NSR...What Mac book for grad...

[tsenn]

Who else to ask...? Son is graduating High School and wants a Macbook. Will be doing the JC route (see college thread)...wants to go into some type of design/architecture field...I have no clue on Macbooks, besides I know they are friggin expensive. Thoughts?
Thank you,

 

[silentbutdeadly]

also look into ipad pro. you can get an external keyboard. pretty versatile but he may want something more than that.

 

[_____]

If I were a student I’d get a 13” for class, and since he’s interested in design/architecture, a big external monitor and keyboard for home to do his project work. I always max the RAM but use an external HD and/or cloud storage for big files. Built in Apple HDs are sort of a ripoff unless you’re cool with paying the $$. The 13” easily fits in a backpack and the battery life on the new models with the M1 chips are all day long. Stay away from older refurbished ones.

 

[Random Guy]

My 13 inch MacBook Pro is so light I sometimes think I forgot to put the t in my backpack.
most of the stuff I do is web based so I don’t need much cpu power

 

[Autoprax]

I always sit on my macbooks

 

[20W-50 and blood]

get him a damn dell and put a frickin apple sticker on it

 

[sdsrfr]

get the cheapest one with the m1 processor. it’ll do fine. might be the macbook air.

the m1 is that much better than anything else out there.

id skip the tablet. If he wants to play with autoCAD he will need a real computer.

 

[grapedrink]

get the cheapest one with the m1 processor. it’ll do fine. might be the macbook air.

the m1 is that much better than anything else out there.

id skip the tablet. If he wants to play with autoCAD he will need a real computer.

Tablets are garbage for anything other than being used as a display.

 

[hammies]

Get a13 inch M1 air but make sure you get 16G Ram.

 

[VonMeister]

The 16" MacBook Pro is way too heavy. 13 for sure.

 

[tsenn]

Thanks for the info!

 

[enframed]

Tablets are garbage for anything other than being used as a display.

Eh. If everything you do is web-based they are fine. If you need to actually download and manipulate anything locally, they fucking suck. Basically just a big iPhone without an actual phone. Get the cheapest MacBook you can, new, and get a protective cover.

 

[PJ]

I work in a PC based business and always buy PC laptops for myself but for kids at school nothing beats the Apple laptops. They have a nice strong aluminum case - strong around the plug ports, too. Physically smaller is a real advantage in a backpack as it's not as subject to twisting. The wide PC type plastic laptops get cracked in a backpack - they are much wider than the books they ride with. Both my kids cracked and broke plastic laptops in high school. My son did 4 years of college on one Apple laptop from 2012 which my wife has now. My daughter did two years high school, 4 years college + 2 more years still going on one 2014 Apple Laptop too.

In college I got my son an IPad to act along with the laptop as a textbook. He was able to buy online textbooks cheaper. I also gave him an extra monitor to use in his dorm room - he was a business major. My daughter went 4 years of fine art , I gave her a LaCie external hard drive, it has an orange rubber shock case molded around it - it's been rugged and lasted her 6 years so far. I also hear that Apple started putting regular USB and other ports into their laptops again. The magnetic power power plug connector is great if you can get it, it breaks free under strain.

 

[grapedrink]

Eh. If everything you do is web-based they are fine. If you need to actually download and manipulate anything locally, they fucking suck. Basically just a big iPhone without an actual phone. Get the cheapest MacBook you can, new, and get a protective cover.

Well yeah, that’s what I’m getting at. Doing excel, typing a word doc, image manipulation etc is a PITA. Same with file management.

Watching videos, scrolling the web and pressing large buttons? Sure.

 

[hklocal]

Dont get a macbook air. The screens crack by themselves. It happened to me. Lucky I bought the insurance and got a regular Macbook pro. I researched it and there are may reports of the screen cracking without any cause. Even with the insurance, they were giving me a hard time, until I brought up the pending class action suit and they changed their mind.

 

[manbearpig]

If he wants to do design he needs a big screen. A laptop with a docking station is ideal for sure, which is what I have at work. I’m not doing much design work anymore but do a lot of GIS type work and report writing. But if he doesn’t have the space a good sized screened laptop would be ideal.

 

[afoaf]

Who else to ask...? Son is graduating High School and wants a Macbook. Will be doing the JC route (see college thread)...wants to go into some type of design/architecture field...I have no clue on Macbooks, besides I know they are friggin expensive. Thoughts?
Thank you,

I know a guy that sells refurbished units that he gets from large institutions

it's a good way to stretch your dollar

design and arch == big monitor

I have a macbook pro from work and it's sleek

 

[sdsrfr]

doesn’t need a screen until at least in the 4yr program/upper div.

kids switch majors a lot. i wouldn’t buy more than is required to be a comp lit major.

any screens or add-ons will only be used for gaming in the first couple years.

 

[Muscles]

I never liked Macbooks.

Biggest problem to me is kids get used to doing all their college work on them and then go to their first professional job and have to learn Windows and normal PCs.

 

[RemyXO]

You (or your kid) might also want to do some research on what design-specific software he may want to run. Some of the more common architectural programs (Revit, Lumion, 3ds Max for rendering) I think may only run on Windows-based products, while AutoCAD, Archicad and SketchUP can run on a Mac.