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jordan12

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So I am not a big fan of apple products. But my daughter, (19), has always wanted one. So I have decided to buy her one for when she goes to Kansas State university in August.

Is there a particular laptop I should consider? Something that works well for a college student?

I really dont know the differences between the models. Is the retina display the best thing to buy? Or a cheaper Air vs Pro?
 
Hello,

The most important immediate resource is www.apple.com. On there, you can see the iMac is not a laptop, it's an all-in-one.

"Mac" is short for "Macintosh" which is Apple's branding for their personal computer line. Their laptop models go by the moniker "MacBook." They make the Pro model (MacBook Pro) and a new ultrabook style MacBook.

Now, as for college, you might be aware of this, but the laptop needs of an English major may be slightly different than those of a Mechanical Engineering major. You may want to check with the school as to what kind of computer they recommend for students pursuing a particular major.
 
I agree that finding what type of hardware she'll need for the major is very important. The 13" Macbook Pro w/retina strikes a nice middle ground and has some nice power to it for many tasks. If she is; for instance going into media - like video editing your money may be better spent on the higher end 15" option.
 
Tell your daughter to get a job, then she can buy whatever computer she wants.
 
Zinn said:
Tell your daughter to get a job, then she can buy whatever computer she wants.
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If she wouldn't otherwise have to work while in school, getting a job to pay for a computer is not a great investment. Sounds like she has a parent concerned enough about her academic success that she may not need to work to afford the necessities of going to University. That's a privilege many don't have and an opportunity to take advantage of.

What is she going to be studying? A student doing software development is going to have different needs than one studying arts or humanities. Without knowing more, I'd say take a look at the 13" MacBook models (Pro and Air) and go from there. Stay well clear of the new Retina MacBook if it's going to be her only computer. Remember to take advantage of the best deals: Apple has educational pricing and the quality of their refurbished products is second to none. It may be worth waiting to buy until after WWDC next month, as Apple may announce new models, which will provide new options and drive down the cost of outgoing and refurbished models.
 
CEpeep said:
If she wouldn't otherwise have to work while in school, getting a job to pay for a computer is not a great investment. Sounds like she has a parent concerned enough about her academic success that she may not need to work to afford the necessities of going to University. That's a privilege many don't have and an opportunity to take advantage of.

What is she going to be studying? A student doing software development is going to have different needs than one studying arts or humanities. Without knowing more, I'd say take a look at the 13" MacBook models (Pro and Air) and go from there. Stay well clear of the new Retina MacBook if it's going to be her only computer. Remember to take advantage of the best deals: Apple has educational pricing and the quality of their refurbished products is second to none. It may be worth waiting to buy until after WWDC next month, as Apple may announce new models, which will provide new options and drive down the cost of outgoing and refurbished models.
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She is going to school for advertising. And it was a way for me to give her a nice gift for her birthday\going away to school gift. I thought she would make use of it, so that is why I was doing it.

And she has talked about Mac's forever. So I thought I would get out of my comfort zone and get her something she wanted and still have it be useful.
 
jordan12 said:
She is going to school for advertising. And it was a way for me to give her a nice gift for her birthday\going away to school gift. I thought she would make use of it, so that is why I was doing it.

And she has talked about Mac's forever. So I thought I would get out of my comfort zone and get her something she wanted and still have it be useful.
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MacBook Air 13.

Hard to find MacBooks anywhere and a pro is just more money down the drain when beer gets spilled on it.
 
Verge said:
MacBook Air 13.

Hard to find MacBooks anywhere and a pro is just more money down the drain when beer gets spilled on it.
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They aren't that hard to find.

OP look at refurbished if you want to save money. The Air will do the job, but the Pro will be nicer all around and probably last longer. It's not strictly necessary in this case though.
 
xIronCrossx said:
They aren't that hard to find.

OP look at refurbished if you want to save money. The Air will do the job, but the Pro will be nicer all around and probably last longer. It's not strictly necessary in this case though.
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Where? You can order one, but that's no good for a gift if you have to wait 3 weeks.
 
i see you live near Kansas City. would it be possible for you to go into the apple store there? i cant speak of them much but overall if you go in there and tell them your story they can help you find a decent solution. none of the apple sales people are on commission so you wont get up-sold.
there is a student discount on the computers so you can get a small discount.
one thing i can recommend no matter what is an external hard drive to use for backup purposes. i see so many students come in with out backups and lose a lot of data.
for what she is doing a 13" macbook air is a good way to,go one thing to remember is that the hardware on them cant be upgraded
 
It would be a nice gift for sure. Has she used one before?

Sure she would love you for it, not trying to put down the idea but thinking more it is "all my friends have apple stuff so it must be good" though
 
Verge said:
MacBook Air 13.

