Macbook pro or macbook air for college student?

Hi everyone, I am going to be a freshman in college this Fall. I'm torn betwen the macbook pro and air and would love some opinions! I know I will be writing lots of papers, doing research, downloading music, using youtube, and using social media network sites etc. Will the air be enough storage? What are the pros and cons of each?

Answer
Mac

Follow this Question

2 Answers from the Community

  • Best Answer

    Hello,
    I understand why you are having difficulty choosing which one would be best for you, and honestly, I also have difficulty choosing which one suits for me.
    But to make it a little easier for you, I'll list the pros and cons for both MBA and MBP:

    Macbook Air:
    Since the tasks that you will be doing on the laptop don't need much space or storage, I think a 128gb SSD will actually be enough for you - but I don't know how much music you've got. Macbook Air or Macbook Pro, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND buying an external drive, they are cheap too!
    The Air is light too, so carrying it around makes it a lot easier and more pleasant, but when I see it in the Apple Store, I'm always scared that it'll break or bend in my bag, maybe its just a risk you have to take.
    I don't know how much you are willing to spend, but almost all the time, the MBA comes out cheaper which, to me, is a great advantage.
    Unfortunately, everything is soldered to the MBA's board so you can't upgrade anything once you've bought it, I like modification so this for me is a big problem, so I recommend upgrading to 8GB of ram.

    Macbook Pro:
    (I have almost no space left so I'm going to make this brief and informative)
    Its heavier than the MBA but you can modify and add ram or storage later if you want, which to me is a big thumbs up!
    The processor is better, but since you won't be doing much that requires a big processor, I wouldn't worry about it.
    The hard drive is slower, but it has an optical drive, but I don't use mine so that shouldn't really be a problem.

    Overall, choose the MBA if you want something light, fast, less expensive but with no adjustments after purchase, and choose the MBP if you want something you can modify, has a big storage, a bit more expensive and a bit more heavier, with a faster processor.
    Either way, I highly recommend getting an external drive either way.

    Hope this helped!
    Jules

    Was this useful?

    13 of 13 people found this useful

  • Hello,
    I personally own a 15 inch retina macbook pro base model. For you, I recommend the 13 inch macbook air with 256 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM Here are my reasons:
    The biggest reason not to get a MacBook Air is that it has less storage and no CD drive. For me this is not an issue. I thought I would miss the CD drive, but I havent needed it once, and it is nice not to have the extra weight. Also 256GB is more than enough storage if you get an external hard drive and are sensible as to what you download to your computer and what you put on the hard drive.
    The MacBook Pro is only necessary if you do heavy video editing or gaming, which I do. Otherwise, I think you will like the air better. Or if you want a little more power, but still portable, go with the Retina MacBook Pro like I have. I promise you it is worth the money and you won't regret it. :)

    Was this useful?

    4 of 4 people found this useful

Similar Questions

See more Similar Questions