Be aware that the multi-GPU models are not as great though, since BIOS emulation mode does not allow for graphics card switching and the bigger GPU uses a lot of battery.

True, having a second, dedicated GPU isn't as useful as it once was, given how good integrated GPUs have gotten. OP, take note: only the 15" MacBook Pros have dual GPUs.

Good as integrated GPUs maybe (as they can now accomplish more tasks), they are still an order of magnitude away from mid-range dedicated GPUs.

Sure, but we're talking about notebooks. Putting a mid-range dedicated GPU in a notebook would make it a mobile workstation (read: useless when not connected to a power source). The second, dedicated GPU in a 15" MacBook Pro isn't even mid-range while it does use a lot more power than the integrated GPU.

For most tasks, integrated graphics work fine. On my MacBook Air, I use Final Cut Pro, AfterEffects and Blender. For many people, the most graphics intensive thing they use their computer for is HD video playback.

I agree, though I consider the dedicated GPU in the 15" Macbook Pro to be at the bottom end of "mid-range". :)

Nvidia's GPU model numbers go from, at low end, X10, to, at the high end X90. X50 is right in the middle.

Sorry, I just had to leave a comment here, because I found my Nvidia integrated GPU in my 2009 13" Macbook Pro woefully inadequate for CUDA computation.

I have often wondered why, when you have a MacBook Air or Pro that the Linux user doesn't run OS X as the host and Linux in a virtual machine?

Can anyone explain why this setup isn't more mainstream among those that prefer Linux?

I can't really speak for anyone else, but I run Ubuntu on a MacPro as my desktop machine at work. I prefer Linux to OS X primarily because of the user interface. I know it's heresy, but I hate OS X's (and Windows, to be fair) UI. I've run XMonad for years and Ion for years before that and now any time I have to use a machine that doesn't have a tiling WM and sloppy focus, I kind of want to throw it out the window. (I'm running on Apple hardware because for various bureaucratic reasons, we have a very limited selection of vendors that we're allowed to purchase from)

What distro are you running and how is wifi and sleeping when you close the lid. That is one thing I love about osx

My MacPro desktop doesn't have a lid (or wifi).

I run Ubuntu on a Thinkpad T500 though and power management and wifi are flawless. Never have any issues there.

Agreed: once you are used to a tiling WM (I use dwm), OSX and similar windowing systems seem slow and clumsy - and OSX is hard to customize. In answer to the GP, running OSX as a host means you are using closed-source software, which some people prefer not to do.

I did find: https://github.com/xmonad/osxmonad

Xmonad for tiling OS X windows.