Reply With QuoteMicrosoft or Apple, 4gb of ram is more than ample for the vast majority of people.
One thing I'd suggest is that if buying second hand, it might be an idea to pick a model who's battery can be replaced without too much hassle/cost.
Hi,
My daugter would like an apple laptop, second hand because of the cost but not ancient.
I don't think she will be doing anything CPU intensive on it.
I am ok when it comes to Windows laptops, but I know very little about apple laptops.
For example my daugter asked if 4Gb of RAM is enough, for Windows I would say get a laptop with 8Gb, but I don't know for an apple laptop.
So if we were looking at models from say around 2015 what would you recommend please ?
My daughter has mentioned 'Mac Book Air' or 'Mac Book Pro' , all I know is I think the Air is a thin one and lacks a DVD drive and the Pro is the expensive proper laptop one.
Thanks in advance - educate me please - I need to fill this gap in my knowledge.
Microsoft or Apple, 4gb of ram is more than ample for the vast majority of people.
One thing I'd suggest is that if buying second hand, it might be an idea to pick a model who's battery can be replaced without too much hassle/cost.
Thank you.Originally Posted by hafle
I have the Macbook pro 2015 model, it has 8gb ram and 128gb SSD. It flies along in day to day tasks, I often have 10 15 tabs open in chrome, mail open and a few other things running too and no slowdown at all. The only thing I should have got was the 256gb h/d but it was a pretty big price hike and I stuck a 128gb sd slimline card into the slot with an aluminum adapter for storing photos and video, so I get by with the lower storage. It did struggle a bit with Adobe Photoshop CC but it's useable (modern PS is a pig performance wise compared to the older version sadly)
Long story short the 2015 Macbook pro is a great machine at base specs and a steal compared to the pricing on the new Macbooks.
I thought big chopper )Andy) had one for sale
It'll be minty as Andy is a proper good guy who looks after his kit
Look on the Apple website for refurbished.
I got a MacBook last year for about 15% cheaper than list price. Apple also do zero finance from time to time too.
Get a macbook pro - they are the standard!
With Apple laptops look at the output ports. Eg some macbooks only have their lightning ports eg no old money USB's The MacBook pro's upto 2016 do have conventional USB ports so you can upgrade the memory using USB stick. Normally the pro versions have more processing power, not everyone needs this.
A friend of mine bought a refurbished Apple from the store, he was delighted and achieved about a £300 saving plus full Apple warranty
Steve
If your daughter is in full time education she can get a discount from Apple. Apple have just updated all their laptops so if you're looking for a new one now is the time to buy.
Standard for what?
I've got the mid-2013 MacBook Air (i5) with 8Gb RAM and a 256GB SSD and for casual use it still does great.
I PMd him asking if it may still be available and he unfortunately advised no. It did look like exactly what we are looking for :-)
I have 2015 mb air with 4gb ram. Main software i use - ms office, safari, chrome, libreoffice - these basically flies. Photoshop - basic tasks like adjusting levels, cropping etc - also no problem. Premiere pro to my amazement works fine too, but i use it just to get video stills, no editing. Never tried media encoder, but it could be interesting to compare it to good windows workstation we use for editing.
If daughter I a student there will be a education discount due for Apple products might be worth a look
Does it need to be a laptop? The Mac Mini is excellent VFM. One thing I would suggest is going pre 2013 if you are looking on the second hand market. Anything after that Apple started to solder all of their upgradable components (and their pricing for RAM, HD/SSD is outrageous!)
One other suggestion, try Apple's refurbs you could also pic up an Air for a half decent price although might not meet some of your requirements.
Laptops I'm going with.
I have a late 2013 macbook pro 15.
16Gb ram i7 2.6 ( top of the line spec at the time)
It had to be a factory order as it was the highest spec. Apple were going to give me 0% finance over 12 months but then I found out it would take 3 weeks to deliver and I needed it in a week.
I took a look at the refurb store thinking I'd get a lower spec in the meantime and then move it on after a few months. I found exactly the same spec I was after for £300 less. When I enquired about it I was told that it was probably brand new and a cancelled order given the spec. Ironic given I'd just cancelled my own order.
I've been very happy with it and it benchmarks only about 20% lower than the current equivalent model.
I use it for high end cgi work and it still flies.
In the nearly 4 years I've owned it I've never had a problem ( I don't think its ever crashed) and it still feels brand new in use . The battery has weakened and I'll be replacing it just as soon as I get the time . Its probably good for at least another 3 years for my purposes.
John Lewis do or certainly did Apple returned/refurbished products that had been bought through them. Not advertised on the floor though you had to ask and came with full JL warranty. Was 4-5 years ago since I last enquiried mind.
Apple refurbs are superb as mentioned otherwise SC is a good source. I nabbed a MacBook Pro on SC for £700-ish a while back which had been completely rebuilt by Apple except for motherboard and has never missed a beat.
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