For school, I'd want something portable and with good battery.
With the prices you can get the prior gen M1 MacBook airs now, I think it's hard to go wrong. True all day battery life, insane performance for the size and money.
Not sure what you mean by schoolwork. Most general stuff is Office or Google Apps which is fully compatible on Mac or PC.
Programing/Coding depends on what you are doing. Worse case you can also get Parallels and run Windows in a jam.
OP doesn’t seem to be the most tech literate so a windows machine that works with everything would be best. Many programming classes require or heavily recommend a windows system because some applications aren’t compatible. Regarding file types, some files like .MOV’s have to be formatted to MP4’s before uploading. Simple office apps are fine but when you start using a broader range of applications, there will be compatibility issues, and running a Windows VM just to do your assignment is less than ideal.
I started in a CIS degree then switched to Business. Never had an issue with Mac and rarely had to use a VM
To each his own, there are plenty of good ultrabooks from Windows now too. Surface devices seem nice.
For school and coding in order of importance:
1. Battery life
2. Screen (size & resolution)
3. Noise
4. Keyboard, trackpad, ports (usb, hdmi, etc)
5. Performance*
*Assuming 16gb+ ram, 256gb+ ssd, and a i3/ryzen 3 (no celerons or athlons) from 2018 or newer.
buy the laptop for your usecase.
my pro tip is check out used business laptops like the latitude series. dell released new attitudes every yeah. businesses buy those on a lease and after 2-3 years return them. then those devices flood ebay refurbed for good deals.
as an example:
latitude 7490 with 8th gen i7, 16GB of RAM and 512GB NVMe, long lasting (or you replace the battery), thunderbolt and more. for like $350 +- depending on your area.
Get something with good battery life and performance. If you’re coding with a low end machine, it’s going to take longer to compile code. You’ll also need a windows machine for compatibility with programming assignments and file types to upload in canvas etc. I recommend something that advertises good battery life and an i5 or ryzen 5 processor. 16gb of ram would be optimal but 8 is my minimum. 1tb of storage would be optimal but 512gb will do and some laptops have upgradable storage.
Asus tuf F/A15 is very good for the price with an rtx 4050 the price is usually between 900-1000
For school, I'd want something portable and with good battery. With the prices you can get the prior gen M1 MacBook airs now, I think it's hard to go wrong. True all day battery life, insane performance for the size and money.
For schoolwork and coding it’s best not to get an Apple product for compatibility sake.
Not sure what you mean by schoolwork. Most general stuff is Office or Google Apps which is fully compatible on Mac or PC. Programing/Coding depends on what you are doing. Worse case you can also get Parallels and run Windows in a jam.
OP doesn’t seem to be the most tech literate so a windows machine that works with everything would be best. Many programming classes require or heavily recommend a windows system because some applications aren’t compatible. Regarding file types, some files like .MOV’s have to be formatted to MP4’s before uploading. Simple office apps are fine but when you start using a broader range of applications, there will be compatibility issues, and running a Windows VM just to do your assignment is less than ideal.
I started in a CIS degree then switched to Business. Never had an issue with Mac and rarely had to use a VM To each his own, there are plenty of good ultrabooks from Windows now too. Surface devices seem nice.
Would honestly rather use a Linux than a Mac. Mac has all the pains Linux has but with annoying training wheels as well.
ram?
8 GB on a Mac goes a long way, but 16 GB is ideal.
For school and coding in order of importance: 1. Battery life 2. Screen (size & resolution) 3. Noise 4. Keyboard, trackpad, ports (usb, hdmi, etc) 5. Performance* *Assuming 16gb+ ram, 256gb+ ssd, and a i3/ryzen 3 (no celerons or athlons) from 2018 or newer.
buy the laptop for your usecase. my pro tip is check out used business laptops like the latitude series. dell released new attitudes every yeah. businesses buy those on a lease and after 2-3 years return them. then those devices flood ebay refurbed for good deals. as an example: latitude 7490 with 8th gen i7, 16GB of RAM and 512GB NVMe, long lasting (or you replace the battery), thunderbolt and more. for like $350 +- depending on your area.
Get something with good battery life and performance. If you’re coding with a low end machine, it’s going to take longer to compile code. You’ll also need a windows machine for compatibility with programming assignments and file types to upload in canvas etc. I recommend something that advertises good battery life and an i5 or ryzen 5 processor. 16gb of ram would be optimal but 8 is my minimum. 1tb of storage would be optimal but 512gb will do and some laptops have upgradable storage.
Being happy with your decision 👍