Macbook pro advise needed for purchasing

[Molly333]

Hi sorry such a long message . My son has been saving for ages and nearly has enough for a macbook pro ( hes at secondary school) . Does anyone have any suggestions as to the places for the best deals/discounts now or has anyone got a good deal anywhere previously on black friday ? Also does it come with office if not is it easy to put on it ? Sorry im not really up to date on these

Just make sure he is responsible for that MacBook! Apple gives you a year warranty and two extra years of your purchase the Apple Care Plan... after that... well it's zilch. The Mac is very expensive to fix!

I have never seen a MacBook on discount. Unless you are after a second hand one. Students can get student discounts on MacBooks but I'm not sure if that's only applicable to university students...

Mac does not come with Office. You'll have to purchase that separately.

I love my Mac and I will never look back.

Good luck!

Every summer they come bundled with a pair of fancy earphones or headphones for free as Apple’s back to school offer. Not sure whether they do a black Friday offer but it’s not long to wait and see - check John Lewis as well as Apple themselves.

What does he need a MacBook Pro for? The Air would be enough for schoolwork though probably not gaming.

He wants it because of 6th form and uni he also games but not sure if on the macbook . It is a special gift i guess as hes finally got a little money from his absent dad .

Apple tend to fix price so their website is the same price as say for example only John Lewis and all other retailers. They have control.

I have MacBook Pro 2013 and it's still awesome! Will get an air next year.

@Molly333

He wants it because of 6th form and uni he also games but not sure if on the macbook . It is a special gift i guess as hes finally got a little money from his absent dad .

If he's into gaming, don't get a mac. I have the Air and it struggles to run games like the shooter ones (it depends which games he likes I guess).

You can definitely get gaming laptops, but macs aren't.

If he already has a gaming PC and this is an additional machine (that's what I do) then that's okay.

I have the Air 2015 and it runs really fast still. The battery life was 12 hrs when I first got it, and I'm down to about 2 now, but it's still enough for what I use it for.

He will need to be very, VERY careful with it. It's not cheap, but I absolutely love mine and would always buy macs in the future.

You've just missed (ended 31st of October) the new Macbook Pro being discounted, plus student discount allowed plus free airpods worth £140. I only know because I took up the offer lol. They might do similar for black Friday?

Macs aren’t generally ideal for gaming, as they usually have fixed specifications

For office there are some schools and universities that participate in a scheme that allows students & teachers to obtain a free copy
(The school/university buy their business licence and staff/students get a free personal copy)

www.microsoft.com/en-gb/education/products/office

There is also another way for free access. Register a Microsoft account and a number of online office apps are free to use, but you need an internet connection to use them

I know you say he wants a Mac, but I really wouldn't. I get one through work and I love it, but I don't think they're worth it if it's your own money. They're lousy for gaming and many games won't even run on it. For basic coding they're good, but they have weird GPUs, so they're not great for high level stuff. For word processing/presentations, they come with the Apple version of Word/Powerpoint. They're both fine, but he really needs to become expert in the genuine Microsoft article while he's a student for when he's applying for jobs. They're good for graphics, like photoshop, but that software is very expensive. They don't have great keyboards so they're not very good as a primary typing machine. They're also heavy and fragile, so are a terrible option for a teenage boy to take to school. If he drops his bag onto the desk too hard, it will be £400 of repairs. When he gets to university, he might need to instal specialist software for his course (depending what he's studying) and there's probably a 50% chance it won't run on a Mac.

You'll get a more robust, higher spec Windows machine for two thirds of the price that probably does everything he wants better.

I have just seen on hot uk deals uk there is a good offer on a MacBook Air. That would be good if he has a separate gaming pc. Super mobile and good for the basics of school and uni work

Funny. I was going to come on and say don’t buy one. My has been a disaster from the min I got it. I wasted my money on it and never again