Would i be better going for a Macbook Pro with retina display or one without for a 15 year old teenager?

I'm unsure of what to get my son for his birthday, he is a 15 year old teenager doing GCSE's at the moment and needs a laptop for work. this would be his first one, but he uses a desktop a lot, the mac book would be used for programming, some CAD work, a bit of gaming and watching movies but as you could appreciate i don't want it to be too expensive, has anybody got any idea's? P.S. if i was to get the non retina display version, how long would apple support security updates and OS upgrades (E.g. to OS X Yosemite) for it?

Other than refurbished units (which are usually very good buys) the only non-Retina model currently sold as new is the 13" MacBook Pro, which still has an optical drive, user replaceable RAM and hard drive, etc.
If you're going to go the non-Retina route, I might suggest searching for a 15" 2012 non-Retina model. It seems to be the most stable model that's been made, lately. Like the other non-Retinas, you can upgrade the RAM and hard drive yourself and it, too, comes with an optical drive.
Either a new machine or a refurb will be supported for a long, long time, I imagine. I don't expect my 2011 model (non-Retina, of course) to be out-of-date for the next 3-5 years, for instance (if the machine actually lasts that long - 2011 15" & 17" models have not had a good track record).
Check out the refurbs here -> http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?afid=p219|GOUS&cid=AOS-US -KWG-MAC. You may be able to find a good 2012 refurb that would serve your son well, with the full one-year warranty (and eligible for AppleCare extended warranty).
Good luck,
Clinton

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