MacBook Air for Graphic Design and Digital Art?

Hey there!

A MacBook Air with M2 chip would be a great Mac for you! I would suggest choosing a model with either 16GB or 24GB of unified memory and at least 512GB of storage. This way, you have plenty of memory to run intensive applications and store project files.

If you want a Mac with even more power, a MacBook Pro would be another great option. If you choose a MacBook Pro, I would recommend the model with the M3 chip, with either 16GB or 24GB of unified memory and at least 512GB of storage. The M3 chip provides even better performance than M2, and MacBook Pro has even more features, like even longer battery life, an Extreme Dynamic Range (XDR) display with ProMotion, better speakers and microphone, and more ports to connect external devices.

Hope this helps!

-Jack

i wouldnt recommend. i bought a maxed out air m2 when it came out and now im starting to regret it. apple claims its super powerfull yet blocks useful functions. eg. you cant use more than 1 display on an air m2 and for sure you also will get to its limits and think of an external GPU and nope, apple spits right back into your soup. no eGPU support. so if you want to do photoshop or premiere pro only and only on 1 screen. yes why not but for anything else my air m2 gets more useless everyday :(

Cat-sí wrote:

Hi! Thanks so much for the advice everyone, it’s much appreciated. Unfortunately I’m working on a budget so maybe the Air M1 will work for me or I need to look at Windows. The work I’m doing shouldn’t be too intensive but I will be using many apps from the Adobe Suite and I don’t want to get something that won’t last and keep up.

In addition to the Education discount you might be eligible for, it's always a good idea to check Apple's Certified Refurbished offerings: Certified Refurbished Products - Apple

Note these can change quite rapidly at times, so if you don't see what you want today, there's a chance it may there tomorrow. These Macs come with the exact same warranty as brand new, and are eligible for AppleCare just as a brand new Mac is.

It's always a good idea to check with your university department head regarding this type of question, as we really don't know which specific apps you might be using in your studies. If you know which apps would be required, perhaps one of us can do a bit of research on them to learn their minimum requirements.

Hey again!

Do you have a specific price point? We may be able to look at options. Also, as a student, be sure to check out the Education Pricing and Student Discounts - Education - Apple.

For an M1 MacBook Air at the Apple Education Store, I'd recommend one with 16GB of unified memory and as much storage as your budget allows. However, if you can only get 8GB of memory, as long as you aren't running multiple intensive-apps at once, I think you'll be OK.

-Jack

one more thing, this are not gaming machines!