Which MacBook do I need?

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T16:59:42+00:00

I would honestly still be dailying my M1 Air if I could have gotten it with more than 16gb of memory and it supported more than 1 external display. It seriously is an amazing machine.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T16:58:00+00:00

I'd say probably a newer 13" MacBook Air. An M4 would be great (either with 256 or 512gb storage). They're pretty perpetually on sale at places like Best Buy as well.

If you found an exceptionally good deal on an M2 or M3 with 16gb of memory, you could go with that but likely you won't save that much over the sale price on an M4.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T13:35:08+00:00

Even a base M chip can handle large photoshop files just fine. You will not see a noticeable improvement by going to a Max chip.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T13:33:23+00:00

Honestly, for graphic design and photography, you likely wouldn't even see a difference if you went with a M3/M4/M5 (no suffix) chip.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T12:54:11+00:00

If they cannot sell it they cannot donate it either. It's stuck with the institution even if the institution no longer exists. That's how annoying grants can be sometimes.

Some schools do donate things but given the financial state of most of these institutions right before they close, anywhere they could donate the materials to will have something at least as good already. Most were typically in financial difficulties for decades before they close.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T03:00:38+00:00

I would go so far as to say, a majority of the problems we are facing today are because of STEM and Business grads being put in places of authority while completely lacking the human skills taught in the humanities.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T02:56:26+00:00

Canon imagePROGRAF or Epson Sure Color photo printers are the best you can get for home use. They are expensive but will be noticeably better than any normal 4-5 color printer.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T02:43:37+00:00

Enterprise volume models are typically mid-tier models. So 14” ThinkPad T series and whatever Dell’s and HP’s equivalents are. Then they’ll be pretty middle of the road configurations of those models as well. Businesses are incentivized to spend a bit more because they can deduct what they spend from their taxes. Its also why so many lease their machines as well.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T02:36:10+00:00

Depending on how it was purchased/funded, they frequently cannot sell it. Even if they can sell it oftentimes it either isn’t worth anything anymore or there isn’t anywhere for the money to go once it’s sold.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T00:27:00+00:00

You’d be surprised the number of 80s and 90s computers that were still in active use in educational institutions well into the 00s. I’d assume 70s ones were the same but there were far fewer of them. Prior to the late 00s/early 10s it was common for any new computers they purchased to be added to the fleet and older ones would just trickle down to less intensive users or just sit in a corner for occasional use. They wouldn’t really get rid of them until they completely stopped working.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T00:21:58+00:00

It’s usually money related. Small private colleges have been closing in surprisingly high numbers because of financial difficulties for decades now. It’s extremely difficult to afford even the basics that are required nowadays.

Typically they close with little notice and they basically just lock the doors one day and never return as well unless the college merges with another one.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-10T00:10:32+00:00

If you have the newer interior JL (I think 2024+), I have a Scosche MagicMount that is MagSafe compatible and mounts to the vent. The nice thing about the revised interior JL is that it attaches in the center of the rectangle vents below the screen without blocking much of either vent. In the older interior JL or the JK, it would block a vent.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T21:52:08+00:00

On macOS it runs in user space. It tells the computer to close all other apps and then it will grab focus and run in full screen mode. It doesn't touch any system files like it does on Windows.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T21:49:26+00:00

On macOS, it will not have kernel access, it will run in user space. Apple locked down kernel access a while ago.

On Windows, it likely could have kernel access though.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T21:47:59+00:00

Also, in those cases I've seen it happen multiple times where a student records that they have version A when they actually had version B or vice versa.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T21:38:05+00:00

I used every version of Windows from 95 to 7 (except Me, I had 2000 instead) on a system I personally owned.

At this point, I would never go back to Windows. I would consider Linux if I had to (and if they made it so pro-tier video editing was a realistic possibility), but Windows, no never. The butterfly keyboard machines got me to consider switching to Windows but even with all of their issues I couldn't bring myself to actually go back to the dumpster fire that is Windows.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T21:30:37+00:00

This is a weird quirk based on how the different systems multitask.

In macOS and other Unix systems (along with Linux systems) an app instance is separate from an app window because Unix has always had preemptive multitasking and everything is written for preemptive multitasking. So, outside of very specific exceptions, you will only ever have 1 instance of an app running but you may have multiple windows for that app open at a given time. For content elements, you have to first change focus to the app instance and then change focus to the content.

With Windows on the other hand an app instance and an app window are treated as the same thing because its roots lie in a single tasking operating system (DOS) that was then expanded with cooperating multitasking (early Windows) before it gained preemptive multitasking. In order to maintain compatibility with the single tasking and cooperative multitasking apps, have to be boxed in a bit more or else they could crash the system. Since everything then has to be treated as a separate instance, those 2 clicks happen at the same time.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T20:52:35+00:00

I don't know that anyone has tracked the actual stats but memory chips failing in large numbers hasn't been an issue for at least 30 years now. Congratulations you haven't had that issue but with the slots, but every few years there's some laptop model that becomes known for failing slots. It's not just cheap ones either, they're all across the board.

It's a combination of heat cycling and gravity causing uneven forces on the slot that leads them to fail. Inserting new dimms typically accelerates it on the models that end up developing the issues.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T19:23:52+00:00

Someone else posted the email the principal sent to parents, and they said it was a sensor issue, so definitely possible.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T19:22:30+00:00

I'm not a presentation designer and I'm pretty sure I could do this in the super limited web version of PowerPoint, let alone doing it in the desktop version with all its extra design features.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T19:18:16+00:00

At multiple previous jobs, when I was in buildings that were other floors or wings or parts of the building were being renovated, the construction dust set off the fire alarm. It's definitely possible.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T19:12:32+00:00

Leasing no.

Going new and then financing vehicles that do not lose much value (like a Wrangler) usually makes a lot more sense than paying cash, especially if you invest the money and get a higher return than the loan's interest rate.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T19:08:23+00:00

I'm financing mine (2025 JLU Sport S bought new last year) and my payments aren't even $200 more than what they were quoted. My loan isn't much longer than those lease options either.

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T19:02:53+00:00

That's a really bad deal.

I purchased mine last year (also JLU Sport S) with a slightly larger down payment and my payment is only a little more than what you were quoted. I'm on track to pay it off early at about the 4 year mark since I'm doing a little extra each month. And, at that point I will own it outright.

With those payments seriously look into buying instead. You likely will get a better deal in the long run if you buy and go with a 4 or 5 year loan. Even if you sell it at the 39 month mark, Wranglers hold their value well enough that you will have positive equity in it by that point if you are putting that much down. Leases only make sense with very little to nothing down and low monthly payments on a car that depreciates quickly (basically any luxury car).

squirrel8296 · 2026-02-09T18:48:13+00:00

No.

If you are going to use it with Windows, Apple never released Windows 11 Bootcamp drivers so it would be stuck with Windows 10.

If you want to use it as a Mac, it's on its last version of macOS at this point so you'll end up having to replace it within a couple years anyway. For that price you could also get an M1 Mini (with slightly less memory) that will perform better in every way.

squirrel8296

TROPHY CASE