I do think that Macs are nice to have and use, and that my school computers are only [i3, 4gb, 500gb] machines, some are even older. Weirdly so, there seems to be this one Tesla supercomputer in that lab that's off-limits...anyways, the rMBP is beyond my $1200 budget, more so the normal MBP specced with a 256 ssd, so I think I'll stick to Windows machines until I have more disposable income to afford one. Thanks for your input, it was helpful!

Which brings me back to my pc+tablet or laptop debate. This is starting to give me a headache.