Ok so I’ve been looking at laptops for the fall. My parents are paying for whatever I want as a grad gift, and I’ve been looking at a MacBook pro, as that’s what I’ve always wanted plus they’re more durable and last longer. The business school (where my major is as an incoming information and analytics major, for now, I might switch entirely to computer science but that’s a minor for now) suggests a PC/Windows, but I know that Macs can run Windows through a vm or bootcamp. Do you guys think this is fine? Also, how much SSD storage is a good amount for a college student? Is 256gb enough or should I go for 512gb? I store a lot of stuff on the cloud right now, but I do have a 500gb hard drive on my current laptop.
I’d get a 13" MBP with 16Gb/512GB. The extra memory is important if you want to run a VM with parallels or VMware. The model without the touchbar is $300 cheaper and has longer battery life. You still get 2 usb-c ports which should be all that you need. If your college does not have a lot of public computers and you are going to be doing a lot of development, also look at an external monitor. Most any 4K TV will do, I have a Samsung 40" which cost about $300 on a black friday special. The notebook alone is fine for papers.
The 15" models are not much more expensive, 16Gb ram is standard and the quad core CPU is nice if you are going to be running simulations. They are kind of big and bulky though.
We have a 12" MB (8Gb/512Gb) which is especially nice for traveling and taking to class. It only weighs 2 lbs and you will not notice it in your backpack at all. It recharges in about an hour and has about 4 hrs of battery life under heavy conditions (8-10 for regular stuff) It’s actually my favorite if I don’t have to do heavy duty work (It’s a bit slow for multitasking). My son is taking it with him for a semester abroad.
Apple is supposed to announce new models in a few weeks at WWDC, so I would wait to see what updates are offered.
Macbook Pro is a good laptop but go with the 2015 model. It’s the best value (at $1300), it has a full array of ports (unlike recent models) and it has the same performance for the most part.
Macs can run Windows just fine, but Windows on a Mac may be slightly less efficient for demanding tasks than a Windows on a Windows laptop of comparable specs.
250GB of SSD storage is plenty. If you need more, you can get by with an external storage, SD cards, cloud services (which is cheaper than Apple’s overpriced storage upgrades). You would only need more than that if you’re storing an entire large library of music/movies/games.