Which MBP to buy?

[wookieemonster]

Hi,
Buying my first MacBook Pro. Plan to use it for video editing with iMovie & Final Cut Pro. Doing mainly hobby work - family DVD's, friends' demo reels. Really not sure which MBP I should be considering.

1.) New 15 in w/integrated NVIDIA 9400 4GB RAM w/ed discount $1599

2.) New 15 in w/9600/9400 cards but 2GB RAM (which I could upgrade) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013FJBX8/ref=pd_luc_sim_01_01 for $1594

3.) Refurb 15 in w/9600 gfx, 4 GB RAM
http://store.apple.com/us_edu_74709/product/FC026LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw for $1699

4.) Refurb 15 in w/8600M GT card 2GB RAM for $1349
http://store.apple.com/us_edu_74709/product/FB487LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw

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Will a dedicated video card cut a lot of rendering time off of my projects (again doing family videos, and some professional demo reels)? Am I better off to save some money with an older MBP with dedicated video and upgrade the RAM after a trip to FRYS?

Also, is upgrading RAM for a MBP something you can do without a trip to the Apple store?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Hellhammer]

A good CPU helps a lot in video editing. GPU is quite useless unless you're doing extreme editing like adding effect after effect. Also, get as much as RAM you can afford. I would get number 3.

Adding RAM is very easy and you can buy it from Crucial as an example

 

[miles01110]

#4 with the 8600 is going to die sooner or later, so I'd avoid that one.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

If you can get educational discount, there's no reason to go refurb. I'd choose number 1) over 2) as it has a faster processor and better battery life as well as some other tweaks.

About the RAM, yes it is easy to upgrade without going to an Apple Store. It's in the manual.