of a real programming language it’s really hard to go back to something more limited. MATLAB is awful for a completely different set of reasons, but mostly that it’s extremely idiosyncratic in terms of its language, the integrated IDE is unpleasant and hard to escape, and the package ecosystem feels 2 decades out of date relative to Python or R. Still annoyed that legacy momentum means a lot of neuroimaging software/packages are written MATLAB-only.

Some colleges/universities do have that flexibility, but not all; it's a gamble. In my case, the college of engineering had no alternatives and the programs mentioned (plus others for VHDL and Assembly coding) were baked into the core courses of the degree.

As per MATLAB, I despised it and after college I have never used it. I haven't encountered a situation where it is critical for me to have. I have been able to solve issue either pen & pencil or simply writing a script.

 

[ggibson913]

You are absolutely correct in that the M1 would serve them well for the next four years. I would still go for the M2 with 16 GB Ram and Apple Care. I say Apple Care because they may be responsible but they will be in a dorm and stuff happens. My reasons for the M2 is the M2 will probably hold out a little better if they decided to go for their Masters directly after getting their Bachelors. Plus the M2 has a slightly bigger screen and a better web cam.

 

[jav6454]

You are absolutely correct in that the M1 would serve them well for the next four years. I would still go for the M2 with 16 GB Ram and Apple Care. I say Apple Care because they may be responsible but they will be in a dorm and stuff happens. My reasons for the M2 is the M2 will probably hold out a little better if they decided to go for their Masters directly after getting their Bachelors. Plus the M2 has a slightly bigger screen and a better web cam.

The better webcam is debatable as this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m1-max-16-terrible-webcam-quality.2326327/

Might suggest it's actually bad.

 

[ahurst]

The better webcam is debatable as this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m1-max-16-terrible-webcam-quality.2326327/

Might suggest it's actually bad.

I have the 14” MBP and the webcam looks great with good light, but weird and overprocessed with bad light (it tries too hard to remove the usual graininess with spatial smoothing). I’ve got an LED lamp at my desk I turn on for meetings to guarantee the picture is clear and natural looking, but if you take meetings out and about it situations where you can’t control the light it could be an issue. The macOS 13 iPhone-as-webcam thing should hopefully mitigate that use case as well.

 

[jav6454]

I have the 14” MBP and the webcam looks great with good light, but weird and overprocessed with bad light (it tries too hard to remove the usual graininess with spatial smoothing). I’ve got an LED lamp at my desk I turn on for meetings to guarantee the picture is clear and natural looking, but if you take meetings out and about it situations where you can’t control the light it could be an issue. The macOS 13 iPhone-as-webcam thing should hopefully mitigate that use case as well.

Which is why I think Apple is doing it.

 

[Mainsail]

honestly the monitor of Air is too small, not good for eyes health at all.

Many college students are using 13.3 in laptops, so I don't think it is an unusual size for academia. For many, it is the sweet spots for portability and screen size. Also, those college desks in lecture halls are pretty small, so a large foot print laptop is going to be problematic in some classrooms. For heavy lifting, my kids plug into an inexpensive 21.5 in 1080p monitor (~$125 at big box stores) that they keep in their dorm room. This provides the extra screen space for those large spreadsheets and other big projects that sometimes require extra space.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

definitely MBA M1 .

now wether u want to add ram or not is up to you,I'd say yes .

although if it's "only" for the next 2-3 years ,and if they don't make a heavy use ,8gb will be fine too

 

[Isamilis]

I have twins heading off to college this fall. Different schools, but both are business majors (one accounting, one marketing). Myself being an engineer, I can't see either of them really needing a super-powerful laptop for their studies. Would the M1 MBA be fine for at least the next 2-3 years? Or is it worth it to pony up for the newer M2 coming out next month with the hope it lasts all 4 years?

I'd almost rather get the M1 and pay for extra RAM maybe, but then again, I thought 8gb was too little 6 years ago. Apparetnly Apple thinks its still plenty for most use (and honestly, they are probably right).

EDIT: I plan to wait for the back to school deal and hopefully some free airpods for them too. Pricing via the education store is:

• 2020 M1 MBA w/16gb RAM: $1079
• 2022 M2 MBA w/8gb RAM: $1099

Is there any possibility they need certain software that is available on windows only? If so, intel-based macbook can be considered (although slower and lower battery life).

 

[Isamilis]

Well, I work in the same field as those students (business administration education). The heaviest app is Excel financial models, maybe some E-views. For very heavy work, universities have specialized computer labs, which business majors usually do not use (no need).

