Year 7 Computing: MacBook Air or Pro

GLO on 30/11/2014 - 14:06

Hi, My son is going into Year 7 Highschool next year and the school is now giving the parents to BYO a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro.

Personally we are Windows/Android everything and the MacBook proposition has skews this.

Whilst I can see the specs between the Air and the Pro, I'd say he would best be served by a 13" or 15" size and this is mean to last him 3 years.

Have any other parents who have been down this path please comment.

I have a small presumption that the Macbook Air would be adequate for highschool studies.

Appreciate all comments in advance.

Computing

Comments

  • randomuser645 on 30/11/2014 - 15:06
    +9

    13 Air would be good. Nice design, light, portable, fast and 12 hour battery life.

    13 Pro is not a good idea. Hasn't been updated since 2012 and likely to be discontinued next year.

    13 Pro Retina is really good although it might be overkill. The screen is absolutely amazing and the CPU/GPU is about 30% better than the MacBook Air. It's still very light and portable, only downside is that it has less battery life than the Air (about 9 hours), if you have the money, go of it, you won't regret it.

    15 Pro Retina, very overkill. Quad Core CPU, IRIS Pro graphics, connects up to 3 displays at once and the screen is one of the best in the market. Very expensive.

    Just a suggestion, maybe look into the 11 inch Air? I know it seems like it's too small but the aspect ratio of the screen is 16:9 (13" is 16:10) and it is just as powerful as the 13" (if not more since its pushing less pixels). The upside is that it's extremely portable and still lasts 9 hours, if I could go back, I'd definitely get the 11 Air instead of my 13 Air.

    Actually, if you want, I can sell you my 13 Air (so I can buy the 11", haha), it's in an immaculate condition, absolutely no imperfections and runs like it's brand new (mid-2012 model). PM if interested :)

  • ShamelessBargains on 30/11/2014 - 15:30
    +4

    The 13" Air is the way to go I reckon. Very lightweight and easy to carry in a bag. With the latest Haswell processors, it gets around 12 hours doing light tasks. I recommend looking at the 256gb storage option as 128gb is just too small for 3 years of high school.

    I would probably go the Apple store and try out the 11" and 13" Macbook Airs with your son and see which size he prefers. I personally have had the 11" and 13" Macbook Airs and now have a 13" Retina Macbook Pro. The 11" model is smaller, has less battery life and has a cramped keyboard. The 13" model has a good sized display, more battery life and the normal sized keyboard and large trackpad.

    With regards to purchasing the computer, I would buy brand new so you will not run into any problems. There will be some good sales on MacBooks coming up with Christmas so I would keep an eye out for a 15% off sale of Apple Macs.

    • moar bargains on 01/12/2014 - 10:07
      +17

      I recommend looking at the 256gb storage option as 128gb is just too small for 3 years of high school.

      Gee what do they do at high school these days?! My entire high school folder is about 50MB zipped.
      The music I listened to at high school though (not to mention games I played), now that's another story…

      • habibby on 01/12/2014 - 23:46
        +3

        As a high school Mathematics teacher, we occasionally distribute electronic copies of textbooks which quickly grow in size. My personal collection of electronic textbooks is 15.9GB large (it may include some doubles). While this may not apply to all schools, I have been experimenting with Project Based Learning (PBL) and this can entail video creation which also grows very large, among other things. In addition to those, my collection of plain old resources (worksheets and the like) is at a modest 5GB or so.

        So it is definitely possibly that 128GB of storage may be too restrictive, assuming the laptop is used for personal use as well.

        TLDR; I second ShamelessBargain's recommendation of storage space.

  • toristo on 30/11/2014 - 15:43
    +5

    I use an 11" Air for my job, running Windows XP, and it does a very good job. There's only been a few pieces of analysis that I've thrown at it where it hasn't coped (in excess of 300k rows in Excel with a variety of array formulas) and I can't imagine any high school scenario that would reach this level.

    I bought a MS Surface Pro 2 for home use and must admit the Air is still a better feeling package.

    As for being entirely Windows/Android at home, as long as you have Wireless, will your son care? The internet is the internet and file shares still work across mixed OS devices most of the time if you've set them up properly.

    Before going and buying, I'd be checking to see there is no education/corporate discount packages or group buy options available. This may mean you score some software for free or even just a case/mouse/warranty etc.

    I'd also suggest getting a skin for it - you can get custom designs pretty cheaply that stick on. It will help identify the laptop at a glance, making it harder to leave behind, protects it from scratches, and being able to replace it each year keeps the laptop feeling 'newer' if friends get upgraded but he's still using the same machine.

    • GLO on 03/12/2014 - 20:13

      I like the idea of skins!

      But I also need to get a protective sleeve.

      What recommendation do you have ?

      • toristo on 06/12/2014 - 22:27

        Something like the below link that covers the whole lid. They're just big stickers.
        Check ebay too. There are also sites that let you do custom ones (e.g. a photo you've taken) but they're about $35-40 from memory.

        http://www.miniinthebox.com/coloful-girds-pattern-decorative…

        As for the protective sleeve, neoprene. Just get a very basic plain black, easy to slip in and out. If he uses it, lucky you. Within 3 months I'd be betting it will get chucked straight into his backpack like a book. Mind you, I do a similar thing with my work one and it's fine. There is no food/grit however in my bag otherwise I wouldn't be so cavalier.

