Go for a Pro mate. Apple just revised them a couple months ago with unrated specs, granted only minor but still. They are well built and last. I have Windows 7 on mine for things like VAG COM and Windows Media Centre, but I use OSX for the majority of things.
AppleCare is worth it regardless if you pay full price or not because in the event something does go wrong, you'd be paying a hefty bill.
Any Pro from the new line will do you as the new i processors coupled with the rest of the tech works extremely well.
Also Thom, the AppleCare comes into effect from e date of purchase of the computer.