Hard to find MacBooks anywhere and a pro is just more money down the drain when beer gets spilled on it.
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This. If you have a micro center near you, they have some great deals on these.

I recently purchases my first mac -- a macbook air 13" and I love it.

It's not linux (I still have a separate laptop for real work), but for anything not work related and MORE than just browsing (I have a chromebook as well), I really enjoy it.
 
I think the base model 13" MacBook Pro is a good buy. It is a bit heavier than 13" MacBook Air but the higher screen resolution is a nice trade off.
 
No matter how many times I've shown my wife a macbook pro she doesn't prefer it over the air.
for myself, I can't seem to tell the difference in weight or size but she still prefers the air.

if it's for your daughter then you might as well get an air or the new macbook retina.
I would suggest the new retina that replaced the air. odds are this next debut there will no longer be an air available. the air form factor is over 7 years old and no reason to prefer it over the newest iteration except for cost.

Apple allows returns for a couple weeks so there's no reason to be concerned whether she is going to like it or not.
 
Chiming in here a little bit late, but in all honesty, the best bet would be to go to an Apple Store and let her try them out.

The baseline difference between the Apple laptops-

Macbook Air is in the middle in terms of thickness and lightness (it's still pretty thin and light), as well as power. It has the worst screens of the current offerings. It's also the cheapest.

Macbook (which is new) is the thinnest and lightest, but has the least powerful processor. It does come with by default with higher RAM and a bigger SSD. It has a nice screen. It has only one port, which is used for power, but there is a dongle available for it that you could plug other devices into. Typing on it is a little different from previous versions- I tried it in the store and hated the keyboard, but your daughter might be happy with it. It's in the middle in terms of price

Macbook Pro with Retina (you don't want the version without) is the thickest and heaviest, though it's really not that heavy or that thick. It has the most powerful processor. It comes by default with less RAM and a smaller SSD than the Macbook, though you can pay extra to upgrade that ahead of time (and fully tricked out, it has the highest specs). It also has a nice screen.

From my own point of view (and my wife's), the Macbook's keyboard is a dealbreaker, but YMMV.

Two other notes- buying Applecare can be nice for the ability to take it into an Apple Store and have them work on it, or potentially swap it out if the issue is severe enough. You may want to look at a 3rd party warranty though, because Apple does not have an accidental damage protection warranty, so spills are rather...expensive.
 
xref said:
I think the base model 13" MacBook Pro is a good buy. It is a bit heavier than 13" MacBook Air but the higher screen resolution is a nice trade off.
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Barely.

It's barely heavier and barely thicker at the thickest point than an MBA. Price is the only reason to mba if you ask me.
 
That's too bad about the macbook keyboard. I haven't actually seen or used the new macbook in person, yet. I use a 15 pro retina.

I was under the impression Apple was offering Apple care+ for their MacBooks but I was mistaken. I've heard people suggest square trade but I can't comment on that because I've only ever used standard Apple care.
 
mope54 said:
That's too bad about the macbook keyboard. I haven't actually seen or used the new macbook in person, yet. I use a 15 pro retina.
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I disliked it at first too, but after using it for about an hour I realized it's probably better than the keyboards on the rest of the Macbooks. The travel is wonderful, and the keys actually feel very nice and responsive once you begin to associate the way they feel with the feedback from the computer.

It's a shame it takes time to get used to though, because first impression is everything for Apple. Won't matter after a few product revisions though, eventually all Macbooks will have a keyboard like that one.
 
I would definitely recommend some kind of damage warranty if you get a macbook as pretty much any major repair will effectively cost more than the damn thing is worth. I worked at Bestbuy for a short while and saw at least 10 macbook pros come in for some kind of liquid or spill damage and they almost always got replaced with a new one because the logic boards are stupid expensive. The way that warranty works is you have to send it out for repair and they asses the damage, if it is to going to cost to much they call you and get to go into a store and pick out a new comparable model and once that happens (called a junk out) your warranty is considered fulfilled and you would need to buy a new warranty. I haven't had any experience with square trade but I believe they work in the same way. I didn't get anything on my 2012 rMBP and I am regretting it because my trackpad is not clicking on the right side anymore and I am looking at at least $200 to get it fixed.
 
Apple doesn't sell damage warranties for their computers, only iDevices.

AppleCare for computers explicitly does not cover accidental damage, only for stuff that 'fails' without user intervention.
 
my girlfriends daughter bought a mac book air for school she loves it. i would get her one of those or as others suggested mac book pro.

I'm using a iMac now to pursue some apple certifications.
 
No reason to buy a non-retina at this point...especially when you can get a retina in that price range.
 
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