Hi all,
I’m still waiting on Northwestern and UMich but I think it’s likely I’ll end up at WashU in the fall. I woke up this morning to my six year old laptop refusing to turn on, and the local Mac store (not an actual Apple store) has told me it’s kaput (RIP). I’m on spring break now but I need to make a quick decision before school starts up again on a new laptop for engineering school next year (I’m thinking biomedical). I’m a diehard Mac person, so I know I’m going that route, but there’s still a LOT of options. I like 13’ but 15’ has more RAM… I don’t know if the touch bar, better processor, and extra USB-Cs are worth it… storage is a big question too. Any prompt advice would be greatly appreciated.
13 inch MacBook Pro. Don’t pay extra for big screen or touch bar. You can’t go wrong. Buy SuperDrive separate if you need one. Student discount is nice.
I’m personally a PC user so I can’t really speak to specific Mac specs, but I know lots of my fellow BMEs have Macs and they work just fine with the curriculum. Go with what works for you and fits in your budget; those small differences won’t really matter that much and are highly personal choices. I prefer large touch screens and big graphics cards, but you prefer a smaller screen and a Mac interface, and that’s fine. Both will work the the curriculum 
WashU bookstore is an authorized Apple dealer/repair center. DS had a problem with his MacBook Pro and it was fixed in a day.
If ur an engineer/graphic designer/ something else that requires power = 15 inch no thinking. Just get it.
My recommendation, albeit expensive, would be the high-end 15 inch MBP specs (512 storage, 16 RAM, 4GB VRAM thats the nice part, the VRAM is the selling point of this Mac, Touch ID, 2000MB/s read speeds INSANE MACHINE)
Worst part? The damn USB-3.1 ports. NO HDMI, NO USB 3.0 and under. (But you can still connect to an external display, with type 3.1 it doubles up as Thunderbolt)
Cost-conscious? On a tight budget? You can buy the 13 inch. Go with 13 inch and spec out. If u on Mac, then you can have windows fro free at your will. Microsoft has free digitally licensed versions of win 10.
I have a 15 inch and I’m happy It’s gonna last me a long time. Saving in the long run!!