08-26-2010, 04:59 PM
I also have a C2D with the faulty Nvidia card which was replaced by Apple under their extended warranty program for that known fault. It's now my wife's (replacing a PB G4). I bought a refurb i7 15" with the hi-res screen because I wanted matte. Saved $300 from list and it looks new except for the usual Apple refurb box. It's definitely faster in all respects but I do get the spinning beachball every now and then. The old MBP has a 7200 HD and seems to have less beachballs (same size 4GB RAM). I have an external OWC "on-the-go" with a 500GB Seagate Momentus 7200 so I'm thinking of swapping that for the i7 stock 5400 and see if that does anything.