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Best Apple Mac for Students? What MacBook is good for College?

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Best Apple Mac for Students

Whats the best Mac for Students, which is good for College? Even though it’s entirely possible to get through college without a laptop, college students and professors alike know how helpful a good laptop can be. From taking notes to research to communication with other students to writing papers and completing various assignments—no other item in college student’s backpack is as versatile and often as indispensable as a laptop.

Apple Macs have always been a favorite for students

Visit just about any lecture hall, and you’ll immediately notice the overwhelming presence of Macs. Yes, it’s true that some college students are attracted to Mac computers simply because of their popularity, but most choose a Mac because they want a reliable machine they can depend on and which can get them through a long day without a charger.

Some college departments have specific software requirements their students should be able to meet, and Macs are the only computers that can run macOS, Windows, and Linux without a hitch thanks to Apple’s Boot Camp.

But the fact remains that Macs are not cheap. When buying one for a student, you want to pick the right model, one that can last for several years and still offer satisfactory performance and battery life. To help you out, we’ve narrowed down Apple’s current line-up to just three models, which we consider to be the best Mac computers for students.

Best Mac for Liberal Arts Students: 12-Inch MacBook

Most liberal arts students use their laptops predominantly for writing—lots and lots of writing. Because inspiration likes to come unannounced, and often far away from the nearest electrical outlet, it makes sense for liberal arts students to choose a laptop with a long battery life, small size, and fast Wi-Fi connectivity.

The 12-inch MacBook is the smallest and lightest laptop in Apple’s line-up, weighing just 2 pounds, and it also offers an excellent battery life of up to 10 hours and the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless technologies.

Instead of traditional scissor switches, the 12-inch MacBook features a comfortable keyboard with Apple’s second-generation butterfly switches, providing superior responsiveness and crispness when typing. Below the keyboard is a large trackpad with support for Force Touch, which allows it to detect slight differences in pressure.

What Mac features are best for students?

The 12-inch MacBook has an edge-to-edge Retina display with 2304 × 1440 pixels, energy-efficient backlighting, and wide viewing angles. The fine resolution makes text very easy on the eyes, and its IPS display technology guarantees professional-grade color accuracy.

You can get the 12-inch MacBook either with a 1.2 GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 for $1,299 or with a 1.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 for $1,599. Both versions start with 8 GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics 615, but the more expensive version has a 512 GB PCIe-based onboard SSD, instead of just a 256 GB PCIe-based onboard SSD.

Unless you need as much processing power as you can get, we recommend the less expensive version of the 12-inch MacBook. Intel Core m3 processors are so energy-efficient that they don’t require any cooling whatsoever, yet they are fast enough for just about anything apart from professional software applications such as Adobe After Effects or AutoCAD.

Best Mac for STEM Students: 13-Inch MacBook Pro

It’s only natural for STEM students to require more processing power than students of liberal arts do. A laptop is suitable for a STEM student only if it can run computationally expensive software simulations, compile software, and handle applications such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, or Microsoft Visual Studio, just to name a few.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro offers a 2.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz even in its most basic configuration, which costs just $1,299. The laptop is also available with Touch Bar for either $1,799 or $1,999, depending on the amount of storage space, but you should stay away from these versions because Touch Bar isn’t really all that useful.

Instead, get the 256 GB version without Touch Bar, which costs $1,499 and is configurable up to 1 TB SSD. The basic version only comes with 128 GB of storage space, and that’s just not enough for anything beyond basic tasks. The 256 GB version additionally has Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 onboard graphics card, 8 GB of 2133MHz LPDDR3 onboard memory, and a beautiful 13.3-inch Retina display with 2560 × 1600 pixels, wide viewing angles, and up to 500 nits brightness for comfortable outside use.

Another Apple Mac option for Students

We should also mention that there’s a 15-inch MacBook Pro. While not exactly huge, the 15-inch MacBook Pro is slightly too bulky and heavy for hauling around campus, but, above all, it’s just way too expensive for most college students, starting at $2,399 for a version with a 2.8 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7.

