Hi,
I am off to college in a few months and I am going to be a film major. I am in the market for a new laptop but don't want to shell out a lot. I was thinking about getting a basic laptop, while using the schools computers to edit, that can be heavily upgraded later when I have more money. Or is it just worth just getting a macbook pro? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks!!

You can't go wrong with a Macbook Pro 15". Be sure to get a model with a Firewire port.... not the Retina model that lacks it. Always buy as much processor performance as you can afford. Add memory and larger disk later. THere's not that much to "heavily upgrade".

Your school should provide you guidance and enable you to get an educational discount on the hardware and whatever NLE they teach with. Apple Care is recommended. I told my kids I'd get them a new laptop at graduation if they made it through 4 years with their freshmen laptop. YMMV

Unless you plan on heavy-duty editing with your computer while you're a student, go for a basic model. In two years, it will be old news and unworthy of upgrading (assuming it survives that long). Other than putting in more memory and bigger drives, your upgrade options are limited anyhow. Use the schools higher-performing computers for editing. Save your money for good beer. :-)

Any suggestion for a specific model?

When I was at university I'd carry around all my footage and files on a Firewire 800 portable hard drive and use the university computers for editing at uni and my home PC for editing at home. That way I just had to upgrade my home PC.

But if you're going to be staying at college and need access to a computer 24hrs a day in your dormitory, yes one of the new MacBook Pro with firewire 800 would suite you nicely.

Otherwise you can get one of these:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachments/open-dv-discussion/10447d1231896220-usb-firewire-adapter-connectors.jpg

If you have the money, I'd buy one of the new MacBook Pro with Retina display (but make sure your college computers have the new thunderbolt port on each of they computers) for $2799US

If you want to be safe and cheap by one of the new MacBook Pro without Retina display for $1199US

BUT if they're teaching Adobe Media Composer on PCs, then get a new PC laptop!

I'd go for one or two generation old macbook pro. You can find one second hand with warranty. These are cheap, still potent laptops and will do you forna couple of years. I use a 5 year old macbook pro (core 2 duo) for editing full HD xdcam and it has no issues (little slow on encoding but i letmitnrun overnight).

I would second Edwin's suggestion.

I just got a MacBook Pro with Retina Display and SSD drive. It's fast!

I'm editing footage from a Sony EX1 that's on a GoFlex Pro Thunderbolt drive and it runs smoothly. GoPro footage doesn't hang up at all when viewing through Quicktime's Player.

I set up a 4-cam multiclip and it ran at about 15 FPS. Not bad considering it's coming off a single drive.

The system's compact and fast. Well worth the money.

Bootup is less than 15 seconds. Photoshop fires up in 3 seconds.