Macbook Air, Macbook Pro or a Windows laptop?

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I'm not sure a Macbook air will be powerful enough for all that web browsing and document writing you're going to be doing.

She could always stick some more RAM in it. 64GB would probably do.

I'll grab my soldering iron!

Windows laptop, always. HP ProBook/EliteBook or Lenovo ThinkPad.

But it's pretty

MacBook Pro, 100%. I love mine and wouldn't be without it now.

But it's pretty

I got the 13 inch MBP from currys with Knowhow insurance and i'm so happy i did. they have full care for everything and i paid 1500 for laptop and 5 years insurance which i think is good for a MBP. even if i am at fault for it breaking they fix it or replace it.

You probably don't need a laptop. Would recommend getting a £500-600 desktop with a decent screen(s) instead. In terms of price, bang for buck, durability, capability and upgradability, the desktop trumps all. You do not need a Macbook.

Would I not need something portable while at university? Do you think I should get a tablet as well as a desktop for when I need something portable?

It is. But instead, you could buy two or three windows laptops (one of which should be quite pretty). Then you could take the cheaper laptops apart to get the bits that look pretty and then stick those onto the expensive laptop (i'd recommend using cellotape or super glue as they're transparent, but also have the right level of stickyness). So then you have a powerful laptop that looks pretty. As a final step, you could buy some stickers to stick on there to make it look even better. You would probably still have some money left over to buy pens and paper or a lawnmower or something.

Do you have anything other than overzealous hyperbole to add here?

It depends what course you are going to do I would think; if you're predominantly using it for documents and spreadsheets get a laptop running Windows- if you were doing a lot of graphics editing, or compositional based courses then the Mac OS X may be more suited to you. If you're not planning to take it to lectures, like Mad Vlad said get a desktop machine.

That's kind of like saying to someone looking for a new car; "get a Ferrari, I have one and it's amazing". It's overpriced and unnecessary if they're just going to be using it to drive to the supermarket.

It's gonna sound a bit stupid, but if you get a desktop then you always have to sit at your desk to do your work (unless you get a wireless keyboard I suppose but it's still a bit awkward) at least if you get a laptop you can sit on your bed if you feel like it, or at your desk, in your kitchen, take it to the library etc etc, but I suppose if you're someone who doesn't mind doing all their work at a desk then it wouldn't be a problem! Me personally, I mostly sit in bed doing my work or take my laptop to the library. Just a thought!

It's gonna sound a bit stupid, but if you get a desktop then you always have to sit at your desk to do your work (unless you get a wireless keyboard I suppose but it's still a bit awkward) at least if you get a laptop you can sit on your bed if you feel like it, or at your desk, in your kitchen, take it to the library etc etc, but I suppose if you're someone who doesn't mind doing all their work at a desk then it wouldn't be a problem! Me personally, I mostly sit in bed doing my work or take my laptop to the library. Just a thought!

I'll hopefully be doing Philosophy and Economics so I won't be doing any graphics editing or anything like that. I don't know if I'll be taking it to lectures or not, I don't think I'll need to though. If not, will I not need something portable for other uses? (not sure what those are yet)

It's gonna sound a bit stupid, but if you get a desktop then you always have to sit at your desk to do your work (unless you get a wireless keyboard I suppose but it's still a bit awkward) at least if you get a laptop you can sit on your bed if you feel like it, or at your desk, in your kitchen, take it to the library etc etc, but I suppose if you're someone who doesn't mind doing all their work at a desk then it wouldn't be a problem! Me personally, I mostly sit in bed doing my work or take my laptop to the library. Just a thought!

There's a difference between spending a couple of hundred pounds more on a higher spec laptop than spending tens of thousands of pounds more a new car. Stupid comparison. Well in that case, I just use mine to "drive to the supermarket" but if that's all I use it for, then fine, I still love using it even if I perhaps don't use it to its full capability.