Looking for the best MacBook for students? Our team tests every MacBook that's released, standing us in good stead to make some recommendations. For students, we reckon you want a machine with at least 16GB of RAM (8GB will do, but isn't ideal for creative work), running macOS Ventura. As such, all our picks are from later than 2017.
Why you can trust Creative Bloq
✅ Expert focus on tools for creative pros and students ✅ Hands-on reviews using real workflows as well as benchmark tests ✅ Input from working designers and student users ✅ We tested 100 laptops over 10,000 hours in the last two years
For most students, our recommendation is the MacBook Air M4, which balances portability, power and value. If you're studying programming, 3D modelling or video editing, you may want to consider the extra power of a MacBook Pro.
Beren has well over a decade of experience writing about creative tech, having previously worked for the digital art magazine ImagineFX, the fine art magazine Paint & Draw and Canon Pro Europe. As Creative Bloq's Ecom Editor, he's racked up hours testing and reviewing everything from laptops and monitors to office chairs. He also oversees the curation of our buying guides, taking feedback on the products we've tested from contributing creatives.
Balancing power, portability and value for money, the 2025 MacBook Air is a sublime machine that offers near-Pro performance. It's just 11mm thick and its battery lasts all day – perfect for on-the-go students. Read more below
With the price having dropped since the M4, the M3 MacBook Air offers impressive value for students. Its performance is solid, it's razor-thin and the passive cooling means it runs silently (though can throttle if you push it too intensely). Read more below
If you want one of the best of the best with money being no object, the M4 MacBook Pro is for you. It's one of the most powerful MacBook around, performing excellently in our testing, and packs a beautiful display for creative work. Read more below
For the demanding needs of 3D modelling, video game programming and/or 8K video editing, the high-end M4 Pro MacBook is going to be your best bet. It's an investment, but one that could pay dividends in a future career. Read more below
This isn't a MacBook, but this compact desktop computer is a great value alternative and ideal for those who want to pick a larger screen to work on. Read more below
✅ You want premium portable power: Light as a feather, but with power for days, this is a supreme students' laptop.
✅ You like a silent-running machine: The fanless design is whisper quiet.
✅ You want to keep working on the go: Long battery life means you can work an entire day without needing to charge.
Don't buy it if
❌ You're studying 3D modelling: For intense graphical work, a Pro model is your best bet.
❌ You have lots of USB peripherals: There are relatively few ports on this slim machine.
The bottom line
🔎 MacBook Air (M4, 2025): For most creative courses, especially those involving 2D design, we think the latest Air is the sensible buy for the price. Those with more specific demands: students working in video editing, motion design or 3D, for example, should consider a MacBook Pro if their budget reaches. ★★★★½
What you need to know
Our top pick for students who need a versatile laptop for general productivity and possibly light creative work is the latest MacBook Air with Apple's M4 chip. Available in 13-inch and 15-inch configurations, this laptop actually undercut the M3 version on price on release – indeed, the base model of the MacBook Air M3 was if we're honest quite underwhelming, though upgraded models offer better value these days. Anyway, in short, the MacBook Air M4 is a fantastic laptop at a fairly reasonable price, and should suit the majority of creative students – it's only if you're studying the likes of 3D modelling, game development or video editing that we'd say you may find its power wanting.
Design: We're covering both the 13-inch and 15-inch versions in this entry, as you may feel you need the extra headroom and graphical heft of the 15-inch (it uses a 10-core GPU, as opposed to 8-core on the 13-inch), or you may not. In both cases, you're getting a beautifully lightweight laptop with a 500-nit screen, with a closed thickness of just 11mm. Ports-wise you're a little limited, with just two USB-C (including Thunderbolt), so a dock may be worth the investment if you have a lot of peripherals.
Performance: Very impressive, especially given the fact that it's passively cooled, with a fanless design (that's how they get it so thin, don't you know). The M4 chip showed improvements over the M3 in our benchmark tests, and while the graphical performance of the Air didn't measure up to the like of gaming PCs with discrete graphics cards, it was never going to, and it delivers more than enough graphical heft for 2D design and photography students.
Battery life: As per usual with the MacBook Air range, Apple says it'll manage around 18 hours. We've generally found this to be a tad optimistic when actually putting these machines through our battery of tests, and it was no exception with the MacBook Air M4, but it'll still comfortable last a full working day, maybe two, before needing a charge. The charging process is also smooth and efficient – you can use USB-C as well as MagSafe.
