AHHH to many comments to reply to.
sorry if this doesnt make sense, it's been a very good but long day at work.
thing about buying a cheaper (but same spec) PC compared to a Mac is the fact that Macs are built to last around 4-8 years, whereas PCs are just, well, built. By the time you've got through your Mac you'll still have high resale value and a quality machine, whereas by that time chances are you'd be looking at one, maybe two extra PCs as well as your original one because they'll have packed up (+ shit resale).
im not exactly sure what you're looking to use it for, i cant remember exactly if you said or not, but tbh just jump at an EOL product. all the local stores have them, but if not it's probably because it's been sent down to the Bullring (we've been flogging them loads recently for some reason [apart from obvious price reduction]).
if you're looking for an attractive UI and an attractive product, with good resale and a good deal as a student - £47 apple care (£148 less), a £14 iPod touch (£145 rebate), and a free printer (£60 rebate, [printer is £59.95 itself]), then go for a MacBook!
You won't get the student discount on the end of line products as they're already reduced and reduced and reduced further, but you can still get 6-17% off a MBP as a student.