What laptop do you recommend for 25B personal use?

There are so many great options without sparking a Windows vs MAC debate/discussion, but if that 25B intends to learn or wants to write code for iOS he/she will only be able to do so with Xcode, which leaves only the MAC as an option. Only buy one from AAFES or whatever the other services call it the discount is great and there is no tax, also advise buying the apple care and a good case they do not drop well.

But if you want something with more power, there are always custom gaming rigs (bit overkill like Sager)

My PC is an HP zBook15 has 3 SSD 1TB drives with RAID. 32GB of PC3L ram. I can run about 8 intensive VM's so far without it choking. I also have four HD 24 inch monitors set up on it gives me 5 screens total.

SSG(P) (Join to see), personally, I'm not the biggest fan of Macs and the OS (PLEASE don't turn this discussion into a PC vs Mac debate anyone), but you really don't need a PC unless you plan on installing the AGM in your spare time (and, even then, as you mentioned, you can use bootcamp for that).

The type of training and such that will be of most use to you will be platform independent. The training available through Skillport, FedVTE, etc. are all web-based - that's where the most relevant information outside your coursework is going to be.

If what you are asking for is "what is more of use when I'm at the schoolhouse", I can hook you up offboard with the one of CCoE instructors that you can bounce questions off of.

If you want to know what is of more use at the follow-on assignment? I'd wait. There are so many different positions available for 25Bs that it would be a dice roll to guess (plus there are many 25Bs that have tried to convert me over to Macs, so I would guess they would be using them....)

Honestly, I'm a FA53 and use a MacBook Retina. I use a Boot Camp Partition with Windows 8.1 and I use Parallels. Parallels lets me emulate the boot camp partition. Basically, I can run Win 8.1 directly (as in booting directly to it without emulation) or emulate... but if emulate windows... its runs the exact same partition (important because I am running the same windows copy, not two separate versions).

I just like macs because of the stability (and I was a former hardcore windows fan). Basically, u have 14 days to return laptops back to best buy or the PX. I attached a pic to show the Windows running in the background on top of the MAC OS. Simple things... like if mac os corrupts, it redownloads itself from the internet (no disk, no serial numbers, and etc required) and just works. Things like that is what has me hooked. Running Mac OS 10.10 beta.

A neat thing is with IOS 8 beta and Mac 10.10 beta, they work together. I can make iPhone calls on my mac... not FaceTime, but actual calls. Tons of other great things, but it really comes down to what you wanna do.

Two things I have learned. People who can't use PC's use MACs (beginners) and people who outgrow Windows go to MAC. Basically, you get tired of Windows pricing upgrades, corruptions, malware, poor app store, metro interface.. and on and on. Even Windows Phone is losing out. Microsoft is just becoming bloated. I love the company, but has to turn around (and hope it does... competition is a good thing)