BestMacBook for StudentsiMore2020
Whether you're still in high school or racing across your college campus, a laptop is an essential piece of equipment for every student. Apple makes some of the best laptops around with its MacBook lineup. Whether it's a powerful MacBook Pro, or a light and portable MacBook Air, Apple's laptops will power you through any task you'll meet. For most students, the 2020 MacBook Air is the best choice. It has enough power to face most any academic challenge you come up against, while still offering up to 12 hours of battery life.
Mac + AirPods An offer made for college. Mar 27, 2019 With an endless sea of educational apps one can sift through, finding ones that effectively build skills, engage students, and boost learning outcomes can be daunting. To aid your quest for quality educational apps, below are 13 of the best math apps for kids.
Best Overall: MacBook Air (2020)
Most students looking for a new MacBook should pick up the MacBook Air. It's less expensive than other MacBooks, as well as lighter. And though it might not be as powerful as the MacBook Pro, it offers enough power for the average student to get through their daily scholastic workload, especially when outfitted with the optional quad-core Intel Core i7 processor.
The 2020 MacBook Air should also have enough battery to take you from class to class. Like previous versions, the latest iteration of the MacBook Air features up to 12 hours of battery life. This version also features an improved, scissor switch-based Magic Keyboard, just like the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Pro is probably overkill for most students. Sure, some will be able to take advantage of its more powerful processors available to it. Still, if most of what you're doing is writing papers, putting together presentations, or doing research on the web, you probably don't need the level of power a MacBook Pro offers.
Pros:
- Great balance of price and power
- Light and portable
- Scissor switch keyboard is back
- Touch ID
- Up to 12 hours of battery life
Best Overall
MacBook Air (2020)
Sweet spot of power, portability, and price.
Lightweight, yet with enough power to get you through most academic tasks, the MacBook Air is the perfect student computer.
Source: iMore
Because the 2019 MacBook Air uses the same processor as the 2018 model, you can save a good deal of money by going with the 2017 model of MacBook Pro. No Retina display, no Touch ID, but it's still a fairly capable machine, even if the processor is a few years old at this point.
You should also have enough battery life to get through your daily workload. Like the more recent models, the 2017 MacBook Air is rated for up to 12 hours of battery life.
While I'd still recommend the newest MacBook Air for most people, the 2017 model is still a solid alternative if you're looking to save some money. It's not flashy, and it won't win any awards for speed, but it'll still be a dependable device throughout your academic life.
Pros:
- Relatively cheap
- Still a solid performer
- USB-A ports
- SD card slot
- Excellent battery life
Best Value
MacBook Air (2017)
A capable computer for the money.
The 2017 revision of the MacBook Air is still a capable machine that will get you through most of your tasks without hassle.
Source: Rene Ritchie / iMore
The 16-inch MacBook Pro is the computer to get if you need the most power that you can afford in a portable package. You can configure it with several options, whether you need that eight-core processor, 64GB of RAM, or 8TB of storage.
But even at its base configuration, a six-core Intel Core i7 with 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and an AMD Radeon Pro 5300M GPU, it'll still handle any task a student can set to it besides the most computationally intense workflows. If you want a no-doubt-about-it machine, get this MacBook Pro.
Pros:
- Latest Intel processors
- Configurable up to 8TB of storage
- Myriad of expansion options
- Bigger display
Cons:
- Bigger than other options
- More expensive
- May be overkill for most
Best for Power Users
16-inch MacBook Pro (2019)
Most bang for your buck.
The 2016 MacBook Pro will perform great at any task you set it and should last you well after your academic career is over.
Best Power Alternative: 13-inch MacBook Pro (2019)
Though this model won't reach the heights of the 16-inch model, for those students that need or want more power than the MacBook Air can offer while sacrificing as little portability as possible, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is a good choice.
It's missing some advantages of the 16-inch model, namely the bigger screen, large storage options, and discrete GPU. However, it's powered by recent Intel quad-core Core i5 processors, so you'll still have enough power for fairly demanding tasks, such as photo and video editing, graphic design, and mobile music production.
