Refurb vs. New MacBook Pro 15" Can't Decide!

[H2K03]

I can't decide on which Macbook Pro to get. I need some advice. I'm looking at either a new MacBook Pro 15" $1999 (I can get it for $1799 after rebate and no tax) or a refurb MacBook Pro 15" (1st Gen for $1850 from Apple Store Online w/ tax).

Here are the differences:
CPU: 2.66GHz (new) vs. 2.8GHz (refurb)
GPU: 256MB 9600GT (new) vs. 512MB 9600GT (refurb)
Battery: Better, but non-removable (new) vs. Worse, but removable (refurb)
Screen: Better (new) vs. Worse (refurb)
SD Card Slot (new) vs. ExpressCard Slot (refurb) (doesn't matter to me. I can get a SD card reader for the ExpressCard)

I plan on using it for After Effects, Photoshop, Video editing, etc. so I guess the better GPU would help. Does anyone have any experience buying refurbs from Apple? It comes with the same 1 year warranty, but I'm worried it won't be as good as new. The battery life doesn't matter as much as performance for me. Thanks for your help!

 

[Bill Gates]

Think about what you need your computer to do.

Do you need more portability, or more power? The older one is faster, the newer one has much better battery life. Since you stated that you value performance more, the old one wins this category.

Also, the screen is good on the old ones too, but the color accuracy has supposedly been markedly increased on the new ones. So if that is very important to you, I would go for the new one.

And, do you need 8GB of RAM? The older one can utilize up to 6GB, whereas the newer one can address up to 8GB. The new one wins here.

Refurbs from Apple are generally in like-new condition, and come with the same warranty as any brand-new machine. Tie.