MacBook (Pro?) advice - what to get.

Eighjan · June 17

I want to get a 14-16" MacBook for my grand-daughter & looking through the current availability of configurations it's quite bewildering to someone who only has knowledge of PC's.

I would like to get her a machine with:
32GB RAM

14-16" screen

2TB levels of storage

The CPU & graphics side of things is where the major spanners seem to be getting thrown into the works.
Unified memory isn't as straight-forward to me as it may be to younger users of computing devices...

There is no primary 'use-case' for the machine, just something I would like to surprise her with... that said, photo editing may be something she ends up using it for.

The floor is open; Pro or not, how many cores, etc...?
Price isn't likely to be a major factor, so it'll cost, to buy, what it costs.

Edited June 17 by Eighjan

Electronics Wizardy · June 17

If its just going to be used for light tasks and some photo editing, I'd get a macbook air. You can probably get away with less RAM if you really want.

I'd try to ask them what they want, or get a more specific use case if you want better suggestions. Or go to a Apple store with them to get hands on with the devices.

spacepickle · June 17

I’d just get the cheapest one that fills the storage and screen size requirements. Macs tend to do a lot more with lower specs for certain things. 16gb of RAM is almost certainly enough for her, I do a lot of fairly intensive photo and video editing on my computer and almost never crack 16 gigs. That 2TB requirement might be a bit tricky, the way I understand it they charge quite a bit more than they should for storage. Feel free to do research and get the laptop that has the lowest premium for that storage.

Commodus · June 17

2 hours ago, Eighjan said:

I want to get a 14-16" MacBook for my grand-daughter & looking through the current availability of configurations it's quite bewildering to someone who only has knowledge of PC's.

I would like to get her a machine with:
32GB RAM

14-16" screen

2TB levels of storage

The CPU & graphics side of things is where the major spanners seem to be getting thrown into the works.
Unified memory isn't as straight-forward to me as it may be to younger users of computing devices...

There is no primary 'use-case' for the machine, just something I would like to surprise her with... that said, photo editing may be something she ends up using it for.

The floor is open; Pro or not, how many cores, etc...?
Price isn't likely to be a major factor, so it'll cost, to buy, what it costs.

I'll echo earlier statements: if your granddaughter is just handling everyday tasks (light photo editing, browsing, media playback), a MacBook Air will be fine. I'd consider the 15-inch model if a large screen is more important than raw portability.

As for memory and storage: 16GB is enough for most daily use right now, but if you want to bake in some future-proofing it won't hurt to go with 24GB (a decent balance between the base and 32GB). Storage is trickier. If you know your granddaughter stores a lot of photos and videos on the computer itself, 1TB or 2TB is good; if she mainly streams things or works with files in the cloud, however, 512GB might be enough.

There are reasons your granddaughter might prefer a MacBook Pro. If she does serious audiovisual editing or juggles many apps at once, the extra performance will help. The displays are more color-accurate and faster. There's a wider port selection, and the speakers are nicer. It's just overkill if you're editing the family vacation photos or writing a report.