New laptop: T6500 or P8700 CPU?

I'm about to buy a new laptop for uni and *gasp* I have a dilemma.

I'm currently eyeing a lappy from Asus and it offers two models: one with a T6500 CPU (950$) and the other with a P8700 (1150$). I know the latter is faster, less power-hungry and produces less heat but is it worth the extra money? My budget is about 1000$ and can always dish out a bit more.

Now you're wondering what I'll do with the laptop. I'm a casual gamer and my main games are Guild Wars (duh), CS:S and TF2. Though, I'll probably play some CoD4 and Mass Effect (surely the most intensive games I'll play for the next couple of years). With uni, I won't play much anyway.

Other than games, I frequently use Photoshop. I also work with IDEs for my software classes (Visual Studio) for the usual debugging and compiling/decompiling. I might do some desktop virtualization and Compiz/Fusion on Linux.

Do those things require a P8700 or is the T6500 will do just fine? I want my lappy to last through my four years of uni and I'm not sure if the T6500 will have enough power juice.

Thanks for your suggestion!

Do you have a link to the laptop you are looking at, the CPU is really going to depend on what other hardware relies on it.

Asus F50SF-X1 (T6500):
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16834220559

Asus F50SF-A1 (P8700):
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16834220560

They pretty much have the same specs, except for the CPU. My choice could have been much easier if the 7200rpm HDD was only for the A1 model.

The P8700 should outperform the T6500 by more than just the clock speed would suggest. It also has a faster buss speed and larger cache. Also, since it is less power hungry, it should provide a longer battery run time (all else being equal). The P8700 laptop also comes with a carry bag and a mouse, which takes up part of the $200 difference.

Heh, actually, the carrying bag and mouse come with both models. Asus laptops usually come with them.