Costco is currently selling the M1 Macbook Air w/ 8GB of ram for $800. Is this good enough for a computer science major. From the looks of things, it seems that my school will focus mostly on C++.
Probably, but your school will have recommendations. Look them up and see if it’ll be powerful enough.
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That’s a good price! A Macbook should be more than adequate for a CS major. I’m not a big fan of Windows machines. Even though they have the edge on software compatibility, they tend to be cheap and they break a lot more often than Apple. If you run into any “Windows only” software, it’s easy to install Windows virtually on a Mac. In fact, you might actually do the same thing with Linux. Along with Apple Care, I highly recommend iCloud backup. This way, if your computer is stolen or destroyed, you can just log into a replacement computer and all your files show-up right where you left them.
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Every good deal at Costco is that way for a reason. The M1 chip is on its way out. Both the 13" and the 15" that are current use M2s. The Apple student price on that machine is $899. So, $800 is a better deal, but only if the OPs department says it’s a sufficient machine. It probably will be, but Apple is dumping them for a reason.
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Most serious compute is done offline on a compute cluster at the university. You need more than 8gb of ram. Kids often have dozens of browser windows open . You also need serious screen space to have multiple code editing windows. Minimum 15 inch I would think.
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I doubt you will need more than a 13" M1 Air. My son uses one for his CS courses. However, you are likely to require at least 16GB RAM. That wont be cheap.
Get an external monitor for your dorm if you find that you need more space. Other than looking at the course pages to confirm, I would suggest looking on the reddit for the school. This kind of question gets asked all the time.
As recommended above, your department will have recommendations for pc memory, HD and cpu. Mostly they are brand and OS agnostic. At CMU, Macbook Pros are recommended (if going Mac) that have at least 16MB RAM.
M1 Macbook air is one of the best values in laptop computing. Many students use it, including CS majors. For the upper level classes, probably will need some sort of virtual machine (Linux, windows, etc). But there is software for Mac that can handle it.
Another downside for M1 is that it doesn’t allow dual screen. There is a workaround using a docking station, but not ideal. To get around that, many students pair the Macbook with an iPad and use that as a second screen. The M1 Max and M1 Pro chips allow dual screen. The extra screen space is valuable for coding.
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No, assuming buying for at least 4 years of use.
Need at least 16gb. Recommend 32gb.
Also hard disk space fills up. Need at least 512gb. Recommend 1TB.
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Another potential workaround: On an M1 Macbook Pro (running Ventura), one can use screen mirroring via AirPlay (to a smart tv/monitor). Just select second display to effectively have dual displays. I assume this should work for Macbook Air also.
You can just buy an 18inch monitor laptop. Or a 16inch if it were a mac. This is the right thing to do rather than conjure up complicated solutions :-).
Except that you need a suitcase to carry that thing around. I have a 16in MAc and it’s plenty big without a second monitor.
One of my kids carries a 16" MAc and the other carries a 17" Dell. Both are in CS, and find the large screen size essential.
I really can’t understand why anyone would want to carry an 18" laptop around. The whole point of a laptop is that it is portable. I think a 15" Air is also fine. But, if someone wants an 18" or larger monitor for college, keep the monitor on a desk.
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If you are doing extensive coding the 16 or 17 are essential. Maybe you can skip the 18
I code almost every day and mostly use a laptop with an external monitor. My son does CS and uses a 13". The people I work with all code, and all carry their 13" Macs around. However, they all have larger monitors on their desks. So, yeah, when you are coding it is good to have a larger monitor. But you don’t need it to code and you don’t have to carry a large screen around with you.
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My kids are not in their room most of the time on campus, a situation that is required in order to do the dual monitor solution. They are in a library, or in a common space with other people working together etc. it depends on how the kid likes to operate. Adult situations are different where you have a fixed place you are working at.
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An external monitor or two when using the computer at home (wherever the student lives while attending college) can be helpful for this type of use.
I would strongly disagree. The most important factor in a laptop is that it is light and small enough to carry comfortably. I overbought my son’s school laptop to be Solidworks Certified. He uses a 13” MacBook Pro now, and he does way more real estate demanding things than just coding.
good for him