Does step-son need Macbook for uni?

longwalks1

My step son starts uni this year doing journalism and reporting and has asked mum for a new laptop, saying he needs a Macbook Retina display i7 etc etc, we had a quick look on-line and they seem to be £1,500+

Do all students needs these macbooks, or is there an alternative? Just dont want my partner being tricked into buying top of the range (hes a tech geek) when it may not be neccessary?

Thanks in advance

pandora205

Macs do seem to be the industry standard in journalism and photography (I've had daughters studying each of these), though I'm not sure they need their own.

Gloomendoom

Apple do offer discounts for educational use...

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/campaigns/education_pricing

They are still expensive though.

I used to produce a magazine using the industry standard tools: Indesign, Photoshop etc and I managed quite capably on a reasonably high spec PC.

quidsy

Maybe an adult conversion with the boy asking for his reasons for needing such an expensive piece of kit. Could be it was suggested by the tutor, uni. Or could be something all his peers are getting and he doesn't want to be left out. Either way, being tricked wouldn't be my first go to thought.

corbyboy

Does he have any course material saying what sort of software he will be using?
A Mac will almost certainly not be essential to do his course, but might make his life easier.
Or else he might just be making it up and he just wants one.

victor2

You don't need a top spec MAC. Of course it's what he wants, but they, and their associated software, don't come cheap.
Worth enquiring through the uni what sort of deals might be available, as well as looking at Apple's student discounts. Existing/leaving students might well be selling off their older models as they upgrade and the uni might have some info on that. Still going to cost you though. Do also appreciate that whatever he gets will be "obsolete" by the end of his first year, and some of his peers will always have the latest and greatest.

fishybusiness

Maybe a Macbook is the way to go, just not the spec you have suggested.

Plenty of low use mid range Macbooks for sale online at much reduced, well from £1500 anyway

bigmaz

victor2 wrote: »

Do also appreciate that whatever he gets will be "obsolete" by the end of his first year, and some of his peers will always have the latest and greatest.

Not really an issue with Mac's as it is with windows laptops. Macs stand the test of time a lot better, another factor to consider. You can test this by comparing the price of a 5 year old 2nd hand Macbook over a windows laptop, hold their price a lot better.


But wether he NEEDS a Macbook to complete his course work, I very much doubt it.

Fightsback

britishboy wrote: »

My step son starts uni this year doing journalism and reporting and has asked mum for a new laptop, saying he needs a Macbook Retina display i7 etc etc, we had a quick look on-line and they seem to be £1,500+

Do all students needs these macbooks, or is there an alternative? Just dont want my partner being tricked into buying top of the range (hes a tech geek) when it may not be neccessary?

Thanks in advance

No do they heck, they just like the shiny Apple logo. Around £500-600 will buy him a good enough Windows based laptop with a FHD screen (1920x 1080).

For £1500 I could have a good enough laptop, desktop and tablet all for that price.

cookie365

If you get a Dell XPS ultrabook you'll get the same or better performance, features, design & build quality as a macbook, but at around £500 cheaper across the range.

macman

An i7 processor would seem a tad OTT for creating Word docs, emailing and web browsing...any modern laptop from £300 would be quite adequate, though rather less impressive to his peers.