Need help deciding what Macbook to get

[idk_556671]

I’m a high school student and I currently have the MacBook Air M1. However, I’m planning to upgrade. Here’s what I use my laptop for:
• Schoolwork (writing essays, creating PowerPoint presentations, working in Excel) • Browsing
• Watching movies, listening to music
• Occasional video and photo editing
• Coding (I recently began a beginner Python course and want to pursue programming further down the road)

Given all this—and considering there’s a $200 price difference—what would you recommend I get?

 

[VTGuy79]

I really think that you're all set with what you have. I'm assuming that you're referring to the Macbook Air vs Macbook Pro?

Biggest difference is SoC fan(s), more USB C ports, HDMI and SD Card- if those are something that you'd benefit from then it would be worth the upgrade.

I do all of that and more on my M1 Mini with 8GB RAM. I do plan on upgrading but not because it's not able to handle what I do, but to make use of the mini somewhere else and for the added iMac screen.

 

[ChrisA]

I’m a high school student and I currently have the MacBook Air M1. However, I’m planning to upgrade. Here’s what I use my laptop for:
• Schoolwork (writing essays, creating PowerPoint presentations, working in Excel) • Browsing
• Watching movies, listening to music
• Occasional video and photo editing
• Coding (I recently began a beginner Python course and want to pursue programming further down the road)

Given all this—and considering there’s a $200 price difference—what would you recommend I get?

Why do you need to upgrade? Seems that an M1 Air would be good for the uses you listed.



For me, I've used a Mac for all of those uses. I was a software developer for decades. I do use Final Cut Pro and not so long ago, I went back to grad school. I studied computer science and AI.



My opinion is that if you have some disposable cash and want to spend it, buy a larger 27" monitor, the best one you can afford. I cannot imagine editing video on a tiny MacBook screen. You need a lot of space for the timeline and to view clips and so on. Buy at least a 4K monitor. The Apple 5K is better. Two monitors are even better.



Then for coding, again I can't imagine using a tiny screen. I typically have a half dozen editor tabs and need to see 50 lines and many times I have reference documents open all at the same time. But never have I needed a powerful computer unless the project I was writing needed a big computer (AI, radar signal processing and so on…). But the writing code only needs a steady editor.



Schoolwork needs even less. I mostly used Apple’s Pages app and sometimes Keynote.


OK, after you buy the better monitor setup, if there is any cash left over, buy whatever is the current MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM. If the M5 comes out in time, buy it; if the M4 is still the current Mac, buy that. It hardly matters. You will not notice a 15% performance difference unless you use a benchmark tool to measure it.

If you are into video. The usual place to upgrade for most beginners is AUDIO. Better sound will make your work seem more professional. No one watching will know what kind of computer you used. After sound, come lights. I'd put the computer on the bottom of the list; you can always edit with proxy files.

 

[adrianlondon]

I did all of the above with an 8GB late-2020 Intel MBA. It coped with them all.

I had Python and R code running well, including loading large amounts of data from a local MySQL database and doing basic ML on it.

In fact, compared to friends with M1 machines, I did better as I had less problems with various plug-ins on my Intel based machine. This is going back 3-4years though.

Having said that, last year I got the 14" M4 MBP. I needed a new battery for the MBA and decided I wanted to upgrade to one of Apple's processors rather than my Intel one. The fans got annoying.

I like the 14" form factor, and the better quality screen (compared to the MBA) meant I can get nice, clear text running it at the "more space" (1800 x 1169) resolution. It's also a nicely-shaped, solid machine.

With the education discount, the difference in price between similarly-spec'd (16GB, 512GB) MBA wasn't great. Back then, it even included a charger 😁.

I like having ports on both sides of the case and (rarely used, but ..) the HDMI socket. It also has a better camera, which is useful for video chats.

Back to the OP ... in your case, I'd keep the M1 MBA until the battery needs replacing, and then make a decision.