MAC or Laptop

If your budget allows, I'd say go Mac and heres why.

I currently have a 2010 MacBook Pro which is running great apart from the battery not being what it used to be, although I do keep meaning to replace this. In the 6 years I have had it I cant recall one single problem I've had. Its ran great from the day I got it.

In the same time, I've had 4 Windows based laptops at work that have been nothing but problematic, and at home I've had 2 Windows laptops during this time.

It boils down to personal experience but I've never been able to fault my Mac. My wife even dropped it down the stairs and it only had one tiny mark on it.

I'm going to get a new 15" MBP as soon as they release one and pass my current 13" on to my wife and I fully expect that she'll get another few years out of it.

Again all this is my opinion and based on my personal experience. I'm not a fanboy of either product line as my desktop is a Windows machine.

I agree, go with Mac. It allows for all the development you could want to use it for. And if you ever decide to get into iOS development then you are required to have a Mac. I think of it like this, with a Mac you can have everything (Mac OSX, Windows (using Bootcamp which is predownloaded on Macs), and Linux (on a VM)) but on Windows you can only have Windows, or maybe try a Linux VM but that usually has low performance (I know from experience). So why wouldn't you do Mac when it gives you all the options you could need as far as an OS and development tools? Not to mention, like Marc Jones said, its physically built really well and can withstand a lot (Like your wife dropping it). I hope this helps.

I'll add another upvote to the idea that it's worth it to get a Mac.

thanks guys, it looks like I'll be saving my pennies for a mac book!

Oh, and would you consider some sort of Linux box that's cheaper than a mac but probably at least as good for a dev to have. And Linux doesn't mean you're immediately thrown into a confusing exclusively command line environment anymore, though it's that Mac has Unix underneath and its power at their command that's the real reason that devs love it. There are other reasons so I'm oversimplifying as that's not the topic of the discussion at hand.

And if your objective focuses on design then wait for a Mac for certain!

Mac of some sort all the way!!! Especially if you're looking to get into development & design. As well as Linux, you can always install Windows on Mac if you wish to, but you cannot install OSX on a PC.