Apple Macbook air m4 2025 for sixth form?

[Seabreeze38]

Hello
does anyone have one ? Would this be suitable for sixth form
A level sociology & BTEC courses

My dd needs a laptop and years ago bought a cheap one that was rubbish so want to get a really decent one . Can get this one for £799 on John Lewis is it good deal and does anyone know if it’ll have everything she needs to do her work on thank you so much

Also would 256gb be ok or go for the 512gb thank you

Go for an iPad instead and just buy a keyboard to go with it - much more popular with teens/students these days than a laptop. Quite a few schools and universities actually provide them. More portable and easier to use. Can buy an Apple Pencil and use it to write notes + annotate on readings, PowerPoints etc.

DD has both a MacBook Air and iPad Air - since the iPad arrived her laptop has gone completely untouched.

I'd buy a standard laptop from the Dell Outlet for about £400 (from someone who has a macbook and an iPad Pro). You don't need to spend mac money at sixth form imo. Windows integrates seamlessly with school systems. Mac still doesn't integrate 100% with everything.

Agree. A cheap Windows laptop with 256GB hard drive/SSD will do. Defender’s pretty good now for security.

Apple’s too premium for sixth form.

And if there’s Office suite available from the school/college it will work better on Windows anyway.

I have a John Lewis voucher so need to buy from there

Is MacBook not great then as that’s the one i was going to buy thank you

MacBooks are great. You wouldn’t go wrong with one. And there’s less fear about viruses and other malware.

But they are pricey. I was just suggesting a cheaper Windows machine because your daughter won’t need high-end computing for sixth form.

Have you asked what software she might need/be given - word processing, presentations, spreadsheets etc? I would guess the school/college would offer something, even if it’s online rather than a ‘client’ like Outlook, Word etc.

And there are very good free packages (Libra Office etc). I hate Google docs, but there’s also that.

I suppose you could look on it as a longer term purchase - sixth form and the years after. In which case a MacBook should last longer than a Windows machine.

I’d be surprised if 256GB wasn’t enough storage for sixth form. But if you can stretch to 512GB that would future proof it more. And there are cloud services.

Good luck!

I would check with the college regarding Microsoft 365 as your daughter might be able to get it for the academic year being a student at the college.

Thank you, no sadly on the letter of what the students need it just says laptop so doesn’t say what programme is needed on it etc if it helps she’s taking a level sociology & then some btech courses ( non are computing) . Yes it would be for years after too hopefully a good 8 years . With discounts it’s £799 but I have a £300 voucher so would get it for £499 which I thought would be a good price just would need to get her a carry case for it to go in her bag . I’m just useless with tech and not sure what’s good or not lol

MacBooks are great and both my daughters had them for University. They use them for everything and they last for years - much longer than a Windows product. Makes sense if they have iPhones and other Apple products too as they integrate with one another so well.

They probably won't need Office or to buy similar software. They're likely to use online software which is free anyway - Google docs/sheets with gmail accounts and Office Word and Excel with Outlook/hotmail accounts.

Also, I just got the bigger screen version of the one you're looking at. It's honestly so good and don't let people put you off. It's probably better than what they need but you're spending so little in real terms to get a fantastic product.

I got my eldest a MacBook Air for year 10.

it’s lasted through GCSE’s, a levels, and she’s currently second year uni. In uni halls it doubled as a tv so she watched Netflix etc on it.

she gets Microsoft products through college/uni so has never needed to buy office or software.

one thing we do find invaluable is find my- she can locate her computer/airpods/phone if needed. Oh and also time capsule- it’s set to back up onto a hard drive via WiFi so if it gets stolen or breaks down her work is safe.

it’s not been treated particularly well either- couple of spillages, carried round in backpacks etc.

i got younger ds an iPad with keyboard for GCSE’s, but have had to replace it with a MacBook for a’levels. It’s handy for on the go work when he’s away at weekend football matches etc, but he needed a laptop more for writing essays, being able to have multiple windows open for research etc.

never had any issues with integration etc at school.

If you can afford it I’d say it’s worth the money.

You wouldn't get it for £499, you'd get it for £799 and you would use the voucher on that rather than something else. I bet you could get something good for about £500. I had a lovely expensive Macbook at uni and ended up spilling coffee all over it, and that was the end of that!

I bought one of these refurbished and it cost over £1000. How on earth did you get it for £799?

You go on the John Lewis website?

2025 m4 in the o/p for £849- o/p says she gets a discount.

www.johnlewis.com/2025-apple-macbook-air-13-6-inch-m4-processor-16gb-ram-256gb-ssd/p113473415

there’s also an older model for £799.

they’ve always been around that price- both my dc were. It depends on the specs.

The MacBook Air would be great. All of mine got a MacBook Air for sixth form that lasted them through uni and out the other side. Value for money I think.

Yes it’s £849 on JL but you can get £50 via student beans which a family member has so £799 .
I just need advice on if this spec be ok 16gb ram and 256gb storage will that be ok or would you get the higher 24 gb ram and 512gn storage ? My dd will also use this for video editing as she does YouTube . Many thanks

256GB will be adequate, unless they’re doing film studies or something which requires huge video files.

obviously 512GB is better, as is the increased RAM, so if you can afford it opt for that.

however there’s also cloud storage, and obviously old school external HD so if you do go smaller there are options.

I have an external HD wired to my router for back ups and storage of any files I don’t need routinely- some old purchased films and tv that are no longer available, my uni dissertation etc. Then I have the cloud for photos and phone settings and whatnot.

@Seabreeze38 for that total price I would definitely buy. That’s an insanely good deal.

I had a Mac years ago and loved it. I changed jobs and switched to using my work dell laptop, then switched to an iPad with keyboard when I left that job. The iPad was my biggest mistake, I wanted it to work like a MacBook and it didn’t, it was so clunky.
A year ago I bought another MacBook and love it, I find it so much easier to use. For that price I’d grab it with both hands!

It’s the M4 processing speed that will make the difference the storage you can boost with an external HD so the spec you’ve got is good.

Also buy all my macs from JL as they have the warranty, unlike apple. It’s a great machine.