Mac users.. question?
 

I'm looking to buy my 13yr a Macbook Pro so at that age, I don't want to invest in anything to expensive in case it gets busted, dropped, sat on or something spilt on it :upsidedow
Now, I know Apple stuff isn't cheap but how do the specs compare to a PC as what I'm looking at, the specs on a new Macbook Pro seems massively out of date compared to PC for the price.
Or is this the way Macs work not needing as much power?

For example, for a price of 1500 that gets me a 13" screen, 1.4Ghz i5 CPU, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645, 8gb ram and a 512GB SSD drive.

Will this be ok for casual gaming and a little video editing?
(I know it'll be more than adequate for school work etc)

The 16" ones are better specced but they are a 1000 more and I'm reluctant to spend that at her age.

Macs are overpriced.

Also macs aren't made for gaming. 99% of games are made for PC. Go with the PC.

I'm saying this as a macbook pro owner

What he said. iMac user for over 11 Years - Got PC to game on and never looked back.:2 cents:

Seeing as a 13 year old probably sees a macbook as a status symbol of sorts, as opposed to actually intending to use it to its fullest potential, perhaps a (Slightly Cheaper) windows variant of a 'Status' laptop could be a better idea? Especially for gaming...

https://www.cnet.com/news/best-macbo...ives-for-2020/

https://www.creativebloq.com/advice/...-for-designers

A very true statement there!
Thing is, she has an iPhone and an iPad already so another Apple product would work better for her.
As for gaming, I'm not talking about graphic heavy stuff, I just wanted the option of it if she wanted to player some more modern games.
Shes quite into video editing stuff on her ipad so it was more for Final Cut Pro - which I assume would be ok as it designed for Apple?

in that case, if as it appears she's actually going to use some of the more advanced features, and is already ensconced within the apple ecosystem, then I say yes, go for the macbook.

But perhaps get an 'always on' protective sleeve for it (think like a phone case) for extra protection re drops and spills on your investment.

Something like THIS :thumbsup

My 5 year old iMac operates as if it were new. Get her refurbished and you're set.

My 11 year old iMac is the same! Good call on the refurbished :thumbsup

You will be not disappointed with a mac at that point

You -could- look on EBay for a hackintosh laptop. Ie. a windows laptop which runs Mac OS. I've been a mac user for the last 8-10 years, but recently bought a I9 hackintosh desktop which I'm using now.

As long as you don't update it, and shut it down rather than letting it sleep, its flawless. And -MUCH- faster than the equivalent native Apple Mac Pro at a fraction of the price.

At her age, I would highly recommend that she get out of the Apple ecosystem right away. Once she's been involved with Apple for long - particularly on a computer - she will be forced to stay within Apple for the rest of her life, of face the unbelievable barrier of extracting herself (at a huge huge cost of rebuying everything she has purchased in terms of music, movies, software...).

I regret not getting out of Apple a loooong time ago. Every time I pay 300% more for an Apple cable or mouse or monitor, I think to myself, if only I had gone PC. (Oh, I also have PC now for gaming and for VR, but I'm not a native PC). And every time I have to buy an Android phone just to be able to sideload apps that Apple doesn't allow - locked out of their store - I think, I'm now paying for 2x everything I get, just because Apple locked me in to their ecosystem.

It's a prison. Don't subject her to it for the rest of her life, just so she can get an Apple laptop. I guarantee she and you will regret it (Unless you're a billionaire, in which case, no problem, she can spend your money on the extra 300% cost no problem lol)

I would even just get a macbook air. They are super portable and still do everything you need. Mac is gonna suck for gaming so get a desktop PC at home for that.

My 5 year old iMac operates as if it were new. Get her refurbished and you're set.

MSI, Asus and Lenovo are most popular here. I just bought MSI GL75 (17 inch) for 1800 usd cause my Asus has battery problems after 1,5 year.

- Intel Core i7-10750H
- GeForce RTX 2060
- 17,3 inch
- 512 SSD (1 TB old disk)

I remember when i was young i wanted an Commodore. And got an zx-spectrum and MSX.
All my friends had fun, i just put it away.

The new RTX videocard is needed for some of the newer games i understood. I never play games but always buy a gaming computer for the speed and better cooling fans for when i work in hot countries.

Some problems:

- Some ASUS have problem that battery is not recharging
- Lenova can get hot
- Some MSI series have problems with hinges breaking off.

some gaming series:

MSI GL75 Leopard (GS75 is nice, but looks breakable)
Asus Rog Strix
Lenova Legion

I once dropped my Asus on the cover. And nothing happened :)

Thanks all :)
Having looked at the Apple site again, an iMac may be a better choice as she doesn't really need the portability.

3.0GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz
8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory, configurable up to 32GB
256GB SSD storage¹
Radeon Pro 560X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory
Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
Retina 4K 4096x2304 P3 display

Thats more powerful than the laptop version and has a bigger screen but the size of the ssd is massively disappointing though!

There's pros and cons - Macs last longer in use, they're durable and performant.
PCs are compatible with more games (from my limited experience, I have 0 games on my mac), and are easier on the budget.
So questions are:
What does she want to play?
How soon will she ask for a newer machine (a mac can run 5+ years, will it really be needed that long by your kid?)

I'd just have a 1TB SSD connected, and kept round the back. It will self power so won't need extra cables, then you can use that for storage and the internal one for OS and Apps.

Edit: ..I thought you said a 13 year old Macbook pro and I was like "I used to work there 13 years ago" and was going to tell you all about OSX 10.4... :upsidedow

why not a play station or what ever for games?

I disagree. I watch Pc and Android users at our office plus friends struggle regularly with things that are so easy on Mac. Plus, the way that everything things together in the apple ecosystem almost flawlessly surely raises overall productivity. Macs are worth the extra $ IMO.

Creative professionals are and have been leaving MacOS and Apple in droves.

check apples refurb section, you will pay cheaper, and get a brand new item certified by apple, you will save a couple hundred dollars

edu sales are on right now as well, which will save you a bunch

I would never buy a second hand. In 1 year i use a laptop at least 4 times more than normal use. And normaly after 2 years i need to buy a new one. Or you spill coffee and it is over after 1 year. You won't be happy if you get a second hand refubrished from me. You could look up in the system how many hours people used the computer.

I rather buy a new laptop every 2 year than get an apple for twice the price that might work for 4 years.

I asked the same kind of question here on GFY a while ago.

I decided to go with the mac....... No issue from my kid and she never complaint about anything at all. PEACE OF MIND :1orglaugh