  • Food on 30/11/2014 - 18:25
    -8

    Any Crapbook pro/air and put Windows 8.1 on it!

  • scrimshaw on 30/11/2014 - 18:37
    +1

    The reason the school wants you to buy a Macbook is because they have volume licensing for education Apple software. Can you confirm this OP?

      • scrimshaw on 30/11/2014 - 22:34
        +16

        You have to understand a Macbook is a minimum $1K purchase. When people compare macbooks against Windows laptops they tend to compare it against plasticky mainstream budget notebooks rather than true enterprise devices.

        I would expect a $1k computer to last fairly long, regardless of whether it's a Mac or a HP.

        Windows computers are also easier to administrate, given that most institutes run Windows as a server OS it is far easier to control a Windows machine than Mac OSX one.

        • mrmarkau67 on 01/12/2014 - 11:08
          +3

          I'm guessing with BYOD, schools are keeping student laptops a little further outside the firewall, so this issue of administration is becoming less important; you don't need to control everything on a PC so long as you treat that machine as inherently hostile.

          In terms of the Mac vs HP, can you really find a HP model that's better for a high school student than 13" Macbook Air at around $1000-$1200?

          Even leaving aside Mac OS vs Windows? Just considering performance, battery life, weight, toughness?

        • smpantsonfire on 01/12/2014 - 20:37
          +3

          I have a 2010 MBP and yes the build quality is FAR superior to any other laptop I've ever used. I don't treat it with too much care these days but it takes a beating. No keys falling out, buttons breaking, ports failing.

      • iridiumstem on 01/12/2014 - 07:05
        +2

        The only reason that Macs don't get as much spywares/viruses as Windows is that it's not mainstream.

        Even then, it's really not advisable to go onto those "questionable" sites, because there are viruses for Mac as well. Also, the mindset of "Macs don't get viruses" really is dangerous because there are viruses that are hard to detect if you don't search them.

        http://www.ibtimes.com/mac-virus-lets-hackers-control-thousa…

        Though, I actually agree that Macbooks and Macbook Airs at least worth what they cost. They are well built and their price is reasonable for what they are.

        • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 07:47
          -6

          I know viruses exist for Mac, my old man got some spyware on his a month ago, but I can tell you unequivocally that they are safer than PCs, well over a decade of experience has taught me that. In 15 years of pc use my computers would have required anti virus and reformatting multiple times. The macs simply havent.

      • RedLights on 01/12/2014 - 11:44

        Pretty sure the reason is that the NSWDET network is on 5.0 Ghz and macs are one of the ones that can pick up the signal.

        As for your point about better computers for the task, what a joke. The thing I used the most during high school (albeit the best program for the task) was OneNote. Guess what mac doesn't have.

        No other program (Evernote, etc.) comes close to the functionality and collaboration functionality of OneNote. Not to mention how miserable excel on mac is.

        Please wake up.

        P.S typed on my 13" Macbook air 2013 (and to OP - get this one if you must, it's light, has amazing battery life and great build quality).

        • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 15:29
          +2

          OneNote is on Mac now, has been for quite some time.

        • RedLights on 01/12/2014 - 15:43

          @The Land of Smeg:

          Thanks,

          Didn't know.

        • habibby on 01/12/2014 - 23:52
          +1

          Depending on the schoold, the NSWDET can be on both 2.4Ghz and 5.0Ghz. During the recent transition between servers and integration of new hardware, our old school wifi 2.4Ghz network was turned off and the NSWDET was opened up on 2.4Ghz. Also I believe there are a large range of laptops (not Apple branded) that also support 5.0Ghz Wi-Fi.

          As a result, I highly doubt that Macbooks were chosen for this specific feature.

        • technowiz11 on 02/12/2014 - 18:56

          ThinkPads, They are offically used by NSW DEC and can also connect to the 5Ghz Wifi. OneNote is available for free for any NSW school student using Windows as their computer OS.

        • cycleri3 on 07/12/2014 - 00:37

          Pretty much all pcs sold in last 2 years should be able to connect to a 5Ghz hotspot.

      • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 13:00
        +1

        I agree with some of your points, but it is not easier to use.

        I think the windows environment is more functional in a network.

        Windows has tons more software, just need to find the right ones. (I'll agree that video editing mac wins hands down).

      • caidstech on 01/12/2014 - 16:20
        +1

        A lot of this is just not true.

        Built better than every single model/brand of Windows based laptop, don't think so. There a plenty of alloy body models available these days that would more than match up.

        Battery life is no longer something held over Windows Laptop. I was using a base model HP the other day (i3, 8GB RAM, etc) That easily managed over 8 hours of battery life.

        Not really easier to use, if you've never used a Mac you don't know what is going on half of the time.

        Easier to use on a network? Examples?

