Which configuration is right for me?

The touch bar thing ... I think you should wait until its in store and see it for yourself, or wait for reviews. People who've tried it have said good things about ut. Most people who complain about it here haven't even tried it so steer away from that.

I would want it, just because its the new thing, and its the direction the Pros are heading in. And it looks like for you, its down between 16GB of ram and the Touch Bar, and I'd go for the Touch Bar. 8GB of ram I think will be sufficient for a good while longer.

 

Just buy a refurbished Macbook Pro instead. Save even more money! If I'm sticking with your choices though, I'd say the non touchbar mbp with the i5 processor, 16gb ram, and 512 hard drive seems better.

 

I don't Photoshop, video edit (some video conversions though) or do gaming and never ran into a CPU or 8GB RAM bottle neck using a 2012 rMBP. up to you on the Touch bar or not but @Jolly-boo is right, wait and see for yourself first.

 

I would go with the non-Touch bar MacBook Pro, with no RAM upgrade. You won't need the extra performance you get with the TouchBar version.
Plus, you get a couple of advantages with this version, such as better battery life, as well as a 'distraction free' keyboard. Believe me, as a grad student, this is something that you should really consider when buying a new computer.

 

I would be tempted to go with the touch bar model. You'd be getting a better processor, GPU, and two more ports. On top of that you get the perks of the touch bar and touch ID if you're into that.

It's always nice to have the extra RAM, but from what you said I think 8GB likely suits your needs even with the non touch bar model

 

I'm in a similar pickle. I would really want the 16gb of ram 512gb of storage touch bar version. But the standard non touch bar version is 700 euro cheaper, and it might suffice for my needs. 700 euro is quite a lot of money.

 

If you want this laptop to last for a while, get the best you can afford. If you say $2000 is the number you want to spend, the Student Discount should almost cover taxes.

In your case, I'd go with the 2.9ghz / i5 / 8GB RAM / 512GB SSD. That's plenty of storage and RAM as long as you don't try to use too many apps at once or multiple browsers with lots of tabs open. Touchbar isn't the reason you get the Touchbar MBP...it's the TouchID that's really useful and will be so no matter how app developers respond (or don't respond) to optimizing apps for the Touchbar. You can start your MBP, pay in apps and lock your MBP with the TouchID. May not seem important but it's seamless integration with the rest of Apple's ecosystem (including the new and future iPhones and iPads).

That should set you right at $1899. Do yourself a favor and order a few USB C to USB 3 adapters or USB C to USB Micro B cords along with a SD Card Dongle at the time of purchase. Make sure they are Apple Approved to prevent compatibility issues.