Macbook Pro for Programming - what specs should I go with? (RAM, flash)

[cyberchic]

I am a student looking into purchasing a Macbook pro for a C# programming course I am taking this semester. What specs should the mac have so that it runs smoothly with no lag?

2.2GHZ/16GB/256GB FLASH or 2.5GHZ/16GB/512GB FLASH 2.2GHZ/16GB/256GB FL APP or 2.5GHZ/16GB/512GB FL APP

I will be taking several other programming courses in the future as well.

Thanks in advance!

[Miker2069]

Originally Posted by cyberchic

I am a student looking into purchasing a Macbook pro for a C# programming course I am taking this semester. What specs should the mac have so that it runs smoothly with no lag?

2.2GHZ/16GB/256GB FLASH or 2.5GHZ/16GB/512GB FLASH 2.2GHZ/16GB/256GB FL APP or 2.5GHZ/16GB/512GB FL APP

I will be taking several other programming courses in the future as well.

Thanks in advance!

Hmm, I assume you will be running something like vmware/parallels so you can get a Windows VM on your Mac? You should be fine with either of those options.

[Skunk Workz]

As Miker2069 pointed out, you'll be using Visual Studio to do C#, and that only runs in Windows.

That said, Visual Studio should run fine (in a virtualized Windows installation) on that hardware, as long as you give enough resources to the VM.

[thelopez2]

Are 2 or 4 units listed, what is FL APP?

The biggest difference will be for 3D gaming and rendering. The more expensive one has a better video card.

[NJBest]

Originally Posted by thelopez2

Are 2 or 4 units listed, what is FL APP?

The biggest difference will be for 3D gaming and rendering. The more expensive one has a better video card.

Also battery life. I have the 2013 model with and without the nvidia GPU. The battery life is about 15% less even when not using the nvidia GPU.

[Kees]

I just got the 15" 2.2 i7 16GB 256GB Pro and it's pretty sexy...

I don't care about the bigger SSD because I have a 2TB Time Capsule that I store my data on... video card is a matter of preference. The integrated GPU renders AutoCAD without any issue and the computer is blazing fast.

I upgraded from a MacBook Air which was huge...

$1999 but I got $290 off... paid $1709 plus tax.

[Mach50]

You could check out Mono IDE MonoDevelop | MonoDevelop

It provides a cross platform .Net IDE.

[Skunk Workz]

Originally Posted by Mach50

You could check out Mono IDE MonoDevelop | MonoDevelop

It provides a cross platform .Net IDE.

It's more than just an IDE that you need though. You need the framework, some version of SQL, etc.

Once you have a solid grasp of how all of the pieces fit together, using something like Mono is fine, but for trying to learn from scratch, and more importantly follow along in class, it's probably not realistic.

[davebarnes]

Get the most RAM you can as it cannot be upgraded later.
Get the largest "disk" you can afford.
CPU speed is not as important.

[thelopez2]

Originally Posted by NJBest

Also battery life. I have the 2013 model with and without the nvidia GPU. The battery life is about 15% less even when not using the nvidia GPU.

They did that with the old Mac Book Airs, put a different battery with the nvidia units, I'm surprised they are still doing it, but guess it is necessary for marketing.

Going back to the OP, would they need to purchase a full retail or OEM Windows, or do they get something special for being a student such as MSDN?