Go with the Pro. It is superior. The vast majority who buy the reg Macbook do so because that is all they can afford which is fine. I always find it funny when they try to say they could of bought the Pro, but...... Whatever makes them feel better I guess.
If you can spare the extra money buy the best you can afford then you won't be regretting it later. The pro has a lot more features, but the best one is a nice screen. Not the cheap piece of trash they put in their cheap Macbooks.
Or people don't need the power of the MBP and go for the cheaper, smaller MB.
Seriously, the vast majority of people who buy the MacBook buy it because it's all they really need, and enjoy.
I don't need the power of a MacBook Pro, why would I even think about spending almost twice as much on a notebook I would never use for more than basic web browsing and writing papers? Hm?
Exactly. Your signature seems to show you have a bit against the MacBook, but you enjoyed your BlackBook, which makes little sense, but to each their own.
To the OP, I'd go with the MacBook, but that's personal preference. If you're not going to be doing anything graphics-intensive, why spend all of that money? You can use it for far better things. Like you said, you already have a PS3 for gaming, and Vista runs just fine on the MacBook. You could buy some RAM from Crucial, and maybe a larger harddrive, and still pay less than the MBP, and probably get some good usage on it. It's also a bit more portable, and you seem to not have the firewire issue.
Better yet, go into an authorized retailer if at all possible, and test both. Work with each for a few minutes, and a lot of times, if you ask an employee to test the weight and size, they'll let you pick them up, close the lid, feel the machine, etc. so you can get a feel for what you'll be lugging around everywhere.