        Agreed Windows 8/8.1 is not fantastic and Windows are more prone to viruses/spyware, but that is pretty much your only legitimate point in that whole fanboy ramble above.

        • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 17:11
          -8

          Not true. The MacBooks are all milled from Aluminium, they are not cast, which makes a massive difference and is a very costly way to produce something. The only windows laptops that come close are the ones that imitate the MacBooks, and even then they don't do a great job.

          A macbook air 13 inch gets 12 hours battery life, with an i5. That is significantly better than your 8 hours with a much slower i3

          Mac's tend to just work with wireless networks, and don't experience the drop outs that windows laptops are renowned for. Airdrop makes transferring files computer to computer an absolute breeze, not mucking around.

          Im not a fanboy, as I said, I have some of the latest windows 8.1 touch laptops, and they cannot compare to my 4 year old macbook Air. A pro blows them out of the water.

        • habibby on 02/12/2014 - 00:01
          +2

          @thorton82:

          Mac's tend to just work with wireless networks

          Please observe the following document detailing the connection process to the NSWDET network (Sourced from Burwood Girls High School, however the process is the same for all DET schools)

          http://web3.burwoodg-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/wp-content/uploads…

          Whilst the Mac OS machines have a shorter setup process when compared to Windows machines, with a Macbook Pro that I brought into school the auto detect proxy setting does not always work. In such cases you must create a profile and manually configure the proxy in addition to targeting a specific PAC address. When these steps are followed, you must change your Wi-Fi profile between school and home Wi-Fi networks otherwise your will not have a working internet connection, hardly a just work situation.

          Windows machines on the otherhand, when set up, will just work on any Wi-Fi network without any further fiddling.

    • GLO on 01/12/2014 - 07:56
      +1

      Im not sure just yet, Hopefully will find out more tonight at the info night.

      they do have a deal with MAC1 so its quite likely this is the case.

  • chocsyrup on 30/11/2014 - 19:24
    +5

    Working in a school, Year 7/8 students generally tell me they prefer the Air. Some seem happy with an 11", but the 13" screens are much easier for them to work with.

    In January this year (BTS), they had a free $100 iTunes gift card when you bought with Education pricing (~10%?) just in time for back to school.

    For accessories, the Speck MacBook shells are good quality and quite a few students have these to protect against scratches etc (eg. http://www.iworldonline.com.au/index.cfm/page/productdetail/…).

    • GLO on 01/12/2014 - 07:57
      +1

      Thanks,

      do your students also run Windows on their Macbooks? Or is it a pure apple environment?

      • chocsyrup on 01/12/2014 - 18:03
        +1

        The students can choose the computer they bring in. It can get a bit complicated when some students are easily able to do something on a Windows laptop but the Mac students have to go about it a different way (or the other way around).

  • ProspectiveDarkness on 30/11/2014 - 21:35
    +1

    Macbook Air. It's sufficient for their needs (a Year 7 kid really doesn't need a Retina Pro model) and it's cheaper to replace when something (minor or major) inevitably happens to it.

  • joshykins on 30/11/2014 - 21:48

    i vote for air.

    pro is overkill/overspending for such basic requirements. he may find it lacking for advanced gaming though. hopefully that means he just does his homework instead.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/11/2014 - 21:54
    +6

    Get your son a Macbook air 13 inch. I have the 11 inch, its too small. The 13 inch is a better size, has better battery life and an integrated SD card reader. Make sure you get him at least 256gb SSD instead of the 128GB or he will run out of space.

  • tonyjzx on 30/11/2014 - 21:59
    +10

    i get the feeling schools are sales agents for apple

    they're recomending they all get ipads at mine

    • mrmarkau67 on 01/12/2014 - 13:43

      For a school, the ratio between educational value and support effort for an iPad is probably a lot better than for a traditional laptop.

  • ethereal88 on 01/12/2014 - 06:56
    -2

    A pen and paper. Why does he need a laptop? And Apples frisbee trash that is obsolete Day 1 and fully soldered so you can't even upgrade at will? What are they even doing at high school now that requires tech?

    • scrimshaw on 01/12/2014 - 07:07
      +2

      Because they teach using digital content, not just traditional pen and paper. Many schools now use electronic textbooks like LearningField and ms office software as part of their education curriculum.

      They're also quite dependant on learning platforms now like Moodle, which is similar to Blackboard that is used in universities.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 07:40
    +3

    I work in IT

    I use the air and its more than sufficient

    You can set up bootcamp and also run windows on it

  • GLO on 01/12/2014 - 07:51

    Thanks everyone!

    Really appreciate the info and please keep it coming.

    The school is having an Info night tonight and I have just learnt that they use MAC1 as their supplier.

    Not sure what inclusions/exclusions there are but I really need to understand the pro's and con's of buying outright from a retailer (maybe even take advantage of a 20%off ebay sale running today) or how the payment plans work.

  • GLO on 01/12/2014 - 08:15

    I just noticed some Macbook Airs come with an i7 1.8ghz processor. whilst others have 1.4ghz dual core.

    Which is the older one and which is the better process?

