The Macbook Air is the most budget-friendly laptop that Apple offers. Laptops have become an essential part of the academic journey, but is MacBook Air Good For Students?
Yes, the MacBook Air is a good choice for students. It offers a sleek design, powerful performance, long battery life, and seamless integration with the Apple ecosystem, making it a reliable and versatile tool for academic pursuits.
Let’s take a deeper look into this laptop.
Key Takeaways
- With 16-18 hours of battery life, the MacBook Air saves students from the hassle of constantly searching for a power outlet.
- The MacBook Air is lightweight and compact, making it easy for students to carry around. The long battery life means there’s no need to lug around a charger all the time.
- The seamless integration with other Apple products, like AirPods and iPhones, provides a streamlined user experience that can increase productivity.
- Apple’s transition to its own silicon means that MacBook Air owners can expect long-term support, including regular security updates and new features.
- The M1 and M2 chips provide adequate performance for light to medium productivity tasks, including some coding and light editing, perfect for student workloads.
- The MacBook Air is a great choice for students because of its affordability, longevity, excellent battery life, and performance which can easily handle typical student workloads.
Related: How Long Does It Take To Charge MacBook Air?
Amazing Battery Life
From 16-18 hours of battery life, the M1 and M2 MacBook Air are the undisputed battery kings when it comes to battery life. You really don’t want your laptop to be dying out on you on your third lecture Or for you to be finding a plug constantly to juice up your laptop.
Thankfully, with the Air, you can rid yourself of all ports, except the ones attached to your dongles, of course, and experience true freedom as you stroll around classrooms with no charger needed. Plus, even if you forget your charger at home, you won’t really need to worry about needing to plug it in anytime soon.
I can’t tell you how undeniably beneficial this has been for me as a student. It guarantees you an array of flexibility and utility that almost no other laptop can provide.
Great Portability
Weighing in at only 1.27 KG or 2.79 LBS, the MacBook Air is extremely light. Staying true to its name, you don’t need to carry much with the laptop itself. Its trackpad is great enough for you to not need a mouse. And the keyboard is tactile and clicky enough for you to not need to carry another wireless keyboard.
Another reason why the MacBook Air is extremely portable, which not a lot mention, is the fact that you won’t need to carry your charger everywhere. As mentioned earlier, the Air has great battery life. So, the fact that it doesn’t require you to carry a charger constantly turns out to be a big advantage. You’ll just need to use your charger when you are at home and not in class.
Lastly, let’s talk about the display size; at only 13.3 inches, the display size is great enough for you to use without constricting anyone else. While there are cases where I would’ve liked the form factor of a MacBook 14 inch more, there are a lot more times where it would affect everyone else too.
If I really want a larger screen size, I can use a dongle and connect the laptop to an external monitor. So, the Air strikes a very good balance
An Ecosystem Of A Lifetime
The reason why you buy a MacBook is not solely for the laptop itself. It is for the luxury of owning an Apple product that connects very seamlessly to all other Apple products. For instance, if I take a picture of the whiteboard in class, I can immediately AirDrop it to my MacBook to use or attach somewhere.
Or, if I am playing music on my laptop, it immediately moves to my AirPods as soon as I plug them in. Plus, your iCloud subscription synchronizes to all your Apple devices. In essence, the comfort of knowing that
Longevity and Updates
With Apple’s transition to their own silicon, they are able to support their devices for much longer. Since the M2 has just recently been released, we can’t get an accurate guess on how long the MacBook will be supported.
But, if the iPad or iPhone are anything to go by, expect at least 4-5 years of solid feature updates that take your laptop to the next level every year both in terms of security and function as well.
Moreover, MacBooks tend to get more updates from developers than their Windows counterparts. Primarily, this is because they are easier to develop for as they come in limited models but have a wide variety of individuals using them, incentivizing developers to push the envelope when it comes to supporting MacBook for the long term.
Performance Is No Slouch
The M1 and M2 chips, both in the MacBook Air are great for light-medium productivity. The Air comes with no fans, which leads it to be unbelievably quiet under any loads. And Apple has tuned the CPU in such a manner that the laptop won’t be exhuming heat when it is on your lap anytime soon.
While you won’t be able to play AAA titles on the MacBook Air, it is great for a student’s workload. I, for instance, have used it as my primary computer for developing Python and have even used it for more arduous tasks such as TensorFlow.
In all these cases, the laptop ran through like a champ. Moreover, it has the same performance whether it is plugged in or not, a testament to Apple’s own architecture. So, if you are someone who watches movies, does some light editing, or casual gaming, you’ll almost feel like the MacBook Air is too fast for your daily student workloads.
Pros and Cons Of a MacBook Air
The pros and cons of a MacBook Air for students are slightly different than casual users, which is why its integral to discuss them before you go on ahead and make your purchase:
Pros
- Great battery life: As we’ve mentioned, the MacBook Pro has an excellent battery life that’ll last you for multiple hours.
- Excellent Resale: Unlike other laptops that stay in eBay listings for weeks on end, MacBook Airs sell fast. So, they can act as a quick cash grab in case you are really strapped or are wanting to upgrade.
- User Friendly: This might not be your second or third laptop. For many, an Air is their first introduction to a laptop. Thankfully, the Air is secure, is less susceptible to viruses, and has plenty of helpful tutorials online to help you get started.
Cons
- Performance Slouch: Yes, an Air will breeze through Word Documents. But compiling millions of lines of code? Oh, please. Whether it is editing photos or exporting an entire 4K movie, the Air does have its limits.
- Repairability: Apple doesn’t like you opening your MacBook. And it certainly doesn’t want you repairing them on your own. Because of this, the Air is very expensive to maintain if you do happen to break it.
The Verdict: Is The MacBook Air Good For Students?
Yes, the MacBook Air is an excellent choice for students. It is relatively budget-friendly, will last you multiple years, has best-in-class battery life and adequate performance, and features a robust operating system that is smooth, stable, and has all the software a student requires for their work!
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Ernests is the founder and chief editor at WolfofLaptop, with extensive experience as an editor and writer for numerous other tech blogs. His journey into the world of tech blogging evolved from a background in marketing, eventually leading him to become a full-time tech enthusiast. Ernests has successfully merged his marketing expertise with his passion for technology. He has a deep affection for computers, iPads, and smartphones, and his writing style is geared toward offering helpful insights to a global audience. Ernests specializes in crafting comprehensive guides, buyer's guides, and news articles.
In his spare time, Ernests enjoys staying active with activities like running and sports. He's also an avid movie enthusiast and finds relaxation in gaming, particularly on his trusty PS5.