[Stephen Au]

Ok so I know there are a lot of threads on this. But even after reading most of the discussions nothing really tailors to my needs.

I am a engineering student and will be graduating soon. So this laptop will be mainly used for work, AutoCAD 3D, microsoft office, streaming, and netflix. (will not be gaming on it).

I think for sure i will get 256 flash memory and 8Gb Ram just not sure which would be the best bang for my buck. So should i wait for the MBA retina or just get a 2014 MBA or should i go with the MBP? I previously owned a 2011 MBP 15" i loved it but im not sure if i should dish out the money for another one. But what are your thoughts?

[warcraftWidow]

If you are doing AutoCad work I'd recommend the 15" retina if you don't plan on hooking it up to an external monitor most of the time. You'll appreciate the extra screen real estate of the 15". If you will mostly use an external monitor then the choice is a bit murkier and the Air would probably be ok.

[Algus]

well I would rule out the Air b/c you are going to want the extra CPU and graphics power of the Pros. I would buy around work. Consider how much graphics power you need and what has worked for you before. Some AutoCAD users get adequate performance from Intel graphics chips but many need full GPUs. If you need the Nvidia card over the Intel Iris, then your choice has been made. If you need the power of a business-class GPU then a Mac Pro or a Windows workstation (Dell Precision, Lenovo ThinkPad W540) might be the computer you want.