Buying my first macbook. Seeking advice

I'm looking at buying my first macbook computer. I'm looking at two different macbook pros. I'm looking for a system that would be able to handle photo editing programs such as Photoshop without any issues. I do a lot of photo editing, video editing, and recording and some but not a lot of gaming. I'm deciding between these two models:

2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 (Crystalwell)
16GB of Onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
512GB PCIe-Based Flash Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M Graphics (2GB)
Iris pro
15.4" LED-Backlit IPS Retina Display
$2249

2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (Crystalwell)
16GB of Onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
256GB PCIe-Based Flash Storage
Integrated Intel Iris Pro Graphics
15.4" LED-Backlit IPS Retina Display
$1799

Is it worth the $450 increase on price for the activities I do? I'm fairly new to Mac so any advice is greatly appreciated. Also I plan on keeping this for multiple years.

My question back to you is…do you REALLY need a 15" display?

If not…then the ONLY reason (in my opinion) to get a 15" MacBook Pro would be for the dedicated graphics hardware. Otherwise…save yourself some money and get a 13" MacBook Pro. With a 13" MacBook Pro…if you need a larger display…you can always plug in a nice big external display.

Of course if you need the power of dedicated graphics hardware…then you have to go with a 15" MacBook Pro (13" MBP's don't have dedicated graphics hardware).

So (depending on your answers)…your choices are:

- get the $2249 15" MacBook Pro (to get the dedicated graphics hardware).
- get a 13" MacBook Pro

Something to consider.

- Nick

My main concerns with the 13 inch are the fact that they only come with 8GB in most cases and a dual core processor. I actually wouldn't mind a 13-inch at all but I feel you give up way too much performance.

You can always configure the 13" MacBook Pro's with more ram. But you're right…I totally forgot about the 15" MBP's having a quad-core CPU.

Seems to me…if you do a lot of photo & video editing…you will need (or want) the power of the quad-core cpu and the power of dedicated graphics hardware.

For what it's worth. If you're going to be spending this sort of money, and can wait a while…the 15" MacBook Pro's haven't been updated for some time (the 13" MBP's were updated recently).

So MAYBE Apple has plans to update the 15" MBP's. But if so…no way of knowing when.

- Nick