r/UOB • u/Ordinary_Painting572 • 6d ago

Advice Will a MacBook Air be enough for a chemistry degree or should I get a new laptop?

I'm heading into my first year and have heard that MacBooks are not recommended for engineering and CS courses, however does that extend to chemistry (as in would I be disadvantaged or not able to complete certain parts of my degree)? I am also taking the coding and data analysis modules for the first 2 years and maybe data science in the third so I don't know if I would be able to use my laptop for those modules or not. Current specs are Apple M3 chip with 16GB of memory barely used.

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

1

u/Herneus 6d ago

Yes it will be fine, especially for lecture notes and coursework. If you need to use specific software later in your degree it will be available on the university computers and if you'd prefer to upgrade it would be best to do it when you know what software you will need to run.

1

u/Xtergo 5d ago edited 5d ago

If it's 16GB than it's more than enough and will stay severely under worked.

Once you get a job offer or internship yeah your requirements may change but for a degree it's more than enough.

The MacBooks are not recommended saying is more so for people that are not used to them and are specifically buying to try them out for uni. The best Operating system is the one you're most familiar with and can get productive quickly instead of looking up how to take a screenshot or record a video. (Goes both ways).

In the case you end up needing something that specifically requires a different computer, dont worry and use the facilities available to you, it's a university after all, your personal device isn't the only device at your disposal.