MBP: which 15" model?

[skipsandwichdx]

I've decided to buy a Macbook Pro for school this coming fall. I was originally planning on buying the low-end model, with the impression that it would run games (World of Warcraft, BF2, HL2, etc.) through Boot Camp/XP fairly well, in addition to some minor Photoshop/Premiere work. I don't necessarily need a school laptop with game capability, but it'd mean less transporting my bulky gaming box and monitor from home to dorm and back.

Earlier today, my brother (who works at an Apple store) called to let me know he'd let me use his 25% discount on a Macbook. My first thought was, "Great, now I can buy the high-end 15" with the better video card and ram!" After thinking about it, though, I'm not too sure if I'd want to get the better machine, or take my original choice at a lower price.

Do the extra .16GHz, RAM (video card and system), and 20GB storage warrant the extra $375? Would it be a viable desktop replacement for a couple years (with RAM upgrades)?

Thanks.

 

[jaxstate]

The low end MBP which is now the 2.0Ghz Dual core will run the games that you listed. I'm not sure how those games would run on a MB. If you do a search, you can see that many users have already posted pics and benchmarks on HL3, BF2, and WOW.

 

[ImNoSuperMan]

I`ll assume that you cant wait till Aug for Merom MBP otherwise that wud have been my forst choice. ie wait for the Merom MBP since you`ll have a newer CPU which will have definitely better life than the Yonahs. And most probably the heat/whine isuues will be solved by then. But if you need a laptop now then in that case-

Go for it only of you need the 256 MB VideoCard. It`ll be defiitely worth it. Otherwise the ram and HDD can be upgraded very easily for something much less than that. If you want to play games then I`d definitely recommend you going for the 2.16 model with 256 MB VRAM. You cant upgrade the GPU once you`ve bought the MBP.

*Makes me wish my Bro was working in an Apple Store *