Thanks guys. I fwded him all of your comments. It was a work decision, not his personal decision, but as it turns out, work has now given him the option to get a comparable Windows laptop instead of the Macbook. So he is now looking at a Lenovo with i7, nVidia 2GB graphics, and 16GB ram. I think he's on the right path now. 8)
Thanks for all the feedback. We just needed to get his head in the right direction. Job well done.