I need to switch to a mac for work, never had anything against them in the past, it's just been cheaper to get something else. I currently have a 16" dell studio xps (bought it because it was the cheapest thing with the right specs at the time) 2.53ghz dual core, 4gb ram, 1g dedicated graphics, 1080p display, 500gb hdd. There is a 15" 2.53ghz 4gb macbook pro owned by the company that i could use, but i really need more screen resolution on the go and I'm trying to use this an an opportunity to get the boss to sell off the old one and upgrade :)

My question to you is, what should I be looking for in a mac? I'll be trying to get one used if possible (I doubt I can argue a good case for a $2000 upgrade, but if you've got good reasons to buy new I'd love to hear them!), so retail pricing is almost irrelevant. I'd like something with the following specs:

*quad core 2ghz (which processor is the best bang/buck?)

*any ssd >128gb (is it worth it to get an ssd?)

*8gb ram (should i get more? is it easy to upgrade ram in a macbook or should i buy it with as much ram as i expect to need over the life of the machine?)

I really like the high resolution screen i currently have and i have plenty of external hard drives. I do some video, photo editing and web design, so what programs should I be looking at? (i use cs5 for everything on my current machine but i've heard good things about final cut)

A first glance at ebay prices puts me at around $1600 for the minimum specs I want, what else should I be looking for when evaluating a used macbook? I expect to do a bit more research over the next few days and purchase by the end of the month, point me in the right direction!

Oh yeah, one last question... Why are the new cinema displays lower resolution than the old ones? Just curious...