Price: On release in March 2025, the base version started at $999 / £999 for the 13-inch and $1,199 / £1,199 for the 15-inch. Since it's early days, the price hasn't shifted much, but we have seen a few minor discounts already, so it's worth keeping an eye out for a deal.
"Of course it’s great. The combination of Apple’s thin and light laptop and the M4 processor leads to a machine that’s only just behind the low-end MacBook Pro, and which has had a price-drop too."
✅ You want portability and flexibility: With a light build and long battery life, the MacBook Air 15 is brilliant for working on the go.
✅ You want fast, silent, dependable performance: Apple's M3 chip uses passive cooling, meaning the Air runs totally silently.
Don't buy it if
❌ You need ultra-high performance: While the M3 chip in the Air 15 is powerful, it doesn't meet the MacBook Pro or Mac Studio series.
❌ You want a recent MacBook for less: We've seen solid price reductions since the arrival of the M4.
❌ You're into high-intensity gaming: The passively cooled M3 chip will throttle to avoid overheating if necessary.
The bottom line
🔎 MacBook Air 15 (M3, 2024): While it was a bit of an overpriced lemon on release, prices have come down on the MacBook Air M3 in both 13-inch and 15-9inch flavours, and these days it's looking like excellent value for students. ★★★★½
What you need to know
The previous generation of Apple's MacBook Air line sports an M3 chip, and if you want a similar experience to our top pick but don't quite have the budget, it's offering excellent value these days. Indeed, we'd say it offers better value than the previous-gen M2, which has held onto its price more tenaciously. You're better off future-proofing yourself with the M3.
With 15in and 13in display options, it also provides plenty of work space while still being relatively light thanks to the fanless design. It works via passive cooling, which means there's no whirring noise – though does mean that if it is in danger of overheating, it'll throttle performance instead.
Design: If you think you'll need a lot of screen real estate for creative work then you may want to opt for the MacBook Air 15, which our reviewer could actually use it on his lap without feeling his wrists were going to fall off the sides, and the trackpad is large enough to use comfortably. And if portability is more of a priority, then the 13-inch version will be the better pick. As for ports, on both versions there are two USB-C, which include Thunderbolt 3, plus a MagSafe charging port, so there are plenty of options for charging and attaching adapters and USB-C peripherals, including tablet chargers.
Performance: Our benchmark test results showed the chip performed on par with CPUs like Intel i9s and AMD Ryzen 7 chips without needing the cooling fans of a PC, so while the integrated GPU can’t reach the highs of a separate Nvidia chip, it can handle demanding creative programs well, and you can take memory up as high as 24GB. We had no problem editing large batches of RAW photos on our review model, which came with 16GB, and we'd say if you've got the budget, this is the best version to pick, particularly if your studies are in a visual creative field.
Battery life: Apple claims a battery life of up to 18 hours for the MacBook Air M3, though that's naturally a best-case scenario. We put it through the rigamarole of daily usage, editing in Affinity Photo, drawing in Affinity Designer, browsing the web, working on Google Docs/Sheets and playing a bit of Stardew Valley. It performed brilliantly, effectively lasting for two working days.
Price: The MacBook Air M3's value is even better in 2025 as the M4 version has seen prices further drop. On release, the base model of the 15-inch was priced at $1,299 / £1,149, and these days you can get it for around $1,049 / £949. We've also seen 16GB versions for not much more – as little as £979 in the UK – and this is worth spending a little extra for.
New, so still fairly pricey, though offers a lot for it.
★★★★½
Design
Slim and sleek, with plenty of ports.
★★★★★
Performance
Did brilliantly in our tests, but throttles if too hot.
★★★★½
Battery life
Exceptional. It just goes and goes.
★★★★★
Our expert says...
Our expert says...
Ian Evenden
With prices having dropped following the release of the M4, the M3 Air is an extremely good way to get excellent portability, battery life, and processing capabilities all in one good-value package.
✅ You demand the ultimate in performance: The MacBook Pro M4 has near unparalleled power in the laptop space.
✅ You prize portability: Offering fantastic battery life and a thin and light frame, this is excellent for on-the-go creative work.
✅ You're working with 3D or video: The MacBook Pro M4 is configurable to a point more than capable of meeting the needs of video editors and 3D artists.
Don't buy it if
❌ You're on a budget: As you'd expect, the latest MacBook Pro is pricey, especially in its meatier configurations.
❌ You only have amateur or entry-level needs: While it'll stand the test of time, you simply may not need the power housed in the MacBook Pro M4.
