which is a better deal?

I need to buy a Macbook asap... thinking about getting one of these and wanted some feedback as to which would be a better deal. Obviously I'd want to take a look at them. Never had a MacBook so please give me your suggestions. TIA

$1450 Mid 2009 15 inch MacBook Pro like new, 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory3
4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 8GB
8x slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
250GB

or

$1900 2.66ghz intel core i7 processor 4mb shared level 3 cache
4gb of 1066 mhz ddr3 sdram
500gb 5400 rpm hard drive
15.4in led backlit glossy widescreen display 1440 by 900 pixels
intel hd graphics
nvidia geforce gt 330m graphics processor with 512 mb of gddr3 memory
built in isight video camera
8x slot loading super drive (dvd r dl/dvd rw/cd rw)
comes with wiress keybord and magic mouse

Well I'm assuming the second one is the 2010 model with the GT 330m.

The i7 is a much stronger processor compared to the C2D of the first one. When doing cpu intensive tasks, the i7 has 4 threads whereas the c2d has 2, meaning it will get things done in half the time. The graphics card on the second is also much stronger.

What you need to ask yourself is are you doing to be doing lots of cpu intensive tasks? And do you plan to do any gaming via bootcamp? If you do, which games are you going to play? If the stronger graphics card and much stronger processor are something you need, get the second. If you're just browsing the web and really simple things, get the first.

it's for graphic design stuff, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc - i'm learning but am starting to do some internship work

Get the new one. Processor and the graphic card is better. I seriously doubt you need the mouse or the keyboard though. Since you should be using a Wacom tablet. >_>"

bluemoon said:

it's for graphic design stuff, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc - i'm learning but am starting to do some internship work

Click to expand...

Get the second one.

You might want to get an 8gb kit of RAM for it eventually. If you notice PS or Illy is kind of slow sometimes, check your activity monitor, and if you are using a lot of RAM, pick up some more. Even 6gb would be better.

Oh and you are going to want to upgrade the HD. A 5400rpm drive won't do anything for you. Get at least a 7200rpm drive.