I just have a simple question

All the current MBPs should be able to handle those apps.

 

OP, not really clear; but are you asking if you should get the new Unibody MBP 2.4 v. the new Unibody MBP 2.53? Those are already out on the market; or are you waiting for the next best thing? Either way, any of those MBPs will work for your needs...

 

You should have no problems running those programs on either spec really, especially with 4gb ram!

 

I never understood the urge to pay so much money for the extra 0.13 GHz. The day the 2.4 GHz MBP is really considered "obsolete", or unable to run up-to-date software that you need, is the exact same day the 2.53 GHz MBP is obsolete. Gigahertz mean less than complete advantages in CPU technology and manufacturing. This is why my 2 year old, 2 GHz C2D white MacBook would be 10-20% slower than the current 2 GHz C2D white MacBook.

In my opinion, it's kind of like looking back at threads from 3 or 4 years ago. I remember people asking "Should I get the 1.33 GHz G4, or the 1.5 GHz G4 PowerBook? When you look at those machines now, and you were to try to run todays software on EITHER machine, you probably wouldn't be able to tell which machine was the 1.5 GHz, and which was the 1.33 GHz. All you'd notice is that they both run sloooowwwwwww.....

 

You're not just paying for the extra Ghz. You also get a faster cache and additional 2GB of ram. When you look at all the extras it's not that much more to pay over the 2.4.

The sweet spot for purchasing the Macbook Pro is the 2.53 unless you are just surfing the web and writing text documents. Of course, then you might be better off with a Macbook.

 

You don't have to get the 2.53GHz processor for the extra 2GBs of RAM, you can BTO that on the 2.4GHz version. And Abstract is right, the price vs. performace is not very good. Just like my new 17" MBP. There is no way I'm going to pay $300 for 0.27GHz more. 3 or 4 years from now, I would have looked back and said: "Wow, I can't believe I paid $300 for this processor, when now it's SO SLOW!"

It's all relative. If you need the latest and greatest and fastest possible NOW, upgrade the processor. If you realize there is hardly any difference, and want to save a lot of money, buy the standard processor.