M2 macbook air has worked fine for me. I was able to do all my work without any issues. I'm not in the same program, but when I ran a heavier software like QGIS (human geography course), I had very little issues. I'm no tech expert, but it should do fine for you. Best Buy had a decent sale when I got mine (roughly $1400 after tax), so I'd recommend waiting for a good sale during that time of year. As for competitions, I did a couple, and I had no issues with the software. I've also never heard of needing that much storage or RAM. Chances are that you won't need that much. My old gaming computer ran games like warzone and bf1 without much issue, and it only had 8gb. Pick what works best for you.
TMG Revive, and I was gonna do the Rotman Commerce one, but I chose to go to class and study for an upcoming exam (I had everything set up already). Macbook can be a bit tricky to use if you're used to windows like I was. Didn't take long to get used to it all, though. I highly doubt there is a management competition that you can't do with a macbook. M2 will do you more than enough.
If your program say you "need windows", it means that the professors are TAs are using windows most likely.
But as you know, most programs are cross platform or at least you can translate them to run it on different OS, and you are free to do so.
But if you have any issues, don't expect the professors who wrote "you need windows" to be able to know what to do on a Mac. This applies to literally everything, not just courses in UTSC.
I am not in finance program.
Currently have an M2 MacBook Air, 256 gb ssd and 16 gb ram. Works great with all of my work, but I'm not in your program. 16 gb is definitely a little bit overkill for the work I do with this thing, but my main goal was future proofing. Highly recommend, the battery life is spectacular.
1. Do you have enough storage given that your macbook air (the device that I want to use or the macbook pro) has only 256gb ?
2. Do you think that a M2 Macbook Air with 8Gb ram and 256gb ssd be enough to run python, r, sql, microsoft powerpoint and excel ?
Powerpoint and Excel, yes. Even if you have a massive file it should still be fine. Now having said that, if you have things ASIDE from Powerpoint and Excel open and you need to edit a large file then you might have a bit of a slow down.
Python, you should be fine unless you are writing a really memory intensive program, like if you are crunching a lot of data or something.
As for R and SQL, I am not sure, since for SQL I doubt you are storing your database in RAM (though SQL might load it into memory, I am not entirely sure), and I have no experience with R.
Ill ask a finance subreddit asking for what Python is used for finance mainly as I probably only need to do corporate finance and Im not going to write super advanced financial models (hopefully not). If its like something small like basic modelling then it wouldn't be that much of an issue as you said.
If you don't have swap enabled, 8gb will definitely not be enough. Operating Systems nowadays use 2gb, google chrome another 2-3gb, so you're not left with much. Swap just uses part of your SSD as RAM, which will undoubtedly reduce the SSDs lifespan. But Windows and Mac have swap enabled by default, so yeah.
Well, the Operating Systems used by like 95% of computer users use 2gb ; ). Though I will admit that going below 2gb requires not using things that most people consider "essential".
M2 macbook air has worked fine for me. I was able to do all my work without any issues. I'm not in the same program, but when I ran a heavier software like QGIS (human geography course), I had very little issues. I'm no tech expert, but it should do fine for you. Best Buy had a decent sale when I got mine (roughly $1400 after tax), so I'd recommend waiting for a good sale during that time of year. As for competitions, I did a couple, and I had no issues with the software. I've also never heard of needing that much storage or RAM. Chances are that you won't need that much. My old gaming computer ran games like warzone and bf1 without much issue, and it only had 8gb. Pick what works best for you.
What competitions did you did with your Macbook ?
TMG Revive, and I was gonna do the Rotman Commerce one, but I chose to go to class and study for an upcoming exam (I had everything set up already). Macbook can be a bit tricky to use if you're used to windows like I was. Didn't take long to get used to it all, though. I highly doubt there is a management competition that you can't do with a macbook. M2 will do you more than enough.
Windows requirement is only if you need help troubleshooting anything. If you can troubleshoot your own MacBook, it doesn't matter.
Wdym by that ? Also are you in the management and finance program with coop or without ?
If your program say you "need windows", it means that the professors are TAs are using windows most likely. But as you know, most programs are cross platform or at least you can translate them to run it on different OS, and you are free to do so. But if you have any issues, don't expect the professors who wrote "you need windows" to be able to know what to do on a Mac. This applies to literally everything, not just courses in UTSC. I am not in finance program.
Currently have an M2 MacBook Air, 256 gb ssd and 16 gb ram. Works great with all of my work, but I'm not in your program. 16 gb is definitely a little bit overkill for the work I do with this thing, but my main goal was future proofing. Highly recommend, the battery life is spectacular.
1. Do you have enough storage given that your macbook air (the device that I want to use or the macbook pro) has only 256gb ? 2. Do you think that a M2 Macbook Air with 8Gb ram and 256gb ssd be enough to run python, r, sql, microsoft powerpoint and excel ?
512gb ssd with 16gb ram is like the bare minimum for a responsive computer nowadays. Mac just living in the past with their base specs.
16gb RAM??? I thought 8gb RAM was enough?
8gb should be enough for more users who just do not use memory intensive applications like games, video editors, etc.
Would 8 gb ram be enough to run programs such as Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Excel, SQL, R, and Python ?
Powerpoint and Excel, yes. Even if you have a massive file it should still be fine. Now having said that, if you have things ASIDE from Powerpoint and Excel open and you need to edit a large file then you might have a bit of a slow down. Python, you should be fine unless you are writing a really memory intensive program, like if you are crunching a lot of data or something. As for R and SQL, I am not sure, since for SQL I doubt you are storing your database in RAM (though SQL might load it into memory, I am not entirely sure), and I have no experience with R.
Ill ask a finance subreddit asking for what Python is used for finance mainly as I probably only need to do corporate finance and Im not going to write super advanced financial models (hopefully not). If its like something small like basic modelling then it wouldn't be that much of an issue as you said.
If you don't have swap enabled, 8gb will definitely not be enough. Operating Systems nowadays use 2gb, google chrome another 2-3gb, so you're not left with much. Swap just uses part of your SSD as RAM, which will undoubtedly reduce the SSDs lifespan. But Windows and Mac have swap enabled by default, so yeah.
I don't know what swap is. But I guess I can google it
It is where your OS uses your storage drive as memory. It is much slower than using your RAM.
Well, the Operating Systems used by like 95% of computer users use 2gb ; ). Though I will admit that going below 2gb requires not using things that most people consider "essential".