Getting Geared for School: Refurb or New 15"? Help me out!

[bomelon]

Okay, I know there's a bunch of threads here, but hopefully you guys can help me out!

I've got a year of high school left and heavily considering pursuing graphic design or advertising in post-secondary. I know one of the schools I'm looking at requires Macbooks for their programs. For my last year in high school, I'm also gonna be working heavily on the yearbook.

Will I need the 9600GT? I know right now it probably won't make a difference in any of the more intensive programs I'm using (Photoshop, Indesign, etc), but with OpenCL, will it make a huge difference in Adobe programs in the next few years to come?

So my choices:
$1649 (CAN) for 2.53 Unibody Late 2008 (Refurb)- 320HD, 4GB RAM, +9600GT
$1999 (CAN) for 2.53 Unibody New 2009 - 250 HD, 4GB RAM (max 8), 9400, 7 Hour Battery

The positives about the new model are the battery and that max 8GB of ram. I definately cannot and probably wouldn't be able to make use of that much ram now, but futureproofing is always nice (I'm sure 8GB would be much more common in two years time)

Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[iVeBeenDrinkin']

Late 08

 

[mickbab]

Well I just bought the 2.4GHz UMBP refurb for A$2149.

For me the big issues were: graphics, expresscard, and access to HDD and RAM.

Extra battery life was not such a big issue to me, and I'm not a fan of the SD card slot, I'm a CF user. The single graphics (in the base model, which is my price range ) was also a bit of a disappointment.

I'm very excited with my (Mum's....I'll pay for it soon) purchase. Ships between tomorrow (Tuesday) and Thursday. Yay!

I'm in year 10 by the way.

Anyway, about your purchase...I think the refurb will do you just fine. It doesn't sound like you're an 8GB RAM user, but does the battery matter to you?

 

[tersono]

Go for the refurb - if you're not bothered about the longer battery life there's little advantage in going for the latest version. Refurbs are always great value

 

[Hal1980]

The refurbs are typically a good deal, but new models with an Ed discount are usually cheaper than the refurbs.

 

[bomelon]

I've never owned a laptop before, so I can't really gage how much I'd appreciate un-wired portability, but I'm fairly certain I'll have an adaptor/charger with me on most occasions.

I guess my real concern is if I would make use of the discrete 9600GT graphics card. If not, the extra RAM capacity and battery life would be nice, but liveable without. And, I've heard glowing comments on refurbs, is there a reason not to get one?

Thanks for the feedback so far, keep 'em coming!

Oh, and I'm still in high school so I can't really make use of the educational discount. And anyways, I don't think pricing gets much better than 1649... especially when the educational discounts in Canada are like 100-150 for the 15" models.

 

[bomelon]

it's a done deal! Ordered the refurb. Thanks for your help