    Also, can you simply add an external HDD or USD thumbdrive to increase your memory size? such as Kingston 64GB 64G DataTraveler DTMicro USB 2.0 Flash Pen Drive

    • moar bargains on 01/12/2014 - 10:16
      +1

      Note they're both dual core, and as far as I can tell, they're both 4th gen. The i7 1.8GHz would be faster, but the 1.4 Core i5 would be fine for high school, especially year 7!

      And you can certainly plug in a USB to increase storage capacity.
      Save yourself the dough on the processor and buy a big USB flash drive (and get a USB 3.0) down the track if necessary. You could also think about a small one that could be left in a lot of the time?

      • This Guy on 01/12/2014 - 16:25

        This is a kid's laptop. Using a USB stick for additional storage is a quick way to break a USB port.

    • mrmarkau67 on 01/12/2014 - 11:13
      +1

      Yes, you can.

      One of the benefits of the 13" Air is that it has an SD slot, so you can very easily leave your extra storage in the laptop all the time without losing the USB slot.

      i7 is overkill. If you need an i7 you probably need something that's not a Macbook Air.

      • toristo on 06/12/2014 - 22:29

        Agree. i5 would be more than enough. If you were choosing upgrades, HDD and RAM would be the 2 to chuck in for.

    • scrimshaw on 01/12/2014 - 16:19
      +1

      The CPU choice is not important.

      Given that pretty much the heaviest these kids will run is probably just photo editing software like Adobe Illustrator, (they won't be working on big projects anyway), the basic version is Ok.

    • goraygo on 02/12/2014 - 20:05

      If you ended up with the 13" Mac Air or Pros, you can buy SD cards for extra storage. 64Gb is quite affordable now on Amazon. Wait another year or so when 128Gb drops, you will have plenty of space. If not, just buy another SD card. :)

      The only issue I had with my Mac Air was the resolution was too low. I ended getting a machine (windows) with higher resolution.

      I understand your delimna, 11" Air is lighter and better for Year 7 kid to use and 13" Pro with better resolution is heavier by a bit but that's enough to cause backache.

      If you drive him to school then I guess 13" not too bad but if he's on public transport then it is more like long term spine health vs screen resolution. So if it is the later, I will get the 11".

  • Woodyg22 on 01/12/2014 - 08:37

    13" MacBook air with 128GB got me through year 11 and 12 easily and well. Ran and lasted much better than all the macbook pros (SSD vs HDD).
    Size and battery life also proved better than anyone elses Macs. People had everything from 11" Air to 17" Pro, that was ridiculous and barely fit on a desk!

    (The Macbook Pro Retinas hadn't quite come through yet at the time)

  • CI on 01/12/2014 - 11:18

    Go with the Air

  • fishing on 01/12/2014 - 11:58

    Be really clear about the network and wifi specifications. Some schools have routers that don't allow older standards of security.

    We recently we down this track :-(

  • ihfree on 01/12/2014 - 12:15

    Another vote for 13" Air / 256gb.

    I have a 11" Air, Screen resolution is too low for a main device in my opinion.

    OSX works fine with everything else I have - Linux NAS, Windows PC, Android phones. Mildly annoying is the creation of the metadata files by OSX, though I have read can be solved using a program called BlueHarvest.

    If you are using USB to transfer to Android Devices there's the official file transfer application(OSX doesn't support MTP)
    https://www.android.com/filetransfer/

    If you want to expand storage, there is the Transcend JetDrive lite - SD cards designed to be left in the Macbook(http://au.transcend-info.com/Apple/jetdrivelite/) While more convenient than a USB, I wouldn't get it instead of a larger SSD.

    If there are Windows programs you need to run, there are options such as Bootcamp, Parallels, Vmware Fusion or Crossover. Though I personally didn't have a problem finding alternatives to the windows programs I use.

  • iwantmoney on 01/12/2014 - 12:23

    +1 for 13" Air / 256GB OR 128GB

    As a current owner of a 13" Air for the past 2 years, and a Mac user since 2007 - I can easily say most of the specs that are given by the Pro will be unused by your son. Stuff like the 8GB RAM and so on is just overkill for high school general purpose use. Also, in regards to how much storage space you require, I personally think 128 GB will be more than enough. I'm a current university student and even I have not used up even half of my 256GB storage space on my Macbook.

    Get the Air, a lot more lightweight, aesthetic and generally more convenient, and save some money and get the 128GB storage model.

    Hope this helps!

    • ankor on 01/12/2014 - 14:30

      I say the 13" Air for the reasons above.

      When i was studying at university, it was mostly word and excel that I used, along with preview for pdf reading. I don't understand what a child would do in yrs 7-12 that would require anything approaching more than 4gb ram, or more than 256gb sdd/hdd. I note that windows ms office seemed to be easier to use as opposed to apple ms office, but that might have been due to my inability to totally adapt to the osx keyboard shortcuts and finder as opposed to windows more basic directory structures.

      If the child for some reason decides that he's going to go nuts with a bunch of adobe creative suite programs, then it might be worthwhile considering something else?

