Laptop for college.

Wait for the reported refresh on June 10 at WWDC. rMBP; get the one with the most RAM you can at the beginning, because you can't upgrade it later.

As for processor and other specs, what are use intended uses of the machine?

There is a back-to-school promo this summer, usually with an iTunes gift card but some say the iPad mini will be the incentive this year.

rxllrn said:

Ah alright. I'll be majoring in Pre-Med but that might change into Aeronautics/Engineering.

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Are you thinking 13" or 15"?

rxllrn said:

I was thinking 13" but I heard bad things about the rMBP in 13"

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Those things about lag and ghosting are on the 15" as well, but I hope Apple will fix it with their rev. 2 product in June. Also, for engineering you will probably want a quad core processor and discrete GPU which the 15" has, so that's something to consider.

13in rMBP because it's portable, it's powerful, and you can scale the resolution to 1680x1050, which is higher than the resolutions of the 11in MBA, 13in MBA, 13in MBP, 15in MBP, and the retina-setting for the 15in rMBP.

You can also unofficially scale it to 1920x1080 (I believe) using software like SwitchResX [Relevant tutorial here]

Lastly, with the Haswell upgrade, the integrated GPU should handle most, if not all, things you throw at it. I used an MBA with 4GB these past ~4 years (electrical engineering) and it's been perfectly splendid. When screen real estate became an issue, I moved to my 27in iMac. But I definitely believe a 13in rMBP with a scaled resolution would have been perfect.

rxllrn said:

I will be attending college this fall and am looking for a laptop. Can you guys help me decide the best and cheapest way to buy one?

I have a .edu email address that I can use. Isn't there also a promo for back to school that gives an additional discount?

Also, are there going to be any refreshes any time soon? I don't want to buy a laptop that will become obsolete because of a newer model that comes out only shortly after I buy mine.

I am planning on getting a rMBP. Any comments on this as well?

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I would look at a 13" Air. No reason to pay the retina premium or lug the extra weight. Wait for the refresh then compare refurb to tax free outlets like B&H and Amazon. You could even check out CL as you might find folks trying to unload to get the latest after the refresh. If you go this route, be sure to get it checked out thoroughly.

rxllrn said:

Ah alright. I'll be majoring in Pre-Med but that might change into Aeronautics/Engineering.

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haha theres no such thing as a "pre-med" major

just messing with ya! but yeah, as someone who has taken many science classes, which you will, get the base model with upgraded ram. itll be more than enough

designs216 said:

I would look at a 13" Air. No reason to pay the retina premium or lug the extra weight. Wait for the refresh then compare refurb to tax free outlets like B&H and Amazon. You could even check out CL as you might find folks trying to unload to get the latest after the refresh. If you go this route, be sure to get it checked out thoroughly.

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The extra weight is absolutely trivial. I suspect the OP wants the rMBP for the display.

B... said:

Wait for the reported refresh on June 10 at WWDC. rMBP; get the one with the most RAM you can at the beginning, because you can't upgrade it later.

As for processor and other specs, what are use intended uses of the machine?

There is a back-to-school promo this summer, usually with an iTunes gift card but some say the iPad mini will be the incentive this year.

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IPad mini..? I wish. Where did you hear that. I miss when I got free iPod touch and printer and still got student discount back in 2008. Those were the good old days.