Some advice would be nice
Ok so i need some advice from you guys. I am a graphic design student and am required to get a mac. i was looking at the new 17 in macbook pro but someone brought up a good point to get the 15in macbook pro and also a 20 monitor for dual screen. let me know what you guys think.

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The 17" is harder to carry, will actually have worse resale value because fewer people want to buy 17" laptops due to them being less portable and it's way more expensive while being round about the same performance. Plus a sealed in battery means if it fails, you can't do the same thing with the smaller ones, which is take the battery out, keep using the machine and get the battery replacement by post.
You could actually get a 15" MBP + 24" display cheaper than a 17" MBP. It depends on whether you go for a high end display though. For graphic design, you'd probably aim for a SIPS or SPVA display - the 20" Apple cinema matte displays would be good.
Some sites still sell the 23" Apple display though and it gives you 1920x1200 resolution vs 1680x1050.
Hell, I'd get a 13" Macbook and a 24" display. Not Apple's display, though.
That's true and he could get an SSD upgrade with 4GB Ram.
If most of the serious graphics work is done at a desk where the display is, the Macbook is a good option. If there is a need to do graphics work using just the machine on it's own, I'd say the 1280x800 resolution of the Macbook is a bit low.