The bottom line
🔎 MacBook Pro M4 is yet another leap forward in power, performance and portability for Apple's professonal-grade laptops, deftly balancing its strengths without inflating the overall value. Still, it's pricey. ★★★★½
What you need to know:
The powerful 2024 MacBook Pro M4 16-inch can turn its hand to many creative tasks, and naturally handles productivity excellently. It's portable, offering fantastic battery life, making it a great choice for on-the-go creatives. It'll likely be overkill for most students, so is only worth the investment if you need the power it's offering. Also, for 3D modelling, the M4 Pro model (below) is better suited.
Design: Deftly balancing its robust frame with its slim and relatively lightweight frame, the MacBook Pro M4 is a fantastic machine for digital nomads, offering a decent array of ports; included the creative-favored SD card slot. As you'd expect from Apple, it's of great build quality, the keyboard is delightful to use and it also features a fingerprint reader.
Performance: On test, our reviewer was impressed by this clamshell's ability to handle demanding creative tasks, though of course this scales depending on the configuration you opt for. It's a solid investment thanks to its powerful M4 chipset, though it's better suited for less graphically intense tasks; for those, you're better off with the more powerful, higher-spec M4 Pro chip model. Plus, its audio quality is excellent, as is its beautiful Liquid Retina display, offering an excellent contrast ratio, great colour accuracy and refresh rate.
Battery life: We were super impressed in our review with the long battery life, which lasts up to an astonishing 22 hours; more than enough for two days of light work or a full day of more intensive tasks.
Price: It should be considered a given that the MacBook Pro M4 is a pricey laptop, especially as you extend into its most powerful configurations. Prices at launch in April 2024 started at $1,599 / £1,599 for the base model, and today are looking similar, with maybe a $100 / £100 discount if you time it well..
The Macbook Pro M4 is powerful, fitting the bill for a wide range of creative needsfrom modelling to animating and rendering, as well as daily computing tasks. It's portable, offering excellent battery life, and could stand to replace your desktop.
✅ You need next-level performance: The M4 Pro version of the MacBook Pro offers incredible power.
✅ Your studies involve 3D work: This MacBook Pro is equipped to handle intense graphical demands.
✅ You prefer a larger working area: A 16-inch laptop's extra room makes it so much more comfortable to use and type on.
Don't buy it if
❌ You don't need ultra-high performance: This is a MacBook for heavy-duty tasks like 8K video editing and 3D design.
❌ Money is a factor: Even the base model is double the price of everything else here.
The bottom line
🔎 MacBook Pro (M4 Pro, 2024) is a face-melting machine that puts MacBooks on the map when it comes to 3D modelling and 8K video editing. ★★★★½
What you need to know:
Now, the MacBook Pro (M4 Pro, 2024) is not to be confused with the MacBook Pro (M4, 2024). Who would ever get those things mixed up? This machine uses Apple's upgraded M4 Pro chip as a starting point, and can be further configured with an M4 Max, and sports a 20-core integrated GPU that can be upgraded to 32-core. All this is to say that it's a capable machine for serious 3D artists, VFX artists and video editors. If you are studying anything in that region, it could be worth it; if you are not, it is probably not.
Design: Everything oozes quality, just as you'd expect. Apple has finely honed the industrial design of its MacBook Pro models at this point, and the machine feels premium. The Liquid Retina display is a glorious 16-inch type, and programming / game design students will likely appreciate the generous real estate it provides.
Performance: Well, yes. It certainly performs. Our reviewer found the MacBook M4 Pro performed brilliantly for everything from 3D modelling to image editing and video editing – we got effectively instantaneous results when doing complex tasks in Cinema 4D. In our benchmark tests, it achieved the kinds. of results you'd expect from a desktop PC. It's faster even than the M1 Ultra, and if you've got the budget to configure extra memory, those speeds are only going to improve.
Battery life: Excellent. Our reviewer found he could happily while away a full workday that included rendering in Redshift, listening to music and intermittently browsing the web, without any danger of the battery running out.
Price: It's not cheap laptop. Since release in early 2024, prices for the most basic model have started at $2,499 / £2,499, and you can easily configure your way to spending more than $7,000 / £7,000. If you're on a course that demands a high-spec machine, it is certainly that, and if you're not, then you simply don't need it.
The 2024 MacBook Pro M4 Pro is a powerful laptop for any use case, from modelling to animating and rendering, as well as daily computing tasks. The portability and excellent battery life make it suitable for 3D art students.
✅ You're on a budget: Even with the need to buy extra peripherals, this is a cheaper buy.
✅ You prefer a desktop setup: Not everyone likes working on their lap or in a cafe.
