MacBook Pro Graphics Card/GHz difference?

[bodhello]

Hi, I'm buying a MacBook Pro off of craigslist, and I found two that I found reasonable:

1. This first one was for $850 and had had it's hard drive just recently replaced:
MacBook Pro 7,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Total Number Of Cores: 2
Video Card: GeForce 320M
320GB HHD
4GB RAM

2. This one was for $725, but did not list the hard drive size (is it the SSD part? I'm not sure... but I emailed asking him the size anyway).:
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB DDR3 1067 MHz Memory
Nvidia GeForce 9400M 256MB Graphics
64GB SSD -- OCZ Vertex2

Both are 13".

Anyways, the only real difference i found between these two is the graphics card and the Processor Speed. Keep in mind I'll probably only be using the computer as a homework computer/browsing, but will be doing some casual gaming on it as well (like MineCraft). And video editing for school. So is the extra $150 worth it? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Well stupid me mixed up the prices, and now I've realized that computer 2 (the 64GB SSD) is actually $725. Whoops.

 

[SPBMacintosh]

how deep is your video editing? because if its just imovie sorta stuff, then the cheaper one will run it fine enough

the speed differences are only really visible when you move onto more intense work

 

[Brian33]

The 64GB SSD is the "hard drive" for computer number 2. That's pretty small, but boot-up and application opening should be much faster from an SSD. (I don't have one but would love to!) The OS, applications, and probably your homework and other documents should go on the SSD. Then you could use the $150 difference in price to buy a large external drive if you want to store music, photos, movies, etc. But if portability of this sort of stuff is important, you'll have to decide if lugging an external drive around is worth the extra speed of the SSD.

The CPU speed difference between the two computers is negligible -- I doubt you'll ever notice it.

I can't tell you much about the graphics cards, though I'm sure someone around here could... anyone?

 

[bodhello]

how deep is your video editing? because if its just imovie sorta stuff, then the cheaper one will run it fine enough Image the speed differences are only really visible when you move onto more intense work

Well I was going to get into Final Cut Pro because I'm taking a class on that next year, so will that make a big difference?

The 64GB SSD is the "hard drive" for computer number 2. That's pretty small, but boot-up and application opening should be much faster from an SSD. (I don't have one but would love to!) The OS, applications, and probably your homework and other documents should go on the SSD. Then you could use the $150 difference in price to buy a large external drive if you want to store music, photos, movies, etc. But if portability of this sort of stuff is important, you'll have to decide if lugging an external drive around is worth the extra speed of the SSD.

The CPU speed difference between the two computers is negligible -- I doubt you'll ever notice it.

I can't tell you much about the graphics cards, though I'm sure someone around here could... anyone?

Thanks so much for this! But now I can't decide which hard drive I want... does anyone with an SSD think it's neccessarily worth it to have a bigger external drive with you a lot (which is pretty much my biggest concern)?

 

[SPBMacintosh]

Well I was going to get into Final Cut Pro because I'm taking a class on that next year, so will that make a big difference?



Thanks so much for this! But now I can't decide which hard drive I want... does anyone with an SSD think it's neccessarily worth it to have a bigger external drive with you a lot (which is pretty much my biggest concern)?

Erm how many layers you reckon your videos will have? render times will be quicker on the better one, but not much, playback will improve with the better gpu though

 

[idandavid]

cpu wise, you might not notice the difference doing regular things like music and web browsing but encoding videos will be faster on the 2.66 but im guessing you wont have both computers to compare so that doesnt matter if the 2.26 is a little slower.

however, the 320m is a major improvement over the 9400m. both arent dedicated gpu's but there is a big difference in favor of the 320m.

i'd get the computer with the 320m.

the ssd is a nice upgrade to your computer's speed but if you intend on writing and deleting a lot of files (video editing) i wouldnt get it since it ruins the ssd.

even if you decide later on you want ssd, it will be very easy to install one but you wont be able to replace cpu or gpu.