Macbook Air or Macbook Pro for Nursing School?

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I've had a Lenovo PC for about 3 years now and I don't think it's going to last much longer. It has significantly slowed down and takes 30 minutes to start up. I've been looking into Macs and I wanted to see if any of you have advice on which model would be best for school? The Pro does have a faster hardware but will the Air do the job just as well? I need it for online class work, care plans, paper work, ebooks and homework assigned through book sites.

Specializes in Telemetry, Med-Surg, Peds.

I used a 3 year old Acer PC for about a year of school, it was so bothersome with the constant updates, automatic shutdowns, and chrome issues. The motherboard gave out unexpectedly one day and I replaced it with a MacBook Air. Best decision I ever made! I will never go back to using a PC. My MacBook Air has been more reliable. No ridiculous updates that I cannot postpone, no random shutdowns, long lasting battery life, the list goes on and on. If you have the money, get one!!

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I have been using my Ipad Pro with an Apple Pencil and it has worked great. (Just starting year 2) I purchased a hard case with a keyboard on Amazon and that has been a great addition. I load all of my powerpoints into Notability and write or type notes directly on them. As party of my study practice, I re-wite notes after class as that helps me learn. The Ipad pro is less expensive than a Macbook. It is also nice and light as I tend to have a lot of stuff with me for lecture. I use a laptop at home plugged into a large monitor for my at home work. My monitor allows me to split screen which has been invaluable doing homework. I purchased the monitor on Amazon as well and it is around 32"

This system has worked great for me. You could save some money and even get your old laptop tuned up/cleaned out and use it for home based work.

It all comes down to personal preference but this has been great for me. Good Luck!

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I've always been a PC person, too. I'm going into my 2nd semester in the program and have ran into so many issues with the homework and book sites crashing and taking 5 minutes to load the next page. I'm going to do what Glucagon said and reinstall the OS and see if it helps. But I already cleared out the laptop and stripped it of old files :(

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I have been using my Ipad Pro with an Apple Pencil and it has worked great. (Just starting year 2) I purchased a hard case with a keyboard on Amazon and that has been a great addition. I load all of my powerpoints into Notability and write or type notes directly on them. As party of my study practice, I re-wite notes after class as that helps me learn. The Ipad pro is less expensive than a Macbook. It is also nice and light as I tend to have a lot of stuff with me for lecture. I use a laptop at home plugged into a large monitor for my at home work. My monitor allows me to split screen which has been invaluable doing homework. I purchased the monitor on Amazon as well and it is around 32"

This system has worked great for me. You could save some money and even get your old laptop tuned up/cleaned out and use it for home based work.

It all comes down to personal preference but this has been great for me. Good Luck!

This is exactly what I do for my notes and love it. My clinical stuff and etc just can't be done with what I have right now, unfortunately. Very frustrating because I spent a pretty penny on the Lenovo. But I'm gonna see about what I can do before spending extra on the Mac. Thank you for the feedback! The extra monitor is a genius idea especially for clinical paperwork.

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I just bought myself a new laptop for my program starting next month. I wanted a MacBook as well because I have an iPhone and it just made sense, but I ended up leaving with the surfacebook pro!

I absolutely love it. It detaches as a tablet and has USB connections without having to buy separate docks. It has face recognition which I think is pretty cool. The aesthetic is still very sleek and minimal is the same size as the MacBook Air. Most importantly i spent hundreds of dollars less, including the warranty. The MacBook is outdated, hasn't been remodeled in years except for the addition of the touch bar (which isn't that cool anyway).

I'm so glad I didn't buy a MacBook and I 100% recommend the surfacebook pro! Go check it out at Best Buy!

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic ICU.

What many people don't realize is that Macs aren't standard laptops, they're ultrabooks. They have computing and processing power that's way beyond what a standard HP could do. To accurately compare it, it would be along the lines of a Surface Book or HP Spectre, both of which are close to $1000.

