Regarding CUDA programming: If you want to do this seriously do yourself a favor and get a test machine with a Fermi and/or Kepler card running a CLI-only linux and ssh in for testing. CUDA drivers run just fine on linux, it's one of the most common environments for HPC programming right now.
What I mean is you usually don't want to do this on your laptop. First, a high end laptop like a macbook can hold up for 4 years while GPUs need to be replaced regularly in order to develop for the latest newest capabilities. At some point you will also want to try Intel MIC, AMD cards and so on. Secondly, it's just much nicer if the system you're working on doesn't get hot.
Note: If it's for graphical tools with user frontend I can understand if you don't want to do this. Even then it could be interesting to have offsite computing capabilities baked in however, since this is also preferred in many graphics/video designer houses.
What I mean is you usually don't want to do this on your laptop. First, a high end laptop like a macbook can hold up for 4 years while GPUs need to be replaced regularly in order to develop for the latest newest capabilities. At some point you will also want to try Intel MIC, AMD cards and so on. Secondly, it's just much nicer if the system you're working on doesn't get hot.
Note: If it's for graphical tools with user frontend I can understand if you don't want to do this. Even then it could be interesting to have offsite computing capabilities baked in however, since this is also preferred in many graphics/video designer houses.
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