Making the big decision! (Help! I'm terrible at this.)

Hey fellas:

I know it gets a little crowded in here whenever Apple decides to upgrade/revamp their notebook lines. I'm mostly a reader of and not a contributor to threads; I learn what I need to know by reading posts. But every so often, I want an answer that considers my specific needs.

I'm going to order a new MBP 13" next week. I'm a university student, which means tons of note-taking. I like to keep my computer crap-free at all times, IE. I delete files and programs that I don't need anymore on a regular basis. I watch a lot of movies on my computer and hope one day to pick-up an external Blu-ray drive to watch some movies in HD. I do some photo-editing, Photoshop mainly. I edit videos like twice a year, so not too much of that. Finally, I always say I would like to get some gaming in my diet but I never find the time. Let's assume gaming is a possibility.

Some other things you may need to know: my system will have a 128GB SSD; I'm pretty much hellbent on this one. Also, I would prefer having 4GB RAM installed. I know upgrading RAM is a simple process but, honestly, I would rather have someone who's done it 1000 times do it instead of myself, someone who's done it once. These systems aren't cheap and I don't want to be the one posting the first ever RAM-upgrade-horror-story. (Yes, I'm being serious!) Plus, Apple's warranty doesn't cover third-party parts, correct?

I'm no economics major, but I've done [what I believe are] some relevant calculations. Keep in mind, these prices include the 128GB SSD option, tax (12%), and the educational discount, and are Canadian:

For $2049.59, I can get 2.26 GHz + 4GB of RAM from newegg.ca.
For $29.19 more, I can essentially have Apple do the 4GB RAM upgrade.
For $183.68 more ($212.87 more than the original price), I can upgrade to 2.53GHz and 4GB of RAM.

Given my circumstances, what would you do?
Thanks!

PS. I know a few folks out there will suggest doing the SSD upgrade myself to save money. To you, I say thanks for the suggestion but I won't even come close to doing that myself. I'm just not that handy, I guess. Sorry!

 

You will get lots of answers on why you shouldn't, but I always buy what's best and most convenient for me. For example, when I bought my late 08 MBP, I opted for the max processor, 4mb RAM, and largest HDD. When I bought my wife her netbook, I put additional RAM in myself. The difference? one would cost me almost 3k to replace and the latter only a few hundred.

And I always buy the most power I can afford...that way I'm not disappointed in a year when something comes out I can't run properly!

 

I like your style..

 

Honestly, I don't think it's even possible to screw up a ram upgrade. You unscrew the bottom panel, and separate the clips. The ram pops out. You line up the new ram and press it in. Unless you spill coffee on the computer while it's open or something highly stupid, I don't think it's possible for that to go wrong.

Since this is a 13" with only the 9400M, I would say that while gaming, the GPU would be the limiting factor. Unless you're doing cpu intensive tasks (note taking is not one of those), the 2.26 should be fine. The extra 0.26 is not worth $213 for you, in my opinion
So I'd go with your first config, with 2.26 and the 4GB installed yourself.

 

I'd also say the 2.26...but if you're going all out why stop at that last couple hundred dollars if you can spare it.

Of course I'd also say go with the 2.26 and DIY, or maybe just as a friend, with the ram and SSD to have ~$500. It's really not as hard as you think and Apple really made installing the Ram, hard drives, and operating system soooooo easy. When I did it last week after getting my first ever mac I was just like 'thats it...?'. PC always runs into some kind of problem. Oh and it doesn't void warranty. If you know anyone who's ever installed ram or a hard drive before I'd ask them.....it will take like 10min. OS X installs itself practically.