Due to the budget I would rmend you go with a Windows PC. However I currently own a MacBook Pro 15 with 16 GB RAM. If you consider a good PC with equal specs Mac would still sound costlier. BUT... and a very big BUT... the quality is actually the key. I absolutely love the Retina Display and I can go gaga about so many other stuff. But let me cut it short so that I don't sound a fanboy. The choice of a Mac for designing is a no brainer and since you can use Parallels to run Windows you can do pretty much all you can with a Windows PC using a Mac but not vice versa. That's the reason I bought it and I don't regret it. There are a few things that I miss as a developer and hence I am training my muscle memory to get used to Mac. 1. Absence of Delete key. In Mac you have only got 1 Delete Key that deletes backwards. Even if you run Parallels on Windows you will have to deal with only Backspace delete. It feels weird initially but I got used to it. 2. Absence of Home key etc. Same issue but you may get used to it. Rest all is just fantastic. Now I don't have to worry about how my page would look on a Mac. I can do all this testing directly. Being an author I like using iBooks Author a lot too. So while I develop code my key findings go in a book which may be later published. As you can see I may end up getting the best of both worlds with a Mac. One things that I absolutely hate about Windows PC is the reliability. I am too fuc*ing tired of installing Windows Updates on a daily basis only to realise than something went wrong and the OS conked off. With a Mac even if I spend a lot of time in Parallels I feel morefortable knowing the fact that I can revert to a snapshot when I need to. Majority of my other development task happens in the Cloud. Last but not the last I love photography and after using iPhoto I am 1% sure I don't need anything else. Bottomline... don't pick what others pick. Don't pick what you want to pick. Research and pick what you think might serve you for longer duration and fulfils your needs as well as budget.