RAM: I have both 16GB and 8GB ram M1 Macs, mac mini 8/512 and MBA Air 16/512. I also have 12 inch 8GB Macbook 2017, which is now have Monterey 12.4 installed. Big Sur and Monterey 12.0 had memory management problems, all now fixed by Monterey 12.4 (actually earlier).

So in usual work, there is ZERO difference between all three. All ran Pages, Keynotes, MS Office just great. I assume that M2 is even faster (by 18% or so). So based on practical usage, 8/16GB does have zero difference in everyday tasks. Now if the students want to edit 4K video, M1 with 8GB just slices through the video because it has builtin hardware decoders. M2 is even faster. It also decodes latest photo compression formats just great. You can google videos of M1 8GB encoding and compressing heavy video files just fine (compared to Intel Macbooks and even desktops). M chips have different architecture with soldered M2 and memory swaps, that allows for 8GB to be sufficient for memory heavy tasks. 16GB is better but not compulsory in everyday computing.

Based on usage pattern, 8Gb is fine. Sure, if one has budget, why not 16GB? Yes, can be done. But if you have to fit in tight budget, 8GB is absolutely fine.

Now about future proof. 2017 12inch Macbook rans Monterey great. It is 5 year old machine. It also rans Big Sur, Catalina, etc.

Now M2 is a latest machine, designed for Ventura. It will be absolutely fine with Ventura (which is end of 2023) and add 2 iterations after Ventura - it is 4 year span - and still have full support. I don't expect Mac OS to require 16Gb in foreeseable future. After 4 years of college life, both M2 probably will be OK to retire. If say, Mac OS 2026 will absolutely require 16GB of RAM (just an example), two options: stay on earlier versions; or just sell MBA M2 and maybe invest in latest MBA is you absolutely need Mac OS 2026, which is not a case.

So why M2 then?
Latest design, less weight, better webcam, newer CPU and GPU.

How about M1?
Great cost performance. Best budget buy. It is like a car. I have Toyota SUV (4Runner in US), Prado here, 2018 model, 2.7l gasoline, bought in 2020 used. Could I buy new 4Runner with a bigger engine? Yes, but it would be much more expensive, I don't drive through rocks everyday and it will use much more fuel. So I have something which is still good for occasional offroad, but saves money on everyday tasks. So M1 is also a viable alternative.

Ultimately, it is a matter of difference of 300 dollars on each notebooks, planned for 4 year use; it is not that much, we are not buying here Macbooks Pro for 2000 or more; it is a matter of selection of a budget model, so I suggest M2 as a more refreshed, latest model. I would only add internal storage to 512GB if possible.

Just share my experience. My MBA 2020 Intel based didn’t run great on Big Sur. It’s slower and have shorter battery life compared to Catalina (it came with Catalina out of the box). I have tested for months and reinstall everything with same results.
Regarding M1 vs M2, since M1 is big jump from intel-based version, M1 should be fine for College. Save the money for bigger storage (will be more beneficial) and external disk (SSD?) for backup. Backup is critical for student, especially for writing assignment and thesis.

 

[ilikewhey]

m2, maybe stock configurations. Office work (and business education apps) generally do not require much RAM anyway. It is not that they will draw on CAD or make very complex physical or chemical simulations. Mostly they will use for email and thesis writing. Moreover, Apple's management of memory makes older assumptions of RAM size obsolete, so 8GB is enough and you know about that more than me.

M2 is a best option for 2022 and beyond. Yes, m1 was a great value for 2020-2021-first half of 2022. However, MBA M2 has better hardware all the way and has also new design. It is future proof at least until M3, which is probably 2024. Therefore,

1. Buy stock configurations of M2 MBA. Your kids will be happy to have latest design (and less weight). 8GB of RAM is enough.
2. Storage, however, should be upgraded to 512GB to be future proof.
3. Use education discount to get free airpods and the academic discount.

curious, which part of older assumption of ram is obsolete, if anything, the unified architecture makes ram even more important since prior cpu and gpu have their own ram buffers. i can only speak for myself, but when i was in undergrad and grad, having 8gb was simply not enough, especially in 3rd and 4th year where 50 page research paper where you be pulling citation every other paragraphs, to be monitoring your ram while doing such tasks is ill advised.

 

[jav6454]

Is there any possibility they need certain software that is available on windows only? If so, intel-based macbook can be considered (although slower and lower battery life).

Yeah, I would advice against any Intel based MBA as support will likely fizzle out pretty soon.

 

[dmk1974]

Well, I told the kids about the back to school deal that was announced today. We all think the $150 GC is better (can then still put towards airpods if they want or something else). Daughter is willing to kick in their own extra money to get the M2 in the Starlight color (if it is available before they go). Son is on the fence between M1 or M2.

Wish they would at least announce a pre-order date for the M2, especially in case one of them wants to kick in more for the RAM upgrade.