✅ You like the idea of a take-everywhere desktop: Its tiny dimensions mean it'll fit in a backpack, so you can work wherever there's a desk, a plug socket and a screen.
Don't buy it if
❌ You need to work without a power supply: Naturally, one of the key advantages of a MacBook is being able to run on battery, which the Mac mini can't do.
❌ You want an all-in-one package: The Mac mini won't do much by itself; you'll also need to pick up a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
❌ You want a 3D or gaming machine: It's not really built for that, as its graphics scores attest to.
The bottom line
🔎 Mac mini (M4, 2024) may be a desktop computer, but it's portable enough to be a credible MacBook alternative for students. Cheaper than a MacBook, it still offers whip-fast performance even at demanding tasks. ★★★★½
What you need to know:
We think the 2024 Mac mini with an M4 chip makes a great value desktop MacBook alternative for students who don't need the portability of a laptop that they can take with them to class. With memory starting at 16GB, it's got more than enough power for even demanding creative applications.
Design: If you don't need portability, a Mac mini and a good external monitor can make a great setup for creative work. It's mini by name and truly mini by nature – measuring not much more in length than an iPhone! It may be a desktop computer, but there's no reason you can't sling the Mac mini in a backpack and take it on the go with you, meaning you can happily work anywhere there's a flat surface, a plug socket and a monitor. You get plenty of ports as well.
Performance: We tested the M4 version (as opposed to the more expensive M4 Pro) and found that it could handle pretty much everything we demanded of it, including video editing. Its CPU scores in Geekbench and Cinebench were easily among the best in its price bracket. Its GPU scores were a little more pedestrian, reflecting the fact that it's not really made for high-intensity gaming or 3D work, but for anyone whose course involves 2D design or photo/video editing, it's going to do an exemplary job.
Price: The M4 version started at $599 / £599 on release in 2024, and prices are similar today, with maybe a $50 / £50 discount here and there. Even when you factor in the need to buy a monitor and other peripherals, that is ridiculously good value. You can spec up with an M4 Pro chip, starting at $1,399 / £1,399, but most students probably won't need to.
It's tiny, but packs enough power for any creative task outside 3D processing or heavy video renders, and unlike many Apple products, it offers great value for your money.
The best MacBook for you will depend on your needs, budget and whether your prioritise screen space and power or portability. We've chosen the 2022 MacBook Air 13 as the best student MacBook overall because it's slim and compact, provides more than enough power for most students' needs, and the price has dropped following the release of a new M3 model in 2024. However, students with more specific requirements, such as those that need to run demanding video editing software may want to consider a MacBook Pro.
We tested all of our picks of the best MacBooks for students in hands-on reviews. When we reviewed each laptop, we performed a series of benchmark tests in order to evaluate build quality, performance, display, battery life and ergonomics. We also put each laptop through its paces in real-life situations using a range of different software applications and media.
To choose the best MacBooks for students for different needs, we compared display size and portability, the ability to run the software needed for various creative courses, the comfort of the keyboards and more.
We think that in general MacBooks are good for students, although whether a MacBook is right for you will ultimately depend on your needs, preferences and budget. In our many years of reviewing MacBooks, we've found them to almost always be well-built and among the most powerful laptops available.
MacBooks are slim and light, putting them among the most portable laptops around for each size category. This is a big advantage for students who need to carry a laptop to class or to work in a library or other location. We also find Macs and MacOS to be intuitive, user-friendly, and reliable. That said, there are caveats. Not all programs are available for MacOS, so if you need a specific piece of software for your area of study, you should check its runs on MacOS. Macs are also not the best for gaming, although that's starting to change.
Is a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air best for students?
This depends to an extent on what you study. MacBook Airs are more affordable than MacBook Pros, and they also tend to be slightly slimmer and lighter because of their fanless design. However, they aren't quite as powerful.
We think that any MacBook Air since 2020 will be powerful enough for most students' needs, and there's really no need to consider paying more for a MacBook Pro if you're not studying on a tech-heavy subject that requires the use of demanding software. However, students studying video editing or 3D design are likely to benefit from the improved performance of the MacBook Pros in these areas.
Beren has worked on creative titles at Future Publishing for over 13 years. Cutting his teeth as Staff Writer on the digital art magazine ImagineFX, he moved on to edit several creative titles, and is currently the Ecommerce Editor on the most effective creative website in the world. When he's not testing and reviewing the best ergonomic office chairs, phones, laptops, TVs, monitors and various types of storage, he can be found finding and comparing the best deals on the tech that creatives value the most.
