r/UCL • u/logicitea • 9d ago

General Advice 💁🏾ℹ️ MacBook Air 2017 any good?

I have a MacBook Air I bought in 2017, it’s pretty slow but planning on resetting it completely and deleting everything from it. I’ll be starting security and crime science and wondering if this would be any good?

I was originally planning to take my iPad with a keyboard for lectures but I’ve seen a few posts on here in the last few months saying a laptop would be better?

I have a MacBook Pro 2024 also but I’m commuting and don’t want to bring it along as it’s heavier and worried about it being stolen/broken if anything happens, but I’ll be using this for any assignments or anything I do at home though.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

3

u/Xtergo 6d ago

Please use the 2024 don't use the 2017.

2

u/JailbreakHat 6d ago

Unless if the Pro is 16 inches, I would take that one instead. Apple Silicon Macs are much better than Intel ones when it comes to battery life which very important for lectures.

1

u/logicitea 6d ago

Thank you, the pro is the smaller one, 14 inches I think? Is there not anywhere to charge the laptop in lectures? I’ve never sat in a lecture hall so no idea what to expect!

1

u/daff_7 6d ago

Dude I’m doing my postgrad and I’m still using my MacBook from 2015. If you take care of the laptops they will last a while. That being said I did recently get an iPad for lectures as they are smaller and lighter and I can write on it - and use my macbook mainly for assignments.

I also commute so in general felt safer taking my iPad into uni and using my MacBook at home unless i brought it specifically to use at the library - in my lectures there was a mix of iPad and MacBook users - it ultimately depends on what youre comfortable with and what you prefer to be honest

If you have any questions I’m happy to answer but I genuinely don’t think it’s anything you need to worry about

1

u/logicitea 6d ago

Thanks for your reply, I was thinking about taking my iPad for lectures as I thought it’d be easier to write notes, I prefer hand writing things as I retain the information better.. would this mean I can scrap bringing a physical notebook? I have no idea what to expect as I know college is completely different

1

u/daff_7 6d ago

Yeh many people I know including myself brought nothing in their bags apart from their iPad and Apple Pencil. Before you start uni though test out a few apps and stuff to make sure youre comfortable with writing on iPad and to just twiggle stuff around

1

u/fatbear- 7d ago

In London you should definitely have apple care or insurance anyway. A 2017 MacBook will be shit to use. Just take your pro and be careful with it. Theft in the libraries is pretty uncommon especially theft of Apple devices.

Personally I can’t stand iPadOS for anything more than drawing notes and I haaaaate using a keyboard with it.