The Best School Laptop for College Students: an Engineer's Perspective

Photo by Meg Jenson on Unsplash

With school starting in a few weeks it is time for students to buy their school supplies. I am not talking about crayons or pencils, but the tool that makes classwork and projects easier and streamlined for college students. That's right, the laptop. As an engineer who used a MacBook Air all fours years of university, this laptop is highly capable and sufficient for assignments from freshman to senior year.

Take this review with a grain of salt, of course if you require massive computing power, which most engineering students don't, a different computer is needed. But for the majority of students, including STEM majors, the MacBook Air is a great choice for your college laptop. It is easy to use, advantageous to students to own other Apple products, and has endless features desirable for studying on the go.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you choose to purchase. However, these reviews remain unbiased and based on thorough research.

Methods

I used the MacBook Air for four years while I followed a rigorous engineering curriculum. Laptop and software requirements of each course was noted and the performance of the laptop using these applications was observed. In addition to course work the laptop was used for extracurricular activities to make posters, present materials, and collaborate with others. Both the extracurricular and class performance was taken into account in this review.

Results: Is this Really the Best School Laptop?

Application	Years required	Performance (0-10)	Comments
Microsoft Office	All	8	Great performance, some differences compared to a Window operating system.
Google Chrome	All	10	No issues, seamless experience.
MatLab	1	10	Great experience.
Mathematica	3	10	No issues.
Python	2-4	9	Python already installed as default, but will want to download the latest version.

In the table above the numbers 1-4 correspond to the following years:

• 1 = first-year

• 2 = sophomore

• 3 = junior

• 4 = senior

The performance of the application was graded on a scale from 0-10 with 0 reflecting poor performance and 10 reflecting exceptional.

All applications required performed as expected. There are some cases where the workflow may be different than expected, but that is easily managed and learned after a few uses. In addition, the laptop maintained its performance while using multiple applications at once.

There is also an advantage to buying the MacBook Air if you already own an iPhone or iPad. If you are logged in using the same account on all your Apple devices, the workflow during assignments and projects becomes more streamlined. Pictures, documents, and web pages can be shared between devices quickly through AirDrop. Documents saved to the iCloud can be edited by multiple devices. So, if you own an iPhone or iPad I would highly recommend the MacBook Air because of the compatibility of your devices.

It is important to notes some drawbacks in this laptop. For instance, you cannot modify its hardware. Some students may want to increase their laptop's storage by adding a hard disk. This is not possible with the MacBook. Additionally, there are only a few USB-C ports on this device. That is easily solved by adapters though. However, on the flip side this laptop is simple and straight forward to use. Out of the box, you can start using this laptop without issue.

One of the biggest advantages that the MacBook Air has is its portability. Of course you can take other laptops anywhere, but the MacBook Air has a great battery lifespan when unplugged from its charging source. There are several other models that have high computing possibility but only survive one or two hours without a power source. So, take that into account if you are the type of person that likes to study outside or needs to use your laptop while traveling.

Discussion

The MacBook Air is great for the majority of university students. It easily supports several applications and has ample storage for your four years at school. You can order this laptop with multiple memory capabilities if you are anticipating using more storage. This computer is straightforward and easy to use. The MacBook Air is great for students in all disciplines and has even excelled in the engineering curriculum. However, if you are the type of student who needs hardware customization (most don't) I would recommend looking into different laptops.

Do not underestimate the power of having a MacBook Air in college. It is the best school laptop as it is portable, capable, and easy to use. Check out the MacBook Air using the affiliate links in this post!

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