 

[jav6454]

Well, I told the kids about the back to school deal that was announced today. We all think the $150 GC is better (can then still put towards airpods if they want or something else). Daughter is willing to kick in their own extra money to get the M2 in the Starlight color (if it is available before they go). Son is on the fence between M1 or M2.

Wish they would at least announce a pre-order date for the M2, especially in case one of them wants to kick in more for the RAM upgrade.

Prices for memory upgrades are listed in the MBA page for M2 already. You can look at them there and have them make a decision based on that.

However, do bare in mind, that if they do decide to increase capacities to storage/memory, the value of the MBA decreases as price increases rapidly. Such that any significant upgrades to an MBA make the price similar to a 13" or 14" MBP.

 

[dmk1974]

Prices for memory upgrades are listed in the MBA page for M2 already. You can look at them there and have them make a decision based on that.

However, do bare in mind, that if they do decide to increase capacities to storage/memory, the value of the MBA decreases as price increases rapidly. Such that any significant upgrades to an MBA make the price similar to a 13" or 14" MBP.

Correct, we can see all the pricing, but just more so if they want to pay the little extra. Too bad we can’t yet add it to the cart.

 

[izzy0242mr]

I have twins heading off to college this fall. Different schools, but both are business majors (one accounting, one marketing). Myself being an engineer, I can't see either of them really needing a super-powerful laptop for their studies. Would the M1 MBA be fine for at least the next 2-3 years? Or is it worth it to pony up for the newer M2 coming out next month with the hope it lasts all 4 years?

I'd almost rather get the M1 and pay for extra RAM maybe, but then again, I thought 8gb was too little 6 years ago. Apparetnly Apple thinks its still plenty for most use (and honestly, they are probably right).

EDIT: I plan to wait for the back to school deal and hopefully some free airpods for them too. Pricing via the education store is:

• 2020 M1 MBA w/16gb RAM: $1079
• 2022 M2 MBA w/8gb RAM: $1099

Both machines will last well over 4 years, but imo the 16 GB option will last a little longer overall in terms of performance and as apps get more memory hungry over the years. I'd go with the M1 with 16 GB.

It's not that the M1 is bad, it's still very capable, but it has limitations (like only officially supporting a single external display) that have to be brute forced around

M2 still only supports one external display, too.

 

[dmk1974]

Both machines will last well over 4 years, but imo the 16 GB option will last a little longer overall in terms of performance and as apps get more memory hungry over the years. I'd go with the M1 with 16 GB.

M2 still only supports one external display, too.

Yeah, in my mind they should go M1/16 or M2/8.

They will only have one external monitor at school though.

 

[Salt City Ute]

Assuming they had either one, learning MacOS isn't hard.

This was actually a problem for me. Excel for Mac has different shortcuts and doesn’t have the same functions as the PC version. I borrowed a friends PC for several modeling, investment, accounting, statistics, and finance classes. If I had to do it again, I’d get a PC for my finance degree.

 

[RRC]

Any of the M processor MacBooks would be a great device for you, if money isn’t an issue obviously the best you can afford is going to be the best machine, however the M1 Air is still a very, very good device for the money.

 

[jav6454]

Yeah, in my mind they should go M1/16 or M2/8.

They will only have one external monitor at school though.

Quick update, I have been seen independent reviewers on the 13" MBP with M2. The initial reviews have all found that the M2 is running much hotter than anticipated. So, from that, I'd say caution on the MBAs with M2 and look at M1 MBAs.

 

[dizmonk]

I'm in a similar boat as the OP except I've got one kid going to college a year from now. I plan on getting her a 16GB M2 with Apple care for many of the reasons already mentioned. Applecare I think will be used living in a dorm and with it constantly being in and out of a backpack. Secondly, it would be my expectation that a 16GB M2 should perform well enough regardless of the major and long enough to last through her Bachelor's degree and Masters. To the OP please do let us know what you finally settle on.

 

[izzy0242mr]

I'm in a similar boat as the OP except I've got one kid going to college a year from now. I plan on getting her a 16GB M2 with Apple care for many of the reasons already mentioned. Applecare I think will be used living in a dorm and with it constantly being in and out of a backpack. Secondly, it would be my expectation that a 16GB M2 should perform well enough regardless of the major and long enough to last through her Bachelor's degree and Masters. To the OP please do let us know what you finally settle on.

In college my 2011 MacBook Pro and a used 2013 13" MBA (both without applecare) worked just fine. For grad school (3 years), I got a 2015 13" MBP and sold the Air.

A 16 GB M2 Air is gonna last her well beyond her Masters if she takes care of it. These machines could easily go for 10 years if Apple doesn't force them into obsolescence.