Crime rates round student areas are always higher than the surrounding area, so still be careful (especially round halls).

Most of the time you would have really good access to PC's within uni, so you probably would not need a laptop, in fact taking it back and forth is asking for a problem, chavs, people in uni, drops, left in a pub when drunk.

There should not really be a point taking a laptop into a lecture (though some students do here), granted the lecture notes etc should be on a VLE, but you can access them before, there really is no need for a laptop/Ipad etc, your there for the lecture, jotting notes is easier.

I doubt you would be able to bolt a comp into a wall, thats one thing they look for (holes in walls) when returning the deposit! A desktop would be harder to nick due to its size.

Unless your doing hugely complex work and need the power I would get a £500 desktop PC that will suit your needs, you can do any complex processing at Uni if needed, just move work about in your external (possibly get a mini HDD) and keep it backed up.

You only see about 2-3/10 students with laptops in uni to be honest.