Laptop conundrum

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So my hpg60 laptop screen cracked and instead of replacing the screen now I figured its time to get a new laptop. Now I'm not extremely versed in specs and functions but I am a former electronic engineer major that will be taking up aerospace engineering instead(I feel aerospace is more versatile in career options) so I want a laptop with high performance, graphics capability and RAM for demanding software and also to play esf 1.3 final. Upon doing some homework I found apple's retina MacBook Pro 15.4 inch is among the best notebooks with at least a 15 inch screen(I also value screen size and resolution as I feel that will be important with my work as well). I should've prefaced by saying I've been using windows since like the 5th grade(prior to that our school used apple computers but that was back in the mid to late 90's) and I know I will most likely need a windows workstation since most software in my field are compatible. I would like to know as a new aerospace engineer major am I looking for the right things for my laptop? Since most of you I presume to be more tech savvy than myself, would the dell xps 15 be a better option since spec wise it's the closest windows notebook to rival the retina mbp 15???
 
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Quite honely. Dont get a mac. They are overpriced compared to others with similar specs.
 
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I am a huge Apple fan and not just because it is mainstream but because I love their products. To prove my point, my monday evening was spent watching Apple's WWDC (developer conference) and I did so with a bag of chips i.e. it was pure entertainment for me! Nevertheless, even though I love their hardware and the #1 laptop on my wish-list is absolutely, without a doubt, the Macbook Pro Retina 15"... I do not think that it is the computer for you. Yes, you can install both OSes and have Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 through bootcamp working natively, you can even efficiently emulate Windows as a virtual machine..but all of this means you are paying quite a bit of a mark up for your laptop because you won't be using OS X, the selling point. Because as Grega said, for the same specs you could find something much cheaper...however from my perspective, be wary of the battery life though e.g. my Macbook Air is 15 months old and I have 92% battery capacity and very often my friends are carrying their power supply bricks because their 2 year old laptops can't live for 30 seconds on their own.
 
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Don't waste your money on a Mac. Better off using that money to buy a gaming laptop. That way you will know you can throw anything at it really and it will do just fine. Plus, gaming laptops are meant to take a bash, I bought a 1 and half year MSi laptop for 250 pounds with a broken screen, bought a screen for 50 pounds and fixed it myself and overall I now have a 500 pounds worth of a laptop which lasts me 4 hours on battery which is pretty decent for a gaming laptop. Downsides are size and weight of these beasts usually. I would suggest to look at MSi laptops or ROG (Asus gaming brand called Republic of Gamers) as they usually offer more bang for your buck compared to Alienware (Dell).

Alternatively, at the other end of the spectrum but equally as expensive, the newer Ultrabooks are really good and you should throw your money at one instead of a Mac. They have good battery and are quite fast but I believe they lack quite a bit in the graphics performance department but can still handle anything in HD effortlessly really.
 
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Quite honely. Dont get a mac. They are overpriced compared to others with similar specs.
Like what??? The only laptop with specs similar to the rmb pro15 is the dell xps 15

Iflip82 I was thinking the same thing about getting a gaming laptop assuming it would be able to handle intensive work, but I thought that's mainly what the CPU was for and there are many intel i7 haswell chips in more portable configurations. Also generally speaking are you really getting your money's worth with these gaming laptop???? I don't mind spending the money but I don't want to purchase a notebook workstation that I will have to replace in a year or so spending well over $1000. I've read Alienware was top of the line gaming notebook and sager makes a powerful notebook, but anyway I was considering the dell xps15 for its portability, power, screen, and dedicated graphics but upon doing some research I found many owners to have complaints with coil whine, loud fan noise, dells lack of customer support, all which prompted me to seek advice. I would appreciate your honest unbiased input.
 

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