The best Apple MacBooks for students in 2024 are back-to-school beasts
Summer's almost over, so it's time for kids to head back to school. If you've already geared up with all the other tech you or your student needs (like a tablet or a smartwatch), you might want to get a new laptop, too. In fact, we'll go ahead and recommend that you snag a MacBook if you're already using the iOS ecosystem. They're excellent laptops and work seamlessly with all of your other iOS devices, like your iPhone or iPad.
For most students, whether they're heading to grade school or college, a MacBook Air is an affordable option that should be more than enough for most homework assignments and unwinding outside of class.
We've compiled a list of the best MacBooks for every type of student below. Whether you're looking for a daily driver for yourself or the high-schooler entering college, there's a model for every use case and budget. Find our picks below to make shopping a cinch.
The best Apple MacBook for every type of student in 2024
- Best MacBook for everyday use: 2023 14" MacBook Pro (M3 Pro processor)
- Best budget MacBook: 2024 13" MacBook Air (M3 processor)
- Best MacBook for college students: 2024 15" MacBook Air (M3 processor)
- Best MacBook for creative students: 2023 16" MacBook Pro (M3 Max Processor)
- Best MacBook for the whole family: 2023 14" MacBook Pro (M3 processor)
Best MacBook for everyday use: 2023 14" MacBook Pro (M3 Pro processor)
While most students can get away with using the smaller 2023 13" MacBook Air, if you plan on doing anything extensive with your new laptop, you might want to opt for something beefier. Anyone who wants a bit more processing power and a better display should really consider the mid-priced 2023 Apple MacBook Pro with a M3 Pro processor. That makes this option the best laptop for students who plan on using their new MacBook every day for just about everything.
The laptop's 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display is absolutely gorgeous. This means that anytime you're streaming video, gaming, editing video, working with photos, what you'll see will be extremely detailed -- with plenty of contrast and vibrancy. The display offers a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits.
We're big fans of this laptop's up-to-18-hour battery life. You also get plenty of connectivity options and ports, plus faster processing power than what a MacBook Air can do. Choose between 512 gigabytes or 1 terabyte of storage and a space gray or silver housing.
While all of the MacBook Pro laptops are more powerful than any of the MacBook Air models, this particular 14-inch MacBook Pro falls in the middle when it comes to hardware configuration and cost. It'll easily handle just about any task and could potentially replace your desktop computer, too. Plus, a MacBook Pro is a great idea for students working in art or visual mediums, since it can handle rendering much more capably than other models.
Best budget MacBook: 2024 13" MacBook Air (M3 processor)
This 13-inch MacBook Air, with its M3 processor, is an entry-level MacBook. It's configured with 8 gigs of unified memory and a 256-gig SSD for storage. You can choose between four housing colors. All of this makes it a great budget MacBook for students, and anyone else looking for one, for that matter.
We like this MacBook because it gives you all of the core benefits of a Mac, bundled into a laptop that's lightweight, portable and relatively affordable. The 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display can showcase more than one billion colors, while the integrated speaker system supports spatial audio with Dolby Atmos sound.
Battery life is up to 18 hours. This MacBook Air will easily handle all of your everyday computing; preinstalled apps handle common tasks like web surfing, email, contacts, scheduling, photo editing and more. Plus, you can use the free Apple iWork apps (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) to handle word processing, spreadsheets and slideshows.
The MacBook Air is versatile, customizable and the perfect starter MacBook for someone who's switching from a Windows laptop, or anyone who needs a reliable computer on the move.
Best MacBook for college students: 2024 15" MacBook Air (M3 processor)
One of the core needs of any college student is multitasking -- surfing the web and word processing at the same time; taking an online class while managing a spreadsheet; or researching a project while taking a video call.
The 15-inch MacBook Air gives students a bit of extra on-screen real estate, which is great for multitasking. The MacBook Air is an affordable option that'll easily fit in a backpack and continue running throughout the school day and into an evening's homework session.