Honorable Mention: 13-Inch MacBook Air

Despite its advanced age, the MacBook Air is still an excellent choice for all students who have other things to spend money on besides a laptop. Starting at just $999, the MacBook Air is by far the least expensive Mac on this list, yet it has the longest battery life (up to 12 hours between charges), and some even swear by its keyboard, which has much longer vertical space below each key compared to the 12-inch MacBook (1 mm versus 0.5 mm).

The MacBook Air is also the only Mac on this list with regular USB 3.0 ports. While it seems that virtually all Mac users will have to eventually embrace the dongle life, the owners of the MacBook Air should be able to get by without adapters for a few more years.

When it comes to the downsides of the MacBook Air, the outdated CPU and display are probably the two biggest ones. Yes, the laptop is still fine for writing documents, chatting with friends, or browsing the web, but things do slow down noticeably if throw too many tasks at the laptop at once.

What’s worse, the 13.3-inch display of the MacBook Air is so behind modern laptops that Apple even doesn’t mention it in the laptop’s overview on the official website. It has only 1440 × 900 pixels and covers just 66 percent of the sRGB color gamut.

Mac

Macs for Video Editing, our favorites for Overall, Portability & Budget

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Top 3 Best Macs for Video Editing. Macs have always been favored by professional video editors for their reliability and performance in video editing. These days, you can choose from a number of different Mac computers. iMacs and MacBook Pros, all of which have something unique to offer to anyone interested in video editing. But how do you know which one is the best for you? To help you make a good purchase decision, we have picked three categories and selected one best Mac for each.

Best Overall: iMac Pro (Upcoming)

In June 2017, at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, the company announced its most ambitious professional Mac computer to date. Called iMac Pro, this beastly computer is not only the most powerful Mac ever created, but it’s also the first entry in a brand-new tier of ultra-high-performance machines designed for the virtual reality era.

The iMac Pro will arrive this December, and we already know what it will offer. Whereas previous iMacs had up to 8 cores, the new iMac Pro will have 18 cores—yes, that’s not a typo. With Turbo Boost speeds up to 4.5 GHz, a Radeon Pro Vega graphics card, and up to 128 GB of RAM (again, not a typo), this stunningly powerful Mac computer makes no compromises, especially for video editing.

iMac Pro for video editing?

If you spend a lot of time editing 4K video footage and long for a computer that would allow you to accomplish more in less time, look no further—the iMac Pro is the video editing machine you need. Yes, the prices will be high, but we can guarantee that you won’t feel the need to upgrade for many years. In fact, you might even like the price of the iMac Pro as it has a built-in 5K display with support for the DCI-P3 color space and up to 500 nits of brightness. A display like this is usually expensive, but it never comes with 18 cores and a chassis so beautiful that only Apple could have designed it.

Best for On-The-Go: MacBook Pro 15-Inch with Touch Bar

There’s a lot to like about the current MacBook Pro range, but the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is definitely the most appealing for video editing. No, it doesn’t offer the same portability as the 13-inch model, but it offers something even more important—processing power and plenty of screen real estate.

The 15.4-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology has 2880 x 1800 native resolution and support for the DCI-P3 color space. The American film industry even commonly uses RGB color space for their digital movie projection. The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar comes with a powerful Intel Core i7 processor clocked at either 2.8 GHz or 2.9 GHz.

Most powerful MacBook for Video Editing

We recommend you choose the more powerful model because it also comes with a 512 GB SSD (as opposed to only 256 GB), 16 GB of RAM, with graphics card being the Radeon Pro 560, and GDDR5 memory 4GB. With automatic graphics switching to the less battery-hungry Intel HD Graphics 630 integrated graphics card.

Best Value: Early 2013 MacBook Pro 15-Inch

If you’re on a budget, the early 2013 15-inch MacBook Pro offers an unprecedented value, regardless of whether you buy it refurbished or used. The most powerful version of this laptop (which is the one that you should get considering the laptop’s age) has an Intel Core i7 processor clocked at 2.7 GHz, 16 GB of 1600MHz DDR3L memory, 512 GB of flash storage space, and the Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics card.