  • skalra on 01/12/2014 - 12:40
    +1

    I am going through this process. At the school my daughter is going to I discovered the official line is that the laptop should last 3 years and needs to be refreshed after this, however after speaking to the people that support the apple equipment in eth school, you can continue to use the equipment for as long as you like provided it can handle the schools standard operating environment. The school's only specification is that they require 256GB of disk space and you need to take out apple care. After shopping around (including Mac1), the cheapest place to buy the MAC products is from Apple's education store (you can do this online or in store). After speaking to the support guy, I went with the MacBook Pro with the retina display as it comes with 8GB of RAM as default (they recommended 8GB instead of 4, which I am hoping will extend the life of the laptop past 3 years), the screen resolution is better (apparently the laptops are used extensively), and from their support experience they are a bit more sturdier compared to the Air. The did mention some other points, but I can't remember them from the top of my head.

    Another parent has told me that if you have an AMEX card and purchase the laptop before the 5th December you can get a $100 rebate. I an waiting for confirmation of this.

    Finally, if you order from the online store you, apple have extended the time you can return the product until the 7th January.

    Hope this helps.

    • toristo on 06/12/2014 - 22:31

      Also check your credit card - if you have a Gold/Platinum/… sometimes you will get double the warranty length and if you're paying up front you may be able to get a lower rate for the whole price (CBA does a "Great Rate" if you call up and ask for it on major purchases - I think you get a couple per year for any actual items, not travel or bills though)

  • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 13:04
    +2

    Get the 13inch air. Lighter than a MBP and easier on the eyes than a 11inch. He is a growing kid, best not to spoil his eyes or stunt his growth (whatever difference it might make).

    I remember lugging my 15inch elcheapo acer around several years ago. Killed me for laptops really.

  • CMichael on 01/12/2014 - 13:58
    +1

    Add +1 to MacBook Air 13".

    It's light, portable, great battery life and the screen is a good size for class room use. 11" IMO is just too small, may become more apparent when your son has to write essays!

    Consider 256GB storage if keeping for 3 years. May have large school/personal programs installed etc. Also added storage size for OS files if you choose to dualboot Windows as well.

    Else 128GB should be fine if your son doesn't mind memory sticks/external hard drives. Note these mediums are ever developing more storage, better form factors and faster read/write times as consumer technology progresses!

  • onlyletters on 01/12/2014 - 14:27
    +5

    schools sponsored to run apple servers so they require students to buy macbooks, this is ridiculous, you're being screwed by the school and you know it..

    • iwantmoney on 01/12/2014 - 14:34
      +2

      parents recommended to buy machines with 8GB RAM by Apple/school support staff is just absolutely ridiculous

      • Randxyz123 on 01/12/2014 - 16:43
        -3

        Rubbish. RAM is no longer user upgradeable so I'd get the max possible for future proofing reasons….

        I'd say choose between the Retina Pro and the Macbook air.

        Retina Pro will last longer
        If he is interested in using photoshop or similar programs it will slightly better.
        however will be more expensive and will be more of a target to thiefs (or lowlifes who didn't get what they wanted)

        Definitely get a case/cover so is identifiable.

        DO NOT buy a normal Macbook Pro i.e with a CD drive and non retina display. No matter how much discount you get….

        • arbok on 01/12/2014 - 18:12

          depends what you will use it for. If the student is going to use CAD, rhino, photoshop doing large scale murals than maybe 8gb Ram would be needed.

          But I got my macbook with 4gb ram in 2008 and its still fine for general stuff.

          Definitely get a case - this is what i'm using at the moment - Uniea Macbook Case https://www.google.com.au/search?q=uniea+macbook+air+case&bi…

        • Randxyz123 on 02/12/2014 - 00:10

          @arbok: Perhaps for general stuff - I got my Macbook Pro in 2011 with 4GB and it has been fine for general stuff till the start of this year when I upgraded to 16GB.

          However and my main point above (no idea why I was negged who ever it was feel free to explain….) since you CANNOT upgrade RAM yourself anymore I would say min 8GB is needed. My computer and yours for that matter are user upgradable, you can pop down to the shops tomorrow and buy more RAM.

          The OP wants this computer to last. There is a reason the rMBPs come with 8GB of Ram as stock standard. Next year when new airs will likely be released they will probably come with 8GB stock standard and be upgradable to 16GB.

        • onlyletters on 02/12/2014 - 10:15

          sounds like you're a kid or you've been listing to your kids too long.. or your brain washed lol

        • Randxyz123 on 02/12/2014 - 13:47
          +1

          @eXtremist: Not brainwashed…. All I will say now is that for an extra $110 adding another 4GB of RAM is probably worth it…

        • onlyletters on 02/12/2014 - 15:30
          -1

          All laptops excluding chromebooks offer upgradable ram.

        • mrmarkau67 on 02/12/2014 - 23:13

          @eXtremist:

          Some of the newest laptops don't - especially Ultrabooks and convertibles. You can make a slimmer notebook with soldered RAM.

          Here's one example:

          http://www.mobiletechreview.com/notebooks/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Yo…

        • Randxyz123 on 02/12/2014 - 23:20

          @eXtremist: Given this topic is about whether to buy a Macbook Pro or Macbook Air, and given neither is user upgradable. Ordering the machine with 8GB would be advisable.