Pros:
- Balances portability and power
- More portable than 16-inch model
- Option for up to four Thunderbolt 3 ports
Cons:
- No discrete GPU
- Limited to quad-core processors
- Limited storage choices
Best Power Alternative
13-inch MacBook Pro (2019)
A big step up from a MacBook Air.
This is the MacBook you should get if you need a step up in power from the MacBook Air.
Bottom line
Whether you need a computer for high school or college, the most recent MacBook Air is the right choice for most students. Whether you're writing papers, putting together a Powerpoint or Keynote presentation, or even editing some images for a photography class, the MacBook Air will be a reliable performer in your academic pursuits.
It doesn't have the power of something like the 16-inch MacBook Pro, nor even the 13-inch MacBook Pro. But it's still a capable machine at a solid price. The Retina display is beautiful and vibrant, and the built-in Touch ID sensor makes everything from authorizing operating system tasks to paying for things online with Apple Pay more convenient and secure.
The MacBook Air, for a long time, was the best Mac for most people, including students. Thanks to recent revisions, it occupies that space again, offering a light, portable package with enough power and battery life to get you through an entire day of school.
Credits — The team that worked on this guide
Joseph Keller is a senior writer at iMore. An Apple user for more than a decade and a half, he spends his time learning the ins and outs of iOS and macOS, always finding ways of getting the most out of his iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Rene Ritchie has been covering the personal technology industry for a decade. An outspoken analyst and critic, he writes at iMore.com/vector, podcasts at applepodcasts.com/vector, and you can find his show at youtube.com/vector. Follow him @reneritchie on Twitter and Instagram
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Hubba Hubba
Make sure you have all the ports you need for your Mac with a USB-C hub
Free Video Apps For Mac
The MacBook Pro (Late 2016 and newer) sports at least two, and up to four Thunderbolt 3 ports, but that's all. What to do if you need other ports? Get a hub!
Student, teacher or parent, here are some back to school apps for the Mac you shouldn't be without!
It's that time of year when kids flock back to school and parents collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Some mornings the air is getting crisp and soon the leaves will start to turn - it's back to school time. If you're a Mac-using household and you'd like to get things together for the new school year, I've come up with a list of helpful Mac apps for you to look at. What's more, some of them integrate or complement iOS companion apps.
CourseNotes
CourseNotes is designed to help you organize class notes. You can track multiple subjects, keep track of assignments and tests, manage to do lists for upcoming assignments, insert images, and, best of all, sync content with CourseNotes for iPad - so if you prefer to take notes in class with an iPad instead of a laptop, you'll still have continuous information.
- $4.99 - Download now
iFlash
Flash cards have been a proven way to memorize important facts and definition since time immemorial. They're integrated into iBooks as well, which Mac users will get when Mavericks ships this fall, but you don't have to wait that long thanks to iFlash. This app is a customizable flash card learning app. But you don't have to create your own - there are 15 different categories of decks (well over 3,000 in total) you can download to get started on right away. You can also print them, and use three different memorization systems.
- $14.99 - Download now
iStudiez Pro
iStudiez Pro is aimed at students, educators and parents alike. Its organizer can handle alternating (A and B week) schedules, rotating and block schedules and more.You can track homework and assignments, manage group work, view lists of upcoming events and assignments and track grades. It integrates with iCal and it also syncs with its iOS counterpart using Cloud Sync.
- $9.99 - Download now
Notational Velocity
Notational Velocity is a hurry-up-and-get-out-of-the-way note taking app for OS X delivered as open source. It sports features like modeless operation (searching for notes is directly integrated into the primary interface), incremental search, on-the-fly content compression and encryption, and continuous saving. It also works with Dropbox, to make it integrate simply with other Dropbox-enabled apps on iOS devices, like IA Writer, for example.
- Free - Download now
Schoolhouse
Schoolhouse is a full-featured academic management app for students. The software integrates calendar and scheduling, so you can plan assignments and reports, view classes, mark cancellations and absences; organizes tasks using Smart Notebooks; lets you attach files and media; helps you calculate grades, and more.
- $4.99 - Download now
Whether you're in grade school, high school, college or doing postgrad work, your needs are different - what did I leave off the list? Tell me in the comments.
Mac App Store For Pc
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Best Mac Apps For School Notes
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