plain jane Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I need to get my daughter a new computer for school work. Shes currently using a Lenovo laptop, which has been pretty good considering the price we purchased it for but now that I have a few kids doing online classes we need something else. Nobody here is a fan of Windows so I am going to get a Mac, but I don't know which to get. For myself, I have a 27" iMac and the kids sometimes use that for their classes and school work. We all love it. However, for my daughter I don't know what to purchase and could use some advice. Money is an issue and I would like to spend as little as possible while getting the most bang for my buck. We are strongly considering a refurb. For the most part, she has a desk in a quiet room in the house but since she currently has a laptop she enjoys the flexibility of moving it to the dining table or into the school room to work if she feels like working somewhere else. For this reason, I feel that we should get a MacBook. However, there are some decent deals on the 21" iMac (refurbished) and I know how much we all love my iMac. ;) I am also considering getting a Mac Mini as they seem to be good value and we would just get an inexpensive, yet good monitor for it. She doesn't absolutely need the portability of a laptop (although yes, it is very nice at times) but because it's what she's used for the past year couple of years I don't know if it will be an easy adjustment to desktop. That said, her Lenovo laptop, while annoying equipped with Windows, does still function quite nicely and would be available for times when she simply doesn't want to stay in one room. How do I decide if we should get a MacBook, iMac or Mac Mini? I think perhaps over the course of the year we will get two (MacBook and something else) but I will start with one for now. Could you please share which you recommend and why? She does need to use (and we have one) an external CD/DVD drive if that makes a difference. I am very indecisive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Buy an Air, an external hard drive, and an external cd/DvD player. As a student, she won't want to be tied to a desktop. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I love my Mac Mini. You can't beat it it for the price. I have one Mac Mini and between the family we have three MacAirs. For storage and photo editing, etc I use the Mac Mini with a HUGE screen. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted September 8, 2016 Author Share Posted September 8, 2016 Buy an Air, an external hard drive, and an external cd/DvD player. As a student, she won't want to be tied to a desktop. Oh man! I totally forgot about the Air! Now I have to decide between Air and Pro. *facepalm* What makes the Air a better choice over the Pro? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 What does she use it for? Does she run any special programs? Two weeks ago I bought a refurb Macbook Pro for my dd15 (and assorted siblings who need it in a pinch). It was really hard to decide what to get. She is super into photography and is now running Lightroom. I hate that the macs are always so pricey for higher levels of ram, storage and processor. I ended up going whole hog and got her the i7 with 16 gb ram and a 512 gb SSD. It was very expensive but considering that all the other computers in the house are i5s with 8 gb ram and they've been around for a long time, I was trying to future-proof this one as much as possible. If your dd is a college student, there may also be student discounts available though I don't think they apply to the refurbs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Air is lighter and cheaper(!). I can't stomach the idea of the lower-powered processor though, maybe because my boys do a lot of computer stuff and I've seen how long it takes them to render stuff in Blender on their Surface 3s (not that I can compare those processors to the specific ones in the Airs - I never looked quite that closely). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 My young adult children buy refurbished pros. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Air is a whole heck of a lot cheaper and with an external hard drive, the smaller internal storage is a non-issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted September 8, 2016 Author Share Posted September 8, 2016 What does she use it for? Does she run any special programs? Two weeks ago I bought a refurb Macbook Pro for my dd15 (and assorted siblings who need it in a pinch). It was really hard to decide what to get. She is super into photography and is now running Lightroom. I hate that the macs are always so pricey for higher levels of ram, storage and processor. I ended up going whole hog and got her the i7 with 16 gb ram and a 512 gb SSD. It was very expensive but considering that all the other computers in the house are i5s with 8 gb ram and they've been around for a long time, I was trying to future-proof this one as much as possible. If your dd is a college student, there may also be student discounts available though I don't think they apply to the refurbs. She mostly uses it for her online classes (WTMA) and school work. However, now that I've read your post I am reminded that LightRoom and Photoshop are also on my list of programs to purchase for her this year as she has a DSLR that she is starting to get very serious with. Thank you for reminding me about that. :) Does this make a difference as to whether we should go desktop vs. laptop? She could also use my iMac for Lightroom and Photoshop as everything doesn't need to be on "her" computer. Sadly, we are not in the market to consider the i7 at this time. Now I need to go wipe the drool off my face... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I prefer the Pros, refurb or otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 (edited) See I was drooling too. But the amount extra that it cost over the i5 with the same other specs is no different than the amount I just spent sending a new windows laptop in for repair (long story, keyboard malfunction but I voided the warranty by taking it apart to look at it. anyway...) We only bought Lightroom a few days ago (6, not the subscription one) and she loves it. But boy is it hogging power of some kind - processor, RAM, whatever, I don't know - the fan really runs and she needs to keep other programs closed. Maybe it would be cheapest to get an Air and then run Lightroom on the desktop. A lot depends on what her needs would be in, say, two years when the laptop should still be going strong. ETA, I only got the big SSD because at the moment I wanted to click buy, that's what was available. I had planned to get the 256 gb SSD but there wasn't one that hour on the refurb list LOL. I wouldn't go to 128 if there's a chance that photography stuff will be happening on this laptop, even though the main stuff would be on external drives. (My dd likes to do the occasional video editing, etc.) I might consider 128 for me, since my activities are limited, but not for my kids, who find ways to put all kinds of junk on their laptops, big programs, etc. Edited September 8, 2016 by wapiti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Mouse Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 If you don't need a laptop, I think the mini is great. We are on our second mini and it is around 7 yrs old. My DH would like to upgrade to a newer one, but we are going to wait a bit longer. My DHs antique (10-12 yrs old) MacBook finally bit the dust last week. He has been burning that thing along for the last 3 years. Our windows based products never last anywhere near that long. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only me Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 N cheese. Sorry. I couldn't resist. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okra Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Just FYI, how old is this daughter? College aged or close? Because while we absolutely love our macs, my engineering student at university found that the engineering dept. definitely wanted a computer that ran windows. You don't want to run into any surprises at college. So, you might want to research that just in case. That being said, We love our Mac Air. The pro is technically a better computer I think, but the Air is lighter, a bit cheaper, and does everything we need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 N cheese. Sorry. I couldn't resist. :laugh: Took me a minute but I finally got it. I've been wanting a Mac for forever but my dumb laptop probably has another couple of years worth left in it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only me Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 :laugh: Took me a minute but I finally got it. I've been wanting a Mac for forever but my dumb laptop probably has another couple of years worth left in it. Sorry for my bad humor. 😂I have a kidney stone and I'm a little loopy today and trying to keep my mind off of it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 ladybugs Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I have also been wanting a macbook of some sort. I want the latest and greatest and since they haven't been updated recently I am waiting. However I just looked and there is a rumor that the latest and greatest is coming out next month. Not sure if it is true or not, but if you can wait a month, you might get a really good deal no matter what you get. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 For any kid under 16, I'd STRONGLY recommend sticking with a desk top -- and keeping it in a public area of the house, never a bedroom. For security and privacy reasons. STRONGLY recommended. So, if I were you, I'd pass down your desktop to the kid and get a laptop for yourself. Unless you don't want a laptop (love mine! using it in bed right now!), in which case, just get another desk top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 (edited) I have also been wanting a macbook of some sort. I want the latest and greatest and since they haven't been updated recently I am waiting. However I just looked and there is a rumor that the latest and greatest is coming out next month. Not sure if it is true or not, but if you can wait a month, you might get a really good deal no matter what you get. This is a good point - prices might be ever so slightly better on the older models after the new Pro debuts. The refurb I picked was a 2015, the most recent model of the Pro. I spent a good chunk of a day reading rumors about the coming new Pro, but none of the rumored new features were things that I personally cared about, not that I can remember what they were. Edited September 9, 2016 by wapiti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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