My D puts a “skin” on her MacBook and uses a padded sleeve for transport in the backpack.
@psychmomma - I have a cover on my MackBook Pro. It is something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Kuzy-13-inch-Rubberized-MacBook-Display/dp/B009V17TH6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468728783&sr=8-2&keywords=macbookpro+case I also bought an inexpensive padded sleeve and carry it in a Land’s End tote.
S carries his in a Northface Surge backpack with no cover.
D carries hers in a sleeve in her bag with no cover.
I use a shoe cloth bag as a cover when I am carrying it in my bag or suitcase.
Sounds like the Apple store may have the best deal but Best Buy periodically has sales and then gives a student discount on top of that (with an .edu email address). We bought one of my daughter’s that way and it was the least expensive way to get what she wanted. Ordered it online and it was waiting for us when we got to the store. We did have to pick it up – don’t recall the reason – having it shipped wasn’t an option. However, if the person is new to Mac products, buying it at the Apple store and having someone walk you through set up (not that it’s difficult) and answering some questions along the way has value too.
Macs are more expensive, they have pluses and minuses. One thing I recommend, if you are getting a new machine get it with an SSD drive, they have come way down in price and are infinitely superior to a standard hard drive. I have an older macbook air (I agree, it would be underpowered for graphic design), and it has been a real honey. The biggest problem with Windows machines is that windows is full of all this bloatware, I have gone through upgrades on my mac, full upgrades of OS X, and it works perfectly every time, doesn’t take long, and the machine just keeps running. With Windows I upgraded from 8 to 10, and it wasn’t easy, and when windows updates more often then not I find problems.
Performance wise, PC’s and Mac’s can do pretty much the same thing, with the kind of horsepower and graphics cards available for windows laptops, I don’t think there is any technical reason you have to use a MAC, most of the software is likely available on both platforms (if it is a mac only program they would be using at school, that would answer the question about platform). I find that MACs are a bit lower maintenance, and while it is irritating the premium they charge for them, I probably would choose a Mac in that situation.
@hrh19 - Thank you for the recommendation on the MBP cover. I ordered the one in the link - actually two, aqua for me and black for S. They are really nice and cost half of what I saw at best buy. 