I compared the baseline MBP with upgraded ram (4Gb) and a 7200 rpm 250gb hdd to the mid 2.53ghz mbp. Seeing as the student discount is greater with the 2.53ghz mbp version, the difference between the two notebooks turns out to be about 200 dollars (the difference is actually less since I downgraded the HDD in the 2.53ghz mbp to a 250gb 7200 rpm hdd). For 200 bucks, I went with the mid MBP seeing as i get a faster cpu, more cache, and more vram (eventhough I know that the extra vram does make much of a difference). Im excited!!!