Is 2012 High End 13" MBP good enough for an Engineering Student?

[Zwikker]

Alright guys, I have been diggin on topic to topic and searchin around the internet to find out what kind of MBP is the best fit for me as an Engineering Student.

The day has arrived, 11th of June, and now It's time for myself and most of us to make a decision.

I am not a gamer, or video editor. All I will need from my mac is to run my Engineering Softwares such as AutoCad, Solid, Pro Engineering and etc. I also will have an external screen to hook up my computer with. So what do yall think? I'm a finger nail bit close to buy a high end 13" but also considerin of buying a refurbished high end 15" 2011.

Am I going to have a trouble with running Autocad on the very last high end 13" or it ll just run as smooth as it can on a computer?
Let the final decision begin.

Thanks

 

[Srirama]

A refurbished 15inch 2011 would be the best.
You will need the extra pixels when you are not around the external monitor.

 

[Zwikker]

Thanks for the answer! So from the answers I get, it seems like a high end 15" will be a better option for me. Does 13" have any better specs than the 2011 15"?

A refurbished 15inch 2011 would be the best.
You will need the extra pixels when you are not around the external monitor.

 

[Srirama]

The 15 inch has a quad core sandy bridge processor and will be able to handle multithreaded applications better.
So for the applications you mentioned, the performance should be very good.
Coming to the 13 inch,The upgraded specs include dual core ivy bridge processors. Now keep in mind that the jump from the 2nd gen core processors to the 3rd gen core processors wasn't as huge as the jump from 1st gen to 2nd gen. (Performance increase isn't so great)

So I'd still say go for the 15inch.

 

[Zwikker]

Thank you so much for your detailed answer. I'll go ahead and take your advise

The 15 inch has a quad core sandy bridge processor and will be able to handle multithreaded applications better.
So for the applications you mentioned, the performance should be very good.
Coming to the 13 inch,The upgraded specs include dual core ivy bridge processors. Now keep in mind that the jump from the 2nd gen core processors to the 3rd gen core processors wasn't as huge as the jump from 1st gen to 2nd gen. (Performance increase isn't so great)

So I'd still say go for the 15inch.