Macbook advice for a new macOS user

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michaelmurfy

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#3457135 30-Jan-2026 09:16

lxsw20:

In your situation i'd probably buy a new MacBook 13" base. $1799 with Edu discount, sell the free Airpods on promo at the moment and you're around the $1500ish mark at a guess.

@lowigz I would buy new as per this suggestion.

JB HiFi have it for $1638 right now which is not too far off your budget but the key here is it's new, new battery, new warranty and should last for years to come. You'll want at-least 16gb of ram and I would recommend the M4 Air over previous models for longetivity - https://www.jbhifi.co.nz/products/apple-macbook-air-13-inch-with-m4-chip-256gb-16gb-midnight

If you buy from the Apple education store you get the free airpods.

You're buying for the future, not right now.

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lowigz

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#3457138 30-Jan-2026 09:26

zocster:

Can't self update RAM on a macbook.

gutted, didn't know that.. ok so best to go for larger memory to start with. Is there anything hardware wise you can upgrade? ssd?

turtleattacks

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#3457157 30-Jan-2026 10:08

lowigz:

zocster:

Can't self update RAM on a macbook.

gutted, didn't know that.. ok so best to go for larger memory to start with. Is there anything hardware wise you can upgrade? ssd?

No.

Get 16GB and 256GB SSD.

The MBA will last you for years and years to come. It's lightyears ahead of Intel/Windows laptops.

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lowigz

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#3457161 30-Jan-2026 10:16

michaelmurfy:

lxsw20:

In your situation i'd probably buy a new MacBook 13" base. $1799 with Edu discount, sell the free Airpods on promo at the moment and you're around the $1500ish mark at a guess.

@lowigz I would buy new as per this suggestion.

JB HiFi have it for $1638 right now which is not too far off your budget but the key here is it's new, new battery, new warranty and should last for years to come. You'll want at-least 16gb of ram and I would recommend the M4 Air over previous models for longetivity - https://www.jbhifi.co.nz/products/apple-macbook-air-13-inch-with-m4-chip-256gb-16gb-midnight

If you buy from the Apple education store you get the free airpods.

You're buying for the future, not right now.

Thanks.. I'm going to go with that, a new one means I can use xcode for a while. It's only for dev in ios and uni, I've got a main pc I use mostly anyway.

turtleattacks

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#3457162 30-Jan-2026 10:17

lowigz:

michaelmurfy:

lxsw20:

In your situation i'd probably buy a new MacBook 13" base. $1799 with Edu discount, sell the free Airpods on promo at the moment and you're around the $1500ish mark at a guess.

@lowigz I would buy new as per this suggestion.

JB HiFi have it for $1638 right now which is not too far off your budget but the key here is it's new, new battery, new warranty and should last for years to come. You'll want at-least 16gb of ram and I would recommend the M4 Air over previous models for longetivity - https://www.jbhifi.co.nz/products/apple-macbook-air-13-inch-with-m4-chip-256gb-16gb-midnight

If you buy from the Apple education store you get the free airpods.

You're buying for the future, not right now.

Thanks.. I'm going to go with that, a new one means I can use xcode for a while. It's only for dev in ios and uni, I've got a main pc I use mostly anyway.

If you have an iPhone, you'll love the seamless (TM) integration with iMessage, FaceTime etc.

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lowigz

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#3457163 30-Jan-2026 10:22

Na I'm on Android, my main pc is linux.. ditched windows when 11 started being forced. I've used mac a handful of times, but I'm about to start my last year of my degree in software development. I figured it's time to try give mac a good go, soon I can make apps for apple devices.. which to be honest is the main driving factor in this.

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TwoSeven

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#3457164 30-Jan-2026 10:25

lowigz:

zocster:

Can't self update RAM on a macbook.

gutted, didn't know that.. ok so best to go for larger memory to start with. Is there anything hardware wise you can upgrade? ssd?

the MacBook has Thunderbolt - it is worth researching this on YouTube. 9To5Mac have some good reviews on using Thunderbolt and what the MacBook can and can’t do.

thunderbolt is a bit of a game changer, both on the pc and the Mac. These days it is memory and cpu the main focus

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wellygary

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#3457199 30-Jan-2026 10:48

zocster:

Can't self update RAM on a macbook.

All M series Macs (post 2020) are SoC (System on Chip) the Processor core and Memory are all in a single integrated package...

The days of installing extra ram died with Apple Silicon...

JPNZ

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#3457209 30-Jan-2026 11:15

lowigz:

Na I'm on Android, my main pc is linux.. ditched windows when 11 started being forced. I've used mac a handful of times, but I'm about to start my last year of my degree in software development. I figured it's time to try give mac a good go, soon I can make apps for apple devices.. which to be honest is the main driving factor in this.

I switched from Win at home & WFH to MBP and I wish I could use MacOS at work. Its a mile ahead of windows IMHO.

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caffynz

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#3457215 30-Jan-2026 11:30

Starting my new job, I was given a 13" Macbook Air M4, 16gb RAM 256gb storage, I've been pleasantly surprised at how well it's performed, with the amount of videos I've been making for my job, video calls, having many apps open, tabs open in a browser etc. I don't think it's once gone glitchy in the 6 months I've had it.
Storage - using OneDrive/Sharepoint, so the 256gb is sufficient.

lowigz

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#3462099 17-Feb-2026 09:12

I ended up getting a MacBook Pro, I applied for a grant and was successful.

I got 5k to go towards my studies from a few places, enough to buy this - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKAPP164251211/Apple-Macbook-Pro-16-Laptop-with-M4-Pro-Chip--Spac

Having used windows and linux all my career, this is going to be a new challenge.

Any apps you recommend? trying not to bring windows habits across to this device lol.

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jamesrt

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#3462111 17-Feb-2026 09:39

lowigz:

Any apps you recommend? trying not to bring windows habits across to this device lol.

Install iTerm2 & HomeBrew for a start....

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