Macbook Pro for Computer Science major?

You really need to check with your school to determine the software and hardware requirements you will need. It's simply not possible to answer your question intelligently because there are too many variables. Will you be using any Microsoft programming tools like Visual Studio? A lot of schools do. What about Linux? Will you be allowed to use Xcode?

Not to out-play PeteF10, but ...

He is correct. It would be a shame to pay $1100 just to save money, only to find your CS program REQUIRES something costing $1800 you will have to re-buy after selling the $1100 unit at a loss.

when I was in college, we had several different computer related majors, and the school told prospective students the minimum specifications required for a computer for each major. As stated, contact the school, if possible, email the department head of the Comp Sci program and ask for their recommendations.

The other guys are right, but allow me to point something else out... A Mac can run Windows AND Linux in addition to Mac OS X, and if you need Unix in some form, Mac OS X is Unix. Unless your college requires specific hardware, it's pretty much a given that you'll be able to do what you need with a Mac. Assuming specific hardware isn't an issue, the question that needs to be asked is: are you willing to pay a bit more for the Mac, knowing you may have to buy and install Windows on it, or would you rather be using a cheap PC if you're going to have to use Windows?

An alternate perspective ... silver MBPs are targets for theft because of the (correctly) perceived inherent value. The data on the disk is less important often than that person having the unit.

A $500 PC is "just another face in the crowd".

While it is always good to check with the department and see what they recommend, keep in mind that Macs are capable of running not only Mac OS (a version of Unix) but also Windows using Boot Camp. The Mac will give you a much broader operating system capability than any PC.

The faster the processor, the more efficiently you will be able to work, same for memory, more is better.

That said, prices keep falling on cpu options, the MacBook Pro has gone from the 2.2 to 2.3 to 2.4 GHz i7 processor in the 15" just since September with the price staying the same. Buy the machine when you are ready for it and the cpu will be a faster version for the same price as today's slower cpu machine.

Again, keep in mind the multi-operating system capability of the Mac, that is hard to beat.

PeteF10 makes some valid points.. your school will tell you the requirements.. however, nowadays, you can setup a partition to run Windows and UNIX and LInux (RedHat etc.) and all the associated tools. Just be sure your disk drive is big enough (>500GBs) for all the partitions. You can also elect to run these in their own virtual environmetns using Parallels.

.. faster processors are always better, especially if you run VMs.

Post back when you have more specific details about what you *need* ... then you will wish you never asked 😝

Not prompting for me, but ... look under "Legend" in the right edge and play Santa with some points, maybe ...

So, buy something crappy that nobody else would want? :D