{"id":654885,"date":"2026-06-23T23:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/654885\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T23:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:59:22","slug":"even-if-you-know-what-youre-doing-everyone-should-use-vibe-coding-how-a-tech-influencer-got-me-excited-about-ai-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/654885\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Even if you know what you\u2019re doing, everyone should use vibe coding\u2019 \u2013 how a tech influencer got me excited about AI again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interviewee\"HeadshotIntervieweeDr Liv Grant<\/p>\n

Social Links Navigation<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a>Tech Influencer and Science Podcaster<\/p>\n

Dr Liv Grant earned a PhD in Epigenetics at the age of 25 from the University of Essex, UK. She has an Instagram and TikTok following over nearly 600,000, and also co-hosts the So Cultured podcast.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be honest: I\u2019ve yet to be really sold on AI laptops. The problem is, laptop makers like Apple<\/a>, Samsung<\/a>, HP<\/a>, Microsoft<\/a>, and more have been trying to convince us we need a device capable of local AI tasks by suggesting it can help us write emails (I can do that already) and generate images (a fun distraction initially, but I quickly lose interest \u2013 and there\u2019s something about AI-generated images, videos, and music that gives me the ick).<\/p>\n

It left me feeling as if even the best AI laptops<\/a> are more of a gimmick used by companies just trying to get us to buy new devices, rather than something revolutionary.<\/p>\n

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However, after talking to Dr Liv Grant<\/a>, a technology influencer, science podcaster, and \u2018PhD Queen\u2019, I\u2019m actually excited about the implications of on-device AI in laptops, especially for students.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Dr Liv Grant recently ran a vibe coding workshop with Apple, where she showed students with no coding experience how they can create apps using MacBooks<\/a> and local LLMs (Large Language Models, the tech that modern AI as we know it is based on) and spoke to me about the laptops she uses and recommends to students.<\/p>\n

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\"Human\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images \/ Moor Studios)<\/p>\n

With the Back to School<\/a> period approaching and Prime Day sales<\/a> in full swing, students and their parents will be looking for the best student laptops to see them through college and university, so I was keen to get Dr Liv Grant’s recommendation.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a MacBook Neo,\u201d she told me, \u201cthat\u2019s great for people who are beginning to code. For someone who is learning online and branching into something less data-heavy, such as web developing, it\u2019s a great choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Today’s best Apple MacBook Neo deals<\/p>\n

“With on-device AI, you don\u2019t need internet connectivity.”<\/p>\n

Dr Liv Grant<\/p>\n

The MacBook Neo<\/a> is Apple\u2019s most affordable MacBook, selling for $599 \/ \u00a3599 \/ AU$899. If you\u2019re a student, there’s an exclusive discount from the Apple Education store, which drops the price to $499<\/a> \/ \u00a3499<\/a>. Despite the low price, it performs very well at day-to-day tasks, and thanks to the Apple A18 Pro chip that powers it, it can also handle on-device AI.<\/p>\n

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The Apple A18 Pro features an NPU (Neural Processing Unit), which Apple calls the Neural Engine, and is the part of the chip that enables on-device artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

I Tested Claude Code on a Bioinformatics Project – YouTube
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Watch On <\/a>
\nWhat\u2019s on device AI?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s back up a bit for a minute. You might be wondering what on-device AI means, and what makes it different from online AI chatbots such as ChatGPT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ChatGPT, Claude and other popular AI chatbots are mainly cloud-based and accessed via the internet. On-device AI means that AI tasks such as image or text generation are performed on the device itself by the NPU<\/a> using a local LLM.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need an AI-capable laptop or device to use cloud-based AI tools \u2013 all you need is an internet connection. However, devices that can run AI locally offer plenty of benefits, as Dr Liv Grant explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith on-device AI, you don\u2019t need internet connectivity. I\u2019m always working on the go; especially when working at university, I\u2019d work during my commute. The Wi-Fi on public transport can be awful, and it would interrupt my work.\u201d<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Getty \/ lucky sun)<\/p>\n

