Best laptop for students in 2024 – MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?

An Apple laptop is the ideal working tool for a student. It can be taken to classes, used in your room, library, café, or park. The device can replace notebooks and textbooks, and it can also be used to create presentations and creative designs, edit video and audio, and communicate online. Which MacBook should you buy for studying? Let’s compare different models of the Pro and Air lines and find the ideal one.

Benchmark of Portability: Compact, Powerful, and Durable

Apple creates powerful, convenient, and versatile laptops. They have incredibly long battery life. The current MacBook Air 15 and 13 models can work for up to 18 hours without recharging. If you have a MacBook Pro M3 with a 16-inch screen or a more compact 14-inch version, you can forget about the charger for almost a day—22 hours. That’s more than 2 full working days.

To save energy, the MacBook Pro uses ProMotion technology, which lowers the screen refresh rate when you slowly scroll through web pages.

The MacBook Air is the lightest and thinnest in the entire family. For example, the model with an M2/M3 chip and a 13-inch screen is just slightly thicker than 1 cm and weighs a little over 1 kg. It takes up very little space in a backpack and won’t strain your shoulders. The MacBook Pro M2/M3 with a 16-inch screen weighs 2 kg, but it’s still very compact for such a large display and powerful specs.

Screen with Eye Care

The high resolution and wide color gamut of the Liquid Retina display make the image incredibly clear, vivid, and detailed. Any user will appreciate this, especially if they create visual content and work with graphics.

Thanks to True Tone, the screen’s color temperature adjusts to the lighting. Even on a sunny day, you’ll see every line and shade on the screen. Its brightness starts at 400–500 nits and reaches up to 1000–1600 nits in Pro versions. Most laptops from other brands have brightness levels of 250–300 nits. Feel free to take your MacBook to the park, beach, or countryside.

When choosing a screen size, consider your tasks. The MacBook Air 13 is a portable and functional device suitable for chatting, typing, and browsing. The MacBook Pro with a 13 or 14-inch screen is also compact and doesn’t take up much space while being even more powerful. If you need a large display for working in multiple applications simultaneously or enjoy watching videos on a widescreen, choose the MacBook Air with a 15-inch screen or the MacBook Pro with a 16/15-inch screen.

Programming, Gaming, Editing: Everything for Productive Study and Leisure

The MacBook Pro M1/M2/M3 embodies power and performance. It has a storage capacity of up to 8 TB and RAM of up to 128 GB. Thanks to multi-core processors and enhanced graphics, it easily handles high-resolution photo editing, 4K video editing, demanding games, and code compilation. The processor and graphics card power are sufficient for video rendering and 3D design. Load the device to the max, and it won’t overheat thanks to active cooling.

If you need a laptop for basic tasks (working with texts and spreadsheets, web browsing, creating presentations), choose the MacBook Air M1 2020 or newer models like the MacBook Air M2 or MacBook Air M3. They can also handle video editing and graphics, but the Pro line is better adapted for constant media content work.

Live and Study Online with Comfort

With the MacBook Pro and Air, online classes will go perfectly, as will calls to relatives. You and your interlocutor will be heard well thanks to the excellent speakers and microphones. The picture will be perfect, thanks to the 1080p HD FaceTime camera.

Your hands won’t get tired from long work sessions, as you’ll have the Magic Keyboard with a scissor mechanism that has a smooth stroke and quiet click, as well as a trackpad with gesture support. With it, you can switch between applications, zoom images, and do much more with finger gestures—just like on a tablet. If needed, this setup can be complemented by the ergonomic Magic Mouse.

Flash drives, drives, and monitors connect via USB-C and Thunderbolt ports. The MacBook Air has two such ports, while many MacBook Pro models have three. You can connect 2 or 3 additional monitors, and the MacBook Pro M2 Max and M3 Max support four.

Built-in Features for Students

macOS is created with the user in mind and includes many useful features.

• Spotlight search: Find any document on your computer in a few clicks, like last year’s coursework.
• Audio recording and sound-to-text conversion: Convenient for recording lectures and dictating notes without needing to type them.
• Screen recording: Send it to classmates to quickly explain how a program works or settings.

The MacBook seamlessly integrates into the Apple ecosystem and works as a single entity with other devices. Start writing an email on a tablet or smartphone and finish it on the laptop at home. Take a scan or photo on an iPhone, then transfer it to a Mac with one move and insert it into a project.

All Apple gadgets are part of the ecosystem. Lectures can be recorded using Apple Watch (everything recorded on them automatically becomes available on other Apple devices), and the smart watch helps to stay focused on studies and not forget about health. Wireless AirPods are indispensable for online classes and calls: they provide high-quality sound, cut out background noise, and enhance the interlocutor’s voice.

Apps That Make Studying Easier

Necessary software is pre-installed on the Mac, and you can also download many useful apps from the App Store.

Pages allow you to create any text documents—essays, theses, term papers. Use Numbers for spreadsheets and calculations, and Keynote for presentations. Files created on a MacBook can easily be opened on Windows.

• For task planning and creating study programs, use apps like Trello.; 

Verdict? MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?

The lightweight, compact MacBook Air is a first-class basic device for any high school or college student. The 13-inch MacBook Air M1 with 16 GB is convenient to take to classes, and if you want a larger screen, go for the 15-inch model. If you plan to edit videos, audio files, and retouch photos in addition to daily tasks, opt for the faster MacBook Air M2/M3.

For video editing, complex graphics, 3D modeling, and software development, the MacBook Pro 2022 or 2023 is the best choice. Powerful equipment “for growth” for those who don’t plan to upgrade in the next few years.

To Knowledge—Together with iSpace

You can buy a laptop for the new academic year at iSpace, and it’s worth hurrying. We currently have a special offer: buy a MacBook starting from 1 699 AZN!

You can buy the device right away or opt for Multi Trade-in: Just bring any used Apple gadgets and smartphones from other brands to the store, and we’ll deduct their cost from the price of a new MacBook. The more devices, the more you benefit! The only condition is they must be in working condition.

Special Offers from iSpace

• • +1 Year Warranty as a Gift for MacBook Buyers: Your Mac will be protected even after the manufacturer’s standard warranty expires.
  • Data Transfer as a Gift: We will securely transfer your data from Windows or another Mac to the new device.
  • Learn from the Best: All MacBook buyers will receive a macOS tips and tricks course as a gift.

Always be aware!

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