Need advice on purchasing (some type of) Mac

[Stinky The Clown]

4. I'd go with a 13" MacBook Pro and here's why

The 11" MacBook Air and MacMini are below it in Apple's pecking order. There ay even be an iMac below it. But there is also a good bit above it, so that puts it in the middle. I think that's your sweet spot.

I would bet most Mac students have something comparable

Also, since you're testing to see what works on a Mac, I assume you're talking about online stuff (like from Blackboard, and that sort of company). In that case, literally any Mac will do as all the computing happens on your servers. All the Mac needs to do is serve it up in a browser window.

The latest 13" MacBook Pro (I have one) is little different to a user than the first of the aluminum body machines or the now-gone white MacBooks. From a user perspective, the OS is the very same and so is the experience. The bigger/newer machines just do it all a little faster. For most users, you can't tell the difference.