I would NOT get any of the Macbooks with only one port, nor would I get the Macbooks with the touchbar.
I have the 13 inch Macbook retina. I love it and would recommend it if you can spend 1K on a machine.
@Qwerty568 I’m reading on the Apple site that the Macbook air 13 has 2 USB3 ports, thunderbolt port and magsafe power port and SDXC card slot. One web site has it for under 900. Am wondering if I would need Word but the kids are using google docs, I would think they could keep using that.
@CorpusChristi Macbook air is a common choice at Tufts! No, you really don’t need word- but many schools release the software for free. I have a macbook but Tufts provided me a download of Microsoft office for free. I use google docs anyway because it’s easier.
Macs are great - I used one for 4 years. I still feel like you can get better bang for your buck on a PC, and these days most PCs have much better build quality and design. Many of them actually stole the Mac aesthetic and look pretty similar (like my Spectre x360, lol).
You can easily snap up a sub-3 lb. PC with the same features as a MacBook Pro for at least $300-500 less (the same price, about, as a MacBook Air). That’s why I wouldn’t buy an Air these days - not because it’s not a great computer, but because I could get a better computer for the same price (especially the screen. The Air’s screen is not great.)
You don’t necessarily need to get the Office suite. First of all, many universities provide it at no cost to students (or maybe a small one-time fee). But secondly, Google Docs does do most of what the Office suite does…and they are free. I tend to prefer the Office suite, but that’s because that’s what I grew up with - the G suite is pretty simple and easy to use and learn.
If you are going to get the Office suite and have to pay for it, I highly recommend Office 365 rather than the permanent install you buy in a box from the store. It’s $7 a month and you get 1 TB of OneDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype calling in addition to one PC/Mac, 1 tablet, and 1 phone install for all of the Office suite applications. If you pay $10 a month instead, you can install it on up to 5 PCs/Macs, up to 5 tablets and up to 5 mobile phones. And these days you get Publisher, which you can’t get on the permanent versions and can be pretty useful.
Full disclosure: I work at Microsoft, although not on our operating system and hardware. So I am a bit biased! 
What major are you going for? At every price point a PC is going to have better specs than a mac. My girlfriend has a 2013ish macbook pro and it’s so much worse than my HP Pavillion laptop from 2011.
The reason I ask which major you’re going for is if you are going to use intense programs like inDesign or AutoCAD or something else then you probably want to go for a PC because they will simply be able to handle it better.
We went to Best Buy this morning and DD went for the Mac Air – $879. They didn’t have a Dell XPS 13.3 in stock that I was interested in looking at. Not sure if it was the optimal choice but I’m sure it’ll meet her needs, and she’s happy with it (although its still in the box). Thank you all for your insight!
Some schools have a partnership with Microsoft where you get a outlook school email and 365 free, which means you can download a free copy of office onto your computer. No need to buy it.