Whichever laptop you buy, I'd suggest investing in something that will last you over 5 years. Any laptop will "suffice", but you want something that is fun and convenient to use and also will hold up in value. I just retired my 2012 MacBook Pro for the most recent MacBook Pro model not due to the fact that it no longer worked, but because it was too large and heavy and I wanted something sleek and more portable. I got $350 for it to put towards my new one. :-)

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What? You're buying a new one?

Don't. Factory restore it or use Linux.

Now, if the motherboard fries, that's the human equiv of heart failure. A new motherboard, like a pacemaker will only buy you time.

But until then, try using Ubuntu. It's totally free.

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I've always had dells or HPs but they die after a few years or just don't work right so I got a MacBook Air last Christmas and love it so much. It's way faster and the battery lasts way longer than my old computers. Our program didn't say anything about needing windows and just said we need a good computer.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I used a Macbook Air all through school. I saved some money by buying a refurbished Air (which is actually better than a brand new one because of the rigorous testing that Apple puts their refurbished machines through). I bought Microsoft Office for Mac on my student discount. The computer has worked perfectly all through school and beyond! I actually have an old Air that's 5 years old that I wasn't sure would last through school, but it's still kicking (I mainly use it to watch Netflix at this point).

I love Mac products. My 5 year old Air still runs almost as quickly as it did the day I bought it and it has been beat the hell up. The battery still lasts for a couple of hours at a time. The new Mac is flawless and runs perfectly with GREAT battery life after 2 years of heavy use in nursing school. I bought a cheap HP once back before I committed to Mac and no joke, it crashed and died within 5 days of me getting it. It was annoying and awful and I would NEVER go back!

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I am a longtime Mac user but an inexpensive HP laptop was best for my program. Both were compatible with my school's platform but I could lug my laptop everywhere and I was never worried about the cost. My Mac at home was older but still worked great, however, it had my life on it and I did not want to drag it all over town. Plus, it was not like I was rendering graphics or anything.

And while we are at it: SAVE/ARCHIVE ALL OF YOUR HOMEWORK, paper and electronic. Late in my program we had to assemble portfolios and a few people either never saved anything or had lost their laptops at some point.

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Specializes in Emergency / Disaster.

My program states you can pick either Mac or Windows. I have a single iPad that is now at least 5 years old. I have an iMac that is almost 10 years old. I also have 7 windows laptops in my immediate area that are junk just taking up space. While Apple products do cost more - they don't break or die. They don't download and install new updates without your permission at the most inopportune times or force you to schedule unwanted updates. My plan will be to upgrade my iPad so that I can use a pencil with it and get a keyboard for it. I'll keep my lenovo laptop around just in case I actually need it for school and do most of my work on my iMac at home when I can. If something has to get upgraded, it will be my iMac. I paid $1500 almost 10 years ago for this pretty baby and she will still boot faster than my newer lenovo every time.

There are Apple people and there are Windows people. I used to be a Windows people... the truth is - all of my apple products still work and I have a pile of windows crap that doesn't... FYI - I was a hardware techie in a former life - this stuff is truly junk now. Apple doesn't make the same quality of stuff that they used to - but I'd still spend my money on apple and bet that it will outlast any similar window product.

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When I decided to go back to school to begin my pre-nursing journey (since fall of 2017) I needed a new laptop really bad. I had a Dell XP 17 inch laptop screen that I've had for about 6 years give or take. It was heavy, bulky but at the time was a great gaming and media laptop. For school, it was the practicality and ease of use and organization, I went with a MacBook Pro. The computer provides me all that I need for my schooling, the only thing you may run into snags with the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports if you don't have an adapter to connect to PC connections at school. Otherwise you must convert your presentations or ensure file types are compatible to where your sending them. For the most part you sending your instructor things for them to grade. Otherwise, I highly recommend a MacBook Pro. You won't be disappointed:-)

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