15" Macbook Pro i5 > 15" Macbook Pro i7

[vant]

For 90% of the people, an i5/256mb GPU will do fine.

If your in that 10% that needs the slight performance (or bragging rights?) then so be it.

But please, don't go to that 'future proofing' crap. A slight performance boost isn't future proofing at all. Like a previous poster said, save the money and upgrade sooner.

 

[tim100]

some people will pick an i5 or 13 inch c2d because they value battery over performance.

 

[cluthz]

I've opted for the low end i5, just because I feel that makes most sense.
I've usually always opted for the low end version, because the extra cost to gain a little performance has for me usually not been worth it.

The difference between the i5 (2.4) and the i7 is a whooping $400!
You get a 500GB HD instead, and some more video RAM.

My previous machine was a SR MBP introduced 2007.06.05 at US$1,999 (2.2 GHz) and US$2,499 (2.4 GHz).

Today, would the $500 premium for +0.2GHz, +40GB HD and an extra 128MB VRAM made any difference? No, not for me.

But adding 4GB RAM and a 320GB GB HD for $250 half a year later did.

Today a 7200RPM 500GB HD costs less than $100, possibly in less than a year you can get a 750GB 7.2k RPM for the same.
Or a SSD like Crucial M225 (256GB) that now costs less than 600 for about the half.


That is at least my advice, as i tend to run of HD space and RAM long before CPU and GPU.