WHY DO YOU WANT AN EXTERNAL SSD? thats not the point of a SSD..
I don’t want to sound mean but don’t just spend cash for the sake of it… unless you get into after effects or processing programs more you won’t need 1/2 the stuff. a i5 jobbie without ssd will be fine.

Trust me I’ve been there – I was a student once and I did blow a big part of my loan on gear… you’d be better off getting into it first and after the first year buying your own stuff when you have knowledge of what you need.

I’d buy a desktop over a laptop anyday as well… anyway take this with a pinch of salt if you like.. its just an opinion

I’ll need an external drive of some description maybe not an SSD, something with more capacity probably.
I agree on the desktop over a laptop though…but I need a laptop anyway and it will be handy for editing photos or sorting out video clips when I’m away from home.
“I don’t want to sound mean but don’t just spend cash for the sake of it” – I’m not too worried about that as all I want in the foreseeable future is a decent laptop and a Tokina 11-16 camera lens. I’m a mature student with no debt apart from what I’ll owe for my student loan. Luckily my house and everything I have is paid for, if it wasn’t I wouldn’t be studying for the degree I’m doing.