Advice on Apple MacBook for teen

[Vickie46]

hi can anyone please tell me which Mac you have and which you think is best for a teen. She does a lot of projects and will use it a lot for School.

 

[potterfanatic]

I have a macbook air. I have had it for four years, and I love it. I had previously had a top of the line macbook with all the upgrades and the only thing the air hasn't been able to do is connect via an ethernet cable, and I would have to get an external disk drive if I needed one (but haven't needed one). I am a transcriptionist so I work on the computer a lot. I also recently built a membership based website, all using this laptop. I really think that anything your teen needs can be done from the air.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

I bought the MacBook pro for college. For me, it's a necessity with having to use many different Adobe programs. It also has lots of storage. I thought it would be too much money to spend on a laptop, but it was worth it. I will never use another laptop again!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Got my dd18 the MacBook Air last Christmas. I ordered myself a MacBook Pro on Thursday. Both were on sale at Best Buy both years. Check today and see if they still have them.
I read a bunch of articles that said Air is the way to go for students. I did a pro for myself because it wasn’t much more and I know I take good care of things.

 

[ForMyBoys]

I bought my dh a Macbook Pro w/ a smaller screen- 13". I got it two years ago for around $1,100? He probably would have been fine w/ the Macbook Air but in person when I was trying them out I liked the pro better.... honestly I can't remember why now so I'm not super helpful. But he does love it. He did install Microsoft office for Apple as he does a lot of writing and wanted Microsoft Word.

 

[luvdisney00]

I have a MacBook air and an iMac, DH has a pro, 2 of my daughters have the air and 1 has the pro. We all love them. My daughter who is a college student loves that the air is light to carry in her bag to class. We do have an external disc drive that any of us can use, but I'll never understand why they stopped making the pro with one. Pretty much all of the kids that I know in college use Mac. It's an investment, but they last a long time and do absolutely everything.

 

[Albort]

it depends on the major of the college student to know if she really needs an macbook pro or air. for lighter work, an air is plenty, not to mention a lot lighter on the back. I honestly been going through college with just an iPad to take notes and such but i do have a desktop at home as well as a macbook air for incase.

memory is def important. i went with 128gb, it was so not enough for me, i did attach a very thin 128GB usb drive to help me out which has worked so far.

other than that, only other suggestion i have is to register with Best Buys student deals, they sometimes will give u a $100-$200 off macbook deals here and there. stack it with a sale, u can save a ton of money on it.

 

[SteveH]

Let's see I have a MacPro, and MacMini (home theater) and a MacMini at work and my wife has my previous iMac


Between the MPAir and the MBP my biggest thing would be getting a larger SSD - at least 1TB IMHO. Then it comes down to screen. Personally I'd got with the MBP. But if they are close to college look to see what requirements they may have in their field of interest. The great thing about the Macs I have is even after 10 years they are still serving me very well.

It is well worth looking at the Apple refurb store. I've bought many of my Macs there, they come with the same warranty and I can never tell they were used. I do recommend getting the AppleCare, particularly for any new Mac user or younger kids.
https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

 

[Numtini]

I just bought a MacBook, the 12" one. Just as in delivered saturday. It's a great little device. Not that powerful, but super-super-light, which meets my needs. The new "butterfly" keyboard takes a little getting used to, but the new 2nd generation is a lot better than the 1st. Figure out whether the MacBook 12 or the MacBook Pro 13 is a better deal for your needs. One is lighter, the other has more power. I wouldn't bother going for any of the MacBook Pros that have the Touchbar thing, stick to the base.

Previous to this I've had an 11" MacBook Air. I really can't recommend the MacBook Air because the screen is archaic.

Another strong recommendation for refurbished. Their refurbs are absolutely pristine, have a full warranty and you can extend the warranty with Applecare. You might even get lucky--sometimes they won't have exactly what you ordered, but they'll have the same model with a bigger hard drive or more memory and and just ship that instead.

 

[Eureka]

We got both our kids MacBook airs two years ago when they were in seventh and ninth grades. Two years later, they are must-haves for a lot of their school work. Many of their teachers have then turn stuff on online. We opted to purchase the professional grade (or whatever it’s called) MS office at $99/ yr that you can put onto up to five computers. Don’t regret it at all.

 

[tink1970]

DD is on her second MacBook air in 6 years (she's a junior). Her backpack is so heavy she wanted what is lightest. Crazy to me how much school work is tied to online assignments these days (old fart talk!).

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I agree with PPs that which one is better depends on needs. I have an air and a Pro and use them for different things. I’m going to go against the grain, though, and say that memory is way more important than storage.

Do your dd a huge favor and buy from the Apple store so you can configure with the most memory (which is 32, 16, or 8g of RAM, I think) depending on the model. If you buy at Best Buy or someplace-they only have the base models available.

Mac doesn’t make their machines easy (and in some cases it’s actually impossible) to upgrade yourself after the fact. You can always store extra photos, movies, etc. on an extra drive for cheap. But with even simple internet surfing becoming a bit of a memory hog these days, if you want to be able to switch between applications and multitask you really need the extra ram.

 

[NinaBella]

Made four visits to our Apple store and spoke with four different reps who all had their own opinion on which one was best for DD. Ended up letting her choose and she choose the MacBook Air over the MacBook Pro. Be aware that not all MacBooks have a USB port which they may need to transfer document for school.

 

[Numtini]

Be aware that not all MacBooks have a USB port which they may need to transfer document for school.

You can get usb-c adapters 2 for $8 at Amazon. I just bought half a dozen,so I always have one handy.

I also have a nice dongle for the desk that has three old style USB ports, a slot for a camera, hdmi video, and charges the laptop.