Need help deciding MBP 15 2.4 i5 (2010) for $1500 or 13 inch 2011 base for 1200$

[peace4al]

Folks,
I am looking forward to buy a macbook pro and was going for a 13 inch base model which is priced around 1200$ with taxes in our collage bookstore. However, the guy there told me that they were wanting to get rid of the previous generation macbook pro's and are giving student discount plus 100$ off all the old models. (15 inch i5 2.4 comes down to 1500$ with taxes).
Now this has really confused me. I have a 27 inch imac that satisfies all heavy computing needs and just need a laptop for the portability. The 2011 13 inch update got a better CPU but at the cost of GPU. Also the resolution remained the same.
I will use the MBP for gaming, watching movies and browsing, so the 15 inch screen is the deal breaker for me. The 15 inch (last gen) will give me a slower CPU but with a dedicated GPU which can be used for gaming.

Plz advice whether I should pick up the 2010 15 inch base or go with the newer 13 inch 2011.

Thanks.

 

[DrHiggsBoson]

I bought the 13" base i5 a few days ago and it is great, but the GPU isn't anything to write home about if you're going for games. I think if you are going to be playing many games, I would go for the 15" last gen. The Sandy Bridge CPU is a great upgrade, but with the 15" you'll be getting a slightly larger screen and the decent graphics. Besides, the CPU in the older models are still pretty decent compared to the 13" base.

If I can give you any advice as a college student, it is this. Unless you are really planning on taking your new notebook to a friends place all of the time to play in a group, I would really consider getting whichever notebook you feel will make you happy and do your gaming on the iMac. I've had a few different notebooks through college and I would use it for gaming when I would go to a dorm meet, but ultimately I would do 90% of my gaming on my desktop. The most time I spent with games was in gen. ed. classes playing starcraft...

Hope this helps a bit!!!

 

[sydenham]

I am not sure the 2010 is worth it. I think the 2010 base 15" model had 256 ram in the graphics card. As you pointed out the base 2011 will be faster but the graphics will be slightly slower. I think you should go for the 2011 13. If they were the same price then I would think about it.