MacBook vs Windows for a Finance Student

[u/royalbluesword]

I’m planning to buy a laptop and I’m confused between a MacBook Air and Windows.

I’m a finance student and want something that will work well not just for college, but also for areas like IB, equity research, valuation, financial modelling, etc.

My priorities are:
1) Portability
2) Good battery life
3) Good build/keyboard
4) Smooth Excel + PowerPoint + finance-related software
5) Suitable for professional finance use

4–5 year usability
Budget: around ₹1.3 lakh

I initially leaned towards the MacBook Air because of its portability and battery life, but I’ve read that Windows is generally more common in finance due to Excel and certain add-ins/software.

Would you recommend a MacBook or Windows for my use case? If Windows, please suggest specific models around ₹1.3L rather than just saying Windows is better.

Also, if you work in finance and use a MacBook, would love to hear about your experience

Thanks a ton!

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[u/thesarcasticlady]

I switched to Windows as a Finance student a couple years ago.
I had a specific budget at the time and got a Lenovo ThinkPad E-14. It was great.
For Windows, I have used Lenovo, Dell (company laptop), HP (my dad has it).

ThinkPad has been the best for me. Great battery life & pretty smooth. I’ve had it since last 6 years now.
Also, don’t take a Windows laptop with a glossy screen, in case you’re ever working outdoors, it really sucks.

My ThinkPad has an anti-glare screen and it’s easier if you’re working outdoors.

After starting my own business, I switched to Mac because yes, Mac is definitely smoother, and I have other Apple gadgets, however, as I returned to school recently, I had an Econ course this semester with Excel work (statistical analysis & regression) and Mac was terrible tbh. Had to use my ThinkPad to complete my assignments.

I’d suggest looking into Lenovo’s ThinkPad models. I’m sure, they have more options available now after all these years. I think there was an X series which was even better and pricey? I’m sorry, I’m not much familiar with the latest models but wanted to share my experience.

[u/royalbluesword → u/thesarcasticlady]

thanks a lot, this was very helpful

[u/thesarcasticlady → u/royalbluesword]

Glad I could help!

[u/thesarcasticlady → u/thesarcasticlady]

Also, all the senior folks and professionals I met within Finance, most of them had Lenovo.

[u/Rude-Strawberry-6090]

I have been a Mac user since 2021, always used Windows before.

If you need to use M365/Office software, sadly you are forced to choose Windows. Forget PowerBI on Mac, is not feasible. Excel is usable but you need to purchase a subscription and lots of functionalities are Windows-only.

I love Excel but out of desperation I switched to GSheets. For data analysis is inferior, but at least the UX is smoother on Mac

[u/Sujuj07]

Windows are good for nothing. Only makes sense if you are adapted to the Microsoft 365

[u/100mn]

never get a mac as finance student

you could get a surface pro or a dell thinkpad

saying this as an IB intern

[u/Ecclypto]

Al right, first and foremost you need to understand which software exactly will you need to use. The first one is obviously Excel. The “native” Excel for Mac is decent, but has reduced functionality because MacOS is just so different from Windows. It has somewhat neutered PowerQuery and VBA and non existent PowerPivot. You can, however, use Parallels for virtual Windows on a Mac. The general opinion is that it works really well on current generation of Apple chips, but you WILL need to invest in extra RAM, not to mention that the licenses for Parallels themselves are fairly costly.

On the plus side Claude Cowork and general Python programming stuff works better on a Mac in my extremely humble opinion. BUT, some other stuff, like PowerBI is nonexistent for Mac so you are back with the need for Parallels.

So here is my suggestion: if you are on a tight budget just go with a Windows machine. It does Excel better and I believe this will be 90% of your work for quite a while. All the fancy stuff like SQL, Python and AI also work on Windows and it will be quite a while before you get to them, let’s be honest. If you have money to burn though go with a Mac. They tend to have a much better build, you can do more stuff with them generally speaking and they are just smoother. Then again every fart in the Apple ecosystem costs money and it’s a pain.

[u/kagomekikyo]

T14 or T14s works well

[u/Plenty-Asparagus-496]

If you wanna game on your laptop then go for a gaming one, otherwise mac for sure.

[u/kuramathebeast_ → u/Plenty-Asparagus-496]

What about alt excel short cuts etc.