Congratulations!

Congratulations!  Great accomplishment!  Actually, PC and Mac are about half half among students but Mac becomes more and more popular.  If he/she wants to do CS then check with the department.  I believe laptop is probably his/her only computer in the school, highly suggest a larger screen size (15.6 and up) especialy nowadays ultrabooks are so light.  A laptop with solid state drive or at least hybrid (traditional hard drive+solid state) is a better choice.  If he/she has a cell phone data plan (highly erecommend) with unlimited text message, he/she can check and reply e-mails by phone instead of computer.  So the weight of larger screen size computer is not a problem at all.  Personally think 13 in is too small and not gpood for the eyes.