The vivid 15.4-inch Retina display with 2880 x 1800 resolution makes video editing enjoyable even without a larger monitor to connect the laptop to, and the large battery offers up to 7 hours of work time on a charge.

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Which Mac should I buy?

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Apple has 6 Macs to select from and choosing one can be difficult. They are the iMac, MacPro, MacBook, MacBook Air, Retina MacBook Pro, and the Mac Mini. Each Mac targets a specific market but there are no set rules about crossing over to enjoy the features of a professional Mac like the Mac Pro as long as you can afford its much higher price tag. The choices have many potential buyers asking – Which Mac should I buy? To help you figure out the best Mac product for your needs, here’s a brief summary of each.

Apple MacBook Pro

This month Apple is launching the new MacBook model. It will have the Retina display and the Force Touch haptic trackpad. You can also expect a new basic processor and upgraded battery life. From all appearances though, the 2015 MacBook Pro looks exactly like the 2012, 2013, and 2014 models so that take a wee bit out of the excitement. Also the new MacBook Pro will only be sold with the 13 inch display and does not compared well to the new 12 inch MacBook which has an absolutely beautiful new design. However, the new MacBook Pro is all about what’s inside which is the Force Click, 97% sRGB coverage and 73% Adobe RGB, and contrast ratio of 880:1 – all of which are slight improvements from the 2014 model.

Apple MacBook

The new MacBook just came out this April 2015 and focuses more on portability and aesthetics. Read more about the design and new innovations in our recent write up.

Apple MacBook Air

The MacBook Air laptop by Apple first came out in 2008 and was the first laptop from Apple with the SSD flash storage. There was an upgrade released in 2014 and a new 13 inch released in early 2015. Aside from better quality graphics, faster storage, and a change from Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt 2, there is nothing significantly different with the precious model.

Apple Mac Mini

mac-mini-2015 — Mac Mini w/ Apple Thunderbolt Monitor

This is the compact desktop from Apple which first came out in 2005. It is also the cheapest Mac and can be plugged into your TV monitor if you want to create a home movie/media theater. The last update was in 2014 and is actually priced lower than the 2012 versions. One reason could be because the 2012 Mac Mini has a faster processor and is more upgradable. The RAM of the 2014 model is soldered on to the motherboard making it impossible to upgrade memory after purchase.

However, the newer Mac Mini has 3 models from a 500GB drive to a 2 TB Fusion drive. It also has build to order options so the 2TB Fusion drive is actually an upgrade of the high end 1TB that can be ordered with a corresponding fee.

Apple iMac

This desktop was first released in 1998 and is known for streamlining the design of the computer and away from the bulky-looking monitor. There were 2 new improvements introduced in 2014: the entry level, low cost iMac without Retina display and the 27 in 5k Retina. There are rumors of a possible new iMac this 2015 but nothing specific has been revealed.

Apple MacPro

The MacPro is the professional’s computer is a high-end Apple product where the base model costs almost $3,000. Apple has labeled it as the “pro-level desktop” with 6 Thunderbolt 2 ports, a built-in HDMI output, Wi-Fi antenna, and faster SSD storage. It is known to be very quiet, powerful, and if fully loaded, can cost over $8,000.

News

Intel releases details on possible next gen MacBook chips

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Monday, Intel detailed the next generation chips that could be headed for the next iterations of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. The chipset, named Broadwell, comes out of Intel’s next generation fabricating process which outputs chips at 14-nanometer. That means that Intel can create chips that are both more powerful and more battery efficient. In this case there is also the added benefit of lower heat generation, which means computers like the MacBook Air can rely less on fans.

Benefits of Broadwell

In addition to the added power that is expected with a new Intel chip release, these new Broadwell chips will allow Apple to make slimmer laptops. According to the chipset’s design specifications, the chips have a thermal design point that is two times less than the previous generation. Bypassing the technical aspect of that, it basically means that these chips run about two times cooler than the pervious Intel chipset.

Currently the MacBook Air is one of the thinnest notebooks on the market. The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, remains much thicker. With the inclusion of these new chips, that could change.

