MacBook Pro for CAD

First off it you are going to install Windows on a Mac, IMHO, you'd be better off buying a Windows notebook that had a real graphic card. Mac's and PCs use the extact same hardware, there is no difference.

Second with certain notebooks, like the Dell Latitude series, there is a Media bay that can take a host of add-ons like a second battery or a second hard drive, SSD, or a DVD drive and they can be switched out at any time (I actually have a Dell Latitude E6420 that I have a spinning HDD in the media bay and a SSD in the main bay Works real well and I use a external DVD drive if I need one).

Third if you plan on taking the optical drive out of a Mac notebook you have then VOIDED the warranty. That is not a User Replaceable part and to fool with it Apple will Void the warranty.

From the sound of it you will be using Windows more then you will ever use OS X so why buy a Mac? You can get a better PC with better specs for less then the Mac costs. And it will come with Windows so you save the cost of buying Windows to install on your Mac.

Good Luck & Best Wishes whichever way you go.

Goalie, I could not agree with you more...as an engineer I have had to use many platforms and the PC has always been the absolute bottom of the barrel. The PCs and Macs do not use the same components, well except to say they both have cpus, memory, storage, graphics controlers, etc. The Mac parts are much higher level. A few years ago I was forced to buy a Dell latptop for work-related stuff...to outfit that with the same level of performance components as were standard on the MacBook Pro would have cost more than the MBP...just not the same.

Ok so much for that. Even though you say you do not have the funds for a 15", dokeep in mind that the 15" comes with both the standard Intel HD 4000 GPU and a discrete GPU so high-end graphics work will be rendered far better than you will get on the 13" model. Plus you can upgrade the memory significantly yourself on the 15" model. Plus, another plus, it comes standard with more mass storage and options for solid state instead of hard drive.

Since you don't say what year you are in, I will assume your last two years from your high level statements of courses, you will need higher capabilities in senior-level, and especially graduate-level, courses. The added capabilities of the 15" will payoff in the long run.

As for dual-boot use, the larger capacity mass storage will be important if you intend to use the Mac OS X partition for extensive work and data. So add that to the list of considerations.

Be sure to look into student discounts as Apple often has those available.

There are some who rightly point out that Macs use some of the same parts as other manufacturers but give the erroneous impression that they are essentially the same. It is just as important how the common parts are utilized and acknowledge that there are many other elements that distinguish one manufacturers product from another, but there seems to be an absence of commentary on those aspects.

I sympathize with the tight budget constraints that you are under but let me point out that the refurbished section on the Apple website offers 15" MBPs at more favorable prices. The GPU in a 15 " MBP is very much superior to that of the 13" MBP and I suggest that you explore this option. Note that the refurbished MBPs are afforded that same warranty and telephone support as new ones. I have done this three times and have been most satisfied with my experience.

Ciao.

OG brings up a good point I keep forgetting about...the high quality of the refurb units...click Store on the main button bar, then lower left column to bring up the refurbs currently available.

Those include a range of machines, some that have been returned/replaced due to problems, some floor demos, some purchased and returned in the 14-day refund period. All refurbs have been given new batteries and cases irrespecitive of the reason for return. They have been extensively tested for problems and any found have been fixed. You cannot tell them from new except they may have an older model body. and they come with the normal Apple one year warranty.

So, more to think about, and by all means see what is availble.in that department.

Even though you didn't ask, if you are doing any FORTRAN programming, a very good compiler is the Absoft FORTRAN compiler. Does a fine job of optimization, works very well with Mac OS X from 10.5 through 10.8. You do need to download XCode to use it but that is free so not a big deal.

I have used Absoft to compile and run large thermal-hydraulic analysis codes with great success.