Colleges usually have computers for those specific courses. They can't just be like "oh here you have to make this game", but you don't have the equipment to do it. The CS department most likely has a gaming lab. A gaming lab is just a normal computer lab but with gaming desktops in it (most likely some really overpriced Alienwares, as Dell provides the cheapest contracts). Unless you really want a gaming desktop or to be able to do homework in your dorm then I wouldn't worry about it.
For advice on laptops or desktops, I'd say look into HP. They have a student discount at HP academy. I bought a HP dv6t with a quad core CPU and GT 650m for $700 with student coupon plus student discount(regular price, at the time,$1050 with upgraded GPU). Since it's spring, manufacturers will be putting out their new 2013 line of laptops/desktops. This means you could get a pretty sweet deal on last years models.
Oh and for desktops you should get some experience and build your own.
Dell, ASUS, and most others probably have their respective student discounts, but HP seemingly had the best deal from my research.
Also, windows 8 is actually pretty cool in a lot of ways. I thought the same thing you did before I got my laptop, but there are a lot of nifty things that 8 does.
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