          In general you are correct that for most windows notebooks this isn't necessary and it is cheaper to DIY.

    • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 15:34

      Ah apple don't make servers, they haven't for at least 5 years.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 15:34

    He is in Year 7. Get the 11"

    Don't spoil him too much. He will learn to make the most of what he's got, which is still a very powerful package especially for 1st year high school and it would not hold him back in the slightest as he wouldn't know what he is missing out on.

    Downgrading to a lesser resolution after using a 13" would be much harder to cope mentally.

    Easier to fit into his backpack

    Less money to spend at his age

    Less money to lose if it gets lost.

    Get him something nicer than the basic when he is due for his next upgrade and he has been a good boy.

  • PurchaseAnxiety on 01/12/2014 - 16:38
    +1

    I'm a uni student and get along fine with a 13" MB Air. For word processing and web browsing, it'll easily last the whole day. I'll often go a whole week without a charge when just lightly using it around the house and having it in sleep mode the rest of the time. The SSD as standard means boot times are great, usually < 10 seconds. The build is slim and light, but very solid. The screen is also nice enough by standards, but my standards are very loose. The only thing I would recommend is think about storage. If he's going to be working with large files or will need to dual boot with Windows, definitely look at the 256gb over the 128gb.

    Now that is out of the way: As a 22 yr old that was in school not that long ago, it boggles my mind how soon technology is being introduced. A co-worker just took her boy to his introduction day at his new school (as in, he's just starting in reception), and she got told that they're expected to come to school with iPads. Literally they're first year of school, and the parents have buy them iPads. Seems ridiculous to me. Let them be kids, learn to write, draw and multiply numbers before putting this kind of stuff in there hands. Hell, give them cheap notebooks instead, and teach them how to code to make the interaction truly valuable. If technology is given precedence over basic skills, they're going to be screwed when they go to uni and are told they're not even allowed a calculator. /rant

    • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 18:39
      +1

      Actually, I would be all for pushing technologies to young kids IF they were taught how to code. Programmers are going to be the handymen of the future. I think with all these Ipad things, kids are just being taught how to appreciate sparkly technology and how to consume the newest and the "best".

      • PurchaseAnxiety on 01/12/2014 - 21:19
        +1

        Completely agree. A piece of tech that actually allows you to appreciate and understand its inner workings, and allows you to create your programs right on it, that would be very worthwhile in schools. Ipads pretty much do the opposite of those things though, so I just don't see their value in education.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2014 - 17:43
    +3

    So… they're forcing parents, to buy… MacBooks?? Out of all laptops, MACBOOKS? Why? THey are expensive, and any other laptop will do the job just fine, without the $$$

    • arbok on 01/12/2014 - 17:54

      yep, weird… must be a principal thing…

    • pufffdragon on 01/12/2014 - 21:41
      +1

      Get this, My son starts year 4 next year and it's compulsory to have an ipad or ipad mini. And if we buy from the school we get $20 off the original price. Yeah, great discount there.

      This is the way of the future though and I'm not against it, but if it's compulsory to have specific over priced Brand name products in the school, then maybe a government rebate should be introduced.

      An ipad mini is the cheapest at about $299. Still expensive but already old. I will have to sell my arse to pay for this stuff. From now right through to high school.

    • RockyRaccoon on 02/12/2014 - 14:16

      So what do you suggest - no standardisation in the school?

      Go with Windows? Ah isn't that also forcing them also what to buy?

      My son went to a school that forced them to by Toshiba's - the school deal gave them units that a month after school started were discontinued. After 3 years they found the units too slow and had to force parents to upgrade.

      Later the school switched to Mac's which lasted the 6 years (just)

      The main reason was that with the PC all the kids were playing games while the Mac didnt have the same distraction and with all the program piracy with games viruses were common. (although mac's now have more games)

      • [Deactivated] on 02/12/2014 - 21:25
        +2

        Hey Mr. Racoon,

        What's up with all these schools forcing parents to buy this and that? Doesn't sound right… (Then again, this is Australia and I'm an Kiwi immigrant, so I don't know…).

        Currently, it sounds like the school is forcing them to buy Macbooks. And if there were no standardisation and one decides to go with Windows, then it was their choice.

        All I'm saying is that MacBooks are expensive, and forcing parents to buy them for their school education is, in my opinion, wrong. APple didn't even take part in the Cyber Monday deals, like everyone else…

        The laptop will be used for what, hard core design / video editing and gaming? No; it's for school work, as it is recommended by the school - mainly word processing and internet. You don't need a hard core machine for that; any machine will suffice. For longevity, you just need to take care of it, i.e. take care not to drop it; use it on a flat surface. That's pretty much it.

        My suggestions:
        1. The school should be flexible - "BYO laptop, as long as it meets these system requirements", instead of, "You MUST have a MacBook"

        1. Better education, if it exists, for taking care of laptops.

        I went to a school that recommended Toshibas (due to a partnership… nearly 15 years now). These (much) cheaper, plastic machines will last the whole college experience, if you can take care of them. Small upgrades here and there does help, and overall, you save, especially when compared to buying, and upgrading a Macbook.

