Looking for a MBP

[UncleSchnitty]

I'm looking into getting a used MBP as a secondary computer. My Mac pro is my main computer but I want something i can take with me or use while watching tv. I don't like tablets very much and never used my Ipad and ended up giving it away. So Im looking into older MBPs I want to spend around $400. I dont really care about the HDD because ill be taking that out for a SSD, The optical doesn't matter too me working or not because that will eventually go too for more storage and ram I can always upgrade.
So my question is what do you guys think would be a reasonable system to get? It looks like the 2009s are in that price range but I really dont know very much about the MBPs since I have had my towers for so long. Are there ones I should avoid?
Anyway any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[NewishMacGuy]

Depending on what you do with your Mac Pro, I might take it one step further by selling the desktop and using that money to replace it with a high power Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, or Haswell laptop. Since 2011, the uMBP-15s have been capable of replacing desktops for all but the most processor intensive tasks, and the new ATD displays + a BookArc make for very easy 1 cable docking.

Configured with 16GB RAM and a hybrid or SSD of the size that suits you, you will likely find the laptop a superior computing experience that's also fully portable for either couch surfing or business on the road.

And if you go with a Sandy Bridge, you can get that done for only a tiny bit of scrip, all things relative.

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[UncleSchnitty]

I don't really want to get rid of my tower just yet. I like my tower for many reasons, always on and ready without worrying about battery, upgrade-ability, Multiple large HDDs with different OSs, better graphics... the list could go on and on. I'm more looking at the MBP as an in between recreational device that I could if necessary use for work. I also want to mess around with some networking and the MBP would be perfect to test with. Im not looking for top of the line because my tower does everything I need at a fast rate now so this would be more of a recreational device that would have some power behind it.