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Patrick Livingstone

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 27, 2017
3
0
Ireland
Hi I am a student studying mechanical engineering and am looking to buy a MacBook Pro and would like help!! First off what is the best mac for me? 13 or 15 inch and then after that what SSD should I buy? I will be using CAD (computer aided design) like Auto CAD and solid works etc! After that I will be using the laptop for normal student usage like Microsoft office and web browsing! I also think I will be buying the 2015 model as I do not want to buy adapters for 2016 model! Thanks I would like as much detailed answer as possible thanks!
 

keysofanxiety

macrumors G3
Nov 23, 2011
9,539
25,302
15", definitely. You need all the power you can get, especially for what you're doing. The quad-core i7 in the 15" runs circles around the dual-core in the 13". You can get whatever size SSD you feel would be the most suitable. Personally I'd recommend the 512GB as Solidworks only runs on Windows, so you can BootCamp the machine from there.

BootCamp is a much better alternative than running virtually, because through BootCamp you'll have the full RAM/CPU/GPU at your disposal. As you know, Windows can take up a fair bit of storage, which is why I think 512GB would be an ample option to allow breathing space on both macOS and Windows. Just be aware that once you partition the drive, you can't resize without deleting your Windows partition, so think about how much space you'll need for each.

The 2015 model is still a great option. It's a fabulous machine and still is incredibly, incredibly powerful. Also the 512GB SSD is a little quicker than the 256GB, due to the Flash chips running in parallel. You'll absolutely love your new laptop, I know it. :)
 

Patrick Livingstone

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 27, 2017
3
0
Ireland
15", definitely. You need all the power you can get, especially for what you're doing. The quad-core i7 in the 15" runs circles around the dual-core in the 13". You can get whatever size SSD you feel would be the most suitable. Personally I'd recommend the 512GB as Solidworks only runs on Windows, so you can BootCamp the machine from there.

BootCamp is a much better alternative than running virtually, because through BootCamp you'll have the full RAM/CPU/GPU at your disposal. As you know, Windows can take up a fair bit of storage, which is why I think 512GB would be an ample option to allow breathing space on both macOS and Windows. Just be aware that once you partition the drive, you can't resize without deleting your Windows partition, so think about how much space you'll need for each.

The 2015 model is still a great option. It's a fabulous machine and still is incredibly, incredibly powerful. Also the 512GB SSD is a little quicker than the 256GB, due to the Flash chips running in parallel. You'll absolutely love your new laptop, I know it. :)


Thanks very much! I have never had a mac before and was wondering does this "boot camp" do any damage to my mac? Like it's not illegal or anything or do anything to the hardware or software to the laptop? Thanks a mill!! The MacBook Pro 15 2015 would be a good shout for me so!? Thanks!
 

KarimLeVallois

macrumors 68030
Feb 22, 2014
2,593
1,767
London
Thanks very much! I have never had a mac before and was wondering does this "boot camp" do any damage to my mac? Like it's not illegal or anything or do anything to the hardware or software to the laptop? Thanks a mill!! The MacBook Pro 15 2015 would be a good shout for me so!? Thanks!

Boot Camp is an Apple utility build into macOS which creates a separate partition and you can install Windows on it. Really easy to do and it walks you through step-by-step.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/boot-camp
 
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