The MacBook Air is also a wonderful entertainment and communications tool -- whether the user is streaming music or video, gaming, reading an e-book or participating in a group chat with family or friends. This is a laptop that'll adapt to a student's needs and provide an easy and reliable experience.
If you need a laptop for beefier tasks for a late middle-school or high-school student, it'll work in those situations as well.
Best MacBook for creative students: 2023 16" MacBook Pro (M3 Max Processor)
If you or your student plan to become a programmer, graphic artist, music producer, or anyone who regularly works with massive files, you'll want the most powerful and fastest processing power Apple has to offer.
Battery life is up to 22 hours. The Liquid Retina XDR display's maximum brightness is 1,000 nits and the computer comes bundled with the widest selection of ports that a MacBook can offer. This gives users the ability to add multiple monitors, along with an external keyboard and mouse, so the computer can be used as a primary desktop -- offering all of the power of an advanced workstation or production studio.
This MacBook Pro is equipped with a six-speaker sound system, an advanced microphone array, a 1080p resolution (full HD) webcam, a backlit keyboard and a TouchID sensor that's used to unlock the computer and approve online purchases. It's the most powerful laptop that Apple currently has to offer.
Best MacBook for the whole family: 2023 14" MacBook Pro (M3 processor)
This computer is fast, plenty powerful, versatile, customizable and portable. That makes it a great option to use as the family computer – especially if you're chugging along on an old desktop that may be on its last legs.
One of the biggest reasons for a family to choose this MacBook Pro: It has a longer battery life (up to 22 hours) and a more advanced Liquid Retina XDR display. This allows it to showcase sharper and more vibrant graphics. You also get more built-in ports.
And when you're streaming music or a movie without using wireless headphones or earbuds, you'll appreciate the six-speaker sound system that offers spatial audio with Dolby Atmos support.
Whether a parent is working from home, a student is doing homework, or a child is playing online games, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 processor will provide the computing power needed to handle a wide range of tasks. This computer easily handles multitasking, too. It includes a wide range of security, privacy and parental control tools.
Who should get a MacBook laptop?
If you're already an Apple fan, the answer is a no-brainer. But there are other big reasons to make an Apple laptop your next computer buy -- including battery life, safety and more.
All MacBook laptops integrate seamlessly with Apple iCloud, as do other Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and iMac desktop computers. As a result, your data, documents, files, photos and content can be set up to automatically backup to the cloud and sync with your other Apple gear. So, if you snap a photo using your iPhone, within seconds, it will be accessible from your MacBook laptop, as long as both are connected to the internet. The entire Apple ecosystem -- including hardware and software (apps) work extremely well together.
All of the MacBook models are also extremely portable, versatile and have a long battery life (compared with most Windows laptops or Chromebooks). Each comes preinstalled with more than 30 apps, so you can handle contact management, scheduling, email, web surfing, photo editing, video calling and other tasks right away.
We also love that MacBooks are far less vulnerable to viruses and malware than Windows laptops. And we're huge fans of their design. They're thin, light and have gorgeous displays. Plus, the MacOS operating system makes these laptops easy to operate. You also get a wide range of privacy and security tools.
If you experience a problem with your MacBook laptop, AppleCare is readily available by phone, or you can visit any Apple Store to receive personalized support. To fully benefit from the support Apple offers, we highly recommend purchasing Apple Care+ for your MacBook at the time of purchase. This is sold either as annual coverage which auto-renews each year until it's cancelled (the option we recommend), or you can pre-purchase a three year coverage plan that's not renewable.
For more help choosing a laptop, be sure to check out our coverage of the five best laptops for 2024, the best laptops for high school grads in 2024, the six best gaming laptops for 2024, the five best laptops for college in 2024, the six best laptops under $500, and the five best budget laptops for 2024. Whether you need to know about the very best laptop computers or any other types of tech, we're constantly expanding and updating our coverage to offer the most informative, timely and accurate information.
