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Since everybody's pitching in, I am going to do so as well. To me higher resolution is always better. So I would definitely go for the 13 inch. You get above average resolution and thats good. Also, 8 gb ram for the future.

However, the argument 'get the 11" and and second screen' is also a good one.

And as a side note, the price increase up to the 2012 version is worth it due to the USB 3.0. Think, one year or two years down the line. Neat, external USB 3.0 drives will be cheap. And they will definitely come in handy for saving school work. Saving virtual machines etc.
 
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