[aaronrh]

Am I better off buying this model and installing a SSD and more/better RAM:

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core i5
Originally released April 2010
15.4-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display (1440 x 900 pixel)
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
320GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory



OR: This model and just leave it as is.

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7
Originally released October 2011
15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900 resolution
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6750M

They both work out to about the same price with the upgrade. I do video editing, CAD, and Photoshop and I just like my computer to be super fast.

[macnuke]

get the second one.

HD 6750M > GT 330M

as the vid cards aren't upgradable.... get the best you can.