Buying a MBP for Uni and need help

Hi good folk of MacRumors! I posted this question on another site but figured I'd ask here as you guys seem to have the best advice as a whole.

I'm on the search for a new laptop, specifically a MacBook Pro. I'm totally familiar with the interface considering that my high school only had Mac computer labs so there is no worries about learning curves and the like. I'll be replacing a big, clunky, cumbersome Compaq Presario CQ62 that I bought on a budget nearly 2 years ago. The battery conked out after 12 months and it's now slow as a wet week and sounds like a jet engine taking off.

Now that I'm less confined to a budget, I've been looking around at the various MBP options. I've already wiped out the idea of an Air (although some of you may be able to sway me) simply because of the small hard drive space and lack of ports/disk drive. I also think it'll cost a lot more to upgrade it to the specifications I want and need for the work I'm doing.

PLEASE NOTE: I'm not looking at recent Retina-display models simply because I can't justify the price hike for a student.

Typically there's going to be a lot of web browsing and word processing, often 10-15 tabs open at once, a fair bit of YouTube, and also a fair bit of Photoshop. I'm often working on Photoshop and browsing a heap of tabs while listening to music in iTunes at the same time. I'm not a gamer at all (only on PS3) so I won't be into any of that. I may run a virtual disk of Windows 7 on the odd occasion to run particular programs.

I need some reviews from people in the know to help me make an informed decision, so I figure there's no better place than here. I have narrowed it down to two options (although this isn't set in stone):

MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.9ghz, Dual Core Intel i7, 8GB RAM, 750GB hard drive
Macbook Pro 15-inch 2.3ghz, Quad Core Intel i7, 8GB RAM, 500GB hard drive
Now I know that the second of those two, the 15-inch, comes by default with 4 GB of RAM. Is it necessary for me to upgrade that to 8GB? Or does the fact that it's Quad Core make it faster already? The 2.3ghz vs 2.9ghz is throwing me off (I mean it is a smaller number!)

Will the 13-inch 2.9ghz be enough for my needs? If I don't have to spend an extra $400 to get the 15-inch then I'll be very happy. Finally is there a noticeable weight difference when carrying around a 15-inch as compared to a 13-inch?

Remember I'm not ruling out the Air but I would rather a Pro.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Gibbsy

Thanks for the prompt responses fellas. I'm leaning towards a 13" monitor size now just for the lighter weight in carrying it around University, and I'm even now seriously considering a Retina MBP after earlier writing it off.

I got this as a response from another site, after being advised by a few others that 8GB RAM and a SSD is the way to go (and I agree).

By the time you upgrade to an SSD and extra ram on the 13" model (if you do it through apple), you are going to be paying close to the 13" retina (2.6GHz, 8GB, 256GB) price anyway which is $1,749 with your student id. The retina model is also about 400g lighter which doesn't seem like much but is a decent amount once if it is on your back/shoulder along with some textbooks for a few hours.

Click to expand...

This is what I'm now thinking. I've been looking around a heap, and know that I'll need 8GB of RAM (minimum) as well as an SSD for that added zippyness. I'm thinking a 256GB SSD will be enough, considering I checked the used space on my laptop last night and I'm only using 136GB with my full music library of about 4000 songs plus my (limited) movie library on the comp. Add to that I have a 1TB WD external hard drive and I think I'll be fine with the 256GB SSD.

I know people talk about screen real estate and the like while using Photoshop, but to be honest I'm not editing high-res photos, rather just editing logos, creating graphics, wallpapers and the like. Wouldn't say I'm a 'power user' by any means.

Dual core i5 sounds good enough to me for the work I'm doing; maybe I accidentally made it sound like I was doing more tasks than I really will be in the OP. Yes I browse plenty of tabs at once while listening to music, but I'm never going to be gaming or really working the CPU. So that being said, I don't believe I'm going to need to upgrade to 16GB RAM at any time during the 3 or so years I think this laptop will last me (am I being generous with that estimation?)

Reason I am leaning towards the 13" 2.6GHz Retina MBP is not only because of the slightly cheaper price once I upgrade the RAM and add a 256GB SSD on the regular MBP ($1,749 for the MBP vs. $1,779 for the RMBP, including student discount), but also because of the new fan cooling system in the RMBP. I hate burning laptops and loud fans and it seems like this new system is the go. Plus the great decrease in height and weight is super.

A few queries to the Apple experts on this board before I go through with getting a Retina MBP:

1) In regards to the new high-res screen and browsing the web/using apps, how many applications have been updated to fit the screens? (I.e. non-blurry text etc) – Obviously all the native Apple apps will be fine but I read in an early review about how this could be a slight annoyance in the coming months.

2) I don't think I'm going to need an optical drive, if I'm honest. But tonight I just stumbled across a LITEON DVD player/burner in the cupboard, able to be plugged in by USB, would this be compatible with a Mac?

3) Finally this one isn't hardware related but for general productivity and ease of use, what is better – Office for Mac or iWork?

Cheers guys.