        Regarding 'distractions' and 'piracy' and 'gaming'… Well. They are kids, and they have a computer right in front of them, in class. With these factors, of course they are going to get up to mischief. It goes hand in hand. Heck, we even had porn played in class without the teacher's knowledge. We were that cool.

        …but of course, being distracted isn't the school's responsibility; it's (most likely) the child's decision to play games and be distracted. You can do these on a Mac too. You may get viruses if you do illegally download stuff…. but as long as you're not too dim, you will be fine. (BTW, we were not allowed movies and games on our machines. Of course, hardly anyone followed, and risked the random checks.)

        …and I don't know where you got that from, but Macs do not have more games than Windows.

        TLDR: Macbooks are tough and nice… but schools forcing them upon parents, is wrong. For school work, you don't need to go anywhere near $1k. You can distracted on a Macbook too. WIndows have more games than Macs.

        • RockyRaccoon on 03/12/2014 - 05:39

          …and I don't know where you got that from, but Macs do not have more games than Windows.

          Ah the written word. My point was

          (although mac's now have more games)

          was in relation to my comment

          Mac didnt have the same distraction

          Meaning they have more games now than they did when the school changed to Mac. So your

          WIndows have more games than Macs.

          is not under dispute

          The rest is your opinion which is fine, and I have mine. Just your comment

          but schools forcing them upon parents, is wrong.

          Applies to the requirement for a computer at school regardless of brand, OS etc. Which isnt what the OP was concerned about. BTW if a school chooses the Mac OS then of course it must choose Mac. Whereas Windows means more vendors. But in many cases as in your school days they mandated a brand as well - eg Toshiba.

        • mrmarkau67 on 03/12/2014 - 08:37
          +1

          I am with you on that point. Schools shouldn't force a brand.

          That being said, if you recommend Apple, the students may wind up spending a little too much money, but they won't end up with a gimped PC.

          An average person could very easily visit Harvey Norman, Dick Smith or The Internet, spend $400-$600 and bring home a Windows laptop with a bad keyboard, awful screen, poor battery, poor ventilation, underpowered processor, or loaded with crapware. Or all of the above.

          By recommending/mandating Apple, the school is protecting itself from a range of hassles at the price of parental freedom.

        • [Deactivated] on 03/12/2014 - 19:24

          @mrmarkau67:

          Good points.

          …but I don't know. Kids will be kids.

          At my school, there were some who would 'accidentally' drop their laptops, so that their rich parents would buy a new one for them. Spoiled kids.

          Oh well… Can't lie, I wouldn't have minded a Macbook Pro back when i was a student ;)

          OP, your son is very privileged! I would recommend the Air, as it's lighter.

  • hlov on 01/12/2014 - 17:46
    +1

    Looks like politicians are running the IT department these days. My y10 kid has his windows laptop since y8 and it works pretty good.

    • [Deactivated] on 03/12/2014 - 23:50
      -1

      As good as your English?

  • arbok on 01/12/2014 - 17:53
    +1

    Hello!

    I'm the owner of a 13" Macbook Pro and 15" Retina Macbook Pro…

    First let me just say - if its for school studies, no problem it will probably last him the six years of high school as long as he looks after it properly. My 13" Macbook Pro is still fine for most use and my wife's 13" basic white Macbook is still competent but obviously not as speedy as we would like anymore.

    Now you have to choose between the 13" Air 128gb SSDB, 256gb SSD or 13" Macbook Retina 128 or 256gb… Tough choice!

    The biggest difference is the weight, the 1kg Air will make it so much better to carry around than the Retina 1.5kg, but on the other hand Retina plus extra CPU power will make give it more longevity….

    So in short, if you plan to upgrade in a few years get the Air (you can get the retina air next time) or if you plan to use it for all six years get the Macbook Pro Retina… if you want to put windows on get the 256gb SSD. Otherwise you will just have to shuffle things around onto an external hard drive (should be saving work on an external anyways).

    Don't worry about the 15" unless he's into art and graphics and CAD or whatnot, portability is more important if he has to lug it around everywhere. In a few years, things will be even slimmer and he'll be carrying a beast of a laptop.

  • arbok on 01/12/2014 - 18:07

    I don't think anyone has really discussed the CPU differences yet.

    13" Mac Air - i5 1.4GHz Dual Core

    13" Mac Retina - i5 2.6GHz Dual Core

    So… both have two cores but they run at different clock speeds. For the retina they have installed a 2.6Ghz CPU which is way faster than the 1.4Ghz, this is mainly due to power consumption, the retina has a bigger battery as it has a bigger body so it can afford to use more power. For CPU intensive tasks like games or video editing and processing, there will be noticeable differences in speed. But for word processing, spreadsheets, email, general internet? Probably zero difference.

    Also the difference with dual core, quad core, six cores are that some programs may be written so it utilises all the cores at once to calculate stuff faster rather than rely on just one core. However the program needs to be written to utilise the hardware, so you won't notice it on most basic tasks.

