The answer depends on how much of your personal/course project work you wish to do at home versus using our two dedicated MAC labs.
Especially for students in our Digital Media concentration, to more easily transition working on sizable video and audio projects both on and off campus, we strongly encourage an Apple Macbook Pro as the way to go. Either size available is sufficient, though we do recommend 8 gig or more of RAM. For students in our Public Relations concentration, either a Macbook or PC laptop will meet all of your course needs.
In addition, you may wish to purchase software such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and (for Digital Media students) Final Cut Pro X. With this combination you'll be able to do all your COMM-related coursework from the comfort of your home. In some cases, depending on your coursework, additional software might be required.
Alternatively, you can choose to use our MAC labs for your larger creative projects. In this case, you need only purchase any laptop capable of running the Microsoft Office suite. This will allow you to complete a majority of your work at home and visit either of our two labs or the library to complete projects requiring specialized software. These computer labs all have Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suites, and Final Cut Pro X software available.