MacBook advice for daughter

[goughy]

My daughter is about to start her PhD and wants to get herself a new MacBook. She currently has a 5yr old Air 13", but she will need to run multiple programs for coding data and massive excel files.
Obviously I'm thinking a Pro, but really don't know much about them so wondering if anyone has any advice for specs or models that would be best?
I don't think it will need to be all that portable as I expect she will do the majority of it at home, though she will get a desk at the Uni. But I don't think she will want something huge?
Any suggestions?

[BobsYourUncle]

How massive are these massive spreadsheets? The new macbook airs are pretty powerful. The pros are great, but they're pricey.

Haven't looked in a while, but the low end models were a bit light on ram in the past. OSX is better than windows, but I'd still want more than 8GB.

Some models are also (somewhat artificially) limited in how many external displays they can run, if that's a factor. Macs are bad at driving non-apple displays anyway though.

[virge666]

M1 or M2 will be fine.
Go for 16GB
Dont bother with Pro unless you are doing video work.

We get ours from here.. brilliant for phones too and service is excellent.

https://reebelo.com.au/collections/l...latest-release

[Courty]

I looked into a bit of this recently as the mrs wanted to run some external displays off her silicon MacBook Pro. The entry level silicon chips only run a single external display, so if you need more than one you'll need an upgraded processor (Pro or Max chip), which aren't available in the MacBook Airs.

The mrs has had both MacBook Air & MacBook Pro. I feel that, while dearer, the Pro is better value for money. You pay a premium for a slightly slimmer profile with the Air, but if you need any kind of performance the Pros run rings around them.

They are pricey as BYU said, but you get what you pay for. I've had a number of Macs over the years that are still 100% operational after 10 years. I also agree with Virge that a slightly up-specced older model is the best value.

[ParkRoyal]

Looking at getting an iPad for our kids, mainly to entertain on long drives on our upcoming trip.

Prices for refurbs seem really high atm unless looking at 8th gen. I take it $450 ish is pretty good for a new one?