Verified answer

You can get a Windows laptop of similar specs for about three-quarters the price of a MacBook Pro, and have a decent graphics card to handle the applications you need for design. You're going to want something that has at least 512MB of dedicated graphics memory, an Intel i5 processor, and at least 4GB of RAM.

You're going to be using photoshop right?

well that straight up says you shouldn't get a Mac, photoshop runs smoother on a PC anyway.

all you really need is a semi decent intergrated graphics chip (or a good one if your fancy, maybe even a dedicated one but neither of those are necessary)

quite a lot of ram (i would recomend 8gb if you can't get a laptop with that, by the laptop you want then upgrade it. IMPORTANT

fairly large HDD for all stocks and renders, (or a small HDD AND a large external one) IMPORTANT

largest screen you can get, trust me on this its really usful. IMPORTANT

a load of USB ports is a must!, you'll be plugging tablets, mice, keyboards and flash drives in a lot!, I have 3 on mine, but then again i have a bluetooth tablet

anything from samsumg, dell, ASUS or acer will be fine, just realise you'll be spending upwards of £600 to get a decent laptop (which will be better then a mac that cost £1000)

i would recomend a dell tho, as they alow for quite a lot of customisation, so you can take what you want as you base, and customise ontop of it.

honsitly macs aren't that good for art people as the main software they buy them for runs smoother on PC.

Mac's are overpriced. There is no software that a Mac has which Windows doesn't, at least for the most part. All Adobe products which I know of (Photoshop for instance) can be ran on both Windows and Mac. With that said, take a look at an Asus laptop.

Here is a list of places which sell them:

http://promos.asus.com/wheretobuy/US/new/index_us....

Here is an example of one:

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G75VW-AS71-17-3-Inch-La...

That would last you for your entire time in college (4 years im assuming).

For your consideration,

Budget buy

Vizio's new Notebook and Thin + Light unibody ultrabooks available today for $898

http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/14/3085468/vizio-no...

Mid market mobile monsters

MSI CX61 and CR61 Multimedia Laptops Launched

http://planetoverclock.com/news/msi-cx61-and-cr61-...

Apple beater

Alienware M17x R4 Review: Mobile Gaming at its Finest

http://www.pcworld.com/article/260277/alienware_m1...

you want a laptop with enough power to run programs like photoshop ect so try these:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-dm4-3002...

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-g6-1302e...

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-envy-6-sleekbook-...

all three are for a reasonable price have a battery that can last over 6 hours at least 4 gb of ram and a i5 processor i would recommend any of these 3