This is probably the most noticeable benefit for many people. If you\u2019re doing important work that requires AI tools, using those tools locally on the device means that if you lose your internet connection, you can still keep working \u2013 and you won\u2019t be in danger of losing your work.<\/p>\n

Running those tasks locally has privacy and security benefits as well, as you\u2019re not sharing data, files, or any other information with a remote third party, which is the case with cloud-based AI tools. For extremely sensitive data, or even personal things like using AI to help edit family photos, you should use on-device AI.<\/p>\n

To ensure a laptop you\u2019re considering buying is capable of on-device AI, you should check to see if it comes with an NPU (or Neural Engine if you\u2019re looking at MacBooks).<\/p>\n

The good news is that most modern chips from Intel<\/a>, AMD<\/a>, Qualcomm and Apple feature NPUs. Windows 11 laptops<\/a> with these chips will most likely be labeled as \u2018Copilot+ PCs\u2019 \u2013 not the best name, but that\u2019s Microsoft for you. Meanwhile, Apple products will be labeled as being ready for Apple Intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Getty \/ Moor Studio)<\/p>\n

NPU performance is often measured in TOPS<\/a> (Trillions of Operations Per Second). The higher the TOPS, the faster the NPU will complete AI tasks. Windows 11<\/a> laptops with an NPU of 40 TOPS or more can be labeled as a Copilot+ PC, for example.<\/p>\n

This is why Dr Liv Grant suggests the MacBook Neo is best for less-intensive AI tasks, as its NPU is capable of around 35 TOPS, while it’s also limited to 8GB of unified memory.<\/p>\n

So, the MacBook Neo is fine for beginners, but if you have more ambitious plans that require on-device AI, you\u2019ll want to go for a device with an NPU capable of higher TOPS and offering more RAM.<\/p>\n

Setting up M3 Macbook Pro for coding and productivity – YouTube
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\nLight as air<\/p>\n

Because of that, Dr Liv Grant uses a MacBook Air for the majority of her coding and AI work. It\u2019s a great alternative due to its thin and light design (ideal for people who work while traveling) and its relatively affordable price (the 13-inch MacBook Air with M5 chip<\/a> starts at $1,099 \/ \u00a31,099 \/ AU$1,799, and again, there\u2019s a student discount that\u2019ll knock $100\/\u00a3100\/AU$160 off the price if you qualify).<\/p>\n

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Today’s best Apple MacBook Air M5 (2026) deals<\/p>\n

It’s also far more capable when it comes to day-to-day tasks and on-device AI, thanks to its M5 chip<\/a> and 16GB of unified memory to start.<\/p>\n

While Apple doesn\u2019t officially disclose the TOPS of its chips, we estimate that it\u2019s around 133 TOPS<\/a> \u2013 which, on paper, makes it around four times faster for AI. Combine that with the larger amount of faster unified memory, and the MacBook Air becomes an excellent mobile AI workstation. At Dr Liv Grant\u2019s vibe coding workshop, the participants all used a MacBook Air.<\/p>\n

The final tool in Dr Liv Grant\u2019s MacBook arsenal is a MacBook Pro, which she primarily uses for content creation for her extremely popular Instagram <\/a>and TikTok <\/a>accounts. For students (or anyone, for that matter)looking for a laptop that can handle complex AI tasks as well as demanding creative workloads, a MacBook Pro might be a wise investment, but it is a lot more expensive.<\/p>\n

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Today’s best Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch M5 (2025) deals<\/p>\n

\"Best<\/a>\"Best<\/a><\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Getty \/ lucky sun)All about the vibe coding<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the importance of AI for students? While a lot of focus has been on how AI can help students research and study, Dr Liv Grant suggests vibe coding is where it can make the biggest difference, and not necessarily just for programming students.<\/p>\n

