MacBook Pro or Air

emile1973

Hello everyone

I have been saving for ages and ages and I now have enough to buy my son a MacBook to start uni. He is doing Film so will be using it a lot for that.
I would like to know...do I buy a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air...which is better....? Battery life isn't as important but I don't know enough about them to choose.

Thank you so much guys

knightstyle

I had the same dilemma and went for the Pro, mainly because it has more connections, the Pro has HDMI which is useful for watching films etc. on TV.

b33r

Pro. Although now isn't a great time to buy a Pro, highly likely they will do a refresh in October. Also consider the regular Macbook which has pretty much replaced the Air, it's quite possible there may not be another Air again. Now is a good time to buy the regular Macbook too.

Sharon87

If he is doing film production I would definitely say Pro, it was more USB connections and possibly a firewire for transferring rushes.

Also a Pro usually has a larger screen, which is very helpful.

One thing I would say is get insurance, a high value item like that in a hall's of residence with students being lapse about security is recipe for theft! Lots of people at my old uni had things stolen, including laptops. Look at Endsleigh as they do student insurance and can add additional laptop insurance too

emile1973

Fab thank you so much.
Yes he is doing film production as part of the course.
Yes I thought about the large screen for film etc....brilliant and also the connections.
The uni provide free basic insurance with endsleigh and I've already topped it up to cover laptops and phones.

Thank you all so much. I have an iPad Air and they are very flimsy so wondered if the Mac air would be similar.
Pro it is....

Gloomendoom

Apple do special deals for students...

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/browse/campaigns/education_pricing

You might still be able to buy cheaper elsewhere though.

Anne_Marie_2

Also, make sure you buy through the Apple educational programme, as think he can get off around 20% off for being a Uni student.

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/browse/home/education_routing/find_your_institution/access

Gloomanddoom just beat me to it!

Regarding Macbook Air, it's not flimsy at all, I've had mine for over 4 years now. I'd still say go for the Pro though for your son, as others have said.

Mr_Toad

Anne_Marie wrote: »

Also, make sure you buy through the Apple educational programme, as think he can get off around 20% off for being a Uni student.

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/browse/home/education_routing/find_your_institution/access

Gloomanddoom just beat me to it!

Regarding Macbook Air, it's not flimsy at all, I've had mine for over 4 years now. I'd still say go for the Pro though for your son, as others have said.

Please don't take it for granted that the education discount is the best and check the deals on offer.

When I recently replaced my iMac I went to KRCS, an official reseller, they offered both the education discount, my girlfriend is a lecturer, and their own.

Theirs was a little better.

https://www.krcs.co.uk/

I'm not sure if their deals are always better but they were when I bought mine.

Also check out the refurbished models on the Apple site, they come with the same warranty as a new one.

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

almillar

You should really, really wait until after 7th September to buy if you can - there's a big Apple announcement then and it might include upgrades to their laptops.
MacBook Pro - a powerful, thin laptop with a high res display and 'some' ports
MacBook - a really thin laptop with a high res display and 'one' USB-C port
MacBook Air - a really thin laptop with a not-great display and very few ports.
For the MacBook and MacBook Air you're paying a big premium for them being so, very thin (and light). Bang for buck, unless it will break your back, the MacBook Pro is the best Apple laptop.