New Macbook Pro Owner, keep or return? (vicious shadow readme please)

[1,000 Shards]

Hi! I'm a new macbook pro owner migrating over from years of gaming on windows desktops.

Last Tuesday, June 2nd I purchased the entry level MBP for 2149.99(CAD)+ 5% sales tax from the Futureshop up here in Canada. At the time I was well aware of the pending WWDC and ensured they had a 14 day no questions asked full money back return policy.

I'm a 4th year University student, and this is my first laptop (and first Apple since an Apple IIc when I was about 7) and I'm already quite happy with it and OSX in general.

My usage: At the moment I primarily use it for Schoolwork, itunes, movie watching and some light photo editing via Photoshop and Lightroom 2. I plan to get rid of my big old windows gaming desktop to a family member that desperately needs a computer at a greatly reduced price. I don't do much of any gaming right now.

In summary:
Should I return or not? I do mostly consumer level photo work, so having an improved LCD screen would be nice, as well as increased battery life and an additional 2gb of ram. The processor speeds across my price point are negligible at best.

On the other hand, losing the graphics card will be huge for me since I plan to do some light gaming on here at some point. Primarily I will be playing Quakelive when it becomes available for mac users, Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. (I imagine by the time D3 is available, I can afford to upgrade my macbook pro then)

I primarily use my laptop plugged into the mains at home and in the campus library, although I do use it during 3 hour summer classes, so battery life as been a non-issue to this point, but more is always better, right? I've also found a compatible 2gb memory stick locally for 53/canadian, so I plan to put that in as well.

In Summary:
If I return my current MacBook, in order to keep a dedicated graphics card I will have to spend an additional 150 dollars to step up (Full time student, cannot really afford this right now) to the 2.66ghz model according to http://www.apple.ca On the other hand, I can step down and lose the graphics card, thereby saving 150 dollars (canadian) but gaining improvements in Screen, Battery Life, Ram and Processor speed. Basically, the entry level 2.4 I purchased was pretty much the max my budget allowed, stepping up to the 2.66 will require some waiting.

Thanks in advance for any constructive comments or advice.

P.S.
I named vicious in the topic because in my extensive research around here I've agreed with quite a lot he or she had to say about Apple and hardware related issues.

 

[ViciousShadow21]

long quote

i am flattered you thought of me.

well here goes…

i think that you should keep the one you have. i understand the allure of the situation. i mean your sitting there saying i just paid all this money and now i can return it and get the newer one. great but this one does everything that you want it to. then there is the fact that, in my opinion, the "upgrades" made to the lower-end 15" really suck. even the upper end one im not happy with the loss of the express slot. im glad i bought mine before this upgrade like you said the loss of that graphics card is a huge hit if you plan on gaming. could the 9400m handle games? sure but you are going to have to sacrifice either quality or fps. also it's nice knowing that you have the option of the higher end graphics card if you need it. i use the 9400m most of the time but there are times when it just doesnt cut it and i am really happy that i had the option of going with the more powerful one.

as for the RAM - with what you've said you use the computer for 4GB should be all you need. like you said you can find it pretty cheap right now.

i did just think of something here tho. if you use the education discount you can get the 2.66 for the same price you bought it at future store. so why not do that. (i pretty much just nulled everything i said above but hey i like to rant haha)

 

[underwater]

Apple usually offers price protection if they drop the base price of a compatible model and you purchased within the past 30 days. You might ask. Or there is a 10% restock fee for the return.

In the apple store last week, they were telling buyers they would get $$ back if the price of 15" and 17" pros were reduced today (as we expected).

 

[ViciousShadow21]

Apple usually offers price protection if they drop the base price of a compatible model and you purchased within the past 30 days. You might ask. Or there is a 10% restock fee for the return.

In the apple store last week, they were telling buyers they would get $$ back if the price of 15" and 17" pros were reduced today (as we expected).

yea this could work for you as well, but you want the two graphics cards and the one you bought is technically equivalent to the new one without it