\u201cVibe coding is where you use AI or a chatbot<\/a> tool to help you write code,\u201d explains Dr Liv Grant. \u201cFor example, I have an idea for an app to help content creators do a job \u2013 a few years ago I\u2019d have had to learn the language, the syntax, the codebase from scratch. With vibe coding you can use AI to help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Dr Liv Grant is keen to stress, vibe coding isn\u2019t a replacement for traditional coding, and she is familiar with many programming languages. Instead, it\u2019s a tool that can help coders experiment and get creative while still being productive.<\/p>\n

“Everyone should use vibe coding.”<\/p>\n

Dr Liv Grant\u2019s mention of coding languages is an interesting one, as there\u2019s a huge range of languages used. Web developers, for example, might use JavaScript, while someone making Windows 11 apps would use C#, and someone coding for Macs would likely use Swift. Being experienced with one coding language doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ll be \u2018fluent\u2019 in others, and that\u2019s where vibe coding can really help.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you know what you\u2019re doing, everyone should use vibe coding,\u201d Dr Liv Grant suggests.<\/p>\n

In her workshop, students with no coding background used MacBook Airs to create an app. \u201cWe made a pomodoro timer app using LLM studio, picked a vibe coding tool such as ChatGPT, Claude, or a local one, and gave it three prompts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Getty \/ Moor Studio)<\/p>\n

The AI tool would then give examples of code to use in the desired language. \u201cWith the first prompt,\u201d explains Dr Liv Grant, \u201cthere were some errors, but those were easy to fix.\u201d This is where a basic understanding of coding and syntax comes in, as Dr Grant used her coding experience to correct any mistakes in the AI-generated code.<\/p>\n

The ease of vibe coding combined with more affordable laptops such as the MacBook Neo \u201copens up the world of coding to so many people \u2013 people in lower socioeconomic groups, students, anyone,\u201d Dr Liv Grant told me. \u201cIt\u2019s very exciting; students have so many ideas, and vibe coding helps those students realize those ideas without having to learn entire programming languages.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring WWDC<\/a>, Red Bull Basement<\/a> ran a competition for people to pitch their ideas for an AI tool or app. All the entrants were using vibe coding. They didn\u2019t have a background in coding.\u201d<\/p>\n

To me, that sounds both exciting and worrying. Exciting because it could mean that new (once-marginalized) voices, ideas, and products come to market. Someone who once might have had a great idea for an app, but never did anything with it as they were unable to code, could now rustle up a prototype with vibe coding.<\/p>\n

Similarly, someone without a coding background who needs an app for a specific task could make their own rather than trying to find someone who would do it for them.<\/p>\n

However, I\u2019m also worried \u2013 could vibe coding mean an influx of slop apps? And what about programmers, will they be out of jobs? Is it even worth becoming a programming student?<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d says Dr Liv Grant when I ask her if people should still study to become programmers, \u201cbut maybe not in the depth we used to learn coding in. Learn basic syntax, how code works,\u201d Dr Grant suggests. Those skills will prove essential to ensuring any vibe-coded project has a base level of quality. As for programming as a career? \u201cIt\u2019s going to move more towards how good you are at interacting with AI and how good you are at prompting.\u201d<\/p>\n

I left our conversation with a newfound appreciation for how AI can help students, especially when it comes to vibe coding, and how that, combined with more affordable devices like the MacBook Neo (even considering its limitations), could make app developing much more accessible.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly an interesting time, and if you or someone you know is considering getting a laptop to vibe code on, I\u2019ve picked some of my top choices below. Make sure you also follow Dr Liv Grant on TikTok<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> for more fascinating insights into tech, science and Epigenetics.<\/p>\n

If what we talked about here has got you interested in getting a MacBook for vibe coding (and more), then check out these fantastic MacBook Prime Day deals I’ve hand-picked below.<\/p>\n

Prime Day MacBook deals
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