Retina-Ready

The added power and battery benefits of these new Broadwell chips may finally allow Apple to release a retina-equipped MacBook Air. The previous Intel Chips had neither the power nor the battery savings needed in order to run a computer with a retina screen. Apple’s Retina MacBook Pros use the higher-end Intel processors, and have much bigger batteries.

There have been rumors of a 12 inch Apple MacBook that is similar to the MacBook Air in design, but contains a larger battery and a retina display.

Timing

Like most Intel chips that come off a new fabricating process, the Broadwell chip family has been constantly delayed. Part of the announcement today detailed the release schedule for the new chips. Intel says that computers containing the lower-end, battery saving processors will be out by the end of this year.

Looking at Apple’s release cycle, this announcement may have come too late to see any new Macs with these processors this year. Apple traditionally updates its MacBooks in the fall at its October event or in June at WWDC. If Apple does choose to release new hardware using Broadwell, it’s likely that any major refreshes don’t appear until sometime in 2015.

The chipset family includes several different chips. The only one that will be ready for release this year is the Core M processor. Unfortunately, that will be too small for any Apple laptop, as it only runs at 5 watts, not the 15 that runs in Apple’s MacBook Air line. The larger chips that contain the power Apple would need for the rumored 12 inch retina MacBook are slated for early 2015, making it much more likely that Apple will have to wait to release new hardware equipped with the latest Intel chipset.

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The new MacBook Pro 2013 will have significant upgrades over previous models

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There are rumors swirling about the release of a hot new Apple product, and for the moment it’s not an iPhone. The MacBook Pro 2013 is due out soon, and it’s generating a significant amount of buzz. If you’ll be in the market for a new computer soon, here are a few compelling reasons to wait for the new MacBook Pro to be released:

Improved battery life

The major draw for purchasing a laptop computer is the ability to pack it up and take it with you. Mobility and flexibility in our careers is becoming increasingly desirable, and it’s no fun having a MacBook if you’re constantly searching for an outlet to plug it in. The new MacBook Pro will come equipped with the remarkable Intel Haswell processor, increasing battery life by up to five hours depending on which model of Mac you buy. Real-world testing has shown that a new MacBook Air can be used all day without needing a recharge. It’s highly likely the new MacBook Pro will be the same, and that alone may make it worthwhile to hold off a few more weeks and buy one.

Faster storage

It’s rumored that, in line with recently releases of other Apple computers, the new MacBook Pro will have improved storage speeds thanks to new PCIe technology. With either that or a revolutionary new Fusion drive, the next MacBook Pro could be an appealing option for anyone who does a considerable amount of uploading and works with large amounts of data. Some Apple insiders are even hinting that the new MacBook Pro may come with the option of a 1TB hard drive.

Quicker Wi-Fi

If the latest MacBook Air is any indication, the new MacBook Pro will feature 802.11-ac technology. It’s currently available on the Apple 802.11-ac Time Capsule, and provides increased speed, improved range and an overall better wireless Internet experience. Just like having improved battery life, this is a fantastic feature for those who are quite mobile with the laptops. As you transition from the office to a coffee shop to home, better Wi-Fi will make your experience more positive.

Thunderbolt 2.0

The initial instance of Thunderbolt was impressive enough, with those who do a lot of uploading or other work with peripheral devices marveling at the speed and functionality offered via a Thunderbolt port. Whether you’re craving the ability to upload RAW format photos at a high rate of speed or need to daisy chain multiple devices, Thunderbolt is up for the challenge. It’s a distinct possibility that the new MacBook Pro will feature Thunderbolt 2.0, the latest iteration of this powerful technology, thus supporting 4K video as well as supporting DisplayPort 1.2. For anyone who relies on a graphics-intensive computing experience, whether it’s for professional use or heavy game play, the upgrade to Thunderbolt 2.0 is just another reason why the new MacBook Pro is worth waiting for.

There is little doubt that the current MacBook Pro (Late, 2013), and especially the Pro Retina, provides exceptional computing experiences that extend beyond the needs of most computer users. We can easily pack in a briefcase a light, easily portable computer with technology that is equal to or better than many desktop models. However, for those who require the latest technology, storage capacity and capability, stories indicate that the new MacBook Pro is up to the challenge and worth having a little patience for.