Thank you all everyone, its been a real quick education. In the end Ive got myself an imac from this here very parish, as ever Basschat come up with the best deals!
Having spoken to the college, they use imacs there and can loan out macbooks for live work, so thats the way ive decided to go, more bang for buck over a macbook pro.
Thanks everyone, now to find out if I can get a genuine cheap copy of logic (not likely!)