  • PVA on 01/12/2014 - 18:23

    My comment is based on our experience with my sons school.
    My Son is in year 10, Year 8 was the old white macbook and then the school gave him an air from year 9 (but really we pay via high school fees I guess).
    it is perfectly suited to school. Right size and power to do any of his work from office stuff to film and TV video making. His Air came with MS Office and Adobe creative suite. Battery life is great.
    Computer is tough to, it has been dropped many times. And it is small and light to fit in their backback.
    Don't get hooked up with specs as I know it has made no difference to my sons studies.
    The model is 13inch 128GB ssd. 128GB is enough, unless you want to leave all their downloaded music etc. My son is fine with his, just transfers things off it when he wants (like end of year, he doesn't want previous year files on the notebook). You dont have 100s of gigs of school work.
    The school now gives new students the 11 inch model but I think the screen is too small (and it doesnt have a SD slot)

  • sal78 on 01/12/2014 - 20:54

    we have to byod for grade 4 next yr but it can be anything from ipad to laptop. Im leaning towards macbook air just because i know it's long lasting and reliable. my son uses imac at home, he has an ipad and he uses windows on school computers.

    i have a 5 yo macbook pro 15" and i live that i dont have to worry about viruses, screen of death, automatic shut diwn, losing my work. i use windows at work and we have so much computer issues every yr. i hate it.

  • hlov on 01/12/2014 - 21:27
    +2

    I have a Pro 3 but have to use Macs at work and hate them. The bloody keyboard doesn't have a backspace key, and for simple things like showing hidden files you have to write funny command line commands. The price of those machines is ridiculous.

    • ilikeradiohead on 02/12/2014 - 14:52
      +1

      Surely holding down command when pushing delete isn't too onerous? I can't comment on your other gripes though, they've never come up for me.

  • WaterMark on 02/12/2014 - 02:11

    Disclaimer - not a APPLE fan boy as I've used PCs for 15 years+

    I personally think they made the rules that way is because MACS in general have a better battery life. I used to have all sorts of PC laptops (HP, acer, toshiba, vaio) and the battery life were poor or lack thereof. I remember bringing my HP laptop (15") to university and the battery would last 2 hours. This costed me 1.8k!. I then tried a vaio X (11" netbook) and this was a bit better getting me 6 hours but performance weren't so good (enough for word etc.). One day I got a MacBook Pro and I was surprised with the battery life. I could get around 7-9 hours with a full charge which reduces my need for a charger or power outlet. The best thing about MACS is that you don't hear the fan noise (unlike PCs) and does not warm up as much especially on your lap. I loved my Vaio X but would of liked a MBP if I knew back then.

    Software wise, it may be a pain (some may argue against) to obtain some programs for education wise but word/excel/ppt is probably all is needed anyway.

  • GLO on 02/12/2014 - 08:40

    Thanks everyone for your responses.

    Info night last night indicates that the school passes on the Institution pricing.

    combined MacBook Air 256gb & AppleProtectionPlan $1430.
    128Gb version with APP $1265

    How does this pricing seem.

    • massafiri on 02/12/2014 - 09:47

      Pretty Good with the Apple Care. Honestly, I have never purchased Apple Care and never had an issue with my Macbook Air(s). I had the 2011 for 2 years, sold it in perfect condition, worked like day 1 (minus the battery capacity). I currently have the 2013 and it works like a dream.

      The low clock speed is noticeable when doing real grunty work (encoding movies, audio, image processing). But for a high school student, it'll be so fast! I also to play Diablo 3 on medium FX with pretty good frame rates.
      The most amazing thing about it is the genuine 12 hours battery life. A year later, I'll comfortably get 10 hours, but that's doing some heavy network upload/downloading.

      If you're planning to go on Holiday (Maybe you snapped up cheap Bali Tickets?), claim the GST on it too!

  • Abaddon on 02/12/2014 - 09:28
    -4

    Hold your ground. Tell them you want to prepare your son for the real world and not for life as a yuppie (profanity).

    • RockyRaccoon on 02/12/2014 - 14:20

      6 years ago who would have thought tablets would be so prevalent in business… and windows is now tablet focussed, so much for preparation.

  • dbun1 on 02/12/2014 - 10:00
    +1

    13" Air.
    If you have to carry it around often, the smaller the better, IMO.

    Don't get hooked on the specs. The specs are plenty for school work and will easily last the next 3 years.

  • oztonyau on 02/12/2014 - 11:02

    For those wanting or needing to spend less money and more time, you don't have to buy an apple computer to run the mac operating system OSX. With some work OSX can be made run as a virtual machine on either windows or linux operating systems, using one of parallels, virtualbox or fusion.

  • rxjb on 02/12/2014 - 11:35

    Id give your child the choice - cheaper one today with the ability to upgrade in 3 yrs or get the macbook pro today and it wont be upgraded for 5 yrs.

  • ilikeradiohead on 02/12/2014 - 14:55

    +1 for the 13in air. My GF got one recently for uni and it works fine for her (can't remember if it's 128gb or 256gb, I think 128gb). I haven't used the dvd drive on my pro since I upgraded it ~ 1 year ago, although the extra usb ports are nice.

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