1st Time buyer of an Apple laptop

Masala

Hi All

Am trying to get up-to-date on how to help my son wanting to move to an Apple Laptop.

he is involved in the music industry (production and DJ'ing etc) and needs to upgrade his current HP Laptop and is seriously l;looking at moving to Apple. So in effect - he looking at an Apple laptop that he can carry from studio to studio as well as from gig to gig.

What should he be looking for in regards to 'specs' to ensure he makes the right decision.

Any help would be appreciated as this is 'new territory' for us.

XsApollo

how much have you got to spend?
the more you spend the better the MacBook will be.

Buying a MacBook isn’t really like buying a windows laptop, where there a 1000 different options and you can be screwed over if you don’t know what you are buying.
he will want lots of storage anyway, so buy the biggest hard drive you can afford as apple don’t make it easy or even possible to change out .

So set a budget of what you want to spend on it and someone here could advise you better.

XsApollo

I just looked there, the cheapest MacBook Pro on the apple site is 2049 euro add in 1TB hard drive and it’s 2270euro bump up the ram to 16 gig and it’s 2500euro.

The cheapest macbook Air with 1TB ssd and 16 gig of ram is 2050euro.

is that the type of budget you had in mind?

and they are for the smaller screen ones,

Masala

hi all… sorry I missed putting in a Budget and spec

Looking at spending €2000 +/-

And min a 15 inch … and with his stuff … a min 1 Tb hard drive

does the price come with

1. Cloud storage
2. Ms Office
3. Warranty
4. Anti virus

many thanks again

Masala

ps … what the diff between a Pro and Air?.

Chefjom

cloud storage is extra but worth it.

No office.
1 year warranty but can upgrade with apple care (expensive)

No need for virus with apple.

Air is not as powerful as pro but good enough and a great machine

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122515755#Comment_122515755

IIRC also lighter and perhaps, i stress perhaps, a little less robust for the intended multi locational use.

I have had both over the years and I found the pro a better build.

IMO, Max the Ram at this stage if you can, even if SDD goes down to 0.5Tb,

you can store files but you need the power, especially if video so look at the video cards options,

PaulT21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058364898/1st-time-buyer-of-an-apple-laptop

Don't forget to consider the Refurbished MacBook Pros also, perfect in every way and with the same guarantee. Save a few euros also which could buy some software if needed.

https://www.apple.com/ie/shop/refurbished/mac/16-inch-macbook-pro

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122515448#Comment_122515448

The Pro is aimed at professionals with more intensive use case scenarios, think software engineers, video editors, digital artists, music producers and so on. It has more ports for plugging things in. The screen on the Pro is a lot better than the screen on the Air.

The Air is aimed at everyone else. Students and professionals who only need word processing, email etc.

If you can afford it, go for the Pro.

squonk

Definitely try a refurbed pro. Get the best amount of RAM and disk space you can for your money. I’d favour the RAM over disk space. Also you might save a bit by opting for an M1 over an M3 or getting an M2. All the M processors are likely more processor than you’ll use anyway.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122520401#Comment_122520401

Yeah I wouldnt worry too much about the diskspace, you can get a 1, 2 or 4 TB external drive for not a lot of money. RAM is king though.

Masala

and what about Cloud space. What would u all recommend he should go with for daily backup and excess storage

kyote00

he will get 200g free iCloud space that is very well integrated into the Apple ecosystem. Upgrade and family plans for storage also fairly cheap now.

imho, get a least an m2 with 15 inch screen. The m2 air is a very powerful machine

one issue you will find when moving from ‘pc’ is the MacBook only have two (Hubed) ports exposed and you need an extender to break out hdmi etc.

For backups, the included Apple Time Machine works well . I usually back up to a n usb 2TB ssd

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122522029#Comment_122522029

I used the below when I had a MacBook. Great value for what it provides, and thankfully it now works with my new THinkPad.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-MacBook-USB-C-Compatible-Thunderbolt-Gray/dp/B0BNZ5V1TF/ref=sr_1_7?crid=874VKU1F1VE3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.PXaKc5tnnJM3oKrzBx9vXOocfXX-SLtugMpiFExIFhDVobsy8NoLVasljLZnITy827Hpp0aHGoO0bZTBlgOVm73VpvQXJ7-a0hE4L2DlUZaJtpYAoTL0d69iFf58pHJyo6gy83fdMG4NQiG9WDYtLnz7Ln5-VIudpGxEDt8lHLlZtsAmfiy_DCRIUs413cPIBfs3Rm7PQPHj9DmUHwlx7wlkhRW4CpH1pNKL-EWABgc.Y1fl4iJkF18ZetcxxCrQmonAMeefHJfwMMHO8aknK-w&dib_tag=se&keywords=anker+usb+hub+laptop&qid=1724142983&sprefix=anker+usb+hub+laptop%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-7

jm08

I have bought a MacBook Pro and an Imac from refurbed.ie (Dutch based company) and both were excellent - and have no problem with them. Their equipment comes from all over Europe. I separately bought a 2Tb ssd drive (about €150) which is really fast and very portable, so don't bother getting huge hard disc storage. Great selection of equipment on the refurbed.ie site

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122523244#Comment_122523244

I actually meant to mention refurbed as I recently got my new personal laptop from them. Different make, but it is like new but cost a third of what it would have brand new.

awec

I forgot to say in my earlier post, if you're getting a Pro, stretch for the 15".

You will regret getting the 13". It's too small.